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Biofuel co-products as livestock feed - Opportunities and challenges

Biofuel co-products as livestock feed - Opportunities and challenges

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496<strong>Biofuel</strong> <strong>co</strong>-<strong>products</strong> <strong>as</strong> <strong>livestock</strong> <strong>feed</strong> – <strong>Opportunities</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>challenges</strong>FIGURE 15Irrigation rate for irrigated maize by USDA Region100908010761Irrigation Applied (cm)706050403098543220100R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10USDA Farm Region19982003 2008Sources: USDA, 2003, 2008.FIGURE 16Water inputs <strong>and</strong> outputs for bio-ethanol production <strong>and</strong> oil refiningEvaporationWater for process, <strong>co</strong>oling, <strong>and</strong> boilerFuel Procesing/Production PlantCooling tower water driftingProduct <strong>and</strong> <strong>co</strong>-productProcess discharge, blow-downTreated water recycleSource: Wu <strong>and</strong> Chiu, 2011.The process also <strong>co</strong>nsumes water <strong>as</strong> a source of <strong>co</strong>oling <strong>and</strong>heating. Figure 16 depicts the division among water sinksduring ethanol production, the most significant of whichare the <strong>co</strong>oling tower <strong>and</strong> the dryer.Water management practices in maize farming <strong>and</strong>ethanol production are favourably affecting ethanol’s water<strong>co</strong>nsumption footprint. Although the <strong>feed</strong>stock productionph<strong>as</strong>e is generally the most water-intensive ph<strong>as</strong>e ina biofuels’ life cycle, water management practices in theagricultural sector are improving such that the volume ofirrigation water declined 27 percent over the l<strong>as</strong>t 20 yearswhile maize yields <strong>co</strong>nsistently incre<strong>as</strong>ed. Data from differentsources (Figure 17) illustrate that water use duringethanol production is also decre<strong>as</strong>ing. Water stewardshippractices in ethanol production include incre<strong>as</strong>ing processwater recycling <strong>and</strong> steam integration. Plant siting at alocation where the facility will not unduly affect groundwaterlevels is also critical to reducing the water impacts ofethanol production.Table 7 outlines water <strong>co</strong>nsumption during growth,harvesting <strong>and</strong> <strong>co</strong>nversion of maize to ethanol for USDARegions Five, Six <strong>and</strong> Seven. In this table, <strong>co</strong>nsumptivewater during crop production (irrigation) <strong>and</strong> <strong>co</strong>nversion isdivided between maize ethanol <strong>and</strong> its <strong>co</strong>-product, DDGS,b<strong>as</strong>ed upon a heuristic that in dry-mill plants, one-thirdof the carbon in the maize kernel is <strong>co</strong>nverted to each

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