Essay about Converting Switchgrass to Biofuel

Bacterial cells are smaller and simpler than plant and animal cells because they are prokaryotes and lack membrane bound organelles. In addition, unlike animal and plant cells, bacterial cells lack a 'true' nucleus and mitochondria. Instead of a cell nucleus containing chromosomes, the DNA in bacterial cells is arranged in a single circular strand in the cytoplasm.

Bacteria are single celled organisms. Some classify them as a separate (fourth) kingdom on the tree of life.

Bacteria is a single celled organism, bacteria have evolved to thrive in almost any environment and can be found in almost any substance/surface and also in the human body, only 1% of bacteria is actually harmful.

Another alternative to oil being used is solar energy. Everyone knows that the sun is the most important source of energy to our

Bacteria are prokaryotic, and if you were to observe the two cells under a light microscope, you could distinguish their differences. The biggest distinguishment you can make while carefully observing the two cells, is the lack of a nucleus in a prokaryotic cell as compared to a eukaryotic. Prokaryotes also lack any membrane-bound organelles.

Ethanol (CH3CH2OH) is a clear, colorless liquid. It is also known as ethyl alcohol, EtOH, and grain alcohol. Ethanol is widely produced by processing grains such as corn or starch and sugar crops. The grain is first milled, then fermented with yeast and different enzymes to turn the grain 's starches into alcohol(EPA). A distillation process then increases the ethanol concentrations, basically the same process a whiskey maker would use to make whiskey. Of course, law mandates that a denaturant is added, making the liquid unsafe for drinking. In the process, waste grain is produced and sold as farm animal feed. Bioethanol, can be made from many types of trees and grasses, but the procedure is much harder. The chemical formula of ethanol is the same whether it is made from starch and sugar-based feedstocks, such as corn grain (widely used in United States), sugar cane (Brazil), or from cellulosic feedstocks (such as wood chips or crop residues). (The Alternative Fuels Data Center)

Bacteria are small, unicellular prokaryotic microbes. They have many morphologies, which include rod-shaped, spherical, spirals, helices, stars, cubes, and clubs. Classification of bacteria begins with either aerobic (requiring diatomic oxygen for growth) or anaerobic (not requiring O2 for growth). Bacteria can simply be narrowed down to gram positive (organism that stains purple or blue by Gram stain) or gram negative (organism that stains red or pink by Gram stain). Many physical and nutritional factors influence bacterial growth. Physical factors include temperature (psychrophiles, thermophiles, and mesophiles), pH (neutrophiles, acidophiles, and alkalinophiles), O2 concentration (aerobic

The ethanol production process starts with growing corn, on average an acre of corn yields close to 7,110 pounds of corn that require 140 gallons of fossil fuels to grow through the use of liquid fertilizer and powering machinery (Ethanol Fuel from Corn par. 4). The corn is harvested and transported to an ethanol refinery where it is ground, then water is added to create a mash in which enzymes break down the corn into sugar, afterward the sugar is mixed with yeast and fermented to produce ethanol (Ethanol Fuel: is ethanol par. 9-10). During the process of growing and processing the corn needed to manufacture one gallon of ethanol, it requires 131,000 British Thermal Units (BTU) to generate a gallon of ethanol while a gallon of ethanol produces only 77,000 BTU (Ethanol Fuel from Corn par. 5). The net ratio of energy for ethanol production is undesirable because ethanol has barely over half of the total energy needed to produce ethanol. Other materials can produce ethanol, such as switch grass or wood biomass, however, their energy returns are just as atrocious, needing forty-five percent and fifty-seven percent more energy to produce ethanol than it provides, respectively (Lang par. 5). This net

A large part of the alternative fuels boom has been a part of civilization for thousands of years: ethanol. The same substance that makes alcoholic beverages intoxicating is also a useful fuel. Ethanol’s potential as a motor fuel has been known since the first internal combustion engines were made; The Ford Model T was able to run on gasoline, ethanol or any mix of the two (Bettelheim 802).

Biofuels are fuels made from biomass, which is the organic physical material of an organism that is or was alive. Biomasses can be separated into two categories - liquids and solids. Liquid biomass fuels include biodiesel and ethanol. Solids include charcoal, garbage, wood, and manure. The majority of organic matter contains carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, the same elements that make up fossil fuels such as petroleum and coal. Biomass can be burned as is or converted into a different fuel that burns more efficiently. The use of biomass for fuel is not a new idea, as humans long ago used whatever could help them survive. Solid biofuels like wood, manure, and charcoal have been used ever since man discovered

Alcohol is produced the same way that ethanol is just without the gasoline added into the mixture. Alcohol is a product that can substan super high power levels because it burns cooler that ethanol or gasoline. It is one of that most environmentally friendly race fuels that is our on the market other that electric.

Ethanol fuel is clear and colorless, and most importantly, it originates from plants (Ethanol Fact Book). Since it originates from plants almost anyone can help produce it.

Ethanol or as we know as alcohol in our beverages can be made from any fruit or vegetable that performs photosynthesis which produces glucose shown As required as the reactant of the previous equations.

The world around us mostly runs on fossil fuels in order to produce electricity; however, there will be a period that comes where we will run out of those fossil fuels. We only have so much time before a crisis hits and we have nothing left to produce the energy we need. In order for our country to produce the energy and electricity we need, we must do something about it. As a country, we must figure out how we can make the switch to using more renewable energy before it is too late and we run out of fossil fuels.

A great amount of ethanol fuel is currently produced by starch fermentation. This starch comes from grains such as wheat and maize. Fermentation is produced by a yeast culture. The digestion of starch by yeasts is done in two stages: the starch is initially hydrolyzed in sugars by a chemical or enzymatic