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Review
. 2024 May 24;14(11):1551.
doi: 10.3390/ani14111551.

Economic Research on Ethanol Feed-Use Coproducts: A Review, Synthesis, and Path Forward

Elliott Dennis  1 , Daniel Gertner  2 , Galen Erickson  3
Affiliations
Review

Economic Research on Ethanol Feed-Use Coproducts: A Review, Synthesis, and Path Forward

Elliott Dennis et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

During the mid-2000s to the early 2010s, the domestic ethanol industry witnessed substantial growth, with ethanol coproducts emerging as vital elements for plant profitability and livestock feeding. Initially serving as supplementary revenue streams, coproducts from ethanol production have evolved into diverse value-added offerings, bolstering revenue streams, and sustaining profit margins. This study reviews existing economic research on ethanol coproducts, detailing methodologies, product focus, and research locations. Initially gathering 972 articles from 9 databases, 110 articles were synthesized. We find that most studies primarily examined the growth and future of the ethanol industry with a limited focus on specific coproducts. Feed-use distillers' grains, especially dried distillers' grains, were the most widely published while newer coproducts like pelletized, de-oiled, and high-protein distillers' grains were relatively understudied. Non-feed-use products were notably overlooked, highlighting the need for exploration beyond conventional applications. The evolving market landscape for ethanol co-products has surpassed published academic understanding of the economic tradeoffs necessitating further research into product dynamics, pricing, marketing, market structures, and regulatory frameworks. This highlights and underscores the importance of investigating value-added grains across diverse commodities and geographic contexts to inform strategic decision-making and policy formulation.

Keywords: coproduct; corn oil; distiller grains; economic; ethanol; livestock; synthesis review.

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Conflict of interest statement

Mr. Daniel Gertner’s contribution was completed while he was a graduate research assistant at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. No other authors have a conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Monthly DDGS percent of ethanol plant revenue per bushel of corn processed, 2005–2022. Source: Authors’ calculations using Iowa Ethanol Plant Profitability Model (https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/energy/html/d1-10.html (accessed on 5 May 2023)).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Search, filtering, and selection process for articles used in the synthesis review. Source: Authors’ compilation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cumulative number of articles in the synthesis review by primary method of analysis, 2005–2021. Source: Authors’ compilation. Note: There are a total of 110 articles in the synthesis review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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