A Better Way To Make Ethanol

A few years ago, the newest rage to lower the use of fossil fuels was the production of ethanol. The problem was that the ethanol was being produced from corn, and this use of corn cut into the amount that was available for both food and feed. While this may have been good for corm growers, it was not good for everyone else. In a world with huge food shortages, it just makes no sense to use food to produce fuel.

Over at the Zero Energy Construction blog, they are trumpeting a new way to make ethanol. This way produces ethanol from waste products, not food. And considering the amount of waste products thrown away in this society every day, it makes a lot of sense to turn this waste into fuel. Here is the very interesting post (and I urge everyone to make this blog a regular read since the blogger does a good job of staying on top of energy issues):

His method is much cheaper and environmentally friendly than producing ethanol from corn. Daniell's technique involves using plant-derived enzymes to break down orange peels and other waste materials into sugar, which is then fermented into ethanol.

Producing fuel from waste has not only garnered more attention from the media of late, but it is also receiving much more attention from researchers and scientists, as well as politicians and financiers. Daniell and his team have had their research funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

One of the greatest features of using waste for fuel is that it is an abundant resource that will never be in competition with food resources. According to Daniell discarded orange peels could produce up to 200 million gallons of ethanol annually in Florida alone.

Although Daniell's research and technology requires much more testing before it goes commercial, the professor says, "this could be a turning point where vehicles could use this fuel as the norm for protecting our air and environment for future generations."

New Way To Produce Fuel From The Sun

Mankind has known for a long time that one of the best sources of energy is the Sun.   It powers the world and has done so since the earth was formed.   The problem for mankind has been to capture that energy and use it as we see fit.   Solar panels have been developed and are in use, but the energy from them cannot be bottled and transported to some other location -- it must be used where it is collected and can only be saved for a short period of time (like with batteries).

But researchers in the United States and Switzerland may be on the way to solving that problem.   They have invented a solar machine (pictured above) which uses the Sun's energy to create a fuel that can be stored and transported.

The machine has a chamber filled with ceria (cerium oxide) -- which is readily available as the most abundant of the "rare earth" metals.   Water or carbon dioxide is pumped into the ceria chamber and is heated by the Sun's rays.   The product is either hydrogen, or a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide which can be used to make a synthetic fuel.   Either way, the product can be stored and transported.

So far, they are only harnessing about 0.8% of the solar energy taken into the chamber.   But scientists say with a smaller aperture and better insulation they believe they can get that up to at least 19%.   That could make the process very viable, especially if a low carbon-use policy is adopted (as is needed to avoid global climate change).

This is very exciting news, and it's just the kind of innovation that is needed.   Even if a low-carbon policy is not quickly adopted, we are probably at or near peak oil production (the point at which production starts to fall no matter how much new drilling is done).   Thank goodness at least a few scientists are thinking about the future -- even if governments are not.

Bananas - Fuel Of The Future ?

The dominant energy source in most parts of Africa is wood. It is burned for cooking, lighting and heating. The problem is this is contributing to the deforestation of the continent, which in turn contributes to the problem of global climate change. For many years, there has been a search for a cheap and readily available source of energy other than wood. Some scientists think they may have found it -- bananas!

According to the scientists, for every ton of edible fruit from bananas there are ten tons of waste. This waste comes from the banana skins, stems and leaves. In many parts of Africa, the banana is plentiful and is used for food, wine and beer.

On a trip to Africa, PhD student Joel Chaney of Nottingham University got the idea of turning the banana waste into fuel. After returning to England, he got to work on the idea and now thinks he has done it. The best part of his method is that it's very low-tech. It doesn't require any expensive or complicated machinery.

Here's how he does it. According to the BBC, "He first mashes a pile of rotting skins and leaves. This pulp is then mixed with saw dust, compressed and dried to create briquettes that ignite readily and throw out a steady heat, ideal for cooking." The drying is accomplished by letting the briquettes sit in the sun for a couple of weeks.

Chaney says, "The banana skins bind other materials together really well, they act like glue." Chaney says he's not trying to make any money from his process. He and his fellow scientists are willing to teach anyone how to do it for free.

This is not the complete answer to Africa's need for a cheap renewable alternative to wood for fuel, but it could definitely be a part of the solution. (Note - the picture above shows some of the briquettes made from banana waste.)