20 



there is some logic to that when you are only using the grain out of 

 the biomass in the whole stock. 



Are you familiar with that report? 



Mr. Adams. Yes, sir, I am. 



Mr. FoRSYTHE. I would appreciate your comments. 



Mr. Adams. In the interest of time, sir, I will try to be very brief. 



This is a subject area that you opened up is one that 



Mr. FoRSYTHE. It goes to the whole problem that we have got to 

 look at or we will be trapped in finding ourselves needing more oil 

 to produce the biomass product. 



Mr. Adams. Yes, sir. We have wrestled with that problem in 

 DOE a great deal. A lot of the dilemma on the net energy account- 

 ing which you referred to on production of alcohol, really depends 

 on how one accounts for it. How the accounting is done, where the 

 circle is drawn around the total system, and even if one takes a 

 very conservative accounting, and counts every iota of energy that 

 goes into produce alcohol, it need not be a negative producer. 



One of the main reasons why alcohol 



Mr. FoRSYTHE. We are limiting ourselves to grain alcohol or 

 ethyl alcohol? 



Mr. Adams. Yes, sir. Even with grain alcohol, it does not have to 

 be a negative producer, and one of the fundamental reasons why so 

 many studies show that it is is because the way conventional 

 distillation is done to purify and get to an anhydrous state of 

 alcohol, that is essentially dry alcohol, which indeed it has to be 

 for — or it should be, it is desirable for it to be with use of motor 

 gasoline because otherwise one would get separation with the 

 water. So it needs to be essentially anhydrous and that distillation 

 step is extremely energy intensive. It is the nature of alcohol and 

 water to boil at a constant temperature, they form a constant 

 boiling mixture. There are ways to get beyond that constant boiling 

 point that have been known for years in the petrochemical indus- 

 try, chemical processing industry that do not involve such an 

 energy intensive step. 



We are working on those. 



Mr. FoRSYTHE. Well, let us try to simplify this. Is the technology 

 available today in use. 



Mr. Adams. Yes, sir. 



[The following was received:] 



Production of Grain Alcohol 



The total output of energy in the production of grain alcohol is about equal to the 

 input of energy. This information is based on the use of corn as a raw material and 

 includes energies expended for plowing, seeding, fertilizing, tilling, harvesting, and 

 processing. Credit is taken for useful by-products such as Distiller's Dried Grains 

 and fractions of other chemicals derived from the fermentation and distillation 

 process. This credit can be offset if biomass issued for process heat instead of oil or 

 natural gas. 



The use of ethanol in gasoline as an octane enhancer removes the need for the 

 additional octane additives in unleaded gasoline. As a consequence, more gallons of 

 gasoline may be refined from a barrel or crude oil. 



The Btu input for the production of alcohol equivalent to 1 million Btu are as 

 follows: corn cultivation and harvesting — 436,000 Btu; processing into alcohol — 

 647,000 Btu. The Distiller's Dried Grains yield 139,000 Btu and, if included in the 

 energy output from the process, result in a slight positive net energy balance. In 

 comparison, the energy content of the unprocessed corn is 1,770,000 Btu. 



