Ethanol production require a vast amount and variety of process measurement instrumentation as part of the overll automation and control of the plant processes. For level measurement there are applications throughout the process from monitoring inventories of raw corn to helping to control dryers, to the monitoring of storage vessels containing the finished product. But recently we have begun to hear in the media a number of comments talking about how bad Ethanol production is and has been. It has increased the demand for corn and driven food prices up. Well perhaps in the short term that is true but living out here in the corn belt of Illinois I can tell you that this country has more corn than you can imagine. And, corn is not the only raw ingredient that Ethanol can be produced from, it is just the most common right now.
The point I want to make is in regards to the impact Ethanol production has on the world supply and cost of fuel. I point to a study and report recently issued by LECG. First, LECG (I have no idea what LECG stands for) is a "global expert services" firm. They do studies and render expert opinions on a number of subjects. Well, the Renewable Fuels Association had them do an impact study of Ethanol on the cost of crude oil. That's right. They answered the question "what would the impact be on crude oil prices today if Ethanol production did not exist?". Well before I tell you what they found out let me tell you that they reported that the amount of Ethanol produced in the world in 2007 was 17 billion gallons. The majority of this was produced in the USA and Brazil. In 2008 it is projected that this production will increase by 20% to 20.4 billion gallons.
There appear to be complexities in calculating the impact of Ethanol on crude oil prices and I don't have the time, nor the patience, to dig into it and report it here for you, but the report by the LECG indicates that crude oil would cost another $35.70 per barrel if it weren't for the production of Ethanol. Think about the effect of that on the price per gallon of gasoline next time you fill up and next time you drive by a corn field, or next time you hear someone talk down the Ethanol industry.
A complete editorial about the LECG report can be found written by editor Myke Feinman of Bieofuels Journal magazine. The editorial appears on page 110 of the May/June 2008 issue.
Want to know more about the level measurement and monitoring applications in an Ethanol production operation? Download this file. It's a white paper on that subject. Download WhitePaper_EthanolSolutions.pdf
Joe Lewis
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