In particular, the study calculated the net economic and environmental costs of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) mandates and found that maintaining the corn ethanol mandate would lead to a cumulative net cost to society of nearly $200 billion from 2016 to 2030 compared to having no RFS. The social cost of nitrogen damage from corn ethanol production substantially offsets the social benefits from GHG savings, the report notes.On the otherhand, the additional cellulosic mandate could provide substantial economic and environmental benefits with technological innovations that lower the costs of converting biomass to cellulosic ethanol and policies that place a high monetized value for GHG mitigation benefits. The study notes that maintaining the corn ethanol mandate pushes more land into corn production which increases the market price of other agricultural commodities. While producers might benefit from higher market prices.
The study notes the cellulosic ethanol mandate could provide an overall benefit with the right policies. Supporting research and development to lower the cost of converting biomass to cellulosic ethanol would substantially reduce production costs and increase social benefits, and a high monetized value for GHG mitigation could offset all other costs.
CABBI researchers hope performance-based policies -- including the low carbon fuel standard, carbon and nitrogen leakage taxes, or limits on crop-residue harvest -- can be implemented to supplement the RFS mandates after 2022.
CABBI aims to integrate recent advances in agronomics, genomics, and synthetic and computational biology to increase the value of energy crops -- using a "plants as factories" approach to grow fuels and chemicals in plant stems, an automated foundry to convert biomass into valuable chemicals, and ensuring that its products are ecologically and economically sustainable. This holistic approach will help reduce fossil fuels dependence, according to the CABBI website.
(Source: CABBI, PR, 27 Apr., 2021) Contact: CABBI, Evan DeLuc1a, (217)244-1586, cabbi-bio@illinois.edu, www.cabbi.bio
More Low-Carbon Energy News CABBI, Biofuel, RFS, Corn Ethanol,
The research is aimed at developing new bio-based jet fuel manufacturing technology and crop feedstocks with vegetable oil compositions tailored for this technology.
The research team will use camelina as an oilseed platform to develop vegetable oil formulations with shorter carbon chains that are better suited for the processing technology. These genetic strategies will be transferred to other vegetable oil feedstocks, such as soybean and oil-rich sorghum, which are currently being developed by university faculty for the U.S. DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI).
Research at UNL builds on prior US DOE and Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research'funding.
(Source: University of Nebraska, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, UNL IANR NEWS, 17 Dec., 2019)
Contact: UNL Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
402-472-2081, www.unl.edu;
National Institute for Food and Agriculture, www.nifa.usda.gov; U.S. DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, www.cabbi.bio
More Low-Carbon Energy News Camelina, Oilseed, USDA, National Institute for Food and Agriculture,