Cellulosic ethanol: A fuel for the future?

Question

What do you think?

It is an important test to see whether lumber and agricultural by-products, rather than corn or sugar cane, are an economically viable "feedstock" for ethanol production. Behind the plant is Range Fuels, a start-up headed by a former Apple executive and financed by famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.

Dartnell hopes this project, eligible for up to $76 million in U.S. Department of Energy grants, will lead to many more plants--and a new industry--in the state.

"This gives us energy security and it keeps all the money in-state," said Dartnell. "Today, if we buy a tank of gasoline, a lot of money ends up with the oil reserve owners and refiners, and it's spread all around the world."

Answer 1

Cellulostic ethanol would get rid of tons of yard waste and provide ethanol fuel for America without threatening the nation's food supply.

What's even better than cellulostic ethanol, is cellulostic butanol, it's properties are ridiculously close to gasoline and it can be made from the exact same stuff as ethanol.

Gasoline has an energy content of 120,000 BTUs per gallon. Ethanol has only 70,000 BTUs per gallon. Because ethanol has less energy per gallon, you get less miles per gallon. Butanol has 118,000 BTUs per gallon which makes your gas mileage about the same as gas.

Answer 2

I'd love to see Wood Alcohol make a comeback. And, suddenly landfills would become treasure troves to be mined for the grass clippings, old newspapers and McDonalds wrapper to fuel our economy.

Wouldn't work in Russia, though--they'd drink it all. During the Cold War, a quarter of all Soviet Fighter squadrons were inoperable at any given time because the crews had drunk the de-icing fluid.

Sender 98. All Alcohols are the waste products of yeast digesting sugar, Cellulose, is a complex sugar that makes up most of the structure of plants.

Answer 3

I don't know what the Cellulosic means (is this just regular ethanol like the kind in E85?) Well new studies are showing that while the emissions from ethanol aren't the same as burning gasoline, they're really just as bad (if not worse). There just wasn't lage scale study on those emissions until now. So no, ethanol isn't the fuel of the future, sadly it's just a fuel to stem our dependency on foreign oil.

Answer 4

isn't that the corn stalk ethanol? I heard it is so plenty extra effective, and it would not actual dissipate corn itself. i think of cellulosic ethanol ability ethanol that originated from cellulose or used cellulose or some thing alongside those lines.

Answer 5

Definitely.

The trick is of course, to breed/engineer the right strains of yeast/microbes to ferment the Cellulose.

For those that don't know what is being talked about here. Common ethanol is brewed by fermenting simple starches and sugars. The common "brewers" yeasts do the work.

With the right strains of yeast/microbes, basically any plant fiber can be fermented.(grain stalks, leaves, paper, wood, etc etc) Not just the crop. Ethanol can then be distilled from the "wash" (fermented soup).

It is probably a little closer than you might expect. I've read a few reports on promising developments recently.

This link has more detail
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf1994/jeffr94a.pdf

Answer 6

If they can make this happen by using other plants and plant by-products other than corn and soybeans, it would be great. The current demand for corn and soybeans to create ethanol has driven up prices for these commodities. It is great for the grain farmers of America, but terrible for consumers. Since more and more grain is needed for fuel, less is being made into livestock feed, thus raising the price for beef, poultry, and swine. If we could make ethanol out of ordinary yard waste, such as grass clippings and tree limbs, then we would be totally self-sustaning as a country in regards to fuel.

Answer 7

You're exactly right. Ethanol made from grain will never be cost effective, or a net energy producer. That will come when someone finds a way to make it from the silage (cellulose). There was a great article about this in Scientific American earlier this year.

Answer 8

It's a great concept much better than using edible grains. They'll always be an abundance of garden waste and scrap wood. Once they figure out how to cheaply produce enough of the enzymes necessary it'll take off and become a big business.

Answer 9

Economic production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass is still in the research phase and commercial development is still years away if, in fact, it ever becomes possible.

Answer 10

I think someone should invent a garbage powered engine like the Delorian in Back to the Future.