Corn Ethanol: The Future Fuel?

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In the world of global warming, all kinds of pollution and fuel shortages going on, renewable and clean/ green energy is increasingly the ideal solution of energy related problems we have to solve one way or another. Biofuel is one of the mainstream and highly supported solutions nowadays, an idea to make renewable fuel by living organisms such as fiber, corn, vegetable oil or sugar cane. Unlike nonrenewable fossil fuels over extracted by people causing various environmental problems like generating a considerable amount greenhouse gas, current technology already lets renewable fuel like biofuels to shrink a certain amount of greenhouse gas production, making it a more ‘clean’ source of energy. The two main categories in fuels are gasoline (ethanol), a flammable and explosive liquid used mostly to power automobiles, and diesel, a relatively settled fuel used in diesel engines. This also applies to the world of biofuels. While diesel made by renewable resources is called biodiesel, gasoline made by living organisms is mainly ethanol fuel. Ethanol fuel is one of the most widely used biofuels in the world, as its market share in the United States grew to 10 percent in the 2010s while Brazil exports over 3 billion liters of ethanol a year. However, ethanol at the current stage only serves as a fuel additive/ fuel extender of fossil gasoline. Corn ethanol refers to the renewable energy made by corn, which is using corn as the feedstock of ethanol production. The feature of corn to product ethanol is because of its large quantity of sugars, particularly starch, exist in corn. Starch might be slightly effectively organized to separate itself into basic sugars, which can then be fed to yeast and generate ethanol. Present ethanol gene... ... middle of paper ... ...thanol: Not All Biofuels Are Created Equal." GRACE Communications Foundation. Ed. GRACE Communications Foundation, 5 Mar. 2009. Web. 05 Jan. 2014. . 4. Pollick, Michael. "What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Ethanol Fuel?" WiseGEEK. Ed. Bronwyn Harris. Conjecture Corporation, 12 Dec. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. . 5. Soos, Andy. "Algae Oil." Alternative Energy and Fuel News: Algae Oil. Environmental News Network, 09 Apr. 2013. Web. 07 Feb. 2014. . 6. "Hydrogen." Hydrogen Fuel. Ed. Environmental Protection Agency United States. US Environmental Protection Agency, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2014. .

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