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Kudzu Ethanol Plant Startup in Tennesee, Cows Will Love It
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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?
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Jeff posted on June 11, 2008:
Sweet!! About time it’s useful.
gazelder lufetarg posted on June 11, 2008:
Harvest is the BIG issue! It is a vine. Needless to say pulling it out of trees is not going to be very feasible. Harvesting even in flat fields might be problematic since it needs to be either cut into a retrievable mass or “wound” up in some manner. It is also seasonal as mentioned. It does grow fast but it can be a terror if you decide to change “crops.” I also don’t see it being shipped distances for processing and most likely can’t be stored like corn. Besides, if it was that great we’d already have kudzu booze.
www.buzzflash.net posted on June 11, 2008:
Kudzu Ethanol Plant Startup in Tennesee, Cows Will Love It…
Kudzu is found throughout the southeastern states. 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 irrigati…
Rhoid posted on June 11, 2008:
Go Green Kudzu!!
Kudzunol
Go Green With Kudzunol!
We can’t fight it, so lets exploit it’s tenaciousness.
Bobby posted on June 11, 2008:
I live in Charlotte, and all I have to say is “finally”. This stuff is everywhere, and it never stops growing, it’s like a super plant. If you plant kudzu it will grow, it’s the ultimate renewable.
roger posted on June 11, 2008:
We must then look at purple loose strife and using it also .
Fran posted on June 12, 2008:
Interesting. Do you know how efficient kudzu is in terms of being able to produce energy? I understand, for example, that sugar cane is very good at making a conversion while corn is not as good. Where does kudzu compare?
Jean-Paul Gagnon posted on June 12, 2008:
Can anyone tell me the megawatt expenditure required to produce ethanol from Kudzu?
Great thanks
hempStalk posted on June 12, 2008:
Legalize HEMP
Charlotte Fairchild posted on June 12, 2008:
Hey, check out http://www.kudzus.blogspot.com or google kudzu kwestions. If you check out kudzu recipes, you will find 180,000 sites. Dr. Kerry Britton, US Forrest Service told me that scientists were telling her that in the 1958 famine, 30 million people starved, conservatively, and that the kudzu hasn’t recovered. China has less kudzu than the US. They had kudzu for millions of years, and we have had it 125? It is related to snow peas and is a superplant. Think of all the poor people who never get fresh greens. There it is, but they don’t know. And how does it compare nutritionally with corn? No pesticides, no fertilizers, no irrigation, and it is high in protein and nutrition and we are going to eat corn and use our best food for driving. It was planted during the Great Depression and also the Dust Bowl. Now how many people in our country starved? NO stats, probably. That is like asking how many homeless people are in the US.
get educated hempStalk posted on June 12, 2008:
yes legalize hemp so that all the ignorant hippies can open up their own hemp biofuel farms. They can then realize that hemp is a poor source of simple sugars need for easy ethanol production, is an inferior source of cellulose for cellulosic ethanol when compared to most native prairie grasses and that hemp oil, while amazing and useful, isn’t produced in sufficient quantities by the plant in order for it to be used as a fuel source or as an industrial lubricant.
Jeff F. posted on June 12, 2008:
Interesting news… most importantly - “no part goes wasted.”
Pam posted on June 12, 2008:
It sounds great! Even a chance for the unemployed who are willing to work - they could cut kudzu from the roadsides and sell it or just have the government pay them for the labor and the government could sell the product.
Mike Hilliard posted on June 12, 2008:
Where can I sell mine? anyone have any ideas?
James W. posted on June 13, 2008:
Legalize hemp? How can you legalize something that’s already legalized?
