Ethanol can be made from many different plant sugars including starch and cellulose. Starch ethanol is the most common biofuel used in the world. It is made from kernels of corn, which is very easy to break down. This means that corn is very easily converted into ethanol. On the other hand, cellulose is not easily broken down into ethanol. Cellulose is found in the cell walls of plants, and resembles plant armor. The cellulose combines with lignin, which makes plants woody. During the process of making ethanol from cellulose, the lignin has to be separated from the cellulose because it is not fermentable. Figure 1 shows the complications of making cellulosic ethanol vs. other biofuels. The question marks indicate where the technology hasn’t …show more content…
The thermochemical process involves breaking down the biomass and building it back up. This poses some benefits over the biochemical process because about one third of the cellulosic biomass, lignin, cannot be
Figure 3: Thermocemical Process of Making Cellulosic Ethanol (Theis, 2007)
converted into ethanol biochemically, but is easy to do thermochemically. The optimal biomasses for thermochemical conversions are trees and mill products. These have a high lignin concentration, so these biomass products respond better to the thermochemical method of ethanol production (Theis, 2007). Figure 3 shows the thermochemical process. The first step is drying the plants. Next the plants are burned into synthesis gas, or syngas. The syngas is made of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2). This is called gasification. The gasification produces tar and sulfur, which is not clean and interferes with the making of ethanol. As a result, the syngas is sent to a tar reformer (Nasr, n.d., Theis, 2007). The tar reformer uses enzymes to convert about 97% of the tar into syngas (Theis, 2007). Then, the syngas is cleaned to get purer CO and H2 gasses. Next, the gas is compressed and mixed with a metal catalyst. The catalyst builds the gas back up into ethanol (Nasr, n.d.). There are some drawbacks to the thermochemical process, however. The catalysts used in the tar reformer are very expensive and the tar remains accumulate. Biorefineries could utilize
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For cellulosic ethanol to be put in large-scale production, the benefits need to outweigh the concerns. Some of the benefits are that it releases 86% less greenhouse gasses than gasoline, and 52% less than corn ethanol. Also, it lowers the emissions of two cancer causing substances, benzene and 1,3-butadiene. Maybe the most important is that cellulosic biomass is more available than any other source of ethanol. Some of the concerns of cellulosic ethanol involve expenses, low fuel mileage, and not being able to produce enough. Cellulosic ethanol costs more to make than gasoline. This is largely because of the expensive enzymes used to separate the sugars. Also, 100% ethanol is not used as an automotive fuel source. The highest allowed [ethanol] is 15%. This is called E85. E85 produces 25% less miles per gallon than gasoline (Nasr,
The Prohibition or the Eighteenth Amendment was a huge failure for a law in 1920. There were many factors that led to its downfall that included illegal means, rise of gangsters, and the Twenty- First Amendment. Despite the Prohibition, it did not stop the people from drinking it and accessing it through thousands of speakeasies. It became a most lucrative business for criminals that led to dangerous competition. In 1933, the failed amendment was repealed and most people rejoiced that alcohol was legal again. The Eighteenth Amendment was an experiment that went horribly wrong and did absolutely nothing to bring any positive change. This was proof “that you don’t have to be drunk to come up with a really, really, bad idea.” (Carlson. 141)
In conclusion, Corn Ethanol Biofuel has many negative and positive effects. It has a negative effect because it releases greenhouse gases but positive effects as well because it is inexpensive to produce and use, and is a renewable source. The future of corn ethanol is uncertain: “Corn-based ethanol will most likely not be the staple fuel source in the future, as it is only a short term solution and poses problems in the long run. Ethanol contains 33% less energy than gasoline, and corrodes engines that it is used in. Average production and final sales are 62 cents/gal higher than conventional gasoline. Even though political support is waning, Congress will most likely not abandon corn ethanol.” ("Future of Corn Ethanol.) I think corn ethanol
spending a day working very low paying jobs, men would visit a saloon and spend all of their wages on alcohol (7,39). This destroyed marriages and families because not only then would the family not have any money to spend on food or the simple necessities for the women and children. Also, the incidence of domestic violence increased as a result of men’s intoxication. (7,40).
