Tag Archive: biofuel
You are browsing the tag archive for biofuel.
New Bacteria Source for Biofuels
But will it scale?
Scientists have created a new bacteria by injecting blue-green algae with a set of cellulose-making genes from a non-photosynthetic “vinegar” bacterium, Acetobacter xylinum. The new cyanobacteria produce a relatively pure, gel-like form of cellulose that can be broken down easily into glucose.
A newly created microbe produces cellulose that can be turned into ethanol and other biofuels, report scientists from The University of Texas at Austin who say the microbe could provide a significant portion of the nation’s transportation fuel if production can be scaled up.
No Ethics in Ethanol
Biofuel hell
The path to hell is paved with good intentions
Consider that 20 percent of the U.S. corn crop was converted to 5 billion gallons of ethanol last year. This replaced only 1 percent of U.S. petroleum. If the entire U.S. corn crop were used, it would replace a mere 7 percent.
The energy expended to produce a gallon of corn ethanol is 40 percent greater than what is in ethanol itself.
Corn-based ethanol production receives $6 billion in subsidies.
Each gallon of ethanol requires 1700 gallons of waters and releases 12 gallons of noxious sewage effluent into the environment (farmers use ~150 lb. of nitrogen fertizlizer to raise 8700 lb. of corn/acre).
Biofuels is an interesting idea that has become a nightmare in practice. It was fun when a few farmers were powering their trucks on the waste of french fry oil. But the idea has surpassed its feasible limits.
Nice try, but time to drop it.
How Far Can you Go on a Tank of Biofuel?
Biofuel mean a lot of bull.
A top ranking post today reports the following factoid:
The amount of corn it takes to produce 75 litres of ethanol– roughly a tank of fuel– is enough corn to feed one person on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet for a year, Mr. Klein said.
But clearly we’re not all going to be just eating corn for a year. Some people actually eat meat too… so part of that corn needs to go to cows:
For every 3,000 calories in the form of corn that are fed to a cow, only 600 are returned in milk; if the meat is eaten, only 120 calories are available for human use. - Source
Put those two together, and you end up with a choice between a tank of bio-gas or 15 days of steak. Chicken is twice as efficient (per Michael Pollan) so you could have a month of poultry for the same corn cost.
