Degree Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
1982
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Economics
Abstract
The potential impacts that large-scale alcohol production from corn, grain sorghum, and crop residues may have on U.S. agriculture in the year 2000 are investigated. A one land group interregional linear programming model is used. The objective function is to minimize the cost of production in the agricultural sector, given specified crop demands and constrained resources;The impacts that levels of alcohol production, ranging from zero to 12 billion gallons, have at two projected levels of crop demands, two grain-to-alcohol conversion and two milling methods, wet and dry, rates are considered. At the lower level of crop demands, 1980 crop exports are used and at the higher level of demands, one-half times 1980 crop exports are used. A rate of conversion which reflects current technology, 2.6 gallons of alcohol per bushel of grain, and one which reflects a maximum potential rate of conversion, 3.0 gallons per bushel of grain, are incorporated into the model;The impacts that large-scale fuel alcohol production has on U.S. agriculture are small. The major impacts that occur are the substitution of milling by-products, DDG, gluten feed, and gluten meal, for soybean meal in livestock feed rations. Production of 12 billion gallons of alcohol is estimated to be equivalent to an 18 percent increase in crop exports. Improving the grain-to-alcohol conversion rate from 2.6 to 3.0 gallons per bushels reduces the overall cost of agricultural production by 989 billion when 12 billion gallons of alcohol are produced.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-11095
Publisher
Digital Repository @ Iowa State University, http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/
Copyright Owner
Anthony F. Turhollow, Jr.
Copyright Date
1982
Language
en
Proquest ID
AAI8307794
File Format
application/pdf
File Size
121 pages
Recommended Citation
Turhollow, Anthony F. Jr., "Large-scale alcohol production from corn, grain sorghum, and crop residues " (1982). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 8391.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/8391