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wrote:

Duane Bozarth wrote:
wrote:

Duane Bozarth wrote:
Robert Bonomi wrote:
...

Have you ever run the numbers on how much biodiesel one can produce from
an acre of farmland in a year?

Ethanol is better deal to date...

Made from corn? I have been wondering if it would not be better to
use sorghum, which grows well over much of the same range as corn,
for producing the sugar used to make ethanol.

Primarily corn, yes. Sorghum doesn't have nearly the sugar content of
corn and nowhere nor the yield/acre.

I gather that the suagar/acre ration is lower for sorghum. I'm
not surprised that the corn kernals have a higher concentration
of sugar than the sorghum stalks but am surpised that there is
more sugar in the whole corn plant, than in the whole sorghum plant.
When corn is raised for ethanol production, do they squeeze the
whole plant, rather than just the kernals?

No, the grain is the feedstock, not the plant...the grain must ripen to
achiece maximum energy content (and as a secondary necessity, must be
dry enough to be handled and stored w/o danger of mold damage and
spontaneous combustion) and at that time the sugars in the foliage are
largely used up.

One wonders what selective breeding/genetic engineering can do for
each, improving the range for sorghum and the sugar content for
both. Appears it would take a ten-fold improvement in the yield
before biofuels could replace petroleum fuels and that still
does not address coals usage, which generates most of the electricity
used in the US.

There are continuing significant improvements in hybrids specifically
for ethanol production in corn and soybeans for biodiesel. I am unaware
of any research into large-scale usage of milo for ethanol--I believe
the potential yields are simply not competitive w/ corn.

No one, even its most ardent supporters, is claiming biofuels can
replace all petroleum. It is simply a resource that is (a) renewable,
and (b) does have a positive NEV (net energy value). The latter does
continue to increase owing to both improved feedstocks and processing.
I suspect both will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, but
have no idea where we are now as compared to the ultimate that may be
achievable.

As for central station generation, the switch from coal to
petroleum-fired was a major mistake as well was the abandonment of
nuclear which should be the predominant form of central station
generation.