Closed Loop Ethanol plant approved in New York state. Underutilized crop land to be put into use.

[JohnWxy]

http://www.thebioenergysite.com/news/5153/beef-finishing-and-biofuel-project-given-goahead


US - The development of a large scale intergrated beef cattle closed-loop project, which will include finishing facilities for 72,000 head of beef cattle, ethanol production and an associated beef processing plant, will be carried out by Bion Environmental Technologies, Inc. with the support of the Schroeppel New York Town Board.

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When completed, Bion's 72,000 head integrated and closed-loop beef cattle project will be the largest individual cattle livestock facility east of the Mississippi River. It will also be a world-wide model for environmental sustainability. Implementation of Bion's demonstrated and patented comprehensive waste treatment technology will result in the project's finishing facilities exhibiting the smallest per head environmental footprint of any large livestock operation in the world. The project's closed-loop architecture is intended to produce corn-based ethanol with a net energy balance at levels projected for future cellulosic ethanol (if and when a commercial cellulosic ethanol process can be developed and economically implemented).

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The project will create a long-term regional market for cropped farm inputs that will return approximately 25,000 acres of under-utilised or previously abandoned farmland to full production in the region. The project's low environmental footprint will enable this large-scale livestock facility to co-exist within 300 miles of markets with 50 million people creating the opportunity for local branding based upon environmental attributes. Its scale will be the basis for both environmental and economic sustainability rather than being a source of environmental concern. This project is based on Bion's proprietary, patented waste treatment technology and its integration into its closed loop integrated livestock project platform.

[nykym]

1. Here's Hoping

they don't use Monsanto Corn.

[lamp_shade]

2. That's between Syracuse and Oswego. That would be welcome there.

[NNadir]

3. You mean that a commercial cellulosic ethanol process has NOT been developed?

I seem to recall that a few years back, let's say something like 5 years back, the ethanol lobby was here claiming that cellulosic ethanol was a "slam dunk" and that we should all invest in this car CULTure scam.

For instance, here is a thread from almost 4 years ago, on how Iogen "couldn't fail" and how we should bet the lungs of every being on this planet on this sure thing:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x55144">Vinod Khosla's presentation on Ethanol at the MIT Energy Conference

From post #9 we have:

IT is widely recognized that cellulosic ethanol is on a course to be commercially viable in 5 to 6 years (Shell Oil is a major investor in Iogen, a leading company in the development of cellulosic ethanol). BUT WE DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL CELLULOSIC ETHANOL IS COMMERCIALLY VIABLE TO START DOING SOMETHING ABOUT OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL OR TO START REDUCING GHGs.

Meanwhile on planet Earth: http://bx.businessweek.com/ethanol/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F~r%2Fgreencarcongress%2FTrBK%2F~3%2FrG1NIAPH0TQ%2Fiogen-20100112.html">Iogen produced 581,000 liters of ethanol in 2009.

OTTAWA – Iogen Corporation today announced that its cellulosic ethanol production in 2009 topped 581,000 litres, more than doubling the firm’s 2008 fuel production, and
surpassing the one million litre mark in cumulative production since 2004.

No word, of course, on what it cost to produce that much. Note the use of liters rather than gallons to make the word seem bigger. A barrel of oil is 117.3477 liters, meaning that the entire company produced about 5000 barrels of ethanol after receiving $500M in investments.

That's a mere $100,000/barrel. A bargain!

Amory Lovins should look into this business: There's a hell of a lot of wishful thinking fleecing that could follow from this line. It's almost as profitable as getting big pay checks to greenwash Conoco, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron...

Great stuff about the cow culture too...

That's what every environmentalist needs, more cow greenwashing.