Biofuels - Oneworld Essay
Biofuels- Will it help?
Cibell Resch
29.01.12
We have been using fossil fuels as our energy source for many, many years now, but they are starting to run out. We are consuming more fossil fuels than that are produced. Biofuels are a rather recent alternative to using fossil fuels. Biofuels are derived from biomass, which can then be transformed into a biofuel that has many purposes, one of them being a fuel that will run a transport vehicle.
One of the ways to get fuel from the biomass is a process called fermentation, whereby micro-organisms and bacteria break down a starchy substance into sugar, and then they convert the sugar to form alcohol. The micro-organisms and bacteria have the ability to do this due to their metabolisms. The glucose allows the micro-organisms to acquire energy anaerobically. The alcoholic fermentation occurs when yeast transforms sugar, cellulose and starch (carbohydrates) into carbon dioxide, and most importantly ethanol. From this ethanol we can obtain energy that we can then use as a fuel.
Biofuels have had a great impact in the world already. In the year 2011 the Ethanol consumption was over 25 billion of gallons, however, getting society to use Biodiesel hasn't been very successful. Biodiesel is a less environmental damaging substitute for petroleum diesel fuel. It is made out of vegetable oil, it doesn't matter what condition the vegetable oil is in, it could have already been used for cooking, etc. This vegetable oil is filtered from all chunks and possibly food left overs. Then the water is removed (this can easily be handled by evaporating the water) and then comes, the most important step of producing biofuel: Titration. This is the process where it is determined how much lye (a strong alkaline solution usually used for washing and cleansing) would be required. Now the sodium methoxide needs to be produced, this can be done by mixing methanol with sodium hydroxide. After combining the vegetable oil and the sodium
Cibell Resch
29.01.12
We have been using fossil fuels as our energy source for many, many years now, but they are starting to run out. We are consuming more fossil fuels than that are produced. Biofuels are a rather recent alternative to using fossil fuels. Biofuels are derived from biomass, which can then be transformed into a biofuel that has many purposes, one of them being a fuel that will run a transport vehicle.
One of the ways to get fuel from the biomass is a process called fermentation, whereby micro-organisms and bacteria break down a starchy substance into sugar, and then they convert the sugar to form alcohol. The micro-organisms and bacteria have the ability to do this due to their metabolisms. The glucose allows the micro-organisms to acquire energy anaerobically. The alcoholic fermentation occurs when yeast transforms sugar, cellulose and starch (carbohydrates) into carbon dioxide, and most importantly ethanol. From this ethanol we can obtain energy that we can then use as a fuel.
Biofuels have had a great impact in the world already. In the year 2011 the Ethanol consumption was over 25 billion of gallons, however, getting society to use Biodiesel hasn't been very successful. Biodiesel is a less environmental damaging substitute for petroleum diesel fuel. It is made out of vegetable oil, it doesn't matter what condition the vegetable oil is in, it could have already been used for cooking, etc. This vegetable oil is filtered from all chunks and possibly food left overs. Then the water is removed (this can easily be handled by evaporating the water) and then comes, the most important step of producing biofuel: Titration. This is the process where it is determined how much lye (a strong alkaline solution usually used for washing and cleansing) would be required. Now the sodium methoxide needs to be produced, this can be done by mixing methanol with sodium hydroxide. After combining the vegetable oil and the sodium