Abstract
Previously reported water footprints (WFPs) of corn ethanol have been estimated based on the assumption that corn ethanol feedstock could be supplied by the same states where the corn is grown. However, ethanol conversion facilities may choose out-of-state feedstock suppliers depending on the total price of feedstock they have to pay including both the corn price and transportation costs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the WFPs and total water use (TWU) of corn ethanol considering an optimal allocation of corn with heterogeneous corn feedstock prices across states. The results show that the WFPs of corn ethanol are less than 100. l of water per liter of ethanol (Lw/Le) for all ethanol-producing states based on both the 2008 corn price and transportation costs for rail and truck. Results also reveal that WFPs are very sensitive to the market price of corn and that additional greenhouse gas emissions due to corn trade between states are not significant.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4747-4754 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Bioresource Technology |
| Volume | 102 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We would like to thank anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. This study was supported by USDA/CSREES under Grant No. 68-3A75-7-614 .
Copyright:
Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Corn price
- Irrigated water
- Processing water
- Water footprint (WFP)