ScribeMedia.Org | Pigs & Corn posted on June 13, 2008:
[…] and investors get needy. Can you say future bailouts for bad biofuels? Should have gone with Kudzu, ya’ll. Curtiss P. Martin grew up in a geodesic dome on the side of a mountain in Southern […]
get educated posted on June 13, 2008:
owning and selling hemp in the US is legal, but you are not allowed to freely grow it
Doug Mizell posted on June 13, 2008:
Hi everyone
My name is Doug Mizell (co-founder of Agro*Gas Industries, LLC in Cleveland, Tennessee). Thanks for your support of our company’s efforts to create renewable fuels from “Zero Valued Feedstocks” Our Mission Statement is to NEVER make FUEL from FOOD or FEED. We are in development of harvesting equipment as we speak through a Chattanooga company called GREENWAY LOGISTICS. We will use a multitude of feedstocks other than seasonal Agri-waste and kudzu alone. We are cotracting with several fortune 500 companies to utilize their industrial waste streams to make fuel. In addition to that the AG Community can be tapped for agri-waste after the food crop has been harvested. Even the present recalled tomatoe crop could be made into fuel if were made available to us.Processes from our ethanol production will compliment the growth of algae and we can make bio-diesel from the algae at a fanominal rate . Our processes and techniques produce only salable bi-products and NO hazardous waste of any kind. For more info on Agro*Gas you can google search: (Doug Mizell kudzu) and find numerous articles from around the country.
Thanks to All
doug
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@Doug Mizell:
Doug it was a real pleasure getting to talk to you and I look forward to our visit and interview in a few days.
I know you will have a lot of information for chemicallygreen to pass on to our readers. Again, thanks for the phone call. Go KUDZILLA.
Best regards
Steve
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@Jeff: Jeff thanks for the comments. Will be updates on the kudzu project in future drafts. Keep a lookout for the drafts.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@gazelder lufetarg: thank you for your comments. I agree with you about the harvesting of kudzu. However, there is so much kudzu around, I am sure someone will figure out how to harvest the kudzu in a practical and economical way. Please take a look at Doug Mizell’s comment on his company is working with a company in Chattanooga, Tn. to develop the harvesting equipment. Look for future updates on this subject in this blog.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@Rhoid: thank you for your comments. There will be future information on kudzanol posted on this blog. Keep watching for the update.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@Bobby: Thank you for your comments. Yes, kudzu seems to be the everlasting renewable for ethanol production. No fertilizer, no watering (plant thrives in hot humid areas with minimal rain) and grows like crazy. Enough of the stuff is available to use and it will grow back. Go Kudzu.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@Roger: Thank you for your comments. I printed down some information on the Purple Loosstrife, Lythrum salicaria L. (Lythraceae) and will pass along to Doug Mizell to investigate the possible use of this plant in ethanol production. I will let you know the results.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@Fran: Thank you for your comments. I will pursue this question with Doug Mizell and get you an answer.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@Jean-Paul Gagnon: Thank you for your comments. I will find out the amount of energy needed to produce ethanol from kudzu. Watch the blog for future updates and your answer.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@hempStalk: thank you for your comments. Hemp does not give good results (you get less ethanol) for ethanol production due to lower sugar content.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@JeffF: thank you for your comments. Being able to use all the kudzu plant would be a plus. Spare no kudzu.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 14, 2008:
@Pam: thank you for your comments. What is so neat about
Doug MIzell and this new venture with kudzu, being used to produce ethanol, is keeping the government out of the loop. If government gets involved, then sooner or later, the project will get screwed up. Doug is working on a company building the harvesting equipment and having workers cut the clippings on the side of the road might be to costly. If the harvested kudzu was sold back to the government and then re-sold again to ethanol producers, then this would add extra cost. These projects need to be automated to keep costs as low as possible. More costs added, ethanol will cost more. I believe the goal for producing ethanol TO BE USED AS A FUEL, would be to have a product that would be affordable, overall less cost than gasoline and E85. Go Green Kudzu
dingdong posted on June 15, 2008:
I am not certain but am told Kudzu control can be done with goats. Kudzu will die if cut very close to the ground and goats graze their food at ground level
Valerie Coskrey posted on June 15, 2008:
Just a thought on harvesting: What if the the kudzu was grown on a trellis like an umbrella or inverted J. Then the hanging strands could be cut frequently. A wisteria plant trimmed from its gazebo canopy is what gave me the idea.
