[HN Gopher] Scientists discover new way to convert corn waste to...
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       Scientists discover new way to convert corn waste to low-cost sugar
       for biofuel
        
       Author : gnabgib
       Score  : 27 points
       Date   : 2025-05-06 20:10 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (news.wsu.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (news.wsu.edu)
        
       | 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
       | They calculated that, by offsetting the cost of production
       | through byproduct uses or sales, the resulting sugar could be
       | sold for as low as 28 cents per pound, making it competitive with
       | low-cost imported sugar.
       | 
       | Not in the US. Americans pay double global sugar prices so as to
       | protect the corn lobby.
       | 
       | Regardless, the economics could still be there if this is truly
       | waste trash. The article did not mention how the cellulose is
       | currently used. Animal feed? Mulch? Landfill? I guess there is
       | somebody who pays something for access to the material.
       | 
       | Edit: mangled the phrasing
        
       | stevenwoo wrote:
       | Would this still be competitive price wise if corn in the USA was
       | not so heavily subsidized? It only states in the article the end
       | product would be competitive with imported low cost sugar.
        
       | zuluonezero wrote:
       | Related technology developed in Australia with bagasse (sugar
       | cane waste products)
       | https://www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au/news-and-events/turn...
        
       | RajT88 wrote:
       | This is really cool. The corn byproducts are probably targeted
       | because they are already harvested, but I imagine this tech would
       | be applicable to a lot of plant matter.
       | 
       | I look at all these bodies of water with massive algae blooms
       | from fertilizer runoff and figure whomever figures out how to
       | harvest that and make fuel out of it will be very wealthy indeed.
        
         | metalman wrote:
         | corn by products?,cobs, stalks, leaves, roots ? also called
         | stover, is left in the field after harvesting the actual corn
         | kernals. Gathering and removal costs will be substansial and
         | will have a negative impact on soil fertility. Also the stover
         | and lost corn kernals provide significant food to wild animals,
         | so there will be further enviromental costs to removing the
         | stover. There have been many attempts to utilise corn and other
         | grain's stover, but all of them have been marginaly profitable.
         | Cellulose is hard to remove or convert, and the silica content
         | makes the materials abrasive and wears machinery, and generate
         | a lot of ash when burned, when all of this is factored into
         | it's light weight and huge distancecs that must be driven to
         | gather and transport it, there you have it. Various schemes
         | have been developed to ,upgrade stover as fuel, by windrowing
         | it, letting it ret, then drying, and then pellitising it for
         | fuel..... it works, but it's a lot of management, and the work
         | must be done durring the right weather. This also will apply to
         | the latest idea under discussion here, now.
        
       | 1024core wrote:
       | This could be useful in India, where farmers prefer to just burn
       | the biomass after a harvest, causing lots of air pollution in
       | North Indian areas like Delhi, especially in winter.
        
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       (page generated 2025-05-06 23:01 UTC)