Super-Plant Produces Ethanol, Eliminates Pollutants

A new study by researchers at North Carolina State University has found that growing duckweed on hog wastewater can produce five to six times more starch per acre than corn. Since corn is the primary crop used for ethanol production in the United States, this means that duckweed grown on hog wastewater could produce ethanol "faster and cheaper than from corn," said fellow researcher Dr. Anne-Marie Stomp in a recent statement.

The waste from large hog farms is often kept in large pools. Since duckweed uses the nutrients in the wastewater for growth, and converts much of the wastewater into ethanol, duckweed "we can kill two birds - biofuel production and wastewater treatment - with one stone - duckweed," Cheng said.

The facilities currently used to produce ethanol from corn could also be used to turn the starch from duckweed into ethanol. Producing higher ethanol feedstock per acre than corn, and having the ethanol processing infrastructure and processing already in place could make duckweed the first 21^st century crop.

"There's a bias in agriculture that all the crops that could be discovered have been discovered," Dr. Anne-Marie Stomp said, "but duckweed could be the first of the new, 21st century crops. In the spirit of George Washington Carver, who turned peanuts into a major crop, Jay and I are on a mission to turn duckweed into a new industrial crop, providing an innovative approach to alternative fuel production."

Growing duckweed for ethanol production and bio-waste management avoids some of the common criticisms often heard by supporters of corn-ethanol production. Unlike corn, duckweed is not a food commodity. As farmers begin growing duckweed for ethanol production the price of animal feed and consumable corn products will not be negatively affected.

Further, since duckweed is grown on land not typically suitable for conventional crops. Farmers who choose to produce duckweed for ethanol production will not have to cut back on their existing crop. In fact they may even find they have more valuable productive land than they had originally thought.

The North Carolina State University study shows "Duckweed could be an environmentally friendly, economically viable feedstock for ethanol." As such, Dr. Cheng and Dr. Stomp are currently working on a pilot-scale project to further investigate the best way to establish a large-scale system for growing duckweed on animal wastewater, and then harvesting and drying the duckweed, according to North Carolina State University spokesman Matt Shipman.

"Growing High-Starch Duckweed on Wastewater for Ethanol Production"

Authors: Jay J. Cheng, Anne-M. Stomp and Mike Yablonski, North Carolina State University