Environmental effects of the conversion of biomass to liquid fuels: gasohol

Conference · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981 · J. Environ. Sci.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6319834

Field, J E

The environmental impacts associated with growing and harvesting the corn, or other feedstocks, are liable to have the greatest adverse effects in an expanded gasohol program. The best available cropland is already under cultivation, so that attempts to expand production will bring marginal lands into use. These are the fields most sensitive to erosion with consequent sedimentation problems in the waterways. Addition of .1 and .3 million km/sup 2/ (30 to 70 MM acres) of these marginal lands to produce enough gasohol for all our needs would add an estimated 1.8 and 4.5 x 10/sup 11/ kg (200 to 500 MM tons) of soil per year to the erosion total. The marginal croplands are also those which would require the most intensive cultivation in terms of labor, fertilizers, pesticides and expenditures of fossil fuels. Fertilizer and pesticide runoffs from this new cropland would further aggravate a problem that is already critical in some parts of the country. Leaching of chemicals to surface and ground water systems can cause premature aging of lakes and streams, harm to aquatic life and problems for communities reliant on these waters for their domestic water. It is concluded that the magnitude of the problem of replacing even part of our liquid hydrocarbon sources is staggering. No one energy source is seen available in the near future and in all likelihood we shall have to press into service a variety of resources. Biomass, a renewable aggregate of materials, will probably have to assume a significant portion of the load. Frugal, intelligent management of the growth, harvesting, processing and use of our resources can contribute substantially to our total energy requirements with acceptable environmental consequences.

• OSTI ID: 6319834
• Conference Information: Journal Name: J. Environ. Sci.; (United States) Journal Volume: 24:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
140504 -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Biomass Production & Conversion-- (-1989)
510500* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BIOMASS
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES
DISSOLUTION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EROSION
FUELS
GASOHOL
HARVESTING
LAND USE
LEACHING
LIQUID FUELS
POLLUTION
PRODUCTION
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WATER POLLUTION