Sangwon SuhSangwon Suh

Dept. Bioproducts and Biosystems Dept. Bioproducts and Biosystems EngineeringEngineering

University of MinnesotaUniversity of Minnesota

Ethanol mandates

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0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Senate objectives on advanced biofuel production (billions of gallons)

Senate objectives on conventional biofuel production (billions of gallons)

Biofuel production statistics (billions of gallons)

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Where the water is used?Where the water is used?

Source: Delta-T corp.

MN ethanol plants’ water use rate

Source: DNR (2006) and own data collected

Wat

er u

se /

eth

anol

pro

ducti

on

(gal

lon/

gallo

n)

Where the water come from?

Facility CountyEthanol Capacity Reported Annual Water Usage (MGY)

MGY1 wells (owned) well (public) surface (owned) surface (public) others

AlbertLea(Exol/Agri resources) Freeborn 41 205 0

Atwater(BushmillsEthanol) Kandiyohi 48 200

Benson(CVEC) Swift 46 160 0 0 0 0

BinghamLake(Ethanol2000) Cottonwood 35 0 129 0 0 0

BuffaloLake(MN energy) Renville 19 88.5

Claremont(Al-Corn) Dodge 38 146.6 16

GraniteFallsEnergy Yellow Medicine 48 0.15 15.2 108.4 0 6

HeronLakeBioenergy Jackson 50 210

LakeCrystal Blue Earth 54 230

LittleFalls(CMEC) Morrison 22 0 88.75 0 0 0

Luverne(Corn-erStone) Rock 22 95

Marshall(ADM)* Lyon 40 0 469 0 0 0

Melrose(DairyProteins) Stearns 3 12

Morris(DENCO) Stevens 25 152.4

Preston(Pro-Corn) Fillmore 42 165

Winnebago(Corn Plus) Faribault 47 135 0 0 0 0

Winthrop(Heartland) Sibley 100 90 200

Comparing with state total Bi

llion

Gal

lons

per

yea

r (in

yea

r 20

07)

Water-intensive industry?

Estimations based on water use, water price, and ethanol production data (own data collected; Smith et al., 2008; Dept. public health, 2008; DNR, 2007)

Demand: Ethanol Water FootprintApproximately 9.6 trillion gallons of water were

appropriated by the U.S. ethanol industry in 2007

806 billion gallons: irrigated water from aquifers

475 billion gallons: irrigated water from surface

water sources

26 billion gallons: ethanol facilities process water

(mostly groundwater).

Water appropriation for ethanol industry is

equivalent to 10% of Mississippi River’s annual flow

Comparing EtOH Water Appropriation

Source Water

Multidisciplinary EffortsTwo testimonials to Legislative Citizens

Commission for Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).

Substantial media coverage on the issue, but

often with conflicting information.

Two new projects: (1) from LCCMR, (2)

USDA/DOE.

Meeting with John Wells – various activities

around the issue across MN.

Serial MeetingsWe’ll continually arrange integrated meetings

How the issue is perceived by the expert groups?

What can we do as a group of experts to better inform the general public and policy makers on water implications of energy industry development?

What are the knowledge/data gaps to better understand the issue?

Is there a common methodological/modeling ground for analysis?

Objectives of the MeetingsInformation/perspective sharing

Ongoing activities by various institutions around MN.Available data and resources.Modeling frameworks.Water implications of biofuel development in general.Key knowledge/data gaps.

Discuss possible consensus buildingCommon methodological/modeling ground.The current state and the future prospects of water

implications of ethanol development.

Our overall observationWater use by biofuel conversion processes does not seem

to be a major threat for MN water resource at the state-level.

At a local level, however, water use by biofuel plant can be a problem depending on the ground water availability and public water supply capacity of the area.

Broad range of cost-effective water conservation measures should be discussed in all areas of water use (not only in biofuel conversion processes).

Standardized data, model and analytical method to determine location-specific water availability will be helpful to site biofuel plants considering water availability.