Researchers from the University of Illinois have determined that the giant perennial grass Miscanthus giganteus outperforms current biofuels sources.
Using Miscanthus as a feedstock for ethanol production in the US could significantly reduce the amount of farmland needed for biofuels, while meeting government biofuels production goals, the researchers reported.
Using corn or switchgrass to produce enough ethanol to offset 20 percent of gasoline use would take 25 percent of current US cropland out of food production, the researchers report.
Getting the same amount of ethanol from Miscanthus would require only 9.3 percent of current agricultural acreage.
“What we’ve found with Miscanthus is that the amount of biomass generated each year would allow us to produce about 2 1/2 times the amount of ethanol we can produce per acre of corn,” said crop sciences professor Stephen P. Long, who led the study.
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Using Miscanthus as a feedstock for ethanol production in the US could significantly reduce the amount of farmland needed for biofuels, while meeting government biofuels production goals, the researchers reported.
Using corn or switchgrass to produce enough ethanol to offset 20 percent of gasoline use would take 25 percent of current US cropland out of food production, the researchers report.
Getting the same amount of ethanol from Miscanthus would require only 9.3 percent of current agricultural acreage.
“What we’ve found with Miscanthus is that the amount of biomass generated each year would allow us to produce about 2 1/2 times the amount of ethanol we can produce per acre of corn,” said crop sciences professor Stephen P. Long, who led the study.
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