"Don't confuse me with the facts- -my mind is made up!"
Sorry if Lizzie and other liberals are allergic to fact, but that's the way it is, and doesn't change a thing. I can produce the arguments between she and OMD and I that got her so upset. She clearly got slaughtered and it was done using factual figures.
David Pimental, a leading Cornell University agricultural expert, has calculated that powering the average U.S. automobile for one year on ethanol (blended with gasoline) derived from corn would require 11 acres of farmland, the same space needed to grow a year's supply of food for seven people. Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its conversion into ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make one gallon of ethanol. One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTUS. Thus, 70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in it. Every time you make one gallon of ethanol, there is a net energy loss of 54,000 BTUs.
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The energy economics get worse at the processing plants, where the grain is crushed and fermented. As many as three distillation steps are needed to separate the 8 percent ethanol from the 92 percent water. Additional treatment and energy are required to produce the 99.8 percent pure ethanol for mixing with gasoline.
healthandenergy.com
I'll cite sources and provide the calculations, sonny. What has Lizzie provided except claims her own sources deny? I've sent PMs to people living in CA and the states bordering it asking if they have ever seen this Tesla car she claims is all over. I await the responses. I've also sent one to a midwest farmer who is familiar with the subject of ethanol from corn.
Now:
http ://www.uvi.edu/Physics/SCI3xxWeb/Energy/GasolineFAQ.html
1 kg of auto gasoline contains about 45 mJ (megajoules) of energy. 1 kg of ethanol contains 27 mJ. So 1.67 kg of ethanol is required to get the same energy as 1 kg of gasoline. Now distillation will only produce 95% ethanol. More processes are required to produce absolute ethanol (100%) which require yet more energy, but 95% ethanol will burn, so we will assume it can be used.
healthandenergy.com
Also, a maximum concentration of 12% ethanol is obtainable from fermentation; above that, the alcohol concentration kills the yeast and stops the fermentation. This is why wine is never stringer than 12% or 24 proof. Getting higher ethanol concentration requires distillation which drives off the water (up to 95%).
Now the 1.67 kg ethanol referred to above becomes 1.76 kg 95% ethanol.
We start with 1.76/.12 = 14.67 kg 12% ethanol, then distill it to 95%. 14.67-1.76 = 12.91 kg H2O must be driven off. Let's assume the initial mixture is at 80 degrees Fahrenheit = 27 degrees Celsius. The water must be raised 100 - 27 = 73 degrees Celsius to boiling. (Heat of vaporization will be handled later.) It takes 12.91 kCal to raise 12.91 kg water by 1 degree Celsius, so it takes 942 kCal to raise 12.91 kg. (We will ignore the heat required to raise the ethanol.)
1 kCal is 4.186 kilojoules. So 12.91 Kcal is 54041 kiloJoules or 54.041 mJ.
This is the amount of energy just needed to raise the temperature of the water from 27 to 100 degrees Celsius. Then yet more heat must be supplied to change the liquid water at 100 degrees Celsius to water vapor at 100 degrees Celsius. This is 2260 kiloJoules/kg of water or 2.26 mJ/kg. Since 12.91 kg must be vaporized, the total heat of vaporization is 29.18 mJ.
So the energy required to make 1 kg of ethanol from about 14 kg of 12% ferment is 83.22 mJ. That ethanol contains only 27 mJ of energy. You've lost 56 mJ of energy. You would definitely do better with a solar powered car, whether steam or electric powered.
You could do the distillation using solar furnaces, but you still lose energy.
And this analysis ignores the energy required to grow, harvest, and move the crop, then the fuel.
Getting the ethanol by fermenting sugar cane isn't going to cause enough variation to put this process in the black energywise.
Subject 55246
You night look at the posts by Ish on that thread.
Now you can ignore facts or not. The people whose money is involved in this won't.
And you ignore the fact that combustion of ethanol produces H2O and CO2, greenhouse gases. |
