Cellulosic Ethanol, Alagae Biodiesel, Hydrogren. When? How much?

Question

I've become convinced we could begin accelerating Cellulosic ethanol production immediately. (One cautionary voice still rings slightly in my ears however: "We've been "5 years away from" for 40 years...." ) Never the less I think we're ready now.

When? say you? I've read most of the "Questions" that result from a search of "Cellulosic". And I've read a lot of articles too.

There have been a lot of breakthroughs. There are several pilot plants. (I think we're more likely to see tens-of-thousands of small plants, rather than Hundreds of enormous plants, btw. For cellulosic ethanol anyway.)

With crude oil at $125 to $140 a barrel, (and forcasts of higher, but rumors of a bubble, I'm aware) and gasoline priced where it is... I think the economic pressure and incentive have to be aligned. There are enough "flex fuel" vehicles.. and diesel engines all run biodiesel equally well.

Aren't we at the brink? "Are we there yet?"

Hydrogen... I realize,,, is some years off sti

Answer 1

same time that we get the flying car like in 'back to the future'

Answer 2

Currently they are also trying to produce biofuels from bacteria, which sounds like a really interesting alternative, and if well managed it can make fuel very inexpensive plus we wouldn't have to deal with the issue of ethanol produced from food which UN is against.

I found a really interesting article about bacteria researches in iceland and USA:

http://www.biotechtouch.blogspot.com/

Hope you like it!

Answer 3

$3 a gallon is the tipping point we're already there and then some. there building ethanol plants as fast as the can. All were built with the ability to convert to cellulosic at a later date all the gas is presently E-10 But expect e-85 to become more and more popular. as for when it will be widespread it will be a few years yet. manufacturing has to catch up with demand

Answer 4

Cellulosic ethanol is the closest to realization. As mentioned, there are at least 12 demonstration plants coming on line, and many (not all) existing corn ethanol plants are designed to be converted to a cellulosic process once one is proven economical. Plus, there are several companies working on designer crops, enzymes and microorganisms that will make the process ever-more efficient. This will be followed by next-generation cellulosic fuels such as butanol and synthetic petroleum. I wouldn't expect to see many small plants though; the margins on making fuel are small enough that you really need the economies of scale from a large plant (at least for now).

With regard to hydrogen - you need to think about where it comes from. You can split water to make it, which requires a lot of electricity, or you can produce it using microorganisms (research in this has gone on since the 70's). This can be either photosynthetic organism, or those which eat sugars. In both cases there are problems in generating high yield because the enzymes which produce H2 are inhibited by O2 and H2. There are other problems, but I won't go into too much detail. It may be possible to make an organism that will produce high levels of H2, but it will probably require re-engineering of the natural enzymes and of the pathways that regulate metabolism.

Algae oil likewise faces fundamental biological and practical challenges. First off, the yields most proponents quote are flat-out false. They often use maximal growth rates combined with maximal oil content per cell, but these can't occur at the same time since energy needs to be diverted from one activity to the other in order to achieve either maximum. Also, no one has been able to reliably and cost-effectively grow algae cultures outdoors without contamination with other organisms.