Chemistry 30 Unit 15 Energy Assignment: Bioethanol fuel
By: Maria Araujo. TA: Roculan
Bioethanol fuel is a renewable energy source made by fermenting the sugar and starch components of plant by-products, such as sugarcane and crops like grain and wheat. The glucose in these biomass products is used to convert organic crops into cleaner, better performance fuel by fermentation. There are many additional steps depending on what kind of natural product is used, however, they all have the same base steps. During the ethanol fermentation, glucose is broken down into ethanol and carbon dioxide; this process usually goes on for a few days. After fermentation, the resulting product is transferred to distillation columns where the ethanol is separated. For ethanol to be useable as fuel, water must be removed. The pure ethanol can then be used as fuel by itself, or it can be mixed with small amounts of gasoline depending on consumer demand.
Dual-fuel gas station at Sao Paulo, Brazil. Alcoho...
Sugar cane residue can be used as a biofuel
Ethanol fuel plant in West Burlington, Iowa.Also, the left over products are usually used for other purposes too, for example; the CO2 released as a product of the fermentation are often used to for carbonating soft drinks and making dry ice.
The original source of bioethanol fuel is the sun because the element of the process is plant-based. The only energy source plant by-products use is solar energy. Agricultural feedstocks are considered renewable because they receive energy from the sun using photosynthesis and are naturally occurring in nature. No matter what process is used to create ethanol, as long as it is a biomass product, the sun should always be the original source of energy.
The benefits of ethanol fuel are extremely significant; especially because using ethanol blended gasoline or pure ethanol for automobiles can significantly reduce petroleum use and exhaust greenhouse gas emission. In addition, not only is it safer for...