If you grow it, the cars will run. That's still the idea behind cellulosic ethanol, which is biofuel from tough, reedy, and often discarded plant parts. A recent study indicates that switchgrass could yield the most biomass for this fuel.
The U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture study, published in Agronomy Journal (abstract) was designed and conducted by Oklahoma State University agronomy professor Charles M. Taliaferro. He pitted switchgrass against bermudagrass, flaccidgrass, and lovegrass using different harvest schedules and fertilizer levels. Besides sounding tougher, switchgrass produced significantly more biomass than the other perennial grass species.
The study also concluded, strikingly, that the U.S. has 50 million acres of cropland where switchgrass could be grown, which sounded more theoretical than politically feasible to me. Next, OSU will use the study results to try and figure out the most efficient way to produce cellulosic ethanol in the state. Processing the fuel remains a challenge--as well as controversial--but the optimist in me is hoping for a last-minute home run here.
Photo: He's not Shoeless Joe, but Blake Brown of the University of Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center at Milan nearly disappears in post-drought switchgrass. Credit: University of Tennessee.
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