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Sugar Beet vs. Corn Ethanol: A Comparative Study for Sustainable Fuel Production

Discover the energy efficiency and environmental impact of sugar beet and corn ethanol production, highlighting sugar beets as the superior choice despite higher costs. Learn why sugar beets are a promising alternative for ethanol production in the U.S.

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Sugar Beet vs. Corn Ethanol: A Comparative Study for Sustainable Fuel Production

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  1. Dominic Deichert Sugar Beet vs Corn Ethanol

  2. Ethanol • Ford Model T designed to use pure ethanol • Today, a fuel additive to decrease gaseous emissions • An AKI octane number of 100.5 to 116 - commercial gasoline average is 87 • A functional unit of 1.5 gallons ethanol to 1 gallon gasoline

  3. Why Sugar Beets? • Can be grown annually in most regions • Current production is 1,243,000 acres giving 22.2 tons/acre beets (27,537,000 tons beets) • Studies of French sugar beet ethanol suggests 750 gallons ethanol per acre - 590 gallons per acre of sugar cane in Brazil. • One downside: Cost is 2-3 times as much for sugar beet ethanol compared to sugar cane

  4. Direct Comparison

  5. Direct Comparison

  6. American Farming • Sugar Beets: 532.8 gallons/acre • Need 1.51x current production for 1% • Losses due to fertilizer, pesticide, and machine use: 18.2% • Corn: 369.75 gallons/acre • Need 3.6% current production for 1% • Losses due to fertilizer, pesticide, and machine use: 32.2%

  7. Sugar Beet Process

  8. Corn Dry-Mill Process

  9. Net Energy • Processing • Sugar Beet Losses: 32.9% • Corn Losses: 58.1% • Overall Losses • Sugar Beet: 51.1% • Corn: 90.4%

  10. Summary • Ethanol is a tested immediate solution to cut emissions • Sugar beets have highest productivity of ethanol per acre and are suited for the U.S. • Both processes are the same with an additional step to break up starch into sugar • Sugar beets are better than corn from an energy standpoint

  11. Questions?

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