VICTORIA, British Columbia, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Wood as a source of biofuel could compete with corn by 2020 if support for a wood biofuel industry is forthcoming, Canadian researchers say.
A University of British Columbia study says wood-based biofuel is considered more sustainable than that from corn but is not currently produced in large commercial quantities in Canada and the United States because the costs are too great.
Corn ethanol is currently blended with gasoline to meet government-mandated targets of renewable content in transportation fuel.
Researchers in UBC's Faculty of Forestry said large-scale commercial production of wood-based ethanol could reduce capital and operation costs and allow it to compete with corn-based biofuel without government support.
"As industrial production increases, cellulosic ethanol is likely to become more competitive with corn ethanol for a share of the renewable fuels market," Jamie Stephen, lead author of the study, said in a UBC release Tuesday.
Wood-based biofuel creates fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires less water to produce, doesn't use food supplies for fuel and means competition for agricultural land can be reduced the study said.
"If you do a purely economic production cost comparison between wood and corn today, corn will be the lower cost option," Stephen said.
"If we consider other factors, like energy security, the environmental impact and availability of resources, cellulosic ethanol becomes a more competitive option for Canada and the United States."
