The grains used in the production of ethanol are not fit for human consumption i.e. its a different seed meant for producing high quality ethanol and the end-waste once processed, is used as cattle feed. The farmers get decent returns for this produce, which they use for growing other edible crops (a farmer can grow many crops in a year).
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Originally Posted by vasudeva  While US uses corn/maize, all other countries incl. India use sugarcane. Brazil is the largest sugarcane producer and nearly 50% of its output is used for ethanol. High oil prices encourage diversion of sugarcane to ethanol production rather than sugar. In fact, all biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) are made out of food crops, and thus there is a danger of not enough sugar/rapeseed/soyabean production for food purposes.
While sugar prices are in free fall now because of record production worldwide, edible oil prices and corn prices are reaching new records precisely because of this diversion. In the US, more soyabean is now being diverted towards biodiesel production. The EU is also now diverting more rapeseed towards biodiesel.
The feedstock base for ethanol production is gradually widening to wood and cellulosic feedstock such as agricultural plant wastes (corn stover, cereal straws, sugarcane bagasse), plant wastes from industrial processes (sawdust, paper pulp) and energy crops grown specifically for fuel production, such as switchgrass. Such low cost feedstock would result in increased production potential for low cost ethanol. However, the present high cost of such cellulosic products us the key barrier to economic production of cellulosic ethanol. |