B+-+Ethanol+fuel+producing+from+corn

Barnett Zou Mr. Lindala SCH4U Q:What are the advantages & disadvantages, in terms of efficiency & environmental impact, of using corn to pruduce ethanol fuel?

Introduction:

Corn is the main feedstock used for producing ethanol fuel in North American and it is mainly used as an oxygenate to gasoline in the form of low-level blends.

Advantages:
 * On a life cycle basis, ethanol produced from corn results in about a 20 percent reduction in GHG emissions relative to gasoline. With improved efficiency and use of renewable energy, this reduction could be as much as 52 percent.
 * In the future, ethanol produced from cellulose has the potential to cut life cycle GHG emissions by up to 86 percent relative to gasoline.
 * Ethanol blended fuels currently in the market – whether E10 or E85 – meet stringent tailpipe emission standards.
 * Ethanol readily biodegrades without harm to the environment, and is a safe, high-performance replacement for fuel additives such as MTBE.
 * Less dependence on imported light crude oil used, increasingly, for gasoline production.
 * When ethanol is used as an automotive fuel, either by itself or in a ethanol-gasoline blend, the result is less carbon monoxide, lower emissions of hydrocarbons into the air, and less dependence on toxic compounds used to increase the octane level of automotive fuels

Disadvantages:
 * The forest land cleared for the additional corn (or other source of alcohol); allowing trees to grow on the land would have locked up more carbon.
 * The carbon footprint of the agricultural machinery runs to plant and harvest, and to spread chemicals in between.
 * The environmental impact of those chemicals themselves, including fertilizers and pesticides necessary for efficient mass-production of the grains used
 * The larger amount of energy required to ship and processes the grains and turns them into alcohol, versus the more efficient process of converting oil into gasoline or diesel.
 * Even resources such as water, needed in huge amounts for grain production, can have serious environmental impact, including ground water depletion, pollution runoff, and algae blooms from waste runoff.
 * Ethanol Provides Less Energy Than Gasoline.That impressive sounding 15.9 billion gallons of ethanol is equivalent to 85% as much gasoline, because ethanol has less energy than gasoline. So the adjusted 13.6 billion gallons of gasoline equivalent ethanol is about 9.6% of the gasoline fuel base. So no one is saying that ethanol will replace gasoline, only that ethanol may provide a slight supplement to it and slightly reduce the need to import foreign oil. And anytime you use ethanol as a substitute for gasoline, you'll need to burn more of it

Alternatives to corn as feedstock:

Remnants from food production such as corn stove could be used to produce ethanol instead of food corn. The use of cellulosic biomass to produce ethanol is a new trend in biofuel production. Fuels from these products are considered second generation biofuels and are considered by some to be a solution to the food verses fuel debate. The possibility of using this material has been acknowledged by the scientific community and the political community as well.

References: 1.What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Ethanol Fuel?. (n.d.).wiseGEEK: clear answers for common questions. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from [] 2.Corn Fuel Ethanol Home Page. (n.d.). Grain Farmers of Ontario. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from [] 3.Corn Ethanol. (n.d.).DivorceInfo Surviving Divorce Managing Lawyers Alimony Child Support Retrieved December 8, 2010, from []l 4.Corn Ethanol - The Issue. (n.d.). The Issue. Retrieved December 8, 2010, from []