Valerie Coskrey posted on June 15, 2008:
Another comment: does kudzu make enough oil to be a biofuel oil?
Wade posted on June 16, 2008:
I spent all weekend tearing this stuff up from my backyard. While I want to save the planet, if God, aliens, or giant octopuses came down and eradicated this stuff, I’d be OK with global warming….
Spring Flooding Brings Highest Corn Prices Ever posted on June 16, 2008:
[…] Kudzu Ethanol Plant Startup in Tennesee, Cows Will Love It […]
kron posted on June 16, 2008:
Seems like a pipe dream, but time will tell.
Are they planning on collecting from the wild, or planting it? If planted it will displace crop production and still affect the food supply.
Also, they speak of using the starch, then they are talking about cellulose. I know that ultimately they are both built from glucose, but the processing is very different.
silencer posted on June 16, 2008:
It is probably cheaper and easier to use dollar bills to make ethanol, instead of corn, a highly ineffective plant.
The US government only does it so it can subsidize corn growers.
Charlotte Fairchild posted on June 17, 2008:
Thanks chemicallygreen. I think you are the only one to check out my post. A lot of people checked out my blog when I mentioned kudzu as a food to plants for a future or pfaf. If we begin using cogon grass for ethanol, it might help our country a whole lot more than kudzu. The links on my site could help you, Doug, with your Go Green Kudzu. Especially http://www.kokudzu
I am going to go drink some kudzu juice, with its 60 medicinal uses.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 17, 2008:
@DingDong: Thanks for the comments. Kudzu can be controlled by goats as long as they are fenced in. I have seen goats clean out a kudzu patch, but the patch did grow back. If you are talking about kudzu control on road sides and big areas of infestation, this could be dangerous for the goats.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 17, 2008:
@hempStalk: Thanks for your comment. When you figure out how to legalize hemp, let me know.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 17, 2008:
@Charlotte Fairchild: thank you for your comments. Appreciate you input and will have a future draft on: interview with Doug Mizell and updated information on kudzu ethanol.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 17, 2008:
@geteducated: thanks for the comments. I certainly agree with your position and statements to hempStalk.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 19, 2008:
@Valerie Coskrey: Thank you for your comments. It seems that it would take an awful lot of trellis to grow
enough kudzu to produce massive amounts of ethanol.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 19, 2008:
@Valerie Coskey: Thanks again for your comments. Kudzu would be mainly used to make ethanol. I do not know about how much kudzu oil would be produced in processing, if any. However, will find out and pass information on to you. Be sure to watch for our updated draft coming soon on Kudzu ethanol after our interview with Doug Mizell.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 19, 2008:
@Wade: thank you for your comments. A lot of people feel the same way you do about kudzu. They hate it. After all it is the plant that ate the South.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 19, 2008:
@Kron: Thanks for the comments. Kudzu has shown great promise for being a good main ingredient for making ethanol. Doug Mizell said no food products will be used in their operation. Look for an updated draft in this blog on kudzu ethanol. There is acreage not used for food products that kudzu might be grown on. Will let you know the plan in the near future. Watch for the update on Chemically Green. As you stated, “time will tell”
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 19, 2008:
@Silencer: Thanks for the comments. Corn is definitely a poor product to produce corn ethanol. The alcohol lobbists have blown smoke on our politicians and its looks like there will be little change in the subsidy money going to corn alcohol producers and farmers anytime soon.
