Ethanol Essay

Switching from the expensive oil to alternative fuels has moved from a dream to reality. Today, there are dozens of alternatives to oil that are currently available us to be used. One alternative to oil that is being used more today is ethanol. Derived from plant materials, ethanol can be a cheaper, cleaner alternative to the gasoline that our vehicles run off. When going to gas pumps, one will notice that much of the gasoline is up to 10 percent of ethanol. According to our text, most ethanol in the U.S. is made from corn, yet ethanol can be made from any biomes-- including garbage. (Turk & Bensel, 2011)

     "We need more stringent regulations on car emissions... Let's add MTBE to the fuel- that will reduce pollution... If people would just stop driving so much, pollution wouldn't be so bad..." People have long recognized the problems with the gasoline we used now.  We have tried everything from putting regulations on emissions, to putting additives in the gasoline (only to discover later that MTBE got into the groundwater), to campaigns to get people off the road.  However, more and more cars are on the roads as the population increases, and people are not going to stop driving.  Additives are as likely to cause problems as they are to prevent them.  Just changing the

In the first video “Ethanol in Brazil”, the discussion is about the use of ethanol and how it influences many new endeavors in Brazil. Brazil uses ethanol to make alcohol and then uses the alcohol for fueling their cars. Brazil grows sugar canes, processes it into sugar juice, adds yeast, and this mixture produces ethanol. Using Ethanol in Brazil has since changed their dependency on foreign oil; Brazil went from 80 percent dependency on foreign oil to around 10- 15 percent dependency. In addition to the lower dependency rate, Brazil started a new endeavor called “Flex Fuel” cars. This car can run on ethanol, gasoline, or a mixture of both. One bystander in the video preferred to use the ethanol alcohol over gasoline because it was half the price of gasoline. One cool thing about the “Flex Fuel “car is that it has separate tanks for gas and alcohol, since alcohol does not work well with cold weather, drivers can decide to use gas

One main reason we use corn ethanol for fuel is because it is a renewable resource. This corn ethanol is not entirely made out of corn. It is made from sugar cane or grasses, in other words, plant materials. These easy renewable sources are why we had the idea to make this fuel and continue on with it. Due to

To start with, the lecturer debunks the author's first conjecture since ethanol removes carbon dioxide from the atomsphere. To elaborate in detail, the lecturer claims that although ethanol releases carbon dioxide as known as greenhouse gas, ethanol is made from plants such as corns. so the process of growing corns actually counteracts the release of the gas. This view is in direct opposition to the author's claim that ethanol is harmful as gasoline.

In a time of energy crisis and a subsequent search for a renewable replacement for crude oil, biofuels have arisen as a source of hope.   Currently, the largest source of biofuels in the United States is corn-based ethanol. The large scale of corn-ethanol production and the potential promise of finding a domestic, reliable source of energy, requires the fuel’s viability as a replacement for crude oil to be evaluated.  However, there is debate surrounding corn-based ethanol’s environmental, economic, and social impacts. The scientists and governments who support the development of biofuels claim that it will not only provide a new and sustainable source of energy but also that it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is therefore better for the environment. However, although corn-based ethanol continues to harbor support from the United States government, environmentalists argue that ethanol is not substantially better for the environment, especially when the effects of its production are taken into account.  Also, while some larger farms profit from ethanol production, it places economic stress upon smaller farms and the agricultural industry and leads to higher food prices that are a great detriment to those living at the level of subsistence.  Therefore, in order to produce energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly fuel, the United States must work towards developing cellulosic biofuels and those produced by microbes as they have fewer consequences than corn-based

The sugar beets and sugar cane are very good examples of these feed stocks that contain the sugar. Corn contains starch that can easily be converted into the sugar that is needed. Even most of the trees and grasses have cellulose that can be easily turned into sugar and then used in the making of ethanol (Mukherjee 1 para 2).The ethanol process always starts by grinding up the feedstock which makes it more quickly and easily processed.

The author expresses some reasons which indicate that Ethanol is not an appropriate replacement for gasoline. The lecturer, however, refutes the claim since he believes that the arguments are not persuading.

Alcohols are being considered as modern day fuels because they are cheap to manufacture and some can be made in labs. There are four main alcohols that are especially being taken into consideration as alternative fuel sources. These four include: Ethanol, Methanol, Propanol and Butanol. The reason that these four have been considered is because A) They can me chemically/Biologically synthesized in a Lab, B) There are properties within these fuels that can be used within modern day engines, and C) These four fuels also have a high octane rating. The octane rating of a fuel refers to how much compression a fuel can go through before it ignites by its self. The reason this makes such a big difference within engines, is because when fuels self-ignite because they have been compressed too much, it can cause “knocking” which can damage the engine and also because it means that the fuel is more efficient and therefore you can get more kilometres per litre/KJ per Mol.

As the number toxin spewing cars rises, pollution has presented itself as a major problem in urban areas. There have been many solutions presented to help solve this problem, but few have been widely accepted by the general public. I believe the pollution problem is one that cannot be solved in one big step, but in smaller steps. I see Ethanol use as one of those steps. The intention of this proposal is to recommend an approach that would lead to widespread use of ethanol.

Diesel is the fuel of choice in the European automotive market, due to the fact that it provides high-torque, efficient alternative to gasoline. The American view of diesel, however, is much less positive overall – most Americans remember the noisy, smoky diesels of decades past and know little about the quiet, clean diesels of the present. One of the best arguments for the switch to diesel fuel in the United States is that a fueling infrastructure is already in place, as transportation companies rely on diesel fuel to distribute goods across the United States (Is Diesel). This would negate the need to construct an entirely new infrastructure, which could cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Diesel is also considerably more environmentally friendly than gasoline, due to the fact that it is less refined (a process which uses large amounts of energy) and that it is more efficient than gasoline (ACEA). The combustion process in a diesel engine, which exerts high pressure on the fuel to ignite it, is the source of the motor’s increased

Petrol has a higher energy density than most other forms of energy, this allows vehicles to travel further between refills. 1kg petrol burnt can generate around 10,000kcal.This means that, for only small amounts, petroleum generates a large amount of energy.

Ethanol or as we know as alcohol in our beverages can be made from any fruit or vegetable that performs photosynthesis which produces glucose shown As required as the reactant of the previous equations.

This essay will first discuss the advantages of using corn ethanol as the main source of fuel in the future, such as the renewable features of corn itself, and the benefits of using corn ethanol as an additive of gasoline instead of using gasoline alone. However, everything has its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, the second part of the essay will discuss some of the weaknesses in applying the fuel into practical usage. For example, corn ethanol currently encounters technical limitations serving itself as a standalone fuel, meaning that corn ethanol can only function by combining itself with a certain amount of gasoline, while gasoline is a kind of fossil fuel. Lastly, this essay will conduct a comparison with other renewable resources in the world, including solar power, other biofuels, and hydrogen fuel.

What environmental benefits do we receive form an influx in ethanol as an alternative fuel? First let’s look