The use of marginal lands for biofuel crop plantations is seen as a move to increase the land base of biofuel crops as the future demand of the commodity increases. Biofuels crops can be planted in abandoned industrial land sites, rendered marginal/unproductive by soil contamination with industrial pollutants for two objectives: biofuel feedstock production and bioremediation. Bioremediation, the use of plants to remove or degrade contamination from soils and surface waters, has been proposed as a cheap, sustainable, effective and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional remediation technologies.

Scientists at Michigan State University (MSU), in partnership with Daimler-Chrysler, are exploring the possibility of utilizing industrial landsites (“brownfields”) for growing corn and switchgrass as bioethanol feedstocks, and soybeans, sunflower and canola as biodiesel oilseed crops.

The study area is a former industrial dump site in Oakland County. The team, lead by MSU professor, Kurt Thelen, is determining whether crop yields are sufficiently high to make the strategy viable. At the same time, they are also investigating whether biofuel crops can remove contaminants from the soil, and whether this remediation capability affects the quality of the crops for biofuels use..

Dr. Albert Kausch, a plant geneticist from the University of Rhode Island, says that genetic engineering of switchgrass as bioethanol feedstock could significantly reduce the cost of ethanol production from the present $2.70/gallon to $1/gallon. Switchgrass has several advantages for the use as bioethanol feedstock, including the ability to grow in marginal soils with little agricultural inputs like fertilizer, irrigation and insecticides. However, the slow breakdown rate of the cellulose content prior to ethanol fermentation of unaltered switchgrass, limits the commercial profitability of this crop for ethanol production. At present, Dr. Kausch is working with professors at Brown University to develop better enzymes for cellulose degradation in switchgrass, and hopes to come up with improved varieties by 2011..

The Philippine’s Biofuels Bill has finally been approved in a joint bicameral (Senate and Congress) committee. The bill provides for the mandatory use of biofuel blends in gasoline and diesel fuels. At least five percent ethanol blend in gasoline is targeted within two years of effectivity of the bill, and then increased to ten percent four years after the passage of the law. A minimum of one percent of biodiesel blend is also mandated upon effectivity of the law’s implementing rules and regulations; this would be increased to two percent within two years.

Presently, gasoline with ethanol and diesel fuel blended with coconut-based biodiesel are sold in the Philppines, but only on a voluntary basis. The passage of the law is expected to fuel the construction of bioethanol and biodiesel plants in the country. Biofuel crops will be sugarcane, cassava, and corn as the feedstocks for bioethanol production, while coconut will be used to produce biodiesel. Among the benefits from the passage of the bill are: (1) an annual savings of about 35 billion pesos (roughly $700M) in fuel imports, (2) increased employment (3) increase in farmer income, and (4) improved air quality.