Approval Rating for Kudzu Ethanol Soars as Floods Cancel Corn Crops posted on June 25, 2008:
[…] Kudzu Ethanol Plant Startup in Tennesee, Cows Will Love It […]
Valerie Wooden posted on June 28, 2008:
I am glad to read of the potential use of Kudzu for producing ethanol. Over twenty years ago, I read a book discussing the many uses of Kudzu: food, antibacterial, medicinal herb for aches and alcoholism, starch for prized confections, honey from the flowers (I have had it; it tastes like strawberries), using the vines to create baskets, separating the vines into filaments, then into threads, then to cloth to create the “cloth of three generations”; the Japanese used it to create cloth more durable than silk. Livestock fed with the leaves and roots can often go to market in 2/3 of the time; hogs can be used to contain the vines and roots as they often dig into the soil to reach the prized root structure. Rather that killing it with chemicals, I hope more will look at the Kudzu vine as a hearty, durable alternative to corn-derived ethanol, and introduce it carefully into areas which would normally lie fallow. The nutrients that the plant can reintroduce into the soil, may make it an alternative to other rotation crops.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 28, 2008:
@Valerie Wooden: Thanks for your comment. As oil and gasoline prices keep rising, Americans are going to have to realize that there will people who are willing to sacrifice and will come up with answers to America’s addiction to oil. It will take time and kudzu offers a solution to make ethanol without affecting our food costs. Corn ethanol, without government kick backs, has not worked out and how are you going to harvest this year’s corn crop when it is completed flooded and it may 2-3 weeks before the water levels drop. The corn has been destroyed. In a recent report, the USDA stated “that corn ethanol had only affected gasoline prices by $.04 cents per gallon. Uh, this is going backwards.
Be sure to watch for the interview coming up shortly with Mr. Doug Mizell of Agro*Gas Industries LLC, A lot of people’s questions will be answered about using kudzu to make ethanol. Americans can do this without big government helping out.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
Charlotte Fairchild posted on June 30, 2008:
The book mentioned about all the diverse uses of kudzu was probably by William Shurtleff, called the Book of Kudzu. It is out of print but available.
chemicallygreen.com posted on June 30, 2008:
@Charlotte Fairchild: Thank you for your comments and the information about the book on kudzu.
Game Changers: The Kudzu Farm | Cabarrus Cheap Seats posted on July 10, 2008:
[…] [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE] […]
-Dr Bob Moore, algal biotechnologist, South Australia posted on July 11, 2008:
I’m all for it Dougey, after having read the article.
I’ll let my coleagues know about it too.
Johnny Manley posted on July 15, 2008:
Some people’s comments are truly amazing considering they are phrased as a question in order to appear benign. Like the one above asking how many megawatts it will take to produce quality ethanol from kudzu. This seems to be the sort of person who completely ignores what resources it takes to find, extract, refine and distribute petrochemical products. I guess they also do not realize that many power generation plants run on natural gas or coal to produce our megawatts of electricity. Hydro, thermal and nuclear powerplants are rarer than you think (I work with NERC and FERC). Oil and gas reserves are FAR, FAR harder to find and extract than cellulosic ethanol sources and does anyone know of a home process for distilling Super Unleaded? Come on, in theory there is enough natural kinetic and potential energy to produce ethanol and another product that significantly decreases the amount of fuel needed in an internal combustion engine and produce MORE power FAR cleaner than gasoline. Still they whine about an engine DESIGNED for low octane gasoline running poorly (low mpg) on ethanol. TUNE IT for ethanol you idi*t! Sorry… had to vent. ANYWAY, GREAT WORK guys, KEEP IT UP and keep it greener.
chemicallygreen.com posted on July 15, 2008:
@Game Changer: The Kudzu Farm: Thanks for your comments and reporting of this post on your blog.
chemicallygreen.com posted on July 15, 2008:
@Dr. Bob Moore, Algal Biotechnologist: Bob thanks for your comments and your email. Please contact us in the future and let us know how your research is coming along. Wish you great success in your research and look forward to hearing from you.
