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Renewable Energy -Ethanol Renewable Energy Renewable energy refers to wind power, water power, solar energy, biofuel (liquid biofuel, solid biomass and biogas), geothermal energy and geo-energy. Liquid biofuel is usually either a bioalcohol such as ethanol or a bio-oil such as biodiesel and straight vegetable oil. |
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Renewable Energy -Ethanol Ethanol, the systematic name, is also known as ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, hydroxyethane, moonshine, or EtOH. Its molecular formula is C2H5OH and its SMILES is CCO. Ethanol is a colorless clear liquid with the density of 0.789 g/cm³. Its molar mass is 46.06844(232)g/mol. It¨s fully miscible in water with the melting point as 158.8 K(-114.3 ＜C) and the boiling point as 351.6 K(78.4＜C). Ethanol is flammable. . |
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| A model of an ethanol molecule | Structural diagram of ethanol | |||||
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Ethanol is an unlimited renewable clean resource in the
earth. By using photosynthesis,
the crops grow into the basic carbon-based feedstocks for the
production of ethanol. Then these feedstocks will be transformed
into other feedstocks for photosynthesis in the process of the production. In
this way, the cycle continues. In academic put, the main product of crop photosynthesis is hexose (C6H12O6). Hexose are the basic elements of cellulose and starch. In the production process of ethanol, two carbons of the hexose changes into carbon dioxide, four carbons of the hexose changes into ethanol. After the consumption of ethanol, ethanol will changes into four carbon dioxides in the nature. These six carbon dioxides will change back to hexose after photosynthesis. The energy is returned on energy invested (EROEI) for ethanol made from corn as an example, which means that it takes nearly as much energy (through natural gas based fertilizers, farm equipment, transformation from corn or other materials, and transportation) to create ethanol as the ethanol itself produces when put to work. |
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Production Sources
Ethanol can be produced from any
biological feedstocks that contain appreciable amounts of sugar or
materials that can be converted into sugar such as starch or
cellulose. Biological feedstocks are usually sugar cane, bagasse, miscanthus, sugar beet, sorghum, grain
sorghum, switchgrass, barley, hemp, kenaf, potatoes, sweet potatoes,
cassava, sunflower, fruit, molasses, whey or skim milk, corn, stover,
grain, wheat, wood, paper, straw, cotton, other biomass, as well as
many types of cellulose waste and harvestings, whichever has the
best well-to-wheel assesment. Ethanol made from cellulosic biomass
materials instead of traditional feedstocks (starch crops) is called
bioethanol. |
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Sweet Sorghum |
Cassava | Sugar Cane | Wheat | |||
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| Corn | Switchgrass | Sugar Beet | Sweet Potatoes | |||
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All Designed by Benny Xia Best viewed at 800x600 resolution |
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