Fuel of the Future: Biofuels
Biomass can be used as an alternative fuel by combustion and direct burning for energy production. Fuels that have already been implemented include gasoline, diesel, and ethanol. All of these pose some sort of threat to the environment or human preference. Cellulosic ethanol is refined by using sugar extraction and can be used as a gasoline additive. This source of energy from plants has the potential to reduce the waste and pollution combustion-based energy poses. The question needed to be answered is, can cellulosic biofuels replace current trends of fuel redemption by means of environmental impact and mileage?
If the source of plant products was implemented to create a cellulosic biofuel, then it will be environmentally healthy and produce similar if not better mileage than fossil fuels, because the sugars in the plants can be released through enzymes in certain animal species providing energy and fermenting into cellulosic ethanol which is an abundant source. It is also made from inedible plants which will absorb excess carbon dioxide emitted by the vehicle before pollution occurs and be cost-efficient because it will not rely on our food products meaning that more fuel can be used.
Bilal Manzer
10-08-13
Research Plan
Methods and Procedures:
Plant cells have cell walls that contain cellulose which is a polysaccharide or a complex sugar. Many biofuels are derived from corn or switchgrass. However, organic waste products such as paper, clothing, and construction material manufacturing can retain wood’s cellular structure even after processing which will contribute to less waste disposal. Humans cannot digest cellulose but some animals and insects can releasing the sugars providing energy. These animals have special enzymes that allow specific reaction to occur converting the substrate or starting substance into another product. When plant fibers are exposed to cellulase, a plant fiber, the sugars are released and fermented to become cellulosic ethanol.
After acquiring the materials, paper needs to be shredded to prepare for the lab. A bucket will be filled with warm water with a ratio of two parts water to one part paper. The materials will then need to be soaked in water for three to four hours. A .5 liter of mixture will be placed into a blender and poured into a holding bucket until all the paper is pulped. A 5% cellulase solution will be prepared by mixing a 5-gram cellulase solution to 1 liter of water.
The materials my group used were three identical plastic cups, four gummy bears of the same color, one plastic spoon, one roll wax paper, one sharpie marker, one roll plastic wrap, one graduated cylinder, 25 mL super saturated salt solution, 25 mL distilled water, 25 mL 80% sugar solution, and one 12 inch ruler. The procedure my group made follows these steps.
The U.S. Department of Energy projects that if a mere 10% of automobiles nationwide were powered by fuel cells, regulated air pllutants would be cut by one million tons a year and 60 million tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide would be eliminated. DOE projects that the same number of fuel cell cars would cut oil imports by 800,000 barrels a day which is about 13 percent of total imports.
In the United States we have been looking into alternative energies to reduce our dependence on oil and help reduce our carbon footprint. One method the EPA has come out in support of is ethanol production. Ethanol is considered a green fuel because it recycles the burned carbon each time new crops are grown. In theory ethanol is a good stepping stone between using gasoline and zero emission power sources. However biofuels are still young technology that has many problems before it can be useful. The EPA is in full support of biofuels and has mandated that by 2020, 36 billion gallons of biofuels are to be produced in America. Currently almost all of America biofuels comes in the form of corn based ethanol which is extremely inefficient and can cause sustainability problems. Due to this reason only 15 billion gallons of the mandated biofuels can be form corn based ethanol. The rest of the biofuel must come from non-corn based alternatives such as cellulosic ethanol which the EPA projects to create all most all of the 21 billion remaining gallons of ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol uses the cellulose that is in all plants matter to create ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is far more efficient than corn ethanol because you can use the whole plant and it sets no limitation on what type of plant matter can be used. Even though the EPA projects that these number will be achievable, due to current setbacks and efficiencies cellulosic ethanol will not be able to meet this output within the time constraints and a goal of 2034 years would be more realistic in the long run.
Cellulases are o- glycosyl hydrolases (GHs) that hydrolyse β-1,4 glucosidic bonds in cellulose. Cellulase system is grouped into “glycoside hydrolases (GH) family” classified by different means, according to their substrate specifities, reaction, mechanisms or structural similarities. The cellulase complex is found to contain three basic components which may be present either as single polypeptide or can be grouped together into multienzyme complex known as cellulosome. Cellulase system is composed of three main classes based on their activity toward a wide range of substrates. This is rather difficult, since the enzymes have overlapping specificities toward substrates which themselves are poorly defined. The three main classes are:
Cushman, Lynd, Nichols, Wyman. “Fuel Ethanol from Cellulosic Biomass.” Science. March 1991. Vol 251 (4999):1321
The ecologists are of the opinion that the racing industry is an unnecessary burden for the society, that it does not serve any purpose. But the fact is that the racing industry is just like any other industry that is driven by diesel fuels like car manufacturing and airplane development. If these two consumer goods are considered an important part of human technological innovation, there is no need to sideline the racing industry. On the basis of this, we can also say that using biofuels for racing is preposterous because the biofuels cannot give the thrust that the racing cars need in order to compete. Biofuels are not of high-octane in nature; diesel fuels are. Biofuel cannot be characterized as an energy rich fuel. Using biofuel instead of diesel fuel will negatively impact the performance of racing cars, leading to heavy losses for the racing industry (The Royal Society 08).
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.
Step 1 -. Rub a small amount of sample onto a square of brown paper bag. Step 2 -. Brush off excess food and drink. Step 3 -.
Enzymes, such as cellulases, which catalyse the breakdown of cellulose, have been isolated from several different organisms, including fungi. However, the purification of enzyme from these sources is expensive, on the order of $5.50 per gallon of ethanol produced. Genetic engineering or biotechnology has already played a key enabling role in the development of cellulosic biomass conversion technologies by dramatically reducing the cost of cellulase production from about $5.50 per gallon of ethanol to $0.10-15 per gallon of
Create wells: put a comb template in the middle of the tray; wait until the mixture becomes solid. After, remove the comb standing straight. 4. Remove rubber ends: transfer the gel tray into the horizontal electrophoresis and fill it with the concentrated electrophoresis buffer. 5. Materials and methods: Experiment: 1st, prepared milk samples should be already done by the teacher.
...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.
Ideally the purified cellulase that was in test tube 4, which was 50 mg/ml, should have had a higher absorbance, but for unknown reasons, the cellulase has not been working all semester long. Test tube 2 had cellulase at a 1 mg/ml concentration. Next time, instead of a 1-hour incubation period at 50°C, there should be a 3-hour incubation period at 55°C. This would give the cellulase more time to break down the filter paper at a higher temperature.
present at all times but it must retain some of them. All plant life on Earth benefits from the ability of water to make a hydrogen bond with another substance of similar electronegative charge. Cellulose, the substance that makes up cell walls and paper products, is a hydrophilic substance ("water-loving"). It interacts with water but, unlike other hydrophilic substances, it will not dissolve in it. Cellulose can form strong hydrogen bonds with water molecules. This explains why a paper towel will "wick" water upwards when it comes in contact with it.
Fuel alternatives for the future are very important because, we need resources for life. We won’t have fossil fuels forever. It is important to start now. If we did not have any fuel alternatives how would the world be?
The concept of this essay is to stress that biofuels are a viable and sustainable energy source than fossil fuels, showing its advantages but not ignoring its disadvantages which also enlightens us about the cleaner and renewable natural resources. Biofuels is an alternative source of energy which can end the global dependence on fossil fuels.