Community | September 02, 2009 | 40 comments

Hemp ethanol will only cost 50 cents per gallon

source: http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/node/19580

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copperdragon

http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/node/19580

I was just watching Jodie and Marc walking through the hemp field and I thought it would be a good time to share my hemp ethanol research with y'all!

In this day of oil wars, peak oil (and the accompanying soaring prices), climate change and oil spills such as the Exxon-Valdez, it's more important than ever to promote sustainable alternatives such as hemp ethanol.


Hemp turns out to be the most cost-efficient and valuable of all the fuel crops!

And as it turns out, the whole reason for hemp prohibition - and alcohol prohibition - may have been a fuel monopoly!

So check out my hemp ethanol research ... and leave your comments here so I can find out what you think! Here's the link:

http://hemp-ethanol.blogspot.com/

-CC Magizine

(i)Insert from Part One: The Economics of Hemp Fuels---

THE EXPERTS:
I decided to investigate these arguments against biofuels and hemp fuels by bouncing them off people doing research in this area. I spoke with Adrian Francis Clarke of Fibre (Europe) Laboratory LTD, Don Wirtshafter of the Ohio Hempery, Tim Castleman of fuelandfiber.com, and Shaun Crew of Hemp Oil Canada.

It is important to understand that hemp provides two types of fuel; hemp biodiesel – made from the oil of the hemp seed, and hemp ethanol/methanol – made from the fermented stalk. To clarify further, ethanol is made from such things as grains, sugars, starches, waste paper & forest products, and methanol is made from woody matter. Through processes such as gasification, acid hydrolysis and enzymes, hemp can be used to make both ethanol and methanol.

I asked questions about the current prices of hemp biodeisel and hemp ethanol/methanol, and what these prices would be post cannabis relegalization. To be economically viable, these fuels would have to be cheaper than gasoline, currently priced at up to 120 cents per liter (Can.) (7) or up to 3 dollars per gallon (US) (8) Of course, petroleum prices could get much more expensive in the near future, a topic which will be covered in the third part of this article under “peak oil”...

Hemp methanol, on the other hand, does make the fuel lineup. According to Tim, hemp ethanol could be produced for 1.37 per gallon plus the cost of the feedstock, with technological improvements and tax credits reducing the price another dollar or so per gallon! (14) And the cost of the feedstock would become much more available as more hemp was grown for more products, providing more and more free (or nearly-free) feedstock as a “waste product”. Could you imagine paying under 50 cents per gallon (US) or 15 cents per liter (CAN) for your hemp ethanol?!!"

Ref.(i) http://hemp-ethanol.blogspot.com/2008/01/economics-history-and-politics-of-hemp....
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40 comments // Hemp ethanol will only cost 50 cents per gallon

  • michael_at_archrival
    • 0
      michael_at_archrival  

    • i think this is the documentary that Jack Herer was showing that people though he fabricated himself because he was claiming it was made by the USDA (which it was).
      people are idiots.

    • 3 years ago
  • michael_at_archrival
  • Johnll
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
  • asherp
  • lifestudentno83
  • Johnll
  • NeutronActivation
  • Johnll
  • Carl_Simmons
  • Johnll
  • hombre76
    • 0
      hombre76  

    • I heard some where that the only reason Ford chose the combustion engine and petroleum for its main fuel design was because he knew it would destroy his engines in only a couple years and people would have to buy a new car.

    • 3 years ago
  • Wetdog
    • +1
      Wetdog  
    • hombre76:

      What you heard is completely false and very typical of the lies the petroleum industry tries to spread about biofuels.

      The truth is that the Model T Ford introduced in 1908 could be ordered with a carburetor that could use ethanol biofuel. Henry Ford believed that most of his customers would be farmers and rural people who did not have access to trains and trolleys. He thought most of his customers would make their own fuel. Besides---in the days before electricity, alcohol was a common fuel to have in homes---for everything from stoves to irons to hair curlers. Henry Ford was convinced his whole life that ethanol was a better fuel than gasoline.

      It was the combination of Standard Oil/General Motors/ DuPont that pushed to get tetra ethyl lead into gasoline to raise the octane rating enough to use as a fuel. Electric lights were cutting sharply into demand for kerosene----Standard Oil needed a new market for their petroleum----gasoline was a waste product of kerosene production. GM saw a chance to co-operate with Standard Oil to produce gasoline so cheaply as to undercut Ford in the market place. DuPont of coarse, benefited by making the tetraethyl lead----which even then was known to be extremely poisonous. Republican President Calvin Coolidge and the Republican dominated congress were happy to oblige the large business interests in return for political donations and the building of new plants in key Republican areas.

