Renewable Sources of Energy: Ethanol Essay

Ethyl ethanoate: Ethyl ethanoate is an ester. Esters are group of organic compounds which have a functional group of –COO-. Esters are liquids that become vapours quickly so they are present in perfumes.

Planning My aim for this experiment is to see the energy produced from different alcohols. This investigation involves burning alcohol in the air. ‘GCSE Chemistry’ by B.Earl and L.D.R Wilford says that "alcohols form, another homologous series, with the general formula Cn H2n+1OH ". The alcohol reacts with the oxygen in the air to form the products water and carbon dioxide.

Generally ethanol is an alcohol found in alcoholic drinks. At 100% concentration, it is pure and a colourless liquid with a strong odour (due to weak Van der Wall forces :D. Ethanol is produced by the fermentation of carbohydrates in yeast cells and is used frequently as a solvent.

In the United States of America, corn ethanol is the main raw material we use to move our vehicles to accomplish our daily goals. Obviously, corn ethanol is presenting ethanol by corn. The biomass in the ethanol adds fermentation, a system that breaks down any chemicals or other substance in any liquid. Additionally, it is added distillation, the action of purifying the process of heating and cooling. This is how corn ethanol is made.

Alcoholic beverages are the only consumable products in the U.S. that do not have nutrition labels. Consumers are being kept in the dark about serving size, alcoholic content, calories, carbohydrates, fats, protein, cholesterol and other nutrition information. Alcohol, specifically ethyl alcohol or ethanol, is produced by fermenting the starch or sugar in various fruits and grains. Alcoholic beverages produced by fermentation and distillation include beer that is usually about 4 to 6 % alcohol, wine that is usually 7 to 15% alcohol, and hard liquor which is about 45% alcohol.

According to Oxford Dictionaries, alcohol is a colorless volatile flammable liquid that is produced by the natural fermentation of sugars and is the intoxicating constituent of wine, beer, spirits, and other drinks, and is also used as an industrial solvent and as fuel (Fowler, H. W., Fowler, F. G., & Murray, J. A. (1964). The concise Oxford dictionary f

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

Alcohols are an organic compound. This means they are made up of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. The name alcohol comes from the hydroxide bond (OH) attached to the carbon base. The alcohols are a homogenous series, and the OH bond determines the characteristics of the compound. The general formula for alcohols is CnH2n+1OH, where n is the number of carbon atoms.

There are different types of alcohol. Ethyl alcohol (ethanol), the only beverage that is in use. Fermenting is a chemical that process

Filtercake is another by-product of sugar. Dried filtercake is used as animal feed supplement and fertilizer. Molasses, also a by-product of sugar, is produced in two forms: blackstrap and syrup. Blackstrap molasses is an animal feed additive, and is also used to produce ethanol, compressed yeast, citric acid, and rum. Molasses syrup is often blended with maple syrup, invert sugars, or corn syrup (EPA ,1997). Fermented sugar cane juice and molasses produce ethanol. Sugar cane ethanol is clean, affordable, and low-carbon biofuel. It has emerged to be the leading renewable fuel for transportation. Some benefits of ethanol is it provides cleaner air. It adds oxygen to gasoline and helps reduce air pollution. Sugarcane ethanol as compared to gasoline cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 90 percent which reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Ethanol also reduces global dependence on oil. Sugarcane ethanol is one good option for diversifying energy supplies (Sugarcane, 2015).

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.

There are some long-term effects on the body due to the abuse of alcohol. You can end up with brain damage, and dementia. Common disease resulting from excessive alcohol consumption are pancreatitis, gastritis, hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, and heart disease. Alcoholics are also at risk for developing cancer in the mouth, throat, esophagus and even the liver. You can also develop psychiatric problems such as depression and anxiety which may lead to suicide. Woman who are pregnant shouldn’t drink alcohol because it will cause damage to the fetus.

In the world of global warming, all kinds of pollution and fuel shortages going on, renewable and clean/ green energy is increasingly the ideal solution of energy related problems we have to solve one way or another. Biofuel is one of the mainstream and highly supported solutions nowadays, an idea to make renewable fuel by living organisms such as fiber, corn, vegetable oil or sugar cane. Unlike nonrenewable fossil fuels over extracted by people causing various environmental problems like generating a considerable amount greenhouse gas, current technology already lets renewable fuel like biofuels to shrink a certain amount of greenhouse gas production, making it a more ‘clean’ source of energy.

Effects of alcohol include difficulties making desicoions, and a slow reaction time. However, this is just a portion of the dangerous things alcohol can do to you. Alcohol also affects your liver, nervous system and heart - this happens when ethanol enters your bloodstream. When ethanol enters your bloodstream, it slows you down - increasing your risk of accidents, attacking others - and even pregnancy as you may make extremely unsafe decisions.

Dry-mill, the more common and standardized of the two processes, utilizes the four basic processes of ethanol production, “clean corn is ground and mixed with water to form a mash… enzymes are added to convert starch to sugar… yeast is added to ferment… then distilled and dehydrated to create fuel-grade 99-percent ethanol” (Shapouri 2). The Wet-mill process commonly referred to as a “biorefinery” process approaches ethanol from a more atomic level. In Wet-mill ethanol production “grain must be separated into is components including starch, fiber, gluten, and germ” (Shapouri 2). Nevertheless Wet-mill production still uses the three processes above to create ethanol, the difference between Wet and Dry-mill is the quality of their byproduct. Through Dry-milling you avoid the complexity of multiply biochemical disseminations, which save energy and money through lower skill labor and lower tooling costs. However Wet-mill production makes more efficient use of mass and higher quality byproducts that will have greater market value. In the end the net cost of either method is variable, yet on the average the cost to produce a gallon of ethanol is less for Dry-milling than for Wet, yet when you consider the sale of extra byproducts this figure is reversed (SEE Table 2).