Not so long ago, ethanol produced from farm grains was thought to be the answer to high crude oil prices and to low grain prices for producers. There were those with a vision of ethanol production plants turning corn, or barley, or wheat to an alternate fuel spotted across North America. But, grain prices jumped, oil prices dove, and the ethanol sector growth basically burned out. In a world of low oil prices, the desire to find alternate sources of renewable fuel naturally dwindles, but if you look longer term, the need remains. Oil reserves are finite, even if you wish to argue their life expectancy. When the resource hits some level in the future, the cost of getting at remaining reserves are going to climb, adding some eventual urgency to alternatives.
The most natural alternative seems to be ethanol, although whether grain-based production is viable long term is unclear. The world population grows, demands to keep people fed, maintain a level of livestock production – veggie burgers notwithstanding – means grain production may have better places to be consumed than to produce fuel for our all-terrain vehicles. An alternative to grain is likely to be biomass. That is where some current research in British Columbia is intriguing.
“University of BC researchers are looking beyond forest material to crop straws and chaff to build renewable power products,” notes a recent article at www.producer.com What that generally means is turning cereal straw into pellets. The article explains, producing biofuel pellets from crop residue is the focus of a new project by researchers at UBC. The goal is to produce pellets with consistent quality from under-utilized and low-quality agricultural biomass resources, abundant in Canada. The amount of cereal and legume crop residue produced in the world annually is in the billions of tons, details the story.
Certainly, straw is a resource that has drawn interest before. Flax straw was going to turn into a range of products, including car door panels, when a plant was built near Canora, SK. The project had government support and Cargill involvement, and still couldn’t create the anticipated demand to make it viable, so the plant closed. In nearby Kamsack, a plant would turn cereal straw into building sheets to compete with chipboard in home builds. It never managed to find the markets it sought and closed.
The straw, of course, remains, renewed with each growing season. It sits there underutilized, and maybe biomass pellets can be the answer if it can be viable given baling costs, hauling, pelleting costs, and of course, accessing markets. It’s a big ‘ask,’ but ultimately, energy alternatives will be required.
- Calvin Daniels
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Disclaimer: opinions expressed are those of the writer.