A New Generation of Biofuels and A Big Question Facing Automakers
Monday’s Omaha World Herald carried an article by the New York Times with the headline “Firms of all sizes hoping to distill biofuels.” The article actually conflates a whole panoply of liquid fuels and refers to corn ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, as well as a number of systems with synthesis gas inputs. We will discuss synthesis gas in our class but won’t comment much on corn, sugar cane or cellulosic ethanol. The bottom line for any of these systems is whether they will yield significantly more energy than is required to recover the fuel.
The interesting thing about these technologies is that they render the traditional boundaries for biofuels and synfuels indistinct. The difficulty faced by cellulosic ethanol schemes is in breaking up the biomacromolecular cellulose into ethanol. Some of the technologies noted in the New York Times article generate ethanol microbially using synthesis gas (CO and H2) as feedstock. They completely bypass trying to break up the molecule and convert everything to water, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen. The synthesis gas is then fed to microbes that convert it to ethanol. This system provides another outlet for the synthesis gas generated in gas-to-liquids, coal-to-liquids, or almost any type or process.
The other interesting aspect is that General Motors is investing in these ethanol systems. Automakers have decisions to make regarding the future of the internal combustion engine. They could completely embrace plug-in hybrid technology and abandon the internal combustion engine, or they could view hybrids as a niche product. It is unlikely that the same factories and vendors make parts for big batteries and electric motors and internal combustion engines. Projects like the ones described in this article have implications for the lives and livelihoods of people in a wide variety of occupations.
Posted: August 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.