Corncobs may play major role in ethanol

SANTA ROSA, Texas, July 24 (UPI) -- Secret testing in a secluded field near the Mexican border is aimed at meeting an expected huge need for ethanol -- made partly with corncobs not corn.

In tiny Santa Rosa, Texas, a few miles northwest of Harlingen, the nation's largest producer of ethanol, usually with corn, is seeking a new phase in creating a usable substitute for gasoline. And, in this case, a substitute for corn, as well.

The machine being tested collects corncobs, naked of kernels and typically left in the field after a harvest for eventual conversion in ethanol, The Houston Chronicle says.

The company behind it, a South Dakota firm called Poet, aims to be among the first in the country to produce ethanol on a large scale from non-food sources.

The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires greater use of ethanol and other biofuels, growing to 36 billion gallons in 2022. That's about 25 percent of the 140 billion gallons of gasoline U.S. drivers consume annually.

More than half of the federal biofuel mandate, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard, calls for fuels made from non-food crops and agricultural waste.