Because the production of ethanol can cause many negative impacts on the environment, scientists have discovered multiple strategies to try and reduce the negative impacts of Ethanol on our health and environment.
Using non-food source crops to create Ethanol
With recent research, scientists discovered that using established non-food sources such as certain trees, tall grass and sugar canes, ethanol could be produced more efficiently and without using food resources for fuel sources. This helps in an economic standpoint since livestock now has a unintentional economic impact causing the price of livestock plants to increase. This also helps reduce the negative impact of ethanol on farmlands where soil turns infertile due to the lack of organisms decomposing into the land, and helps reduce the need to artificially create fertile soil.
Another bonus to using a non-food source to create ethanol is that it is much more efficient and easier to mass produce. For instance, switch grass grows at a rapid rate but is yet able to be burned and produces around 1,150 gallons of ethanol per acre each year. Switch grass looks like a promising source for the production of ethanol and thus chemists and biologists are using DNA samples and physiological characteristics of switch grass to identify numerous varieties and breeds of switch grass that shows great promise for the future of ethanol production.
Another bonus to using a non-food source to create ethanol is that it is much more efficient and easier to mass produce. For instance, switch grass grows at a rapid rate but is yet able to be burned and produces around 1,150 gallons of ethanol per acre each year. Switch grass looks like a promising source for the production of ethanol and thus chemists and biologists are using DNA samples and physiological characteristics of switch grass to identify numerous varieties and breeds of switch grass that shows great promise for the future of ethanol production.
SYNTHESIS ethanol: a way to turn Waste into Ethanol
What about the idea of producing fake ethanol? At first glance, the idea of turning hydrocarbons such as coal into ethanol is unrealistic, but in reality, this idea is not as far-fetched as people think. Synthesis ethanol is exactly the product of such experiments. Synthesis ethanol is formed and produced through a thermos-chemical process where different resources, mainly hydrocarbons such as coal, are heated to form syn-gas. Syn-gas is then altered to bio-fuels through a method known as Gasification where hydrocarbons are placed in high temperatures and pressured in an oxygen-controlled atmosphere; thus forming synthetic ethanol.
Synthetic ethanol is chemically identical to bio-ethanol which mainly consists of sugar based or grain based plantation. Synthetic ethanol is not as harming to the environment to produce and its output of energy when burned is the same as bio-ethanol. This makes synthetic ethanol a great source to fabricate Ethanol. On the other hand, there are a few drawbacks to this method of production. A major problem is, even though this method is not as environmentally damaging than producing bio-ethanol, this procedure requires the usage of hydrocarbon fuel or fossil fuels. Another issue is the excessive amounts of time that is required to make a reasonable amount of ethanol through this method.
Synthetic ethanol is chemically identical to bio-ethanol which mainly consists of sugar based or grain based plantation. Synthetic ethanol is not as harming to the environment to produce and its output of energy when burned is the same as bio-ethanol. This makes synthetic ethanol a great source to fabricate Ethanol. On the other hand, there are a few drawbacks to this method of production. A major problem is, even though this method is not as environmentally damaging than producing bio-ethanol, this procedure requires the usage of hydrocarbon fuel or fossil fuels. Another issue is the excessive amounts of time that is required to make a reasonable amount of ethanol through this method.
Using Algae and MICROORGANISMs to CREATE fuel
This method of making ethanol hasn't been perfected yet and is not used commercially, but it does in fact gives insight on the possibilities in the future. Researchers recently discovered that algae and cyanobacteria are cable of producing hydrogen gas by using the energy from sunlight to split water molecules and release hydrogen. With this technology, it is possible to harness the hydrogen from algae and cyanobacteria to create a synthetic ethanol.
Though this method of creating ethanol has yet to be commercialized, there is research being done to try and improve its efficiency as well as thinking of a way to harness the hydrogen at an industrial scale. If this method of acquiring ethanol is fully developed, the requirement to deforest and create large farmlands would be reduced. Another bonus is that the algae and cyanobacteria do not perish or require to be replace after being harvested. This denotes that unlike using crops where it is required to replant and acquire more crops, algae and cyanobacteria will self-reproduce, which in turn saves plenty of resources and improves the environment.
Though this method of creating ethanol has yet to be commercialized, there is research being done to try and improve its efficiency as well as thinking of a way to harness the hydrogen at an industrial scale. If this method of acquiring ethanol is fully developed, the requirement to deforest and create large farmlands would be reduced. Another bonus is that the algae and cyanobacteria do not perish or require to be replace after being harvested. This denotes that unlike using crops where it is required to replant and acquire more crops, algae and cyanobacteria will self-reproduce, which in turn saves plenty of resources and improves the environment.