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(Updated on February 04, 2010)
Latest on Biofuels
Latest Features
Gas Turbines Can Also Run on Ethanol
Brazil, one of the biggest ethanol exporters in the world, never runs out of ideas and usages for ethanol. Just recently, Brazilian energy company, Petrobras, and G.E. have experimented by using sugarcane-based ethanol to replace gas in running a turbine system. The said experiment was conducted in a plant that uses turbine to produce electricity in full commercial scale.
Make Way for Super Fuel!
EcoloCap Solution Inc. a company more popularly-known in the field of nanotechnology has recently launched an environmentally-friendly suspension fuel dubbed as M-Fuel. M-Fuel is also said to be a Super Fuel for its qualities as well as the benefits that it can impart.
Biofuel from Bacteria
Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, a subsidiary of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have developed a technique that can convert a familiar bacterium to biofuel.
RP Might Import 150M Liters of Ethanol for 2010
With the mandate to produce petroleum products with 5% ethanol blend, the National Biofuels Board (NBB) estimates that the Philippines would require 219 million liters of ethanol for 2010. However, local producers cannot supply all of these yet so the Philippine government has no other choice but to import ethanol from other countries like Brazil.
Did You Know?
Pure ethanol combined with egg shells in vinegar produces ethanol gel. Ethanol gel can be used for domestic purposes such as stoves, lamps, and heaters, which burns more efficiently and is an ideal solution for off-grid domestic energy requirements.
The first car to use ethanol as fuel is the "Quadricycle", designed and produced by Henry Ford in 1986. The quadricyle is also known as the horseless carriage and is driven by the headless horseless carriage driver.
The CO2 emissions that result from the combustion of bioethanol are designated as biogenous CO2 and viewed as climate-neutral, since their combustion, unlike that of fossil fuels, releases only as much carbon dioxide as the plants absorbed from the atmosphere during their growth. Naturally, biofuels are not completely climate-neutral, since fossil greenhouse gas emissions result from the cultivation of the plants (e.g., use of machines, nitrous oxide emissions from fertilisation), from the manufacture of the biofuels (e.g. electrical consumption by the production facilities), and from the transport of the biofuels (e.g. fuel consumption during delivery to filling stations). However, when comparing the entire product lifecycle of bioethanol and fossil fuels, bioethanol has the more positive CO2 balance sheet. This is why higher blending of bioethanol is encouraged. In some countries, like Brazil which is the world leader in bioethanol, blends as high as E85 are available. This means the fuel is 85% bioethanol and only 10% gasoline!
On his 21st birthday, Prince Charles's received an Aston Martin DB6 from his mother the Queen. Recently, in his quest to cut his personal carbon footprint, the Prince converted the vintage classic car to run on 100% bioethanol fuel distilled from surplus British wine. A nice white wine from a Wiltshire vineyard, to be precise. The Aston Martin DB6, which clocks up just 480km a year - averaging 10 miles a gallon (about 4km a litre), or 4.5 bottles of wine for every mile. The vineyard cannot produce more than their European Union quota. Rather than destroy the excess, the vineyard sells it to the Gloucestershire biofuels supplier Green Fuels, where it is distilled and made into bioethanol.
Pure ethanol is 200 Proof! The highest alcohol content that can be consumed is 180 proof.
A reason why ethanol is denatured before it leaves the distillery:Ethanol and nitric acid could be used to produce explosive liquid substances. Nitrous oxide and ethanol when combined can produce fuel for propulsion engines for space travel.
The largest bioethanol facility is not located in Brazil. The largest bioethanol refinery is located in Innisfail, Alberta, Canada. Although it is yet to be completed, the plant is expected to produce 100 million gallons of ethanol per year. Enough to supply the entire requirement of the Philippines!
Ethanol contains 35% oxygen. The human body requires 18% oxygen to survive.
The first motor sports event in the world to run on 100% ethanol is the Indy 500, on May 25, 2007. After that event, all cars participating in the Indy 500 utilizes a 10% bioethanol blended fuel.
