Ethanol Production from Food Crops should be Limited

Transcription

1 Ethanol Production from Food Crops should be Limited Introduction Ethanol is an alcohol molecule that is a main component in alcoholic beverages, largely used as a solvent and in recent times as a fuel additive. It is now produced in large capacity especially due to the last use of it; fuel additive. The high octane rating of ethanol made it suitable for its use as fuel additive by replacing lead based MTBE (toxic compound) used previously to prevent knocking(engine problem). The general motives for use of ethanol in fuels are decreased use of fossil fuels, less environmental pollution and global warming. It is usually blended with gasoline up to 10%(wt.%) with no need for engine modification [1]. Ethanol can be produced either synthetically or biologically by the fermentation of sugars using yeast; only about 5% of the ethanol is produced synthetically from fossil fuels now a days [2]. The raw material for the fermentation ethanol basically can be any sugar containing grain either in the form of starch such as corn, wheat, grain sorghum, potato etc. or just sugar as in the case of cane sugar and sweet sorghum [1]. The problem arise when we occupy the agricultural land for use of the grains in the production of ethanol. This brought shortage of food supply in the world market which resulted in increase in price of the food. The 2007/2008 food crisis which is believed to be the result of biofuels by some part of the public is a prime example. I would like to clarify a little bit on the different views of biofuel production from food crops, and on how to properly use bio fuels for the benefit of mankind in general. Discussion First, we have two different views in the world about biofuels in general and ethanol specifically; there are some groups that believes ethanol is doing the world a good job by diminishing global warming and reduction of oil dependence while there are other groups who are convinced that the ethanol program is resulting in hanger in the poor part of the world, and economic crisis in the other parts with a barely improved environment, even degraded. The cause of the 2007/2008 food crisis has also these two different view by the two different groups. The former group concluded that the use of biofuels led to the rise of food prices and even increased depth of

2 poverty in developing countries [3] while Governments and some organizations explain it to be caused by another bigger issue such as increase of the cost of energy. It all started with the speculation of Henry Ford in 1925 about the generation of a sustainable fuel from a food source literally put as: There is enough alcohol in one year s yield of a hectare of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the field for a hundred years. And it remains for someone to find out how this fuel can be produced commercially better fuel at a cheaper price than we know now [1]. By the time, he probably didn t realize the complete effect of dedicating a food crop for the production of a fuel in a world of 7 billion people and growing at a rate of 80 million per year. In this conditions, using food crops for fuel production could have a catastrophic effect on the well-being of mankind. The rise in global food prices have been announced by a lot of organization including the world bank. It was reported that the IMF s index of internationally traded food commodities prices increased 130 percent from January 2002 to June 2008 and 56 percent from January 2007 to June The rise in food prices was led by grains, this was initially caused by low global stock level of grains. After a while in 2004/05 stock level was able to recover due to the short term response for the large demand but the price was growing continuously. The stock also declined as a result of unbalance between production and consumption. After January 2005 until 2008, the price for many crops spiked, wheat increasing 127%, rice 170% and maize 150%. fats and oils also showed similar increase as to grains [4]. Now it was this problem that was largely attributed to the emerging biofuels by taking into account the fact that there was no problem like this before their development in the near past. The category of people that does not make bio fuels responsible for the price spikes argue that a lot of factors contribute to the problem. These being low stocks, decreased supply, increasing demand, increased production costs and market dynamics. Low cost being the result of demand growth exceeding production increase, lagging investments in agriculture, global market integration reduces the need for domestic stocks, yield gap and food waste. The supply decreased due to harvest failures and decrease in subsidized exports and food aid while the demand increased because of the population increase and luxury, importer policies (hoarding) and rapid expansion of biofuels. Oil and gas price and fertilizer are believed to be the cause of

3 the increase in production costs. Finally for market dynamics speculation, trade restrictions(banning of exports and stock piling) are considered to be the main causes [5]. The fraction of the crops that are used for biofuel in the EU in 2010 have been calculated by accounting for all conversion steps and material losses along the supply chain, and by accounting for co-products. The result show only small percentages for all grains except sugar beet 1.1% (the others being wheat 0.3%, maize 0.1%, sugar cane 0.1%) and all fats and oils except rapeseed 12.6% (the others being soybean 1.5%, oil palm fruit 1.5% and sunflower seeds 2.3%).This has been interpreted to mean except rapeseed, the rest have increased the demand and the rapeseed doesn t increase the demand instead it drives a new or extra rapeseed production. Hence they concluded that the biofuels are not responsible for the rise in price of the food crops. We will come back on the effect of dedicating a land for biofuels production [5]. Another paper by the world bank states the contrary, in spite of the many differences in methodologies that are used to estimate the effect of biofuels on the rising of the price for food crops, many studies recognize there is a large contribution of the biofuels on the rising of the price for food crops. It refers to numerous papers analyzing using different models and based on both short term and long term effects. They all show on average bio fuels are responsible for the increase in food price at least 20% to 70% [4]. These can be illustrated by the use maize for the production of ethanol in the world in the period of 2004 to The ethanol program used 70% of the increase in maize production while the maize for feed which accounted 65% of the global maize use grew only by 1.5%. Overall the amount of maize used for ethanol production was 11%. The US is one of the largest producer of maize accounting for one-third of global maize production and two third of global exports. Diverting 25% of the maize to ethanol production could have probably caused some instability in the market of the world in 2007/2008 [4].

