Kudzu (Pueraria lobata) was introduced to the United States twenty-five years before the turn of the twentieth century, and is currently found naturalized throughout the southeastern states 125 years later. It is said that there is not a county in the southern US that lacks kudzu. The deep tap root of the kudzu vine can help hold the soil in place and allows the plant to prosper during dry spells, as opposed to corn, whose growth is dependent on sufficient rain fall and irrigation water. If the ethanol corn growers end up in a summer drought, this could definitely hurt ethanol production.
Corn has to be irrigated for growth and uses large quantities of water.
Kudzu was introduced from Japan into the United States in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where it was promoted as a forage crop and an ornamental plant. From 1935 to the early 1950s the Soil Conservation Service encouraged farmers in the southeastern United States to plant kudzu to reduce soil erosion as above, and the Civilian Conservation Corps planted it widely for many years.
However, it would soon be discovered that the southeastern US has near-perfect conditions for kudzu to grow out of control — hot, humid summers, frequent rainfall, temperate winters with few hard freezes (kudzu cannot tolerate low freezing temperatures that bring the frost line down through its entire root system, a rare occurrence in this region), and no natural predators. As such, the once-promoted plant was named a pest weed by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1953.
Check this out if you really want to see the spread of kudzu on houses and buildings in the south.
So what does Kudzu have to do with ethanol? Simply, due to the starch (sugar) content, kudzu can be used to replace corn to make ethanol. Will kudzu take the place of food ingredients being used to make ethanol? A resounding “Yes!” is stated by Mr. Doug Mizell, co-founder of Agro*Gas Industries in Cleveland, Tennessee. Mizell and company co-founder, Tom Monahan, have dubbed the kudzu-based-ethanol, “Kudzunol.” Kudzu is an obvious resource: “There’s 7.2 million acres of kudzu in the south that’s absolutely good to no one,” said Mizell. “It grows a foot a day, 60 feet a season and can be harvested twice a year and not even hurt the stand.”
All the kudzu plant is used after harvesting, no part goes wasted.
“All the leftovers from the harvested kudzu are pulled in, and we can break that cellulose down and make ethanol from it,” said Mizell. “It’s not tied to the commodities market, so the price won’t raise and lower in relation to the stock markets.”
Kudzu is a vine and it’s not like hay, wheat or soybeans when harvesting. If Mr. Mizell and Mr. Monahan can work out a fairly economical way to harvest the kudzu, there is plenty of the stuff around during the summer months to harvest. One question, what do these gentlemen use the rest of the year during the late fall and winter months to replace kudzu when it is dormant?
Agro*Gas plans to break ground on an ethanol producing plant in McMinn County or a surrounding county by end of the year and hopefully begin production in 2009.
The plant will be environmentally friendly and funded by private dollars. What? Private dollars and people who want to make a difference without the federal government. We wish these gentlemen the best in their new venture.
View another tv interview on Kudzunol
Kudzu is the kind of stock the U.S. needs to be working with because it is a weed, not a food product that will be diminished from our food supply. The U.S. Congress needs to take a hard look at where the bio-fuels subsidies need to be spent, then this technology which, uses a weed and not a food product, should be considered. I would take a hard look at supporting ethanol as a fuel if this technology stands on its own merit. As I have always said, when you have a commodity product competing with America’s food supply, the production of corn ethanol is not the answer. Go Green Kudzu!
One challenging issue for all the bio-fuel producers and America. If oil keeps rising in price as predicted, it doesn’t matter how great the technology, there will come a time when the energy costs will cost more than the production of the product. What will happen then?
so how do you make it.
@Josh: Thanks for your comments. Very carefully.
It is just as easy as any moon shine is to make. Probably on a much larger scale. http://www.kokudzu.com can help with harvesting. Chemicallygreen, do you know how to make kudzu ethanol?
@charlotte fairchild: Thanks for your comments. Yes, I do know how ethanol is made from kudzu.
Somewhat simple process with a few tricks to have a clean solution without all the fibrous filaments remaining in the final solution before distillation. Are you asking me to tell you how to make ethanol from kudzu?
Not really asking you to tell me. I just noticed your comment to Josh on message 109. I have a blog I mentioned, and 4-H students who are conducting experiments are looking at all of these sites/blogs so I try to have a little fun as you did with Josh, but also put in a little explanation, just in case the person wants to learn. You have a great blog.
I’m not surprised to find out that other individuals believe that kudzu is a great resource for an alternative fuel. I convey my own personal studies and research on kudzu at Auburn University. It would be great to learn more about this from others who have spent countless hours studying this plant.
Auburn has connections to http://www.kokudzu.com or org. The Experiment Station offers a 3 hour course with a certificate (Kudzu Kollege).
Some of the biggest finds won’t be published. The Great Leap Forward in China entailed the country taking family farming implements, and more than 30,000,000 may have starved to death over a five year period because of this. China has had kudzu for millions of years, and the boll weavil doesn’t need to control kudzu in a country that uses this food resource. But this is not official knowledge from China. It was told to a scientist who told me.
@Chris Henderson: Thanks for your comments and other comments made via Chemically Green email.
I would like to take time and discuss with you about your research work with kudzu. We can certainly share some ideas and there is a process that Kudznol people have developed to make ethanol from kudzu. But the biggest problem is getting money to fund their operations.
This process has its merits, but logistics will pose a problem and where you will build processing plants to harvest the kudzu to produce ethanol.
