Not long ago, a gentleman noted that hemp would be an excellent source for an ethanol plant. If it could be grown in large quantities and harvested, then it could assist the US in her addiction to Middle Eastern Oil. The man who came up with this scheme from Santa Barbara, CA stated:
My Dream is to Build a Hemp Ethanol Plant"
Indeed, hemp is extremely high in cellulose, perhaps four or five times higher than what they are using now. It might be nice to use the sage brush along the coastal mountain range where you are, by harvesting some of it, you could prevent fires, if you did not take too much you would hurt the erosion problems there. Hemp makes sense of course but in Santa Barbara there is a water situation too, so it might be tough to build a plant there.
Ethanol Plants use lots of water at ratios of 8:1 or 8 gallons of water for one gallon of Ethanol in the refining process. This does not include growing the crop itself, however in the case of Hemp, it can grow in the wild like the "Switch Grass" scheme that a University in Texas came up with not long ago.
Therefore the Online Think Tank asked the individual;
- Do you have any preliminary studies, information, drawings of the plant design?
- Do you have investors, backing, supporters for this concept?
Using the highest cellulose plants to make cellulose ethanol makes the most sense and for those plants that grow in the wild, helping them along a little bit, means we are not sacrificing farm land for food in trade for fuel. So, perhaps it is worthy of more inquiry?
"Lance Winslow" - Online Blog Content Service. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance Winslow's Bio
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