Wired News: Biomass Adds to Ethanol Debate

[dhuss]

A good little article FYI...


...
The economics of ethanol could soon change, as Oak Ridge National Lab's Graham said that producing ethanol from the cellulose of plants is less costly than using corn grain. The cost of raw materials for biomass-based ethanol could be much lower, since tree and plant residue from clearing lots can be obtained for free, and switchgrass (a perennial crop that grows everywhere east of the Rocky Mountains) and corn stovers (dried leaves and stalks) are inexpensive to acquire, according to Graham.

Using corn grain to produce ethanol is relatively energy-inefficient when compared to utilizing biomass, Graham said. Producing ethanol from corn grain generates about 1.4 times as much energy as the process consumes, when pesticides and fossil fuels are factored in, she said. "The energy yield from cellulosic materials is like 10-to-1."
...
Biomass could be converted into ethanol in commercial quantities at a cost equivalent to $25 per barrel of crude oil, or roughly half the current price of imported oil, according to E. Kyle Datta, co-author of Winning the Oil Endgame and managing director of research and consulting at the Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy policy group. Datta said farmers who shift from corn to switchgrass could increase their per-acre profit from about $350 to between $400 and $600.

Commercializing biomass-to-ethanol technology would also have international political ramifications, according to Datta. Producing 2.4 million barrels of ethanol per day would "be a $40 billion per year transfer of wealth from the Middle East to our farmers," he said. Federal funding of biomass-based ethanol should be less controversial because "instead of six states benefiting, everyone benefits."

more: http://www.wired.com/news/planet/0,2782,67691,00.html?tw=rss.TOP

D.H.

[SHRED]

1. And hemp...

is one of the top biomass producers.
http://www.fuelandfiber.com/Hemp4NRG/Hemp4NRG.htm

[pocket]

7. also take a look at biodeisel and thermodepolymerization

Good stuff.

[Coastie for Truth]

9. If you play with the numbers

thermodepolymerisation is very energy inefficient ("Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics" by Ronald Ted Smith, H. C. Vanness, Joe M. Smith).

Probably better to go with ethanol by an enzyme catalyzed process - the natural way like brewing, vintering, moonshining, pharmaceutical, and food processing industries do -- instead of the elevated temperature, elevated pressure, autoclave and pressure vessel way that the petroleum industry uses.

The arguments against ethanol - and against biomass - always assume thermal processing instead of enzyme processing.

[SHRED]

17. Link? n/t

[Massacure]

15. No. Algae is a thousand times better than hemp.

Hemp makes excellent fabric for paper and clothes, but there are better choices for fuels.

[trotsky]

2. Sure would be nice if our scientists could research into hemp energy too.

Oh well, another area we'll trail the rest of the world in.

[whistle]

3. America imports 50 million barrels of crude oil per day at $50pbl

....so that is $2.5 billion per day or $912.5 billion per year. This suggestion will certainly help, but it represents just 4.4% of our energy import dollars, hardly a dent. Plus what would be the environmental costs to the country of converting that much bio-mass into ethanol, something that could introduce toxic by-products to our ground water? It's a start, but a long way from a total solution toward energy independence for the United States.

[dhuss]

4. oh, I agree...

I was by no means suggesting this would be a silver bullet, I don't think any single technology could be considered one. I think the solution will end up being a number of these different technologies. I do always like to hear stories like this though, just reminds me that SOMEONE out there is doing something to help...

D.H.

[whistle]

6. The biggest silver bullet would to for all Americans to cut back...

...immediately on ALL NON-ESSENTIAL DRIVING! That would cut out 40% of the demand over-night and bring the oil cartel to its knees begging for customers. It could even break the back of the oil cartel. Since Oct'2004, by driving only for essential purposes, by gasoline consumption has dropped from 4 to 5 fill-ups per month (60 to 78 gallons per month) to just two fill-ups per month for the past five months.

That represents a total annual gasoline consumption drop of 850 gallons a year ago to just 375 gallons per year now, a 56% reduction. The other measures such as ethanol, alternative energy sources for electrical, conservation of home energy uses, mandated fuel efficient vehicles, mass transportation development, goods transportation efficiencies, and so forth, could bring about energy independence, before Bush II totally fucks up the economy.

[Massacure]

16. Bad data

Try 10 million barrels per day.
$500 million per day, $182.5 billion per year.

[hunter]

5. The future of this sort of ethanol is plastics...

Ethanol is not an ideal fuel for many reasons, but simple dehydration yields ethene which can be used to make polyethylene and other plastics.

CH₃OH ---> CH₂=CH₂ + H₂O

[rfkrfk]

8. ethanol is an excellent fuel

existing cars would need changes, to run pure ethanol,
including stronger ignitions.

there is no shortage of plastic, btw.

>CH3OH ---> CH2=CH2 + H2O<
c --> c + c , since when

[Coastie for Truth]

11. I think he typed

CH3OH when he meant CH3CH2OH. I did that once on a weekly quiz -- and the prof rode my butt for the rest of the semester.

[hunter]

12. Hah, good catch, thanks! You get an "A" for the day!

I got caught up trying to get those little bracket things right. I am used to typing like this: H₂O.

So, to simplify, how about this:

ethanol --> ethene + water

And about the shortage of plastic, I'd say plastic is more valuable than fuel.

[Coastie for Truth]

10. Plastics are less then 5% of our crude consumption.

If we are going to go the trouble of fermenting -- why use it as a feedstock?

[hunter]

13. Why use it as a fuel???

Let's say I want to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco, or from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Today I might burn some oil by taking an airplane or driving my car.

If oil is very expensive then a high speed electric train might be a a far better alternative than any synthetic fuel such as ethanol.

If midwestern farmers are looking to fuel their farm equipment, biodiesel might be a better alternative fuel than ethanol.

[Coastie for Truth]

14. I have always treated ethanol as a subset of biofuels

and I have treated biodiesel as another subset of biofuels.

To me - correct me if I'm wrong - "biodiesel" implies a specific range of viscosity, vapor pressure, and ignition temperature, among other properties (optionally blended with other "stuff').

Also, to me - and again, correct me if I'm wrong - biofuels means that we get them from biological products by a human moderated chemical process - be it the high pressure and high temp processes of conventional chemical processing -- or the enzyme catalyzed processes at "STP" of the food, pharmaceutical, and alcoholic beverage industries.

I know that when you get above a certain alcohol content - you kill the "bugs." That tells me that an area for invention and investment is to find "bugs" that can survive higher alcohol concentrations -- and maybe - eventually - get us to the 95% EtOH azeotrope solely by "bugs."