Cellulosic Ethanol Infographic

INFOGRAPHIC

Cellulosic Ethanol

Positives, but Some Negatives:

History:

Back to the Future:Scientists are finding out more ways to make ethanol from other feedstocks and/or plant materials. Researcher around the world are also determining if plant material that grows in their region has cellulosic ethanol production potential.

Loremipsum.com

BENEFITS: Cellulosic materials are not used for food and feed, and many people find that appealing. It also reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by 86% compared to gasoline. Another additional positive outcome is, cellulosic ethanol is biodegradable. It can e decomposed, and will not harm the Earth.

References:http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph240/zarubin1/ http://greenthefuture.com/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/ https://sciencing.com/ https://extension.illinois.edu/

Limitations: Unfortunately, ethanol-containing fuels are hygroscopic, which means they readily absorb 50 times more water than conventional fuels. The result is a reduced shelf life in ethanol fuels. The breakdown of cellulose into cellulose ethanol requires the use of expensive enzymes. Cellulose ethanol absorbs water and is also a corrosive substance. This makes current pipelines incompatible with ethanol transportation, although its possible long-term studies and modifications may allow this in the future. The result is a higher cost of transport through the use of railways or trucks.

The first cellulosic ethanol production plant opened in 1910 by the Standard Alcohol Company in South Carolina.Later, a second one opened in Louisiana.

WHAT IS CELLULOSIC ETHANOL?: Ethanol is an alcohol that is able to be created front different plant materials and feedstocks used in liquid to fuel motorized vehicles. Cellulose can be used to make ethanol but to do so needs a extra process of using enzymes to break the cellulosic materials into sugars. Cellulosic materials provide structure to plants. Cellulosic materials are also being studied for production of biofuels from inedible plant wates. Ethanol produced from the cellulosic materials is referred to ass cellulosic ethanol

MORE FUN FACTS: 1. Reduces GHG emissions by 110% 2. It’s biodegradable! 3. Was discovered by a french chemist named Henri Braconnot

PERSONAL IDEAS:I believe that this process has potential, henceforth we should use it to understand it more. It was really interesting to learn about this, and I believe it could be very useful for our economy and our planet overall.

This graph shows that Ethanol and Cellulosic Ethanol is a much better alternative than gasoline.