Some researchers estimate that kudzu could produce 2.2 to 5.3 tons of carbohydrate per acre. This translates to 270 gallons of ethanol per acre, comparable to the ethanol yield of corn of 210 to 320 gallons per acre. In other terms, 900 to 2500 liters of ethanol can be produced per hectare of kudzu, compared to 2000 to 3000 liters per hectare of corn.
Kudzu is the kind of stock the U.S. needs to be working with because it is a weed, not an essential food crop in our human food supply. Kudzu needs nothing to grow – no planting, no fertilizer, no irrigation. The deep tap root of the kudzu vine can help hold the soil in place and allows the plant to prosper during dry spells, as opposed to corn, whose growth is dependent on sufficient rain fall and irrigation water.
At present, even if equipment were available that could harvest the kudzu roots, a large fraction of kudzu vines blanket steep hillsides and would be difficult to access. Some experts estimate that about one-third of kudzu plants in the US would be harvestable. If so, they calculate that kudzu could offer about 8 percent of the 2006 U.S. bioethanol supply. However, if existing corn ethanol manufacturing plants could be used to process kudzu, too, then the approach might be economical sooner. Kudzu is not tied to the commodities markets, so the price would not fluctuate as much.
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