Meeting the U.S. Biofuel Goal with Less Land

Results of a University of Illinois study showed that using the giant perennial grass Miscanthus giganteus as a feedstock for ethanol production in the U.S. could significantly reduce the acreage dedicated to biofuels while meeting the country’s biofuels production goals. Miscanthus was shown to outperform current biofuels sources. Using corn or switchgrass to produce enough ethanol to offset 20 percent of gasoline use would take 25 percent of current U.S. cropland out of food production. The researchers showed that getting the same amount of ethanol from the giant grass would require only 9.3 percent of current agricultural acreage.

Field trials showed that Miscanthus is tolerant of poor soil quality and capable of accumulating more carbon in the soil compared to annual crop such as corn or soybeans.  In addition, the grass requires fewer chemical and mechanical inputs than corn. However, using Miscanthus in an agricultural setting has not been without its challenges. The grass must be propagated by planting underground stems because of its sterility. Stephen Long, main author of the study, pointed out that although research has led to improvements in productivity and growers are poised to begin using it as a biofuels crop on a large scale, Miscanthus is in its infancy as an agricultural product.

Read the full article at http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/08/0730miscanthus.html The abstract of the paper published by Global Change Biology is available at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120119109/abstract