      As for ethanol destroying your cars engine. The fastest most advanced race cars in the world, The Indy League Racing Circuit all run on 100% ethanol, and have run on alcohol fuels for over 40 years.
      If ethanol can drive race cars that hit 240-260 mph on the straights----it can drive your pickup truck or family sedan at highway speeds with no sweat. A typical Indy League race car is powered by a 3L V8 engine that develops between 1200 to 1600 hp. As much as 3-4 over the road diesel rigs, with an engine smaller than many economy cars on the road now. The secret is the octane rating, the octane of ethanol is about 115~120----regular gasoline is 85~87.

    • 3 years ago
  • poosta7
    • 0
      poosta7  

    • The Hemp plant produces a fiber that is superior to cotton even nylon; more than 5X/acre more paper pulp than confier "tree farms"; is a nitrogen fixer that improves soil; has seeds that are an excellent food source of high protein & omega 3 fatty acids; takes virtually no water, pesticides or fertilizer; produces a drug THC that is infinitely less dangerous than the "legal" nicotine and alcohol; and no doubt can compete with corn for ethanol and biofuel production...no wonder why american food, pharmaceutical, alcohol, tobacco and nicotine corporations that own our govenment will make sure anyone who even thinks hemp will go to prison!!!

    • 3 years ago
  • DreSandoval
    • 0
      DreSandoval  

    • maybe we can try to be peaceful for a change and plant hemp in America so we don't have to go to other countries to start wars for oil...

    • 3 years ago
  • Wetdog
    • 0
      Wetdog  

    • Get rid of $150 to $200 Billion a year of tax credits to the oil industry, and there would be no need for subsidies for biofuels.

      The only reason petroleum is in use now is the massive tax subsidies it receives.

    • 3 years ago
  • shanklinmike
    • 0
      shanklinmike [removed]  

    • Legalize Hemp and then let the market drive the technology forward. DON'T subsidize it with the republicrats government money, let the economy work if you care about cleaner technology.

    • 3 years ago
  • TenGig
    • 0
      TenGig  

    • Although I like your article and the reasoning makes perfect sense, I don't think you should be using a "tax credit" as a factor that reduces the cost of hemp bio-fuel. It just passes that cost onto taxpayers. The technology and associated costs should make it cheap enough that it does not need tax credits. I'm tired of subsidizing commercial enterprises.

    • 3 years ago
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  

    • This is fantastic. If true.

      If it were true though the numbers are too good for it to not already be in production in other countries if not here. Argentina runs everything on ethanol, an has no hemp restrictions as one example. They're still using sugar cane though. This leads me to believe there is probably something wrong with the logic train.

    • 3 years ago
  • kurthsb27
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  
    • bombastinator:

      What fact? This is Argentina not Columbia. There is no vast government conspiracy. Most countries are not pressured by the DEA. Only the ones with organized crime groups that import into the U.S. Even if there was if they thought they could get gas for 50 cents a gallon they would do it and to hell with the DEA. It's too much money.

    • 3 years ago
  • MinneapolisMafia
    • 0
      MinneapolisMafia  

    • Thank you for responding so quickly to our request for volunteers! We are grateful for your support, and we want to ensure that your strengths are utilized and that you have an opportunity to work on projects that you'll enjoy so we would appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to fill out the following questionnaire so we can decide where you would best fit among the LEAP groups of volunteers. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us: Speakers Bureau Director at shaleen.title@leap.cc or Endorsement Manager at daphne.kaye@leap.cc. Please note that we protect and respect ALL OF OUR MEMBERS' privacy, and any information provided in this questionnaire will not be shared or made available to any organization.

      http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDJBZTVSYXpRbUo2d3FHTl82b1NLUHc6...

    • 3 years ago
  • Wetdog
    • 0
      Wetdog  

    • ---------"Can we grow enough trees? Trees take so much longer to grow than hemp. Although I have not done any research into ethanol from wood waste, so I actually do not know how the wood waste is generated. We do need to research various forms of alternative energy.

      Wetdog, thanks for the information. Wood waste will be something I try to find out more information about."--------

      We can grow all the biomass(trees, hemp, whatever) we need, easily.

      Trees grow at the same rate that hemp does. Because trees are so much larger, and are not harvested every year, the amount of growth is not so appearant by looking. Also, there is an optical illussion effect. Sequoia trees(for instance) are very large----no matter where you stand---you can only see less than 20% of the tree from any given point.

      USDA estimates that cull timber(small trees cut out to give more space, nutrients, water and light) to those left for harvest on managed timber lots created about 2.000 to 3,000 tons of pulpable biomass per acre. This is wood that is just stacked and burned to reduce fire and insect damage now.

