Gulf Ethanol will not use food-based crops for production of its biofuels 
(09/05/2008)
The agricultural implications of using food-based ethanol have wide ranging effects. In addition to higher corn prices, prices for corn-based products, including animal feed also rise. This translates to higher prices for animal products like chicken, beef, and cheese, for example.
As food prices escalate worldwide, corn based ethanol has been fingered as a culprit along with higher oil prices. Gulf Ethanol has announced that it will not use food-based crops for production of its biofuels. Instead, Gulf Ethanol has begun development of its biomass processor that will process sorghum, switchgrass and other non-food biomass into a cellulose powder that can be converted to ethanol.
“We won’t burn your food,” stated JT Cloud, President of GFET. “The answer to rising fuel prices is not to run away from alternative energy production. It is to move rapidly toward the use of non-food feedstocks that are abundant and cheap,” he noted. “A lot of blame has been pointed at ethanol producers in recent weeks. We are in the business of finding solutions rather than placing blame,” he concluded.
Related categories: Biofuels and biomass
