Bioethanol

BIOLOGY

Taiyo Hamada

What is Ethanol ? Ethanol - also known as ethyl alcohol

Its the intoxicating agent in fermented and distilled liquors; used pure or denatured as a solvent

Ethanol from corn It is made by yeast from

sugars. Fuel ethanol is highly concentrated to remove the water and blended with other compounds. 

It is done from the process called fermentation, yeast produces CO2 after eating sugars and produce ethanol as a waste.

 

Ethanol pollution

Ethanol is releasing lots of carbon monoxide and also Volatile organic compounds (VOC) is being released by the ethanol plants, this is  dangerous and pollutes the water supplies.

 

Ethanol pollution 2

The FUMES are produced when fermented corn is dried and selling for sale as a food for animal. Thermal oxidizers can be attached to the plants to burn off the dangerous gases.fume = a gas or vapor that smells strongly or is dangerous to inhale. 

BIOLOGY II

Stephen Huang

CHEMISTRY

Suyeon So

Property of Ethanol Molecular formula: C2H50H

Colorless, inflammable liquid

Burns with smokeless blue flame

Hydroxyl group Hydrogen Bonding

Ethylene Hydration and Fermentation

Flash point: 13°C

Density: 0.789 g/cm3

Property of Gasoline

Molecular formula: C8H18

Yellow color, volatile and inflammable liquid

Vaporizes at the low temperature

Burns with black smoke and red flame

Oil refineries (distillation)

Flash point: 43°C

Density: 0.720 g/cm3

Combustion of Ethanol C2H50H(l) + 3O2(g) 2CO2(g) + 3H20(l)

50 L of Ethanol ≈ 50000cm3

50000 × 0.789 = 39450g

Number of Ethanol moles: 39450÷46.08 ≈ 856.120 moles

Mole ratio of Ethanol and CO2 gas – 1:2

Number of CO2 moles: 1712.240 moles

Amount of CO2 gas produced

1712.240 mol × 44.01g = 75355.6824g

≈ 75.356 kg

Combustion of Gasoline C8H18(l) + 12.5 O2(g) = 8CO2(g) + 9H2O(l)

50L of Gasoline ≈ 50000cm3

50000 × 0.720 = 36000g

Number of Gasoline moles: 36000÷114.26 ≈ 315.071 moles

Mole ratio of Gasoline and CO2 gas – 1:8

Number of CO2 moles: 2520.568 moles

Amount of CO2 gas produced

2520.568mol × 44.01g = 110930.198g

≈ 110.930 kg

35.574 kg

MORE!!

PHYSICS

Aileen Frotten

Efficiency of Energy

2.6 gallons of corn 1 gallon of ethanol

131,000 BTU = corn production, conversion to 1 gallon pure ethanol.

3 sets of distillation processes to separate 8% ethanol from 92% water. More treatment+energy to produce ethanol (99.8% pure)

77,000 BTU = energy 1 gallon ethanol provides

131,000 - 77,000 = 54,000 BTU net energy loss

It takes more energy to produce the ethanol than the ethanol actually provides! EXTREMELY inefficient!

Ethanol Fermentation and Purification Experiment

Purpose: To understand the amount of energy input required to produce ethanol

Fermentation

(get materials info from Suuchan)

Therefore, original mass is XXXXX

Purification

Blah….

Final mass: 26/50 mL Ratio: x/XXX mL (XXX=beginning mass) X=

This means that XX% of the entire process became waste

Experiment

Experiment ResultsTrial Mass of

EthanolDensity

1 9.99 0.999

2 9.82 0.982

3 9.79 0.979

4 9.74 0.974

5 9.26 0.926

Average Density of our purified ethanol = 0.9712

Density = Mass/VolumeVolume is a constant (10cm cubed)

Self Reflection