Increasing Corn-Based Ethanol

There is one reason that hurts me the most about corn ethanol being used in the United States. That one reason is because of animals. One of the bad uses we do is using leftover corn ethanol to fed animals we consume today. Animals like chicken, cattle, and pig eating ethanol is passed on to us. For example, just like a fish eating plastic and us eating the fish. This does not sound appealing. However, not everyone is worried about this.

Switching from the expensive oil to alternative fuels has moved from a dream to reality. Today, there are dozens of alternatives to oil that are currently available us to be used. One alternative to oil that is being used more today is ethanol. Derived from plant materials, ethanol can be a cheaper, cleaner alternative to the gasoline that our vehicles run off. When going to gas pumps, one will notice that much of the gasoline is up to 10 percent of ethanol. According to our text, most ethanol in the U.S. is made from corn, yet ethanol can be made from any biomes-- including garbage. (Turk & Bensel, 2011)

Corn can be used to create a fuel from corn pellets called ethanol.This colorless liquid can be added to gasoline to reduce the amount of gasoline burned. This can reduce the amount of pollution used by cars. It states in paragraph 2 on page 1,”Shelled corn can be dried and formed into pellets.”.These pellets can be burned

In the United States, ethanol is primarily used as a blending element in the production of gas and as an alternative fuel. More than 95% of the gasoline sold in the United States contains ethanol. Most of ethanol blending into U.S. motor gasoline occurs to meet the requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act (RFG Fuel) and the Renewable Fuel Standard set forth in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. (U.S Energy Information Administration)

Mankind has relied on non-renewable resources for thousands of years, and only recently has it started to take its toll on the environment. Chemists have been experimenting with different types of fuels and adding to gasoline to make it more efficient. This is when ethanol made its debut into the fuel industry, as an additive to gasoline. Ethanol is put into gas as a combatant against water, which can find its way into fuel tanks of vehicles. It reduces the effect that this water has on the health of the vehicle, and as a result increases gas mileage, and also increases the amount of complete combustion. Ethanol consumption has severe drawbacks pertaining to its effect on the environment. Production of ethanol increases the formation of

A major source of controversy when it comes to biodiesel and other biofuels such as ethanol is what ingredient are used to make the fuel. When oils from crops are used, a number of problems can arise. For instance, biodiesel and other biofuels are often touted as environmentally friendly since they are typically made from plants, which suck the global warming gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow. However, the land may be damaged in order to grow these crops as demand for biofuels grow for example, in Indonesia, biodiesel may be causing deforestation, as native forests are destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. The chemicals from agricultural fertilizers and pesticides may also upset ecosystems.

The higher price of ethanol in many areas is made worse by ethanol’s second disadvantage that it, regardless of the price you pay for it, contains less fuel efficient energy than gasoline. In short, this means cars won’t travel as far on a tank of gas, and most cars fuel economy will decrease by 20-30 percent. This is very

In the words of Lester Brown, “We are witnessing the beginning of one of the great tragedies of history.” Numerous people just like Brown believe the urge the United States has to reduce foreign oil will soon cause a major shortage of food. In 2011, the United States used 45% of that year’s corn crop to produce ethanol. With such a high percentage of corn used for ethanol, it causes a shortage of corn for food. The Untied States is not as efficient at making ethanol compared to feeding people. A bushel of corn can produce 2 .77 gallons of ethanol. With the same amount of corn, America can feed 1.4 persons for a day.

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

This report extensively analyses the production and breakdown of Ethanols, to assess its properties and their relation to being a fuel. The use of Ethanol as reliable source of renewable energy and its current effects on society. The potential use of ethanol as an alternative to coal and fossil fuels, the advantages and disadvantages of Ethanol.

One resolution to the fuel pollution issue uses the idea of reinvention to curb the damage that smoke and fuel causes to the environment. A U.S. company, Sea Change LLC. paired with the Maine Maritime Academy to create a more friendly fuel (“1”). The engineering classes at the academy along with chemists created a fuel that burned cleaner and safer for the environment. The fuel used mirco-glycerol droplets mixed with ultra-low sulfur diesel to reduce harmful emissions and as a result found a reduction in smoke by 25 to 50 percent (“1”). In addition Nitrogen Oxide levels showed a reduction by 5 to 15 percent compared to regular low-sulfur diesel at equivalent horsepower (“1”). This hard work truly paid off big for these two entities and they showed that with some ingenuity safer ways of burning fuel just wait to be

Growing corn for ethanol could be beneficial for the economy by providing more jobs as needed on the farms. The farmers would have to purchase more farm equipment which would boost our economy even more. Plus the fact that the US could cut out the middle man or the need to import ethanol from other countries; thus, keeping money inside our country and not giving it all away to other countries. This all looks good on paper for the economy but when it comes to the environmental side of things scientist seem to think there is more of a downside to this. I can see where the ethanol use as fuel from corn would be of great importance to the environment as it would cut out the need for the bad emissions released by straight gasoline.

A report from the U.S. Department of Energy through the Energy Information Administration detailed the most recent government statistics on national energy consumption, sources, and other information regarding energy production and usage. The primary purpose of the report is not to answer a specific question, but to provide accurate information on past and current economic and statistical usage of various forms of energy; including ethanol. The primary methods used for the findings lay within federal oversight of imports, energy companies, power plants, and other heavily regulated

This essay will first discuss the advantages of using corn ethanol as the main source of fuel in the future, such as the renewable features of corn itself, and the benefits of using corn ethanol as an additive of gasoline instead of using gasoline alone. However, everything has its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, the second part of the essay will discuss some of the weaknesses in applying the fuel into practical usage. For example, corn ethanol currently encounters technical limitations serving itself as a standalone fuel, meaning that corn ethanol can only function by combining itself with a certain amount of gasoline, while gasoline is a kind of fossil fuel. Lastly, this essay will conduct a comparison with other renewable resources in the world, including solar power, other biofuels, and hydrogen fuel.

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