chemicallygreen.com posted on July 15, 2008:
@Johnny Manley:
Thank you very much for your kind comments. I agree, a lot of people want to ask questions that are not very important to the core information presented. The U.S. Congress has got to re-open the corn ethanol debate and take the kickback moneys for corn ethanol and start pumping some of these dollars into biofuels made via non-food products. This is the reason Chemically Green is supporting the non-corn, non-soy biofuels. The biofuels will need to be produced on a regional basis and sold to local distributors. This process will need to be done in all the states, not just the mid-west to help maintain low shipping costs. How much does it cost to ship a full tanker load of E85 or 10% ethanol/90 gasoline from the mid-west to Atlanta, Georgia? Be sure to watch for the video interview with Doug Mizell: Why Kudzu? which will be posted to CG on
Wednesday, 7/16/08. You will find this a very informal but informative interview. Go Kudzunol and Biofuels.
chemicallygreen.com posted on July 15, 2008:
@Johnny Manley: I also wanted to say that many companies are working on biofuels (no food products used) that are using there own money and might not want government help. My hat if off to these folks and if we can help them in any way to get their message out, please let CG know. We would like to feature their company on a future post.
Jean-Paul Gagnon posted on July 15, 2008:
To Johnny Manley: It’s unfortunate that you have targeted an honest question as some form of anti-environmental stance. To reassure you, I am an avid environmentalist and a PhD researcher quite interested in the applications of non-food derived gas alternatives. Knowing the answers to the cost-burdens of producing ethanol is important, as you can imagine, to creating a realistic technological proposal for governments and industry. Such is why I asked.
Johnny Manley posted on July 16, 2008:
@Jean-Paul Gagnon: My apologies if I interpreted your question in the wrong way. Such is the deficiency of this type of forum (no body language or intonation… yes we can use HTML tags and smiley text, but it’s still limited). Perhaps the brevity of your question and the plethora of negative comments and disinformation I have been reading regarding ethanol are to blame as well? Again, my humble apologies.
I too am keenly interested in ways to produce ethanol cleanly and efficiently. Are you focused on mass production (national level like refineries), mid-range (regional or local level) or personal production?
Interesting you point out that your are a PhD researcher, my current MBA class subject is research and statistics. Would you be interested in collaborating via email?
Thanks and best regards.
Jean-Paul Gagnon posted on July 16, 2008:
To Mr. Manley: No worries, I figured that it was just a case of misunderstanding. I should really try to convey my senses a bit better online in forums, etc. It’s hard sometimes when you are really busy and can only drop a quick line.
I am interested primarily in the use of non-food based alternatives to oil on federal levels or integrated micro-managed productions in regional localities. My PhD is in political science, I am researching ways to improve democracy, but my undergraduate had a minor in environmental science and I’m really interested in the future implications of a green economy for developing countries. If Kudzu could be combined with other endemic fuel availabilities in a country then it could definitely help reduce the cost of producing energy and maybe free up some surplus income for people living a subsistence lifestyle. Who knows…it’s all really just to help further the human condition and protect the fascinating natural systems of our world.
I would have to see what your paper is on in terms of collaboration, but I would definitely like to take a look.
Hope your MBA is progressing well,
- Jean-Paul
Johnny Manley posted on July 17, 2008:
To Mr. Gagnon: I hear you, time always seems to be the scarcest resource!
Political Science is not one of my fortes. More accurately, I don’t do well in political situations. I tend towards being a technologist and empiricist. I haven’t started a paper yet; however I was considering a dissertation subject for my DBA. It has to do with the overwhelming percentage of companies that are succesful in *spite* of themselves and not because of themselves. See General Motors current events…
Thanks! Good luck in your endeavors as well.
~JMan.
Live Interview: Makers of Kudzu Ethanol (Kudzanol) posted on July 21, 2008:
[…] Doug Mizell, co-founder of Agro*Gas Industries LLC, and we asked Doug a series of questions about Kudzunol, ethanol distilled from kudzu. The interview will be very informative to everyone interested in […]