>>Does the technology of ethanol production lend itself to on-farm production?
>
>Sure does, after all thousands of moonshiners did it with hardly any
>technology. <G>
>
>Seriously, the biggest obstacle to increasing the use of fuels like
>biodiesel (where ethanol is used to manufacture it) and ethanol are
>the archaic rules and regulations regarding distilled spirits. Trying
>to get a permit to distill ethanol from local sources (we have a lot
>of things locally that would be good sources) is impossible. Heck,
>even trying to get a microbrewery or winery license is a PITA!
>--
>Oogie McGuire - oogiem@desertweyr.com
This is really solar energy at work. Grazers utilize solar power in the
form of grass-legume growth to make milk and/or meat. Corn is a product of
solar power, the results are harvested and some of that grain will be
converted to ethanol.
The spent mash has almost all the starch removed in the fermentation
process. But the protein remains along with some other good things. Lot's
of dairymen around here feeding the wet mash in the ration now, especially
when soybean prices went out of sight last winter. Dried distillers grain
has been fed in rations for years.
The biodiesel area is coming along slower than ethanol. Heck, ethanol
isn't new. Henry Ford originally designed the Model T to run on ethanol.
Soy diesel will be a standard blend into the new, low sulfur, diesel fuels
(clean air rules) in order to enhance lubrication of engine pistons.
Otherwise the low sulfur diesel is too dry and those pistons could suffer
damage from it.
All of this may make the consumer aware of the value farmers are to them.
Seems to be a disconnect between food in the supermarkets and where it
actually originates.
Dave G.
