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 Roger Beachy, president, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center |
FUELING THE
ST. LOUIS ECONOMY WITH BIOFUEL
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By Brian R. Hook
There’s nothing like sky-high oil prices—with no near-term relief in sight—to get national policymakers and business leaders thinking about alternative sources of fuel. This new era of ever-increasing demand and dwindling supply of fossil-based fuel provides the perfect catalyst for St. Louis leaders to promote biofuel— not only as a sustainable and renewable source of energy, but as way to boost the regional economy.
The St. Louis region has a significant comparative advantage when it comes to developing biofuel over other regions of the country, according to James McLaren, president of StrathKirn Inc. in Chesterfield, which provides biotechnology-consulting services. “You tend to have development where your raw materials are processed,” McLaren says.
It comes down to geography. For oil, it’s the coasts where it arrives by tanker from overseas to meet the country’s growing thirst for energy. But for biofuel, it sprouts from the ground in the Midwest. “You could imagine a future where if raw materials are grown in a biological sense, then it would be processed in the area where it is grown,” McLaren says. “St. Louis is kind of right in the middle…in the heart of that region.”
But it is not only geography. Knowledge also plays a role. McLaren notes that St. Louis has an edge in this area as well, “because there is a relatively high concentration of knowledge of biotechnology in this region,” ranging from small firms like his, to giant agricultural businesses like Monsanto Company with more than 15,000 employees, headquartered in Creve Coeur.
Biofuel efforts underway at Monsanto cover a wide range of activities, including researching ways to improve the supply and quality of corn and soybeans—used to produce biofuels—to exploring ways to enhance products for biofuel. Sally Metz, technical lead for corn ethanol at Monsanto, says the company is also supporting cross-industry promotional and education campaigns designed to increase the use of biofuel.
“Monsanto supports research and education efforts around biofuels, because we believe it can play an important role to the success and sustainability of the region and our nation,” Metz says. “As consumers, biofuels can provide us with an important cleaner burning, renewable energy resource that is grown right here in our own backyard.”
| The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. |
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Metz says biofuel could also help reduce our nation’s reliance on foreign oil. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 64 percent of U.S. oil consumption was imported in 2004 and that figure is expected to rise to 77 percent by 2025. “Blending ethanol with gasoline stretches our fuel supplies and reduces the amount of oil that needs to be imported by hundreds of thousands of barrels each day,” Metz says.
Monsanto has developed and is marketing specific corn hybrids that yield more ethanol per bushel. These hybrids are currently offered in over 90 corn seed brands. “Farmers and other investor groups have doubled the size of the ethanol industry in a few short years and are poised to continue that growth for several more years,” Metz says.
Last year was already a record year for the biofuel industry, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade group based in Washington D.C. It reports that 81 ethanol plants located in 20 states produced a 3.41 billion gallons in 2004, up 21 percent from 2003 and up 109 percent since 2000. The renewable fuel industry processed 1.26 billion bushels of corn into ethanol, which totals 11 percent of the entire nation’s crop.
Martha Schlicher, director of the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, wants to see even larger numbers. The center focuses on improving the long term growth, sustainability and viability of renewable energy. “Increasing the use of renewable fuels is critical to our energy security, improves our environment and improves the economies of rural America,” Shlicher says.
Processing grains for biofuel also provides an important value added market for farmers, says Gerson Santos, director of research and development at Abengoa Bioenergy R&D Inc. in Chesterfield—a subsidiary of Abengoa S.A. in Seville, Spain. The research arm of the company focuses on advancing the development of bioethanol. Santos says biofuel creates investment opportunities and increases economic activity in rural areas.
Santos notes that Missouri already has two farmer-owned ethanol plants, which produce 60 million gallons of ethanol annually. He says that Missouri has the capacity to open at least three other plants, which would generate nearly $90 million dollars in tax revenues for the state and thousands of direct and indirect new jobs in Missouri.
Santos says the St. Louis region is already in a strong position to assist in the development of biofuels. “The St. Louis region is in the process of becoming a national technical center for the advancement of the biofuels industry,” Santos says.
To keep this momentum moving forward, however, will require partnerships, according to Roger Beachy, president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur—where a handful of scientists are working on biofuel research. He says the advancement of the biofuel industry in the St. Louis region will rely on partnerships between the research community, development community and private industry.
Beachy says an important step toward this cooperation has already been completed with the creation of the BioEnergy Working Group, put together by the St. Louis RCGA. It consists of leaders in the biofuels industry from across the region.
“I think the challenges will be now moving to that next step,” which Beachy says is finding the necessary funding. Will this funding come from private sources, public sources or a mixture of the two? “The source of those funds will help to focus the energies of this group,” says Beachy. “I think what we have is a great start.”
Metz from Monsanto agrees that funding will be the key to developing Biofuel. But she says that while most of the focus in the past has been on research and government policy, it is also important now to place an emphasis on consumer education.
“The real onerous is on each of us,” Metz says. “If we are serious as a country about energy security, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and helping to preserve our environment for future generations, then as consumers we should each use our voice to ensure that biofuels are the fuels of choice across the nation.” |
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