Originally Posted By: hatt
Of course you're aware we use much diesel to produce that ethanol? We aren't saving much, if any, oil.
Ok, I'll bite. How are we using as much diesel to produce ethanol? I am surrounded by over 40+ ethanol plants and I could be missing something, but I see some fairly large ethanol storage tanks, and I have yet to see one diesel storage tank at those plants that even compares.
Maybe you are inferring about the farming operations. Well that would be a stretch. Many are using low till or no till farming methods and have been for sometime. We us no till methods on the farms around me, and ours. Now, lets take the number of 420 gallons of ethanol per acre of ethanol production per the 2014 Biofuels guide. We make 2 passes over a corn field in one year, once to plant and once to harvest. Again, we use no till, so there is no trips over the field to turn over the soil and such. I can attest quite confidently, that if we used even 20 gallons per acre, per year, of diesel, we had better look into new equipment. Even a low till operation, that would include another pass over the field isn't going to use 20 gallons per acre either.
So, where is the other 400+ gallons of diesel being used? Can't be with the trucks. A typical grain truck carries the equivalent of 4 acres or more (depending on the per acre yield) of corn in one trip, usually no more than 25 miles, on average. At 6 mpg, that uses shy of 5 gallons, or a little over a gallon per acre. Ok, now we are up to 21-22 gallons total, and I am being very liberal with the number or gallons used. They are usually less.
Maybe the plant itself is using diesel to do the ethanol processing. Not likely. That would be pretty inefficient as best. Gotta go with NG on that one. At least the plants in my area are not so inefficient to use diesel for processing.
I must be missing something. Would you care to enlighten us on how it takes as much diesel to make the same volume of ethanol?