SymBio: Biomass Opportunity

Biomass fuel refers to any combustible form of organic material. This can include bark, saw dust, sanding dust, agricultural wastes such as peanut shells and rice hulls, and animal residuals. Systems provided by GEL will convert such waste products into usable thermal and electrical energy, efficiently and cleanly.

Biomass fuels are cleaner burning than conventional fossil fuels such as natural gas or coal, and unlike conventional fuels, biomass fuels are a renewable form of energy. Unlike corn, biomass can be harvested in quantity throughout the United States, according to Burt English, a professor in the agricultural economics department at the University of Tennessee. English said agricultural waste that comes from yard clippings and clearing trees could be collected from any urban area. Producing ethanol from switchgrass would take some land out of food production and would have "the impact of increasing farm prices and reducing government payments," he said.

English said the federal government should fund biomass ethanol that could be produced throughout the United States. "The facts point to the conclusion that biomass is a better use of resources," English said.

Biomass could be converted into ethanol in commercial quantities at a cost equivalent to $25 per barrel of crude oil, or roughly half the current price of imported oil, according to E. Kyle Datta, co-author of Winning the Oil Endgame and managing director of research and consulting at the Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy policy group. Datta said farmers who shift from corn to switchgrass could increase their per-acre profit from about $350 to between $400 and $600.

Commercializing biomass-to-ethanol technology would also have international political ramifications, according to Datta. Producing 2.4 million barrels of ethanol per day would "be a $40 billion per year transfer of wealth from the Middle East to our farmers," he said.

Green Energy Live is positioned to capitalize on the opportunities of our technology in a broad array of industries, proprietary technology with GEL waste-to-ethanol expertise to convert corn waste and other organic waste matters into starch and other valuable co-products. The starch will be converted into fermentable sugar as a feedstock and for ethanol production.