Corn Ethanol: A Silver Bullet to Rising Fuel Prices?

The United States grows more corn than any other nation on earth. This corn is utilized for a wide-array of different products, including food. However, corn prices have recently gone up and many farmers have devoted more energy to growing corn, thanks to the increased interest in biofuels. Ethanol, from corn, is the main biofuel produced in the United States and some have heralded it as a green alternative to fossil fuels. However, is this really the case? Can ethanol from corn really help our nation when fuel prices are rising?

First off, let us take a look at how bio-ethanol is produced. Currently, most ethanol is produced from the corn kernels, as the contain the needed sugars for fermentation and are not bound up by lignin, a compound that makes breakdown of cellulose difficult. The kernels are often pretreated to help break down the substance into simple sugars, then are fermented. Yeast are often used, as in an anaerobic environment they will convert the simple sugars into ethanol. This ethanol must then be separated from the mix and tested for fuel quality. Other ways exist to make ethanol, including gasification, but fermentation is currently one of the most utilized methods. Propents of ethanol praise how "carbon neutral" it may be, as burning it supposedly only releases the CO₂ is took in growing, no more. Also, it is renewable, unlike other sources of fuel (fossil fuels).

Unfortunately, the process of growing corn for such fermentation into ethanol taints the "environmental" label of bio-ethanol. Corn requires extensive agricultural practices, such as heavy irrigation and fertilization usage. Runoff from corn farms in the Midwest is blamed for seriously affecting the Gulf of Mexico and creating a "Dead zone" there, lacking in dissolved oxygen and resulting in negative affects on fish reproduction in the area. Chemicals have washed down the Mississippe River into the Gulf, contributing to the over-abundance of nutrients in the water and the subsequent eutrophication.