Caffeinate drinks and energy drinks are very common on amongst adolescents, and the consumption of alcohol is also a regular occurrence among adolescents (Rohsenow et. Al, 2014). At that age, they may consume caffeine or energy drinks to wake themselves up or stay up late when working on homework assignments. Which at times can be helpful when working on multiple assignments. When a person consumes a certain amount of alcohol, he or she begins to feel drowsy/tired. There is nothing wrong with having a drink on occasions, especially if you drink responsibly. Recently people have begun to mix caffeine with alcohol, resulting in Alcoholic Energy Drinks. People buy and consume these drinks to combat the drowsiness that comes with drinking, so if he or she is out partying, it won’t interrupt his or her drinking and the can consume more alcohol because they will not feel as tired as quickly as the normally would. Alcoholic Energy Drinks have been a trend in recent years, and this is especially true among college and high school students (Kponee, Siegel, & Jernigan, 2014). Do Alcoholic Energy Drinks represent responsible drinking? Should companies mix caffeine and alcohol and sell it in stores? To go even further, should the drinks be legal in the United States? Alcoholic Energy Drinks are harmful because they affect the person’s ability to judge his or her level of intoxication, it also influences people to drink more than he or she should because he or she feels less intoxicated, and because of those reasons, people who consume Alcoholic Energy Drinks are more likely to drive while intoxicated, among other dangerous risk-taking behaviors (Kponee, Siegel, & Jernigan, 2014). Because of the adverse effects, Alcoholic Energy Drinks should...
As society progresses more and more it seems as though there is one aspect of American culture that is not keeping up with the times- the minimum legal drinking age. Whilst the rest of the world shares a similar view on this issue, with 96% of other countries holding a drinking age of less than 21, the American legal system seems steadfast in its resolve to keep it due to a manner of precautionary reasons. Yet these reasons are often lacking substance and validity, hence it seems that the Land of Opportunity needs to break the shackles of feigned abstinence and embrace a more practical and realistic criterion-such as the widespread norm of 18 years old.
Cushman, Lynd, Nichols, Wyman. “Fuel Ethanol from Cellulosic Biomass.” Science. March 1991. Vol 251 (4999):1321
the same will be the height of the tin can above the wick. I will keep
What is a depressant? Many individuals would give an answer such as a substance that depresses one’s mood. Although on the right path, depressants reduce functional or nervous activity; an example is alcohol. Alcohol, when excessively consumed, will result “in slurred speech, unsteady movement, disturbed perceptions, and an inability to react quickly” (What is Alcohol, 2014, para.1). In other words, the beverage totally recalibrates a human’s judgment of his actions and thought processes. Because of the knowledge about alcohol, states throughout the country construct federal laws mandating the consumption or sale of liquor. These requirements protect people from hazardous activities and health concerns. Unfortunately, by regulating legislative
...her combination of intoxicant. There are several better plants to use, sugar cane and algae all produce far more ethanol than corn does. Keep in mind that running on electric sometimes is better than running on gas all of the time, But to see for yourself go down to the car dealership and ask for yourself.
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
...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.
Biomass gasification is a process by which biofuel is produced. It has been used for over 180 years but in the last decades it has been reconsidered as an interesting technique due to the fact that oil supplies are decreasing. As mentioned before, gasification is a thermal process. Heat is added up in order to convert the organic mass to biofuel. The biomass usually undergoes drying, pyrolysis, partial oxidation and reduction. Nowadays the configurations used for gasification are three: fixed bed gasifier, fluidized bed gasifier and entrained bed gasifiers. The simplest configuration is the
Alcohol abuse is the most common problem, nowadays. In fact, majority of people drink alcohol repeatedly to the point where they have difficulty to stop. Statistics show that, as much as, “40% of college students report drinking five or more drinks in one episode” (Walters & Baer, 2006). Alcohol has become more popular over the years as advertisements, simultaneously with commercials of it, filled the media. It also is easily accessible and cheap in comparison to other psychoactive substances. On the other hand, alcohol safety awareness programs are barely noticeable. My research will present how alcohol and its abuse gets into people’s lives and how it influences their physical and mental health, as well as, social existence.
The process need toluene and hydrogen as a main reactor. Then, toluene and hydrogen are converted in a reactor packed with catalyst to produce benzene and methane. This reaction is exothermic and the operating conditions are 500 0C to 660 0C, and 20 to 60 bar of pressure. This process begins with mixing fresh toluene with a stream of recycle unreacted toluene, and the mixing is achieved in a storage tank. Then, the toluene is pumped to combine it with a stream of mixed hydrogen and fresh hydrogen gas. The mixture of toluene and hydrogen is preheated before it is introduce to the heater or furnace. In the furnace, the stream is heated to 600 0C, then introduced into the reactor. Basically, the main reactions occurs in the reactor.
The process of alcoholic fermentation begins with the use of enzymes. The enzymes begin to break down the long chains in starch molecules, a polysaccharide that consists of a large quantity of glucose molecules (C6H12O6) joined by glycosidic bonds as seen in figure 1, into single glucose molecules, a monosaccharide with six carbons and five hydroxyl groups. After the starch has become sugar, the enzymes are used once again, this time to convert the sugars into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide, CO2, as seen in figure 2 (World of Scientific Discovery, 2007). The carbon dioxide produced is released into the atmosphere, leaving water and ethanol, the alcohol, behind. Ethanol is a colorless flammable liquid with a molecular formula of C2H6O, giving it a molar mass of 46.07 grams per mole. Ethanol is also characterized by a melting point of -114°C or 159 K.