The US ethanol industry has called into question the results of a University of Michigan study on biofuel emissions that claims the rise in biofuel use has caused a net increase in carbon dioxide emissions.

The study, published on August 25, said the CO2 absorbed by agricultural crops was only enough to offset 37% of the CO2 emissions released through biofuel combustion. It was completed by a team led by professor John DeCicco and in funded in part by the American Petroleum Industry.

The Renewable Fuels Association countered that this is the same old flawed analysis.

"This is the same study, same flawed methodology, and same fallacious result that Professor DeCicco has churned out multiple times in the past," said Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the RFA. "He has been making these arguments for years, and for years they have been rejected by climate scientists, regulatory bodies and governments around the world, and reputable lifecycle analysis experts."

Dinneen added that the study seems to suggest that biofuel crops don’t absorb CO2 as they grow.

"In other words, he and his sponsors at the API are arguing that the scientific community's centuries-old understanding of photosynthesis and plant biology is wrong. DeCicco's assertion that plants somehow emit more carbon when burned as fuel than they take in from the atmosphere during photosynthesis defies the most basic laws of plant physiology,” he said.

The full news release can be found HERE.