The Gas Station Blog

Ethanol and biodiesel

Zakir — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:15:33 +0000

There are mainly to types of biofuels that are used today: ethanol and biodiesel. Ethanol is an alcohol that is produced from biomass, corn, wheat and sugarcane. It can then be blended with traditional gasoline. The result is a type of fuel that maintains a higher octane level while still having reduced emissions of greenhouse gases. The other kind of biofuel, biodiesel, is instead derived from natural oils. Such oils include vegetable oils or animal fats.

Filling up at Propel Biodiesel © by Spencer T.

The two most widely used types of biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel. Just a brief review, ethanol is an alcohol fuel derived from sugarcane, wheat, corn and biomass, thus including wasted cooking oil. It can be blended with conventional petroleum diesel to improve its octane level resulting in reduced greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, biodiesel is made from natural oils such as animal fats or vegetable oils.

The production process

Ethanol is generated either by wet or by dry milling. The later process is the more widely used. It works with either starch or sugar. Yeast is added to these components. The mixture is then being used for a fermentation process. The end product of the fermentation is alcohol. Biodiesel on the other hand, is produced by so-called transesterification. It is a chemical process that removes glycerin and methyl esters from the raw oils.

Compatibility

Any engine that runs on diesel power can use biodiesel. The situation with ethanol is a little bit more complicated. It is only used as an additive to gasoline, because it not recommended to use pure ethanol for engines. But even the blended ethanol cannot be used in every car. The car’s manufactor has to determine its compatibility.

Biofuels: an introduction

Zakir — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 21:53:48 +0000

Ethanol is produced quite similarly to the alcohol you will find in your beer. It is likewise fermented from organic materials. Afterwards it is altered and made undrinkable. Usually it is only used for blending purposes. As an additive to gasoline it is supposed to increase octane and reduce carbon monoxide emissions.

Biofuels © by USDAgov

The most common biofuels are ethanaol and biodiesel. The main difference to gasoline is the biofuels renewability that is based on its organic origin. This allows it to be produced wherever agriculture is possible. The refinement is also accomplished relatively easy with commonly available technology.

A major benefit of the production of biofuel is certainly its promising potential to decrease the dependency on foreign country’s oil resources. Furthermore, it prevents the money spent on fuel to leave the country but instead strengthens investments in local agricultural communities. It also is an option to satisfy fuel demands once fossil resources are depleted. Whether this is a benefit is questionable, of course.

However, an undeniable drawback of biofuels is the impact their production can have on food prices. Since agricultural areas that are usually used for food crops are now sown with plants that yield bio fuel. This development cuts down the amount of food on the market and consequently drives prices up.

This problem is supposed to be addressed by so-called second generation biofuels, which are produced by waste from food crops or wood. This allows a much greater range of plants and waste to be used for fuel production and thus less risks of rising food prices. It also means that less energy has to be utilized for the production. This further reduces the carbon imprint of biofuels. There are even technologies developed that may allow the production of fuel from grass. Whether these new biofuels can prevent food prices from rising has to be proven over the next years.

Cheap fuel cells

Zakir — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:06:28 +0000

Fuel cells are a promising future source of energy. The do not pollute the environment and are one of the very few REAL options for emmision-free mobility. A fuel cell is an electrochemical device which has the ability to turn the chemical energy of its hydrogen-based fuel into electricity. The only remaining by-product is water. Thus, one can call the fuel cell free of malicous emmissions.

Today, only very few cars are driven by fuel cells. Most of them are prototypes. However, fuel cells are a realistic option for future mobility, because they have a significant advantage over battery driven eletric vehicles. Other than those they can be refueled as quickly as traditional gasoline driven cars.

Whereas all of this sounds very promising, the major issue that keeps fuel cells from flooding the market is their high price. The cost are mostly driven by the expansive platinum that is used in the cells. 100 grams of platinum is usually built into a fuel cell setting its price into several thousands of USD. However, scientist are making significant progresses in developing new kinds of platiunum compounds that allow for a great increase in efficiency. This makes fuel cells possible that need drastically less platinum than current designs. It is estimated that cell designs are possible that only need about 10 grams of platinum.

Huge fuel cells built with these new kinds of platinum alloys might sell for less than two thousand USD. Smaller cells that are not supposed to power a car but a small electronic devices migth become cheap enough to replace batteries. This could establish the fuel cell as one of the major source for mobile energy in the near future.

The Gas Station Blog

Zakir — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:28:48 +0000

Have you lost track of all the alternatives that are designated as the next big thing in green mobility? Fuel cells, batteries, solar panels and biofuels… There are a lot of names floating around. Since I am quite into future mobility I decided to share my enthusiasm in this blog.

I would be charmed if you followed me along a while! Feel free to critizise and utter your wishes.

So long,

Zakir