Biodiesel vs. Ethanol
Both biodiesel and ethanol are derivatives of biomass that have been processed to create a liquid biofuel. Both types of biofuels have been touted as secure and environmentally safe alternatives to fossil fuels, however the research verifying these claims is extensive but often contradicting. In the following paper, the efficiency and quality of the two types of biofuel will be discussed. The effects of variables such as source materials and production techniques on efficiency and quality will be considered. Due to the limited scope of this paper however, only generalized net analyses of ethanol and biodiesel production will be considered. The production of ethanol requires one of two source materials, cellulose or sucrose, both of which are complex sugars. Currently, corn and sugar cane are the primary source materials for ethanol; however it can be produced from any plant cellulose. Ethanol is created using chemical and non chemical processes. These processes include liquefication, saccharification, fermentation, and distillation (Malca and Freire, 2006).
Today, the world’s ethanol is primarily produced in Brazil using sugarcane. The second largest producer of ethanol is the United States, where it is created from corn. Ethanol has the largest production mass of all the biofuels (Powlson, Riche, and Shield, 2005). In 2003 Brazil produced 9.9 million tons, as compared to 8.4 million tons produced by the United States, and 1.75 million tons produced in Europe (Malca and Freire, 2006).
Biodiesel is produced by subjecting the triglycerides found in vegetables oils and fats to transesterification, which is the exchanging of the alkoxy group of an ester compound by another alcohol. This creates an ox...
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The economic potential analysis of the production process of maleic anhydride from benzene, butane, and 1-butene was calculated based on the establishment of the chemical plant in the United States. In 2012, the global demand on maleic anhydride was estimated to be around $4.11 billion worth,
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Biodiesel is considered an environmentally friendly alternative because it reduces the amount many toxic substances. Plants such as soybeans require carbon dioxide from the air to produce their stems, roots and leaves. During biodiesel production from soybean oil, carbon dioxide is produced and released in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is considered a green house gas (GHG). However, this cycle of GHG emission does not neccersarily contribute to the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. This is because the next soybean crop will reuse the carbon dioxide emitted for its growth. Another important environmental benefit is that biodiesel reduces particulate matter (PM), hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions. These benefits occur because biodiesel contains 11% oxygen by weight. Oxygen allows the fuel to burn better, resulting in fewer emissions from unburned fuel. And lastly, biodiesel fuels do not contain any sulfur and does not have an unpleasant smell when it is emitted from vehicles.
The fuels are Ethanol, Propanol, Propan-2-ol. Butanol and Butan-2-ol. Setting up the practicals. Because there are some restrictions on the time we are going to have to perform the experiment, we are first going to find out a set up. that would allow us to produce definite results quickly.
The tradeoffs of using gasoline for cars are large emission of carbon dioxide and required large amount of chemical t...
The photosynthesis process helps plants to grow and survive before being converted into ethanol. Fossil fuels, however, is a non-renewable energy source.Thousand years are needed for fossil ...
Phasing out animal agriculture and replacing it with stronger, safer plant cultivation would greatly reduce pollution released into the environment as animal waste, burning fossil fuels, and contaminated water runoff. The animal waste produced in factory farms is dumped into immense open-air lago...
The objectives of Lab 6 is to produce biodiesel from vegetable oil and determine the yields for this process. The materials of this lab are a 15 mL capped centrifuge tube, a balance scale, a disposable glass pipette, methanol, and KOH.
...ch is used to replace natural gas. He also stated that, among the equipment used to burn the biofuel, the suspension burner have the ability to exceed 99% efficiency and whole-tree burner can reduce the cost of harvesting and handling woody fuels by about 35% (Brown, 2003). Moreover, the usage of bio-energy in long term is to provide a degree of ecological balance and climate change, avoid acid rain, reduce soil erosion and minimize water pollution (Gevorkian, 2007). Therefore, biomass is environmental friendly like solar energy. Based on the research that has been carried out regarding the synthesis of gas from biomass, the gas gasifies in the internal combustion engine. The relative energy density of synthesis gas is higher than the fossil fuel under certain conditions. In addition, the relative flame speed of synthesis gas can reduce the time for spark ignition.
Coconut oil was used to be an alternative to biodiesel in Thailand. The researchers found out that coconut oil has 12.8% of free fatty acid (FFA) that is possible to be used as a biodiesel through a series of process. First is that they reduced the FFA through acid-catalyzed esterification. In the second step they used the product produced in the first step and was transesterified with methanol to produce a biodiesel product. Moreover, they found out that the coconut oil biodiesel and the Thai petroleum was very much the same.
Lipids and triacylglycerol are naturally occurred compounds in oils and fats. The chemical composition contains saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and glycerides. Edible oils is an important component of our daily diet, that give energy, essential fatty acids and supply as a carrier of fat soluble vitamins For example, mustard oil had provided 30% of protein, calcium, phytins, phenolics and natural anti-oxidants. Besides, mustard oil has a high sum of mono-unsaturated fatty acids and a good ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which is good for the heart (Zahir et al.,
Poliakoff, M., Fitzpatrick, J. M., Farren, T. R., & Anastas, P. T. (2002). "Green Chemistry: Science and Politics of Change." Science, 297, 807-810.
Biofuels were the first liquid fuel, which include oils, animal fats, and ethanol from crops (Kovarik). They use alternative sources of materials to create fuels, which can be a key feature for our future. Our economy uses some of the dirtiest and most harmful materials to create our fuels and everyday uses, which is slowly hurting our environment. The use of biofuels can save our money spendings, and have more of what we need to survive. People say that biofuels are not healthy for our environment, but in reality they are stronger and more efficient. Although many believe that biofuels are an unnecessary fuel source, biofuels are important for our environment; therefore, biofuels must be used as our alternative source of fuel, and
More farmers are now planting crops for biofuel, resulting to an intense drop in food production. According to experts this promising alternative energy source is seemingly causing a global decrease of food supply. As the demand for biofuels increases, more industrialized countries are offering encouragements and subsidizing farmers to grow crops for fuel rather than for food. The biofuel production method was also anticipated to be carbon neutral, as the crops would absorb the carbon dioxide released when the biofuel was burned. However crops for fuel are now grown at such a rate that they need more energy to cultivate, grow and harvest. By the time it reaches households, it would have consumed more energy and released more greenhouse causing substances than the feared fossil fuels would have. The fact that emissions are released during production, processing, fertilizer application and as a result of land use change is highly ignored. Somehow biofuels can sidetrack less harmful and clean resources like renewable energies such as solar and wind energy. Large scale cultivation of biofuel crops, unlike small scale, locally produced and biofuel owned farms are commonly challenged by problems such as severe use of water, chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides. These also often lead to pollution, depleting and degrading available water resources which can cause famines. According to contrary believe of analysts, it has also shown that there is not enough farming land on earth to produce biofuel crops to meet the huge energy needs encouraged by our current and unmaintainable ways of living. http://www.greenerideal.com/science/0516-biofuels/ &