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Water resource requirements of corn‐based ethanol
Author(s) -
Mubako Stanley,
Lant Christopher
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2007wr006683
Subject(s) - environmental science , evapotranspiration , irrigation , water use , agronomy , ethanol fuel , corn ethanol , water quality , carbon footprint , fermentation , chemistry , greenhouse gas , biology , food science , ecology
Ethanol derived from fermentation of corn is a very water‐intensive product with water to ethanol mass ratios of 927 to 1178 and volumetric ratios of 1174 to 1492 for the major rainfed corn‐growing U.S. states of Illinois and Iowa and the leading irrigated corn‐growing state of Nebraska, respectively. Over 99% of water requirements are for growing corn feed stocks, with 99% of that amount in Illinois and Iowa, occurring as evapotranspiration of rainfall in corn fields, and 60% as evapotranspiration of applied irrigation water in Nebraska. As a rough measure of water quality impacts, 65.5 g N, 23.8 g P, and 1.03 g of pesticides are applied, and 4.8 kg of soil is eroded per liter of ethanol produced. These results add to knowledge on corn‐based ethanol's low net energy balance and high carbon footprint by demonstrating the high water resource intensity of corn‐based ethanol production.