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Highlands Today

Bottom Line On Biofuels Plant

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By Jim  Konkoly | Highlands Today

Published: May 17, 2008

LAKE PLACID — Highlands County farmers and gasoline consumers got estimates for the first time Thursday on the bottom-line economics for them if the proposed biofuels plant at U.S. 27 and State Road 70 is built.

There was good news for farmers: Preliminary estimates are that they'll make well over $300, and probably between $400 to $500, per crop on every acre they commit to sweet sorghum production for the ethanol plant.

There also was good news for environmentalists: More ethanol mixed into gasoline means cleaner air, because 35 percent of ethanol is oxygen and it burns cleaner than gasoline produced from petroleum.

And there was good news for gasoline consumers, too, from Brad Krohn, president of Tampa-based U.S. EnviroFuels, who made all of the above statements.

Ethanol production is projected to increase every year, Krohn said, and the more ethanol there is in the country's energy supply the better gasoline prices will be.

"Without ethanol, gasoline prices would be significantly higher, because ethanol adds volume to the gasoline supply," he said.

Krohn emphasized that the $400 to $500 profit per acre per crop from sweet sorghum production for the ethanol plant is a "very preliminary estimate." He said the actual numbers will get more precise and accurate as the company conducts field studies and gets closer to opening the ethanol plant.

Krohn made his first, preliminary pitch to farmers to grow sweet sorghum for the ethanol plant late Thursday afternoon at the Lake Placid Conference Center. About 35 local growers attended the presentation, which also drew Highlands County Commissioner Andy Jackson and Ray Royce, executive director of the Heartland Agricultural Coalition.

A second meeting for U.S. EnviroFuels to talk to growers interested in producing sweet sorghum for the ethanol plant will be held at 6 p.m. May 29 at the Highlands County Agri-Civic Center in Sebring.

John Alleyne, director of the Highlands County Extension Service, said it's still to be determined if sweet sorghum will grow well in Highlands County's soils, particularly the sandy soils suited for citrus north of S.R. 70.

But, Alleyne said, experiments in growing sweet sorghum locally are being conducted.

Alleyne also told the growers that prospects for growing sweet sorghum for ethanol production here are good. He worked for the United Nations in India and, he said, he saw sweet sorghum being grown successfully there in various environments.

"I saw it working when I was with the U.N. in southern India," Alleyne said. The University of Florida is researching the success of growing this plant around the state, he added.

"Down the road, I will provide you with as much information and research as I can from the University of Florida," Alleyne told the growers.

Krohn said the plant, which needs approvals from Highlands County, the water management district and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, should be in operation in two years.

The technology of converting sweet sorghum into ethanol is based on similar operations in Brazil, he said.

Meanwhile, Krohn said, research into growing sweet sorghum and converting it into ethanol as an "advanced biofuel" in the United States is going on at several places, including Texas A & M University, Mississippi State University, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Kentucky.

Growing sweet sorghum and converting it into a high-grade ethanol will work in Florida, Krohn said.

"It's been done in Brazil for 30 years," he said. "It's not rocket science."

The ethanol plant is seeking long-term contracts for sweet sorghum production, and local growers are more than welcome to become investors in the ethanol plant, too, Krohn said.

To reach the goal of producing 20 million gallons of ethanol a year, the plant will need sweet sorghum grown on about 25,000 acres, Krohn said. The typical growth cycle for this crop is about 120 days, he said, so growers would harvest two sweet sorghum crops a year. Three crops per year may be possible but is highly unlikely, he said.

Krohn said the ethanol plant will probably buy sweet sorghum from farms in a radius of 20 to 30 miles around the plant. If the plant's production increases, he said, sweet sorghum might be supplied from a radius of 40 to 50 miles, using railroad loading stations.

Krohn noted that the ethanol plant, on a 30-acre site at U.S. 27 and S.R. 70, will be on a railroad line owned by U.S. Sugar. He said U.S. EnviroFuels has agreed not to compete with U.S. Sugar for fields. Thus, the ethanol plant will contract with farmers to grow sweet sorghum only if they are not already contracted to grow sugar cane for U.S. Sugar, he said.

Every year, total gasoline consumption in the United States is about 150 billion gallons, Krohn said. Currently, he said, about 60 percent of the gasoline sold in this country has ethanol in it, usually at the level of 10 percent.

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