Please email me with a phone number or email address and I will get in touch with you. Really look forward to talking to you. Maybe you might have some ideas about funding.
Auburn and Georgia both need a football fix after this weekend, especially Georgia.
Regards.
@charlotte fairchild: Thanks for your latest comments.
On one of your previous contacts, you were interested in doing some experiments with kudzu. Please forgive me for being a little coy about my comments. How may I help you with your work on kudzu or if I can be of help to you and your 4H students, please let me know. Maybe they have some projects they might want to work on and I may be of help.
A main issue for making ethanol from kudzu is the separation of sugars from the ethanol. My understanding that some folks have tried or are looking at enzymes for this process. I cannot give any information in this area because I do not have any at this time.
Please elaborate on the kudzu being used in China as a food source. Am I right about this based on your comments?
Thanks for the kudzu website and look forward to hearing from you.
Regards.
Kudzu was used as a food source during the Great Leap Forward in China, but that is off the record. It isn’t documented anywhere in China. A scientist told me that scientists told her while she was there. If you ask Chinese people how they manage kudzu, they will tell you no one poisons it. It is managed by digging the roots and using them for food and arrowroot type thickeners. Juanita Baldwin, and William Shurtleff are the main sources of English research with recipes as well as assays from the US Agriculture Dept. I do not work with 4H yet. I have talked to several people.
There is another issue with Kudzu, it is classified as a noxious weed in many states and import is prohibited. I believe this was discussed already and perhaps it was suggested the laws could be repealed eventually; however, I would expect the BIG Oil lobby to vehemently oppose it. Overcoming these obstacles, I would definitely consider raising Kudzu plantations along with jatropha curcas since we can use the ethanol to produce biodiesel.
Regarding Charlotte Fairchild’s comment “Kudzu was used as a food source during the Great Leap Forward in China, but that is off the record. It isn’t documented anywhere in China.”, the reason is that the records of the Great Leap Forward or the Great Cultural Revolution are banned by the Chinese communist regime from publishing, and Chinese scholars are discouraged from conducting any research on those periods of social upheavals. I worked in the academic circle in China before I came to North America, so I knew such rules existed from the propaganda department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s central government. Because once those records were publicized, the miserable memories of the Chinese people who were deeply suffered from the terrible leftist policies of the CCP in the 60′s would re-surface. The government knows it is not ideal to the CCP’s power and control if people keep coming across with the records in the 60′s. All the government endeavors is for people to forget those atrocious records. They have became an untouchable taboo of the CCP. The records have been removed as completely as possible from the official documents or censored from the public domains. This is why you do not see them almost anywhere in China.
@WDALUSA: Thank you for your comments and adding to this discussion. If you have any more information you would like to add to these thoughts, please do.
There are other benefits as well, such as According to the US Dept. of Agriculture,
“A separate study by Ziska and colleagues also found that wild kudzu—an aggressive vine species imported from Asia to control soil erosion—stands in Alabama and Georgia could produce 5 to 10 tons of carbohydrate per hectare, which would rival carbohydrate production from corn and sugar cane fields, but without the costs associated with planting, fertilizer and pesticides. This would rival carbohydrate production from corn and sugar cane fields, but without the costs associated with planting, fertilizer and pesticides.”
Also, other plants are an option too when it comes to low, or poor quality water, and high yields, such as Arundo donax:
“Arundo donax – 11,000 L/ha
Corn – 4,400 L/ha
Sugarcane – 8,800 L/ha
Switchgrass – 4,600 L/ha”
@Jason Jackson: Thank u for your comments. Kudzu has a lot of potential for making ethanol, but it is just not feasible due to difficulty in harvesting the plant.
Utilize Part 1 << Kiki Brown Bear: Thank u for your comments.
why not try planting it in old unused parking lots put a layer of topsoil 3 feet deep and let it grow itll become root bound but if you havest it and leave a few cutings to regrow it should work.
@christphrmurray@yahoo.com: Thanks for the comments. Where do u suggest we start and how many parking lots would be needed. Kudzu has an extremely deep root system and once the roots get establised be hard to dig up. If u destroy the roots, u also destroy the plant. U would not have to leave cuttings, cold weather would kill the leaves, but warm weather brings it to life the next summer. The kudzu program has been completely researched and the harvesting of the plant is very difficult. If Congress does not approve the ethanol subsidies this year, will be tough road for ethanol producers.
During the process do you just use the leaves or stems and leaves? I have a great idea for removing stems and leaves in a very easy way as well as removing leaves alone. I have cleared about 1 acre of it by hand in my yard but figured a way to make it much easier and would like to distill on a small bases
kudzu has many uses actually. The flowers can be used as a jelly and an aid in alcohol consumption. The young shoots can be used as a food as well as the young leaves and mature leaves. Deep fry the mature leaves like chips. Gring up or crush the roots and wash in water to remove the starch which is highly sought after in Japan. Use the starch the same way you use corn starch. Make paper from the entire plant. I would like to experment with making rope as well. Wine is made from the flowers. I only wish the same man that found all the uses for peanuts was still alive. He would give us at least 1,500 useses for kudzu. Ferment the roots to run a car. Perhaps the roots have to be ground like corn before making alcohol. Also it needs to be broken down to see how much oil it contains. It may have more oils than sun flowers or corn,who knows.It could be dried out and used for fires like a fire log. Pressed into wood panels like plywood. If we think about it I think kudzu could and would replace alot of things we cant afford to lose right now. Perhaps make plastics with it. I really think the sky is the limit.
do cows eat kudzu vine?