Exactly what is Ethanol?
Copyright (c) 2009 Wes Fernley
Actually, ethanol is the same type of alcohol as that found in alcoholic beverages. So can we just keep a jug of vodka in the car in case we run out of gas? Afraid not!
Widely used in Brazil and the United States—much more than in any other part of the world—ethanol in a blend of no more than 10% will work just fine in most cars. In some cities, a 10% blend is mandated. In Brazil, the mandatory blend is 25%.
What makes it so attractive is that it is renewable, unlike the petroleum we now depend upon. It can be produced from agricultural feedstocks such as sugar cane, potato, manioc, and corn. Because of the difficulties with obtaining enough of these feedstocks coupled with high costs of production, research has turned to alternative sources such as cellulose.
Cellulosic ethanol is made from cellusolic fibers, a component in plant cell walls. The discovery that these can be used to produce ethanol is turning around previous research and the hope is that by using wheat stalks instead of grain, and corn stalks instead of ears, for example, we can increase our production of ethanol substantially without putting food supplies in jeopardy.
Other sources for ethanol production are ethylene (acetylene), calcium carbide, coal, oil gas, among others. Plants in the United States, Europe, and South Africa produce two million tons of petroleum-derived ethanol annually.
How is it renewable?
It is renewable because it uses a source that is naturally replenished. That is, sunlight, the source for photosynthesis, accounts for the production of sugar cane or corn, or any other ethanol source. Agricultural products are considered renewable because they use photosynthesis to grow. Of course, certain minerals such as nitrogen and phosphorus must be returned to the land, so this must be accounted for in the cost of production. Some of the crops than can produce ethanol are as follow:
- Cotton
- Fruit
- Most grains
- Sugar Cane
- Sugar Beet
- Sorghum
- Switchgrass
- Potatoes
- Kenaf
- Hemp
- Barley
- Sweet Potatoes
- Cassava
- Corn
- Sunflower
- Straw
- Cellulose Waste
Ethanol is produced by the microbial fermentation of sugars followed by distillation, dehydration, and denaturing. Enzymes are sometimes used to convert starch into sugar before the fermentation process begins.
Conventional unleaded gasoline produces carbon dioxide and aldehydes in such quantities that urban, car-based cities like Los Angeles are unfit for some people to live in, especially those who suffer respiratory weaknesses or disabilities. Stanford University, in a study by its atmospheric scientists, discovered that if the shift were made to ethanol from unleaded gasoline, deaths would be reduced by 9% every year in Los Angeles. Unleaded gasoline increases ozone levels significantly resulting in a dramatic increase in photochemical smog and an increase in medical problems such as asthma, the bane of citizens of Los Angeles.
Because of all of these factors, if you're thinking of burning a fireplace, it would be wise for you and your family as well as the atmosphere where you live to explore biofuel fireplaces where you can fuel some of the heating of your house with fuel that will not add to the existing problems.
Questions and Answers
The recent breathtaking spike in oil prices has finally awakened professionals in the energy field to the very real need for alternatives. As a result, we are seeing liquid fuels developed from plant materials entering the market. Sugar components of various plant materials if fermented will yield an alcohol called bioethanol.
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!
Oil prices have always been a concern. Recent events, along with increased awareness of the environment, have shown us the need for the creation of alternative means of energy.
Fuel prices are always a concern. This has led to increasing interest in alternative energy such as wind, solar and biofuels. Even though some consider biofuel to be something new, biofuels have actually been produced by humans for many thousands of years.
Actually, although most of us had never heard of ethanol before the crisis in oil and gasoline prices in recent years, humans have been making it for thousands of years. Why is that? Because it's so easy to produce. It can be made from any vegetable source that has enough sugar or ingredients that can be converted into sugar (starch and cellulose, for instance).
Your high school reunion is one of the most poignant moments of your life, besides your high school graduation.
The days when high school reunions are interesting and mysterious are now all but gone completely.
As wonderful and as exciting an experience as growing up and being a kid can simultaneously be, it is often a challenging time in one's life for a number of reasons.
Anytime you have to attend a highschool reunion it can be a bit stressful.
Taking care of a child can be difficult but it can be even more difficult if you are a single parent. You are burdened by the responsibility of earning money and then taking care of the child.
If you have any idea what an IP Camera and Internet Camera are, then you should know that the only difference between IP, Network, and Internet Cameras is that they're all different names that are used to describe just one thing. Network Cameras.
When you get into the habit of choosing the type of IP Camera software that is good for you and your needs, try to remember that the actual IP Camera itself isn't the only thing to consider when making your choice. Without the proper IP Camera software, simply having an expensive IP camera won't do you much good.
An IP Camera can simply be described as a mechanism that stands alone while allowing you to view live video from any location. IP Cameras are popular among anyone trying to improve their web of information, as well as for those wanting better security for their personal or business lives. In fact, most of the people who own an IP Camera use the camera not for information gathering, but strictly for security purposes.
Finding out that an IP Network Camera, Internet Camera, and an IP Camera are just different names for a Network Camera shouldn't come as much of a surprise, though it probably never occurred to you what that could mean for your surveillance pursuits. IP Network Cameras are so common that people can simply skip over their existence without much thought.
What do we know about IP Cameras? These nifty little devices are known by a many different names. IP camera, Network Camera, etc. In layman's terms, or to be more precise, in non computer nerd terms, an IP Camera is basically a type of security or surveillance camera. We all know about Network Cameras even if we don't actually have one of our own, or have even ever really used one.
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