New Plants for Fuel?

Question

I am doing research on ethanol fuel and i have been seeing some stuff about new plants that can be used. I know now that ethanol is affecting our economy because corn and flour prices have sky rocketed. I am wondering if anyone knows if what these new plants may be? and if they will help take away from high food prices. Will they add any other problems for the economy. Sources if possible?

Answer 1

The main problem with food prices is just the transportation. Do what u can for alternative fuels as I think the Arabs will eventually use oil as a weapon to try to get what they want.

Answer 2

Algrae is being looked into for the production of biodiesel.  Apparently, some strains of algae have a very high lipid (oil) content, and there is hope that they can thus be used in place of corn or vegetable oil for biodiesel production.

It's still very much in the research phase, though.

Answer 3

Ethanol from cellulose is a good idea. But here's something I just found that's REALLY intriguing!

04/29/08 - Researchers Create “Green Gasoline” Ethanol Killer From Biomass

Researchers have made a breakthrough in the development of "green gasoline," a liquid identical to standard gasoline in energy contant yet created from sustainable biomass sources like switchgrass and poplar trees. The discovery could transform the renewable fuel economy by eliminating the need to grow corn for ethanol and rescue America from importing expensive and dwindling foreign oil supplies. For their new approach, the UMass researchers rapidly heated cellulose in the presence of solid catalysts, materials that speed up reactions without sacrificing themselves in the process. They then rapidly cooled the products to create a liquid that contains many of the compounds found in gasoline. The entire process was completed in under two minutes using relatively moderate amounts of heat. The compounds that formed in that single step, like naphthalene and toluene, make up one fourth of the suite of chemicals found in gasoline. The liquid can be further treated to form the remaining fuel components or can be used "as is" for a high octane gasoline blend. "Green gasoline is an attractive alternative to bioethanol since it can be used in existing engines and does not incur the 30 percent gas mileage penalty of ethanol-based flex fuel," said John Regalbuto, who directs the Catalysis and Biocatalysis Program at NSF and supported this research. "In theory it requires much less energy to make than ethanol, giving it a smaller carbon footprint and making it cheaper to produce," Regalbuto said. "Making it from cellulose sources such as switchgrass or poplar trees grown as energy crops, or forest or agricultural residues such as wood chips or corn stover, solves the lifecycle greenhouse gas problem that has recently surfaced with corn ethanol and soy biodiesel."

Answer 4

Well the one I am familiar with is algae. There is a company called valcent you can do a search on google to find the homepage, they are using the algae to make a whole range of bio fuels. They have species of algae making bio diesel but also they found a species that is great for making ethanol, and even a species for jet fuel. They are using species here in the desert because of the extremely high lipid content. They are saying they can make over 10,000 gallons of oil per acre with algae. with that much the use of corn and other crops would pretty much stop because of the volume the algae can produce. There is no current market for algae so there would be no problems with the economy, in fact this idea would most likely stimulate the economy. There is also another company doing this called green-fuel but I am not as familiar with it. I hope this was helpful

Answer 5

Any starchy foods, such as grains, beans, potatoes, etc. can be used to make ethanol.  If your begin with sugars (sugar cane and sugar beets) you can remove one step of the conversion process.  Other options include seeds and nuts with a high oil content that can be used for diesel fuel.  There is talk about using switch grass and other cellulose products and converting these into ethanol but this requires additional steps and the process becomes prohibitively expensive.

If you are looking for practical solutions that do not involve raising the costs of food commodities, the consider these two:

1.  "Copaifera langsdorffii" is known as the diesel tree.  These trees can be planted and grow for 70 years and each produce several liters of oil that can be put directly into your vehicle and run as diesel fuel.

2.  Oilgae is oil from algae.  It is the most efficient of all biofuels and can be grown anywhere, even in the desert.  All you need is water, sunlight and carbon dioxide.  Yes, it removes carbon dioxide from the air, so it reduces greenhouse gases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oilgae

Answer 6

new plants? what is a new plant? we have genetically engineered plants. but new species of plants dont just pop up. you may be referring to whats known as switchgrass. which is a very common weed that grows all across mid west. some say it costs more to make fuel out of switchgrass than its worth. i say at least its a start and once production starts the price will come down. some people dont realize when they are filling their hummers with 100 dollars worth of gas that we only have 150 years left of crude oil at todays rate of consumption. but with asian countries becoming greater consumers of fuel that amount will go down

Answer 7

Palm oil is used for a biofuel, which cuts down alot of rainforests.  A good place to look on info on fuel is the shell website

Answer 8

Here in Nevada we are looking into using Poplar trees to make ethanol, in the South they are looking into switchgrass which seems to show promise, the potential return of energy is expected to be much higher with switchgrass then the present corn system.  As I understand it, one gallon of gasoline used in the production of e-85 from corn garners 1.3 gallons of e-85 (I believe this is taking into account production expenditures such as shipping the corn etc. on top of what is used in the mixture) where as switchgrass may producee a 7 gallon return.  Ok yes I watch to much RFD tv.