      In addition to trees and hemp, add other crops that can be grown for pasture and wildlife cover that can also be used---switch grass and other hays----agricultural waste, weeds dredges from canals or cut of road side right of ways.

      We would not use hemp or wood alone or any other single crop----the most likely thing is, it would all go into biomass feedstock. Hemp would be grown for the products we get from hemp----and the remained would just go in with wood, weeds and whatever else we would use to make ethanol or biodiesel from.

    • 3 years ago
  • ras_menelik
  • MinneapolisMafia
  • animalia_libero
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  
    • animalia_libero:

      'Drug War' used to eliminate competition by a plant, which can't be patented. Corporations pay for the spin against cannabis hemp. The same corporations who benefit from cannabis hemp elimination as an alternative to their products. I would say follow the money.

      Now we have added 'private prisons' as a cash cow in the 'war on drugs'. Investors are making profit from prisons. That just seems wrong. Prisons should not be 'for profit'! They should be for real criminals, not profit. We have more people in prison than any other country in the world. I wonder if any other countries have converted their prisons into 'prisons for profit'?

    • 3 years ago
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  

    • Can we grow enough trees? Trees take so much longer to grow than hemp. Although I have not done any research into ethanol from wood waste, so I actually do not know how the wood waste is generated. We do need to research various forms of alternative energy.

      Wetdog, thanks for the information. Wood waste will be something I try to find out more information about.

    • 3 years ago
  • copperdragon
  • Wetdog
    • 0
      Wetdog  

    • Your time lines are just a little off in your blog---but what you say is true.

      John D. Rockefeller is primarily responsible for prohibition in an effort to curb the use of biofuels.

      It was the Model T Ford that was originally designed to use ethanol---not the Model A. (Model T was introduced in 1908---and could be ordered with a special carburator to use ethanol)

      Otherwise, your information is accurate.

      Fischer-Tropsch and the Scholler processes are used to produce ethanol from celllose. The Scholler process was used to produce ethanol in commercial quantities by the 1890s in both the US and Germany. It was used in the US to produce ethanol from wood logging and millwork waste during WW2---this was used to produce butadiene, artificial rubber. All those ships, planes, tanks, trucks, jeeps etc. you see in photographs, had tires and other rubber parts made from wood converted to ethanol.
      Fischer-Tropsch process was developed in 1923. It uses heat and pressure to create a wide range of carbohydrate chain products. It can produce anything from single carbon methanol alcohol to long chain diesel fuels and synthetic motor oil lubricants. The Germans used F-T to power everything from submarines to rockets during WW2 during WW2 after the loss of North Africa and the bombing of Ploesti left them with virtually no petroleum.

      Range Fuels is just now finishing construction on a plant in Soperton GA to produce ethanol from wood waste. When fully operational it will produce 100 million gallons/yr of ethanol. It would be possible to build 5-6 such plants for the cost of one offshore drilling rig.

    • 3 years ago
  • thewallisgirl
  • hunzedog
  • Wetdog
    • +1
      Wetdog  
    • Wetdog:

      Fischer-Tropsch is a closed loop process---no gasses escape into the atmosphere.

      Paper pulp mills still use the Scholler process to soften and "puff up" fibers to make stronger paper.
      The pulp is treated with heat and sulphuric acid to reduce the cellulose into a black tarry liquid called "black liquor"----"black liquor" is the biological equivalent of crude oil, and almost anything made out of crude oil can be made from black liquor. During WW2, it was used to make nylon and rayon for parachutes. It has been used to make ethanol for over a hundred years. The swedish company, Chemrec specializes in setting up pulp mill conversions to produce ethanol and other products from black liquor.

      The reason that you have noticed the smell from paper mills is the sulphur from the acid used to treat the cellulose that produces the black liquor. Black liquor is almost always burned to produce electrical power to run the pulp mills. What you are smelling is the sulphur that is in the black liquor(just the same as crude oil contains high amounts of sulphur). If the black liquor were converted into ethanol and other products, there would be no smell----it would not be burned and allowed to escape into the atmosphere.

      Sulphur from burning coal and petroleum produces acid rain when it mixes with moisture in the atmosphere.

    • 3 years ago
  • hunzedog
  • DreSandoval
  • jmid
  • Ajil
    • 0
      Ajil  
    • hunzedog:

      they dont listen to reason, its profit and power.. at least for most.. so the few that try their best are having to work past through all the B.S.

    • 3 years ago
  • lifestudentno83
  • Conniepae
    • +1
      Conniepae  

    • "Hemp for Victory" is a real documentary. "Reefer Madness" is madness for the masses. It's time to move along to victory and end the madness!

      Hemp has so many uses, it could turn farming into the job of the future. Farmers would be able to use their farms for environmentally friendly crops.

    • 3 years ago

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