Ethanol Effects on the Environment

Ethanol is now found in most gasolines, except for the few and far between pumps that sell ethanol-free fuel. Ethanol acts as a “filler” in gasoline, because it is much cheaper than many gasoline components, however it comes at a price because ethanol infused gasoline procures about 33% less energy than ethanol free gasoline, dropping its competitiveness towards diesel even more. (Energy, 2015) Ethanol gasoline types include E10, E15, and E85. E10 represents gasoline with a 10% ethanol content, which is the norm now for most gasoline types, and what will mostly likely be in normal unleaded gasoline. E15, 15% ethanol, can only be used in flex-fuel or light duty cars because it produces not nearly enough power to run a large gasoline engine without major modifications. (Energy, 2015) E85, meaning that it is composed of 85% ethanol gasoline mixture (51-83% ethanol), and can only be used by special flex-fuel

That fuel source is called corn-ethanol, and a majority of people can see the main ingredient, which is, corn in America 's farm fields. Corn is grown annually and it does not take millions of years to reproduce. Oil is a fuel source that takes millions of years to reproduce. A biofuel is the process of taking any once living plant and abstracting the plant 's energy to make a fuel. People in America are supporting Biofuels, including corn-ethanol because it does not require oil. It also reduces green house gasses, which makes it better for the environment (Cassman 59). The common view of ethanol is that it is just a research project to make the environmentalists happy but that is not true. It has the potential to keep America 's economy rolling, supply a fuel source, and still feed livestock with its byproducts. The key to success as a country is to use what we already have an abundance of in this country. The evidence is all there for this argument many Americans just need to become educated about this topic. The main

Three main ways our public drinking waters can become contaminated are by agricultural runoff, which have effects that go all the way from the effects of the remnants left behind from sprayed pesticides and unmanaged animal feces. Second, we have an oil and coal industry that just never stops. What comes from our oil industry ultimately ends up changing and altering the biology of the surrounding water with thermal pollution, and in some cases I have seen this reported as just as if not more damaging than bacterial or sedimentary pollution. The coal industry pollutes surrounding waters with sulfides from leaching. Illustrations are given below.

One of our sources said that alcohol burns really good and produces little CO2 and no odor. According to our results, not only is it really efficient, but it had no odor nor did we notice the same amount of emissions as gas and diesel. The diesel performed the least, but research has shown that diesel performs greater with different engines. The engines are engineered to have better traction, thrust, etc. that makes the diesel better. So, gasoline was the only real competition for the alcohol. Gasoline lasted a little less than a minute and alcohol lasted a little more than a minute, and gas heated the water less than the alcohol. Gas is barely better per second, but long term alcohol performs better. The literature points to alcohol performing better and the next breakthrough in alternative

Also organic pollutants at low concentrations can result in birth defects, genetic disorders, and cancer. These toxic pollutants listed above are all a result of people and industries improperly disposing of their waste. (Cunningham 404-406) To add on, fertilizers, which is a water pollutants, contain high concentrations of nitrates and phosphates; as a result, algal blooms can form. Also, eutrophication is a process that happens when waters are rich in organisms and organic material and become very nourished. As a result, the “process turns the water green, clouds the water, causes odor problems” (Lake Champlain Basin, 1998). Pollutants can pollute surface water by dissolving into the it, but they can also pollute groundwater. When the fertilizers or lawn/garden chemicals enter the water they can make there way into the fresh groundwater. Once the groundwater is polluted people/countries would have to pay more to get there groundwater

The United States should increase the amount of corn based ethanol used as fuel. The environment would be protected by the burning of corn based ethanol. Because burning ethanol requires greater complete combustion, the exhaust gases of ethanol are much cleaner than those of gasoline. The use of ethanol-blended fuel (primarily E85, 85% ethanol 15% gasoline ) has the ability to reduce the net emissions of greenhouse gases by 37.1%. E10 (90% gasoline 10% ethanol) reduces the greenhouse gas emission by 3.9%. The additives in gasoline such as tetraethyl lead, are dangerous when admitted into the air and if are spilled in the environment. If there were to be a fuel spill of corn based ethanol, the fuel would be more “easily biodegraded or diluted

Due to the current prices of gasoline and ongoing environmental concerns, there is currently a lot of political conversation and some pending legislation about gasoline additives, particularly ethanol (ethyl alcohol). The reasons behind the use of this additive is numerous and it comes with a slew of benefits as well. We will focus on how ethanol for gasoline is produced, is it cost effective, why would gasoline formulators want to add ethanol to gasoline and are there any problems associated with adding ethanol to gasoline.

Direct sources include pollutant which is emitted from the localized anthropogenic source, for example spillage from factories or waste water treatment plants.

Gasoline is a fossil fuel, meaning that once we use all of what we have, there will be no more. Not only that, but when we use gasoline in internal combustion engines, it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere wouldn’t really be a big issue, we have trees, and trees breathe in the harmful gas and release breathable oxygen. The only problem is that lately we have been cutting down many of our trees and at the same time producing carbon dioxide at rates the trees can’t keep up with. This excess gas stays in our atmosphere and traps heat from the sun, consequently raising the overall temperature of our planet, you might know this phenomenon as Global Warming. The great thing about hydrogen is that it does not produce any harmful by-products, it comprises 75 percent of our atmosphere, and it is completely renewable.

The exhaust fumes that ethanol give out are a lot cleaner than other fumes (has better complete combustion).

Professor Don Hofstrand at Iowa State University says "…a 100 million gallon ethanol biorefinery will reduce [greenhouse gas] emissions by approximately 400,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year." Although ethanol requires greenhouse gases to be emitted for production, ethanol fuel's net emissions are fifty-four percent less than gasoline. Half of the emissions related to producing ethanol are related to growing crops, while the other half is contributed to refining the fuel (Hofstrand). The burning and production of ethanol combined has a smaller carbon footprint than petroleum fuels. This makes it a good fuel substitution while even greener forms of energy are developed to power automobiles and machinery. Reduced greenhouse gases can help slow climate change.

What environmental benefits do we receive form an influx in ethanol as an alternative fuel? First let’s look

One of the leading causes of water pollution is from agriculture. Some of the reasons for this are that agriculture is close to most bodies of water, agriculture is the most widespread land use in the U.S., and agriculture uses chemicals and nutrients to improve production. Figures

Water pollution can be distributed from either a point or a non-point source. A point source is typically pollution that comes from one single location and is easier to identify, such as from a pipe, municipal WWTP discharge, a factory, or a ditch. A non-point source is categorized as pollution that has come from multiple sites over very large areas and are quite difficult to trace back and identify accurately. Some examples would be oil from the many streets of a city, different pesticides and fertilizer runoff from certain farms, some forest runoff, etc. There are three varied types of surface water pollution. One type is biological pollution which comes from disease causing organisms like bacteria. Another is chemical pollution which is either natural like nutrient pollution or artificial such as from fertilizers, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals. There is also physical pollution that can be from sources like solid waste, thermal, sediments, etc.

Water pollution occurs when industrial waste, sewage water, agricultural wastes and other forms of wastes find their way to clean water sources making them harmful for human consumption.