4 In addition there is one biofuel program that has not been mentioned to cause any problem by the two different categories. This is the Brazilian ethanol program which is produced from cane sugar. It is agreed by both categories and almost everybody that the Brazilian ethanol production has not contributed to the recent food price increase. The reason for this is Brazil uses half of its sugar cane production to ethanol for export and domestic use while the other is used for sugar production. The increase in sugar cane production allowed almost doubling of the sugar produced and tripled the amount exported between the years 2000 and Hence, the Brazilian market share has grown from 20% to 40% which satisfactorily kept the market from increasing the price of sugar [4][8]. It has been said in this paper that some biofuels are required in large amount that they are driving their own crop production which can also have both beneficial or destructive effect. First of all the use of their own land could decrease the volatility of food prices but on the other hand clearing pristine lands solely for the production of biofuels could cause a net increase in the greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity and contamination to clean water [6]. Finally, the last but not least matter that requires specific attention is the use of non-food raw material for production of ethanol; use of lignocellulose material (any plant material). This technology will be able to solve the issue of food competition because it uses non edible part of plants to produce ethanol [7]. There are now 3 large scale ethanol producing facilities from these materials. If this technology is adapted everywhere in the world, it would probably have less environmental impacts. The problem for this technology would probably be availability of the resource because we don t have unlimited plant residue and the demand for ethanol is almost unlimited in comparison [7]. In summary, It can be seen that different economic models, different assumptions and different kinds of organizations have their own interpretation of the effect of biofuels on the lives of the society. This may be partly because of different objective of society and governments, that is governments need their independence from oil producing countries so much that they are willing to take a risk and use technology as a way out. The people/society on the other hand sees the changes that are happening at the ground level. So consultants and governments are likely to present the data prepared so that it brings the good in the biofuel program while organizations

5 that are supposed to protect the people present the data that allows the conclusion of bio fuels are useless. But it is safe to say and all groups agree that ethanol production from food crops has a negative effect on food price and availability leaving alone the quantification of the effect. This is important also because the effect is different on different parts of the world as has been said poor countries suffering the most by increased malnutrition especially by young children and poverty [3] as seen in the 2007/2008 price spike. The Brazilian program has convincingly achieved a sustainable development using ethanol which is the result of good choice of technology, and good governmental policy. This shows that this technology can be replicated in suitable countries with the appropriate policy so that its competition with food is minimal. In this way we can further improve the world ethanol demand while in the meantime improving the growth and development of countries that are have small economy but have the appropriate geography and weather and of course with the right policy. Lastly, the production of ethanol from lignocellulose material looks very promising and could resolve all the food for fuel issue. Although, it probably need organized raw material collection system to provide the plant with sufficient and constant raw material input. So duplicating and improving the technology based on the plants that are already running could boost the ethanol production in the world. Conclusion Overall, It can be said that ethanol production from food crops have negative effects no matter the difference of opinions on how large by increasing the demand for the crop resulting in price hike of the crop for feed use. Also clearing natural lands for biofuels development could also create problems related with sustainability that the biofuels are primarily created to overcome such as increasing the net Greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity etc. However, with a suitable geography, weather and good policy formulation, ethanol production from sugar cane could generate a more positive outcome and aid in the growth and development of producing countries and enhance the supply of ethanol to the world market. Ethanol production from lignocellulose material provide a safe road towards escalating the ethanol production without compromising the need for food production if implemented in a well-planned and organized manner. Lastly, it may be a good idea if the developed countries limit their production of ethanol

6 from food crops and improve the technology of ethanol production from lignocellulose material while at the same time assisting countries with suitable weather to produce ethanol in a large scale with a suitable policy. References 1. Dan Wesolowski, The Sustainability of Ethanol Fuel in the United States, Spring Dr. Christoph Berg, F.O. Licht, World Fuel Ethanol 3. Julia Compton et al., Impact of the global food crisis on the poor: what is the evidence? 4. Donald Mitchell, A note on rising food prices, Carlo Hamelinck, Biofuels and food security Risks and opportunities 6. MikeGaworecki, Last visit 4/14/ :47PM 8. José Goldemberg, ethanol for sustainable energy future, 2007