Should Australia legislate vehicles to run on biofuels instead of petroleum?
Two interconnecting critical issues present in societies globally is the declining supply of fossil fuels and the growing emissions of carbon released into the atmosphere.
The burning of these fossil fuels release vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing significantly to the greenhouse effect. A large proportion of energy sourced from fossil fuels is used for modes of transport and presently an estimated 97 percent of all energy consumption by vehicles and airplanes in Australia is sourced from petroleum which is non-renewable resource that’s dwindling fast out of supply. Additionally, combustion of petroleum produces emissions such as
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A triglyceride consists of a glycerine molecule as its base that has three long chains of fatty acids attached. The nature of these fatty acids can affect the characteristics of biodiesel produced. During the esterification process the triglyceride reacts with alcohol in the presence of a catalyst which is commonly a strong alkaline like sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. The alcohol reacts with fatty acids to form biodiesel and crude glycerol. The glycerine is denser in comparison to biodiesel and they are separated by gravity with glycerine settling to the bottom of the reaction vessel. Sometimes, a centrifuge can be used to separate the two molecules quicker. After glycerine and biodiesel are separated, the excess alcohol produced in each stage is removed with a flash evaporation process or by distillation. However, in both cases the alcohol is reused because it can be recovered with the aid of distillation equipment.
Ethanol can be produced using two methods, which are hydration and the fermentation of glucose. Hydration included an added reaction amongst ethene and water as super-heated steam. Hydration necessitates a temperature of 300 and a reasonably high pressure of between 50 -80 atmospheres. The steam and ethene are passed over a catalyst such as phosphoric acid or sulfuric acid to produce ethanol(refer to figure 1). Ethanol produced from this process is referred to as synthetic
On a large scale ethanol and ethanoic acid is added to get the product ethyl ethanoate and water.
The U.S obtains more than 84% of its energy from fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. This is because people rely on it to heat their homes, power industries, run vehicles, manufacturing, and provision of electricity. It is apparent that the country’s transportation industry highly depends on conventional petroleum oil, which is responsible for global warming, thus threatening economic opulence and national security. Apart from that, increasing consumption of fossil fuels have elevated health problems in the state, destroyed wild places, and polluted the environment. After conducting Environmental Impact Assessment, projections showed that the world energy consumption would increase by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040. However, fossil fuels will cater for more than 80% of the total energy used in 2040. Sadly, it will be a trajectory to alter the world’s climate, as well as, weaken the global security environment. Importantly, the rate at which the US relies on fossil fuels needs to reduce since it has adverse effects on the planet’s supplies. The society needs to realize that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, thus taking millions of years to form (Huebner, 2003). Notably, the country can reduce dependency on fossil fuels by practicing energy conservation and efficiency,
How does the rising use of fossil fuels impact the earth? The simple answer is that the earth’s temperature rises, otherwise known as global warming. Global warming then devolves into climate change. Global warming has been “proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia” (“Climate Change Evidence: How Do We Know?”) because of the world’s increasing reliance on fossil fuels. World-wide natural disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey, may be correlated to an increased risk in extreme weather events due to climate change. There has been efforts to curb climate change, such as pieces of legislation like the Paris Climate Accord, but beliefs of individual leaders such as Donald Trump, who “claims to think that links between carbon emissions and climate change are ‘a hoax’” (Steadman 19), has halted the fulfillment of such agreements between states. If there is not effective efforts to slow the emission rate, the earth will face devastating consequences. Therefore, the leaders of countries across the world must work together to develop a solution to slow climate change, or else the future will be disastrous.
In this experiment, an unknown alcohol underwent a Fischer Esterification reaction by reacting it with acetic acid as well as sulfuric acid catalyst. The unknown product material was purified through distillation and characterized by analyzing an IR spectrum and determining the density of the product. In addition, the boiling point test was performed to test for an ester. Lastly, the starting material, an unknown alcohol, was determined after finding out the product and examining the IR spectrum for the reactant.
There are two major problems associated with reliance on fossil fuels to meet our long-term future global energy requirements.
(Mueller). The next step to the process was to add 1mL of Ethanoic acid into Ethanol. Ethanoic acid into Ethanol smelled similar to vinegar and the smell got stronger than Ethanol placed in a beaker. Once the Ethanoic acid and Ethanol were mixed and heated in the presence of Sulfuric acid, an esterification reaction was taking place. The odour was stronger allowing detailed observations of the ester formed.
