Re: What is the technical name for this kind of energy?


"AKA Gray Asphalt" <goodidea1950@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:GTtyg.39536$AB3.33426@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Charlie Edmondson" <edmondson@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44ca355e$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
AKA Gray Asphalt wrote:

I meant to say ... that if there is enough crop to produce ethanol then
how come there isn't enough crop to produce corn oil to use directly as
a fuel? Diesel engines ran on corn oil before diesel as they were
developed for farm work. Not sure about the last but very sure about the
fact they ran on vegetable oil before petroleum.



Hi Gray,
I don't know if you are just trolling, or just not listening...

Ethanol from corn is a vote buying scheme to purchase the votes of
millions of farmers and those in farming communities. It takes an energy
intensive biomass source - corn - and creates a fuel from it, with
typical losses of 5-15%, i.e. you input a gallon of diesel fuel energy,
and get .9 gallons worth of energy out. It makes econonic sense only
because the government is subsidizing the process.

While corn oil is probably better in energy efficiency, it still isn't
very good. Corn is a foodstuff, not an energy feedstock. If you are
truly trying to produce biodiesel, you pick the source with the greatest
abount of oil production, not that tastes good.

Charlie

I'm not trolling. My question is not based on the type of oil but about
why a crop isn't a better fuel source than the same crop converted to
ethanol. Maybe I'm still not listening well enough, but to me crops use up
co2 and the economic component is important but should not be overstated
to get votes, as many have said. I just wonder why someone can drive a car
on corn oil (or any other kind of oil from plants, hemp, weeds ... : -)
with a small conversion cost, under $1000 and burn free used cooking oil.

Hi Gray.
I'm not sure I fully understand your question, but I'll take a stab at what
I think you are asking.
If you're looking at a crop to grow to produce a fuel with, corn is not one
of the better choices.
From what I've read, you only get 1.55 lbs oil per bushel from corn, where
say soybeans give you 11.7 lbs of oil per bushel.
I've read about various kinds of research in producing "cellulose ethanol",
where by (one method) using enzymes to convert the cellulose of the plant
matter itself into the starches/sugars needed to produce alcohol (ethanol).
So if you take a plant like soybean (not that I'm "endorsing" that crop
either), you can press it to produce much more oil, than say corn, then in
theory, take the left over pressed matter/remainder of plant, and make
ethanol from that, thereby producing much more fuel/acre.
I'm going to throw a plug in for my current favorite, which is algae, some
strains can contain almost 50% oil, and the leavings from pressing can be
processed into ethanol.

K. Jones



It seems like a good idea to stay away from the politics of this issue
because then people wonder if you are on one side or the other and if you
present the scientific data in an understandable way those making
decisions might have to consider the data.

Just because we have decided to use a crop for food doesn't mean that it
is not suitable for fuel. Do you think that the name we give something and
the current use matters when looking for alternative uses?




.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Study Says Ethanol Not Worth the Energy
    ... First there was the comment that it takes 29% more fuel to produce ... Ethanol than what you get from Ethanol. ... regularly plants 660 acres of corn. ... He speaks of huge subsidies given to oil exploration ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: 27 years of gasoline prices: actual & inflation adjusted
    ... Corn and pork bellies don't have to deal with the greed and corruption ... And this has what again to do with the price of gasoline? ... Demand for oil ... factors in determining the price of fuel. ...
    (alt.auto.mercedes)
  • Re: UN Warns of Biofuels Environmental Risk
    ... the last 5 years claims the net energy benefit of corn as a fuel ranges ... It's that newly found oil that caused Brazil to become energy ...
    (misc.transport.trucking)
  • Re: What is the technical name for this kind of energy?
    ... Diesel engines ran on corn oil before diesel as they were developed ... intensive biomass source - corn - and creates a fuel from it, ... a crop isn't a better fuel source than the same crop converted to ethanol. ...
    (sci.energy.hydrogen)
  • Re: Some janet and john figures for biofuel
    ... so using grain as a fuel alone is relatively inefficient. ... Since the crop is wood, the need to use good agricultural land for the crop seems foolish and the possibility of using waterlogged land for willow cropping is attractive. ... We get 130-200 gallons of oil per acre from olives, pretty much the same as OSR. ...
    (uk.business.agriculture)
Loading