1 / 9

Sugarcane, Soybeans, and Switch grass

Sugarcane, Soybeans, and Switch grass. Adam Schecter. Ethanol Production. Greatly depends on oil prices rising and the average corn price Less carbon monoxide production from vehicles with ethanol Corn greatest factor, but also can’t be overused for ethanol production due to major food crop.

felcia
Download Presentation

Sugarcane, Soybeans, and Switch grass

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Sugarcane, Soybeans, and Switch grass Adam Schecter

  2. Ethanol Production • Greatly depends on oil prices rising and the average corn price • Less carbon monoxide production from vehicles with ethanol • Corn greatest factor, but also can’t be overused for ethanol production due to major food crop. • Still not efficient to make ethanol compared to oil prices • Slow growing industry [risky]

  3. Switch grass • Used in cellulosic ethanol production • Fast growing plant in the U.S. [Easy to grow] • Cannot be used for food • Hardy plant, lives year round, helps with erosion, highly resistant to most extreme temperatures

  4. Sugarcane • Used in ethanol production (sugar based) • Brazil leads production in sugarcane ethanol • Food crop [Highly desired] • Brazil transitioned to 100% mixed gasoline with oil and sugarcane ethanol to preserve oil

  5. Soybeans • Produces oil diesel fuel • Major food source • The oil from soybeans needs more refining before use • Produced for bio-fuel use mainly in U.S.

  6. Biodiesel • Lipid + alcohol to form fatty acid ester like ethanol • Soybeans are often used in this process • Low carbon emitting alternative to diesel fuel and heating oil • In Brazil it helps extend the existence of continuous use of oil instead of transitioning to natural gas or other methods

  7. Bio-fuel Efficiency and Pollution • Bio-fuel can be refined to the standards of regular oil • Pollution from bio-fuels often creates as much if not more NOx emissions than regular oil • Those studies largely involved bio-fuel from corn • With the argument of more plants being factored in from bio-fuel the emissions are negligent • But most likely more plants will not be grown, but instead a transition from plants used for food being used for ethanol production

  8. Conclusions: • Cellulosic processing is a challenge to the agricultural industry • Food crops are not easily sacrificed for ethanol production • Oil prices need to rise considerably and this makes the next few decades the most favorable for ethanol production before it reaches its peak

  9. Sources: • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarcane • http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2008/2008-01-08-091.asp • http://katynally.wordpress.com/tag/sugar-cane/ • http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aer607/aer607.pdf

More Related