"F. George McDuffee" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 21:54:06 GMT, "Dave Lyon"
wrote:




An interesting article. THere may well be a break even on the ethanol
production. But if this is truly the case, then why are the Distilling
plants STILL using natural gas and/or coal for their heating?

--
"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them;
the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." - Proverbs
22:3


Because it's cheaper. We have been talking about the amount of energy
required to produce ethanol. Don't confuse that with the amount of money
that it requires.

If you really wanted to glean the most energy from corn, don't convert it
to
ethanol, just burn it. If you do that, it's cheaper per btu than natural
gas.
====================
I understand that some people are burning shelled feed corn in
their wood pellet stoves with complete success/satisfaction. Any
information on this?

I have a "multi fuel" stove. Basically, it's a pellet stove with an agitator
in the fire box to stir the fuel while it burns. I can burn corn, but only
on higher heat settings. Unless it's pretty cold outside, it puts out too
much heat. I have found that if I mix my corn with wood pellets it does very
well at the lower heat settings.



Also given the low temperature required for distilation, even
lower with vacuum, is solar power a large scale viable option?

Uncle George


Yes and no.
Yes it can be done, but at extreme capital investments. Right now, it's much
cheaper to use petroleum products, or coal. If petroleum wasn't an option, I
would probably look into burning corn for the heat needed. The main drawback
with burning corn is the mess and maintenance required.