Main Point's:
- Despite extensive research, biofuels are still not commercially competitive,
- The breakthroughs needed, revealed by recent science, may be tougher to realize than previously thoughts.
- Corn ethanol is widely produced because of subsidies, and it diverts massive tracts of farmland needed for food.
- Converting the cellulose in cornstalks, grasses and trees into biofuels is proving difficult and expensive.
- Algae that produce oils have not been grown at scale.
- And more advance genetics are needed to successfully engineer synthetic microorganisms that excrete hydrocarbons.
- Some start up companies are abandoning biofuels and are instead using the same processes to make higher margin chemicals for products such as plastics or cosmetics.
- A genetically modified organism such as a bacterium grows inside a vat and is fed sugar.
- The synthetic organism stitches together elements from the sugar into hydrocarbon molecules
- The organism excretes the hydrocarbons.
- The hydrocarbons can be burned directly as liquid fuel.
- Algae in a pond or vat are exposed to sunlight and fed carbon dioxide and nutrients
- As algae grow they produce oils inside their cell walls.
- Mature cells are collected by various means.
- A chemical solvent dissolves the cells, killing them and releasing the oils.
- The oils are refined into a variety of fuels such as biodiesel or bio-jet fuel.
- Acids, enzymes or other methods break down plant matter such as cornstalks or grasses into its constituent sugar.
- Sugar is a sent to vat.
- Yeast ferments it into a broth of ethanol and water.
- Broth is distilled to extract the ethanol. Water and carbon dioxide are given off as by-products.
- The ethanol can be burned directly or blended with gasoline.
- Apple executive attracted millions of dollars in private money plus commitments for up to $156 million in grants and loans from the U.S. government.
- Each day the facility would convert 1,000 tons of wood chips and waste from Georgia's vast pulp and paper industry into 274,000 gallons of ethanol.
- this failure is particularly discouraging because only a few years ago biofuels seemed like an ideal solution to two big U.S problems.
- Terrorism and soaring oil prices had made Middle Eastern oil a particular liability, and rising average global temperatures underscored the need to find alternative fuels for transportation.
- Biofuels come from plants which absorb carbon dioxide and the atmosphere as they grow.
- Burning biofuels in vehicles would in theory show the buildup gases, compare with burning fossil fuels.
Author's Point's:
The author point about this article is to explain the false of the biofuels can be cause to our environment. Also, the limit when it can be use and the impacts of its gases being release in the atmosphere. Not only that he explained how corn ethanol is being formed and how much amount of corn crop being harness. He even added how much percent of the farmland is being taking over and its roughly 40 percent of the nation corn crop, cultivated on 32 million acres of farmland, pushing up food prices and feeding an enormous "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico where the Mississippi river dumps all the fertilizer that runs off midwestern cornfields. More advanced biofuels made with different processes promised to remedy these flaws. None of these advanced biofuels is working at commercially meaningful scaled today. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's was supposed to be producing 100 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year. Corn and sugarcane will provide the bulk of any alternative to oil, further straining a global agricultural system already struggling to provide food, feed and fiber for seven billion people plus livestock and counting.
The author point about this article is to explain the false of the biofuels can be cause to our environment. Also, the limit when it can be use and the impacts of its gases being release in the atmosphere. Not only that he explained how corn ethanol is being formed and how much amount of corn crop being harness. He even added how much percent of the farmland is being taking over and its roughly 40 percent of the nation corn crop, cultivated on 32 million acres of farmland, pushing up food prices and feeding an enormous "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico where the Mississippi river dumps all the fertilizer that runs off midwestern cornfields. More advanced biofuels made with different processes promised to remedy these flaws. None of these advanced biofuels is working at commercially meaningful scaled today. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's was supposed to be producing 100 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year. Corn and sugarcane will provide the bulk of any alternative to oil, further straining a global agricultural system already struggling to provide food, feed and fiber for seven billion people plus livestock and counting.
My thought's:
After reading this article thinking of how much money of our country is spending a lot of money for corn ethanol and biofuels. It's really scary because thinking about how much resources they are gathering to buy what they want because they have money. Also, for the corn ethanol and the crops farmland is really disgusting me because the crop that they grow is next to the fertilizer dumping. Haven't they think that they can affect many people and get them sick. I hope that all my vegetables and fruit I eat isn't next to the dump fertilizer. That wouldn't be nice of eating a "fresh vegetable". But our government should start changing stuff before all of use get affected.
After reading this article thinking of how much money of our country is spending a lot of money for corn ethanol and biofuels. It's really scary because thinking about how much resources they are gathering to buy what they want because they have money. Also, for the corn ethanol and the crops farmland is really disgusting me because the crop that they grow is next to the fertilizer dumping. Haven't they think that they can affect many people and get them sick. I hope that all my vegetables and fruit I eat isn't next to the dump fertilizer. That wouldn't be nice of eating a "fresh vegetable". But our government should start changing stuff before all of use get affected.
So what?
Biofuels is bad and most of our crops is affected.
What if?
If we can find a way instead of mass crop harvesting?
Says who?
Brad Plumer
What this remind you of?
Biomass lab. (fishing lab)
Biofuels is bad and most of our crops is affected.
What if?
If we can find a way instead of mass crop harvesting?
Says who?
Brad Plumer
What this remind you of?
Biomass lab. (fishing lab)