Just What Is Ethanol?
Ethanol is, in fact, an alcohol
Ethanol is, in fact, an alcohol. The very same kind we would see in an alcoholic beverage. Unfortunately, it's not possible to run our fuel tanks on vodka, and it isn't recommended to drink ethanol!
Ethanol is used most commonly in the United States and Brazil. Brazilians use this biofuel due to their large amounts of sugar cane, which is where ethanol comes from. Ethanol is not simply a fuel replacement; it's only blended with fuels to around a ten percent level. In some cities, it's a legal requirement that fuel be ten percent ethanol. In Brazil, it's twenty-five percent.
The great thing that has led so many to become interested in ethanol is that it comes from a non-renewable resource: agricultural crops. It can be made from feedstocks such as sugar cane, manioc, potato and corn. However, there are difficulties in the extraction of ethanol from these stocks, so research is currently being made into alternative ethanol sources, such as cellulose.
What is cellulose? Cellulose ethanol comes from cellulose fibers, which are a part of the walls of plant cells. What this means is that instead of using grain or corn ears, the actual edible part of the crop, we can use the wheat stalks or corn stalks. What this means is that the cost will be far cheaper since these stalks will just be left aside anyway, and also that food stocks will not be negatively affected, which is an issue many environmentalists bring up when debating the merits of biofuels.
There are also other sources of ethanol: Ethylene, coal, oil, gas, calcium carbide, and more. It's estimated that around two million tons of petroleum-derived ethanol is produced by Europe, South Africa and the United States annually.
What do we mean when we say biofuels are renewable? When coal or oil is extracted and burnt off to create energy, that energy source is gone forever. So these are non-renewable sources. If you were to create and burn ethanol from plants, however, these plants can be easily regrown and hence, are considered renewable. There are many kinds of crops that can produce ethanol, such as cotton, fruits, grains, sugar cane, switch grass, potatoes, hemp, barley, cellulose waste and sweet potatoes.
Currently, the levels of carbon dioxide being produced by cars, buses and other transport in cities such as Los Angeles and countries like China and India can make some places extremely discomforting to live, and the negative effects on the environment can be deeply felt. Stanford University recently completed a study that found that if a successful shift was made into ethanol use, deaths related to pollution would be reduced by nine percent in the city of Los Angeles.
People often think of the environment as something separate from us. Either we have to worship and attend to the needs of the environment, or else we view the environment as our enemy, and drive SUVs and burn fossil fuels to spite it. What is often forgotten is that we are actually a part of the environment ourselves, and to help it, in ways like using biofuels, is ultimately to help ourselves.
by: Wes Fernley
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