Scientists Propose a More Efficient Way to Make Ethanol

[steven johnson]

The gold standard in ethanol production is to approach the cost of Brazilian ethanol at 22 cents per liter as opposed to the 30 cents per liter for corn-based ethanol in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil

And even then for corn based ethanol to be competative with the energy content in oil, oil would have to cost $233 per barrel.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/24797119/MOODYS-MEGA-MATH-CHALLENGE-A-MODELING-COMPETITION-Ebook

Biomass ethanol, on the other hand, has been calculated to be competative with oil at $50 per barrel.

http://www.altenerg.com/index.php?content_id=35

http://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/energy/future-energy2/transport-energy/victorias-current-and-alternative-transport-fuels/ethanol

Producing ethanol from corn is relatively easy: the corn’s abundant sugars are readily fermented into alcohol. But using what is essentially a food crop to produce fuel has been criticized as a misuse of resources that can harm both agriculture and the environment.

Better, critics say, to make what is called cellulosic ethanol from leaves and stalks or other crop waste or nonfood crops like switchgrass. The process uses lignocellulose, the basic structural material of all plants and the most abundant organic compound on the planet.

Now, Ronald T. Raines and Joseph B. Binder of the University of Wisconsin are proposing a different way. In a paper in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they describe a process that uses an ionic liquid — a salt with a low melting point — in combination with water and acids at lower concentrations to produce fermentable sugars.

The researchers say their process produces sugar yields approaching those obtained by enzymatic methods. While much work remains, they say the process may prove useful in converting agricultural waste to a useful fuel.

Scientists Propose a More Efficient Way to Make Ethanol

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Corn farmers' lobby will not let it happen

[On the Road]

2. I've Been Hoping This Would Happen

With all the investment in an infrastuctive tied to the internal combusion engine and fuel distribution, I have to think that future vehicles are going to be powered by something that goes in a gas tank.

[NNadir]

3. Here's the question I always ask about ionic liquids, which are often advertised as

"green solvents."

What is the environmental fate, and in fact, their toxicity, especially given their extreme stability in some cases?

Don't get me wrong: There are many intriguing things about them, but in some cases the counter ions are things like perfluorophosphate, which is, in my view almost certainly problematic.

I question though whether many of them are "green." Volatility is not the only issue in whether a solvent is "green." Heroin, I note, was invented as a cure for morphine addiction.

[RC]

4. It they want abundant sugar, then why don't they use sugar beets and/or sugar cane?

[TheMadMonk]

5. The quantities of high fructose corn syrup in American foodstuffs should...

...give you the answer. Corn sourced sugars are cheaper.