Climate change, specifically in reference to C02 Emissions released by human use of fossil fuels and their consequential effects on the environment, is perhaps one of the most pressing issues we, not just as Americans, but as human beings face in our lifetimes. Though it may sound like a sensationalist statement the facts are hard to deny. In May of 2013, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
During this experiment, four methods were using in the conversion of alcohols to alkyl halides. These steps were reflux, distillation, separation and drying.
In the first part of this experiment, an ester product will be isolated and purified from unknown alcohol. Then the product ester will be identified through analysis of boiling point, gas chromatography, and IR spectroscopy. In the second part of the experiment, Biodiesel will be synthesized from vegetable oil by transesterification.
Global warming has been a controversial topic for years and some have even denied its existence; however, as more studies are being published every day in regards to our changing climate, it is hard to ignore this growing issue and how humans contribute to it. The term greenhouse gases refers to the group of gases that are primarily responsible for global warming and chief among these gases is carbon dioxide. Rising carbon dioxide levels can be attributed to a combination of burning fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum as well as deforestation in general ( Source A). To slow the effects of global warming, it is important for leaders in our society to consider their greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, and make
Ethanol is an alcohol product produced from corn, sorghum, potatoes, wheat, sugar cane, even biomass such as cornstalks and vegetable waste. When combined with gasoline, it increases octane levels while also promoting more complete fuel burning that reduces harmful tailpipe emissions such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. There are two processes for making ethanol: wet milling and dry milling. Many other fuel sources are made through a chemical process called. Many forms of biofuel have definite environmental advantages over petroleum-based gasoline and diesel fuel. However Ethanol contains 35% oxygen. By having more oxygen in fuel, it reduces the harmful tailpipe emissions. Ethanol also displaces the use of toxic gasoline components such
The purpose of this lab was to synthesize the ester isopentyl acetate via an acid catalyzed esterification (Fischer Esterification) of acetic acid with isopentyl alcohol. Emil Fischer and Arthur Speier were the pioneers of this reaction referred to as Fischer Esterification. The reaction is characterized by the combining of an alcohol and an acid (with an acid catalyst) to yield and ester plus water. In order to accomplish the reaction, the reactants were
CO2 is the most significant greenhouse gas, which mainly comes from the use of fossil fuels. Many people feel that content of CO2 in the atmosphere is the main reason for manmade global warming. The main sources of CO2 emissions involve electricity generation, industrial processes, fumes from transportation and commercial buildings and use. Emissions of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, to the atmosphere are expected to cause even more of a significant change in global climate (Davison, 2007). The main focus to try to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is to reduce the amount that is released from coal-fired power plants. Greenhouse gas emissions that involve the productions of electricity come from natural gas production and coal-fired power plant operations. Natural gas production accounts for twenty-four percent and coal-fired power plant operations accounts for seventy-five percent, while the other one percent is caused by other electricity generation operations. The main reason why coal-fired power plants have a higher percentage of emissions is because the sulfur content of coal is much higher than that of other fossil fuels (Jarmaillo et al., 2007). This proves that there is a great need to find an alternative fossil fuel to use instead of coal. Although coal is easy to mine, transport and process for the electricity generation process, it is also the
As a global community, we are faced with many challenges, however climate change is a primary concern. The impact that climate change will have on populations is severe and worsening, and it is largely our fault. Human activity such as burning of fossil fuels, increased population as well as deforestation has caused an increase in gas emissions within the atmosphere, resulting in global warming (NSW Government, 2017). Fossil fuels such as coal, gas, oil, petroleum and liquefied petroleum gas are used in everyday life for transportation, electricity and heating (Origin, n.d.). Worldwide, we use a vast amount of fossils fuels every day. In fact, worldwide, we use around 89 billion barrels of fuel, daily (Origin, n.d.). This vast amount of fossil fuel consumption is drastically effecting our environment and worsening our climate and as a result, our current population, our developing and island nations as well as our future generations will significantly be affected.
As the progress of civilization has accelerated, the demand for energy has increased as well. Although energy is absolutely necessary for electricity, transportation and industry, the problem with modern day energy is the excessive use of fossil fuels, which supplies 80% of energy worldwide. Fossil fuels are the leading suppliers of carbon emissions into the atmosphere and are responsible for 82% of all Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions globally, due to human activity (Overview of Greenhouse Gases, 2013). Increasing the percentage of GHG emissions has a negative impact on the atmosphere, where global temperature rises have been witnessed and changes in climates worldwide, which, in turn, affect wildlife, agriculture and people living in coastal areas. Because of predicted population increase in the future, and therefore a predicted increase in the burning of fossil fuels for energy, it is vital to decrease the amount of carbon emissions into the environment through the use of available alternative energy resources in order to save the ecosystem.