Tommy Underhill
Ethanol
 Made by fermenting sugars into alcohol
 Flammable
 Used in thermometers, and alcoholic beverages
 Commonly referred to as grain alcohol
History
 Ethanol residues have been found on 9,000 year old clay pots in China
 First recorded production of alcohol from wine was in the 12th century.
 1796: Johann Tobias Lowitz obtained pure ethanol by filtering distilled
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ethanol through charcoal
1826: Samuel Morey developed the first engine that ran on ethanol
1908: Henry Ford’s Model T was designed to run on ethanol or gasoline.
1940’s: First Ethanol Plant was built in Nebraska
1974: The Solar Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration
Act was the first legislation action to promote ethanol as fuel.
1992: The Energy Policy Act
2007: Energy Independence and Security Act
Ethanol Production
 Starch Ethanol
 Wet Milling
 Dry Milling
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Fermentation
Separation
Purification
Ethanol Production
 Cellulosic Ethanol
 Have to be Pretreated
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Physical - grinding
Chemical – acids
 Require the use of enzymes to break down cellulose
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Cellbiohydrolases
Endo – β-1,4-glucanases
β-glucosidases
 Fermentation
 Separation and Purification
Funding
 US government has given out numerous grants, loans, and
tax incentives for the production and use of ethanol
 Government spends $5 billion per year to subsidize ethanol
production
 2007 : US department of Energy spent $385 million on six
large scale ethanol plants and another $200 million on biorefinery plants.
 Big Oil Contributions:
 Chevron - $40 Million
 BP – $500 Million
 Exxon - $600 million
Environmental
 Conventional ethanol
reduces greenhouse-gas
emissions 10 to 20
percent
 Cellulosic range from 80
percent to completely
CO2 neutral
 Cellulosic ethanol
requires less care than
starch ethanol
Political
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9QQcP_Y1II
Other Concerns with Starch Ethanol
 Rising prices of corn and
starch
Concerns with Cellulosic Ethanol
 Price of Enzymes
Future
 Competition with other ethanol sources such as
Algae.
 Competition with electric cars and hydrogen fuel cells
 Sustainability
Resources
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ethanol.
Appl Microbial Biotechnical, 67, 19-25. Retrieved from
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Dale, Bruce. “Cellulosic Biomass to Ethanol.” Diagram. PowerPoint presentation. 7/16/2007
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“Dry Mill Process.” Diagram. Icminc.com 2009.
<http://www.icminc.com/ethanol/production_process/>
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Ethanol Timeline. (2008) Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. Retrieved from
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Myth: Corn ethanol is great. You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9QQcP_Y1II
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