2 ms·

This is really cool. The corn byproducts are probably targeted because they are already harvested, but I imagine this tech would be applicable to a lot of plan

• metalman 1y ago
  corn by products?,cobs, stalks, leaves, roots ? also called stover, is left in the field after harvesting the actual corn kernals. Gathering and removal costs will be substansial and will have a negative impact on soil fertility. Also the stover and lost corn kernals provide significant food to wild animals, so there will be further enviromental costs to removing the stover. There have been many attempts to utilise corn and other grain's stover, but all of them have been marginaly profitable. Cellulose is hard to remove or convert, and the silica content makes the materials abrasive and wears machinery, and generate a lot of ash when burned, when all of this is factored into it's light weight and huge distancecs that must be driven to gather and transport it, there you have it. Various schemes have been developed to ,upgrade stover as fuel, by windrowing it, letting it ret, then drying, and then pellitising it for fuel..... it works, but it's a lot of management, and the work must be done durring the right weather. This also will apply to the latest idea under discussion here, now.