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The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility - Albert Einstein

Friday, June 03, 2005

Most of our energy requirements today are met by fossil fuels. These fuels were created in the interior of the Earth, when rotting ancient animal and plant remains got pressurized by the crust. As we use more and more of these fuels, it becomes harder and harder to mine/drill and transport and refine them for use. Some better way has to be found to meet our growing energy needs, and bio-fuel is one of them.

Fuel Cycle (Courtesy: PhysOrg)
University of Wisconsin researchers have discovered a new way to make a diesel-like liquid fuel from carbohydrates commonly found in plants:). Published in the journal Science, Steenbock Professor James Dumesic and colleagues detail a four-phase catalytic reactor in which corn and other biomass-derived carbohydrates can be converted to sulfur-free liquid alkanes resulting in an ideal additive for diesel transportation fuel.
The process is very efficient, as the fuel contains 90% of the energy found in the carbohydrate and hydrogen feed. This process has twice the potential to create Ethanol (Ethyl Alcohol) than corn. Corn produces 1.1 units of energy for every unit of energy consumed. This process creates 2.2 units of energy for every unit of energy consumed in energy production:):).
The process works with a range of carbohydrates. As About 75% of the dry weight plants and trees is carbohydrates, a wider range of plants can be used to make bio-fuel.

Green Diesel

6/03/2005   7 comments Post a Comment

7 Comments:

At June 04, 2005 7:23 AM, Blogger Tupinambah said...
Excellent news in times of Climate Change caused by carbon dioxide.
Good luck with the fundraising for the project!
 
At June 04, 2005 8:01 AM, Blogger Tupinambah said...
By the way, I forgot to mention Brazil has been developing a programme in this area called proalcool since 1974 and it has great similarities to this one described in your article.
About fighting against world poverty I found nice report: Why world poverty is a trade issue - and why the G8 must address it
Have a great weekend !
Namaste!
 
At June 04, 2005 5:03 PM, Blogger Sray said...
I looked up proalcool.. woww, it is a nice product! But it seems it works only with sugarcane, which is a hard to come-by resource in many parts of the world, as it needs lots of water to grow. So, this new technique (in my post) is better, as it can work on dry wood (cellulose) as opposed to glucose (in sugarcanes).
 
At June 04, 2005 11:09 PM, Blogger Sray said...
It does put greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But if we could use biomass directly to convert into energy, that will be much easier than importing huge amounts of oil, or to set up refineries.
 
At June 05, 2005 5:30 AM, Blogger LEMNA said...
Tip Toe,Tip Toe,Tip Toe...:D
 
At June 05, 2005 7:56 AM, Blogger Sray said...
I heard ittt :D:D....
 
At June 06, 2005 2:31 PM, Blogger Sray said...
90% sounds quite a lot... also, remember that there should be less of CO, SO2 and metallic-oxide pollution if bio-mass is used.
 

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