Blog #3

Blog #3 24/2/17

Hello Blogheads!

Unfortunately, this will be my last entry.

Today I will be assessing the potential of ethanol to be used as an alternative fuel and discus the pros and cos of its use.

The use of ethanol encompasses a number of advantages and disadvantages regarding its use as a complete alternative to petrochemicals.

Advantages

The most important advantage of ethanol as a fuel source is that, unlike petrochemicals, it is a completely renewable resource, meaning that it will never run out due to our infinite supply of glucose from plant matter. in addition, no research into the technology of the extraction process is required, as we already have the technology required and it has been proven to work. Ethanol unlike petrochemicals are completely greenhouse friendly. as mentioned in the previous blog, the carbon dioxide released due to the burning if ethanol is equal to the amount that was absorbed by the plants during photosynthesis to make sugar, therefore the plant derived ethanol does not contribute to the growing “Greenhouse effect” which is detrimentally affecting the Earth. Finally as previously mentioned, no engine modifications are required when petrol is mixed with up to 20% ethanol, helping conserve petrol overall.

Disadvantages

if petrochemicals want to be completely replaced with ethanol, up to 75% of agricultural land would need to be dedicated to the ethanol industry which causes major disadvantages to farmers and commercial agriculturalists. in the 1980’s, Brazil attempted to implement ethanol as their primary source of fuel, dedicating 275% of their agriculture to ethanol production. the attempt led to an economic failure, and disrupted a major segment of their food production farming o make way for “ethanol farming”. to run vehicles on pure ethanol fuel, a completely new engine is required to be designed and built to allow for ethanol to function as a fuel. Ethanol tends to be corrosive so the materials which the engine is constructed out of must suit this need. Ethanol also has a different energy content, ignition temperature and burn characteristics compared to petrochemicals. The cost of setting up factories that will be able to design a new engine design is extremely high, causing their production to be very unlikely meaning that there is a low chance that ethanol will be used for more than 10% as anytime soon.  a full extender

 

Overall, with the current technologies and knowledge about ethanol, the use of ethanol as a main source of fuel seems very unlikely UNTIL either, efficient production from cellulose, derived from crop wastes is researched and used efficiently so that no crops need to be grown just fir ethanol production OR renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power operate the distillation process of ethanol.

Thank you for reading my weekly blog about ethanol Blogheads! it was a pleasure sharing my studies with you. See you next time!