Easing back into the ethanol world with news of hemp

By Holly Jessen
Source: ethanolproducer.com

Hello, Ethanol Producer Magazine readers. It has been a while since I have written anything about ethanol or, honestly, even thought about ethanol.

Now I’m back at work, learning to balance my new role as mother and my job as managing editor of EPM. I definitely feel like I have a lot of catching up to do to get back on top of what’s going on in the ethanol world. After writing about ethanol exclusively for nearly four years it does feel strange to have missed so much.

As I was scanning the thousands of emails I received while I was out, a couple in particular caught my eye. One was from Vote Hemp, a nonprofit organization working to legalize growing industrial hemp in the U.S. Hemp is far from the first thing to come to mind when most people think about ethanol. However, there is one biofuels company, Patriot Bioenergy Corp., that sees value in hemp as a biomass energy crop. In January, the company released a whitepaper on the subject.

I first wrote about hemp the first time I worked for BBI International, when I wrote a feature story for the February 2007 issue of Biodiesel Magazine, called “Hemp Biodiesel: When the Smoke Clears.” Not a lot has been written about biodiesel production from hemp oil so I still occasionally hear from people that want more information. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything more I can tell them because hemp biodiesel hasn’t become a commercial reality and, secondly, farmers could still get arrested for growing it in the U.S.

Hemp is an extremely misunderstood crop. People confuse it with marijuana but, although the plants have the same plant genus name of Cannabis, hemp doesn’t get you high. Vote Hemp lays out and knocks down various myths about hemp at its website.

Still, progress to clear the way for a free market for industrial hemp has been slow. In early February, President Obama signed the farm bill, which included an amendment that would allow industrial hemp to be grown in the U.S. for research purposes. It’s a small step forward in a long fight to legalize industrial hemp, even though the plant was grown in the U.S. during WWII to produce products like rope and other war materials.

Also in early February, Patriot Bioenergy announced it intends to work with the U.S. EPA on classifying hemp as a biomass feedstock for the production of transportation fuel, such as cellulosic ethanol or possibly butanol. The company previously announced it would undertake a research study on the viability of blending hemp pellets with coal for power generation. “We are energized by the potential of hemp and we believe it can underpin the rural economies of Appalachia by both strengthening fossil fuels and building new energy and manufacturing opportunities,” said Roger Ford, CEO of Patriot Bioenergy, adding that “industrial hemp is an extremely versatile biomass feedstock with thousands of applications.”