Corn, Agricultural Vision: Future Renewable Chemical Building Blocks ST. LOUIS, Mo. The National Corn Growers As sociation (NCGA) has a story to tell about checkoff-funded research that has the poten tial of increasing the price per bushel of corn by a minimum of 50 cents per year. That research is funded under the Agricultural Vision, the Plant/Crop-Based Renewable Resources Vision 2020 program at the U.S. De partment of Energy (DOE). “Picture this research as a conversion of corn and other renewable inputs to chemical building blocks that would be used to produce a wide range of everyday consumer goods such as plastics, paints, carpet fibers, adhesives, anti freeze, and personal care products,” said Vic Miller, a grower from Oelwein, lowa, and a member of NCGA’s Customer and Business De velopment Action Team. “The Agricultural Vision is for plants, instead of petro- PAUL B. smmm mam 'WOiiD'BFOOD'^CTI Crop Care FOAM MARKER • 5 gal. Tank • 3 Hrs. 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For virtually any spraying, fluid handling or pressure cleaning need you have, depend on The Long Blue Line™ for genuine value Genuine Hypro pumps from your quality Hypro dealer. leum, to serve as the feedstock for 10 percent of the chemical building blocks market by 2020 and 50 per cent by 2050.” Since 1997, the NCGA, in cooperation with the DOE, has championed the Renew ables Resources 2020, a broad-based coalition of agri cultural, forestry, and chemi cal industry experts working to create plant-based, renew able products that would re place petroleum-based products as fossil-fuel sup plies dwindle. “The program is focused solely on funding projects that will use plants instead of petroleum for chemical building blocks. While the program does not fund ethanol, a completely sepa rate research and policy pro gram of the NCGA, using plants for industrial feedstocks has the potential in the future to be an ex tremely significant market s&*2*OSss r i B PUMPS for corn,” said Miller. Gaining 10 percent of the market, he notes, would rep resent a five-fold increase from today’s tiny market share of the chemical build ing blocks in the Agricultural Vision, he said. In recent testimony to the House Subcommittee on In terior Committee on Appro priations, Miller pushed for a minimum of $l3 million in funding for the Agricultural Vision. “If plants were the feedstock for 10 percent of this market, farm income would increase by more than $5 billion (or 50 cents per bushel) per year, greenhouse gas emissions would be re duced, recycling opportuni ties would be increased and, most importantly, our de pendence on foreign oil would decrease.” Miller noted that recent ex periences illustrate how the power of unstable oil export ing companies dramatically WSXI/T'* 25 To 3300 Gal. 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The most sig nificant opportunity to help offset the need for imported oil is the use of alternative feedstocks that can be de rived from renewable plants and crops.” He emphasized that re newable materials from Am- SPRAYING EQUIPMENT I I I I I I hfjl POLY TA - I Horizontal ‘S’ Series 5 HP • Built in chci • Equipped w 2” female tl connection: erican-grown crops can provide many of the same basic chemical building blocks as petrochemicals, and can provide others that petro chemicals cannot. “To achieve the bold vision, we must begin laying the research foundation today,” Miller said. “If we are to realize, fully, the po tential for biobased resources as a supplement to fossil fuels, we need new routes for more efficient processing and utilization as well as a whole range of plant-derived build ing blocks. Now is the time for significant research and development on what renew able and novel processes might be available, and for beginning to develop selec tion criteria among the possi ble alternatives.” {^iTlunT MUfla DIAPHRAGM DEMAND PUMP w I 217 rnm'y&n
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