Have you ever considered that your crops could be more than food stuffs for animals and humans alike? Have you ever thought that they could be used to power not just your farm, but your local community and even public transport? Well, if you answered no, then it is time we introduced you to bioethanol production. Quite simply, the crops that you grow in your fields can be transformed through a straight forward process to create energy. Ingenious, isn’t it.
Why bioethanol? It’s quite simple really, it burns cleaner than petroleum based products and it also reduces dependence on oil. However, it’s important that bioethanol is included within an overarching sustainable agricultural plan to ensure that enough of the essential food products for the world as a whole, and your livestock remain.
New Holland is the premier equipment partner of Growth Energy and its 75 supported ethanol plants. Furthermore, the prestigious NASCAR series cars in the United States, which run on a blend of E15, 15% ethanol, will benefit from this alliance. A whole range of crops can be transformed from simple plants into essential energy. Sugar from sugarcane, sugar beet, cereal crops such as wheat, maize stover, miscanthus and even surplus wine and potatoes can all be converted into cellular energy and used to produce ethanol.
New Holland is actively involved in the promotion of bioethanol through its partnership with Growth Energy in North America. Customer are invited to attend conferences to find out more information on the benefits that bioethanol production could bring to their farm. Furthermore, New Holland offers a complete range of products to support bioethanol production.
Whether you’re growing, harvesting or managing your bioethanol crops, New Holland has the right product for you. From planters through to crop protection equipment such as sprayers, and from tractors for a range of tasks to the right combine or forage harvester, you will receive professional support every step of the way.
Bioethanol production can be significantly increased, by up to 30 or 40% for the same cultivated area, when compared to standard production techniques, by using an enzymatic process to release ethanol from bagasse, the by product of mill production or from the sugar cane stover which remains in the field following harvesting. This form of bioethanol production is linked to cellulose, hemicellulose or lignin as opposed to the traditional sucrose-focused methods.
In North Eastern Brazil, sugar cane stover is collected from the fields, and using second generation cellulosic bioethanol production techniques, is transformed into useful ethanol. This process uses enzymes to break down the cellulosic fibre into simple sugar molecules which subsequently fermented and turned into ethanol and produces 30-40% more ethanol than traditional first generation techniques.