Ethyl Alcohol Producing Capability:
Turnip versus Radish
By
Peter Hartwig
Partner: Ryan Kuboushek
Renewable Fuel
Renewable fuel is an energy source that can be used and quickly created again from a renewable
source such as corn or soybeans. Corn is what is widely used throughout the Midwest United
States and is what keeps many farmers producing more and more throughout the years.
Biofuels
A biofuel is any fuel that is made from recently living organisms. This is plant life most of the
time and is not considered to be a step in the right direction to help global climate change. A
simple example of a biofuel is biodiesel and is made up from primarily vegetable oils and animal
fats. Other examples of biofuels come from sugarcane, wheat, corn, and potatoes.
Reasons why Biofuels aren’t Renewable
To make a biofuel, in this case we will examine corn based ethanol; you have to figure out the
entire carbon footprint attributed to it. The first thing to examine is what the consequences of
making ethanol are. The farmers will open up land that wasn’t being used before and convert it
into farm land. That is the first thing that puts the ethanol into not the future biofuel. Then the
farmer plows the field and then has to plant the seeds. Once that happens it is back out into the
field to spray it with pesticides or to fertilize the field. Once it is ready to be harvested it has to
be cut and put into another trailer which has another tractor pulling it. Then it is finally off to the
Ethanol plant where it is converted into the ethyl alcohol. An article from Dina Cappiello and
Matt Apuzzo (2013) puts these environmental effects bluntly.
As farmers rushed to find new places to plant corn, they wiped out millions of acres of
conservation land, destroyed habitat and polluted water supplies, an Associated Press
investigation found. Five million acres of land set aside for conservation — more than
Yellowstone, Everglades and Yosemite National Parks combined — have vanished on
Obama's watch. Landowners filled in wetlands. They plowed into pristine prairies,
releasing carbon dioxide that had been locked in the soil. Sprayers pumped out billions of
pounds of fertilizer, some of which seeped into drinking water, contaminated rivers and
worsened the huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico where marine life can't survive.
Ethanol was supposed to help the environment and be a renewable fuel source but so far it does
not have the ability to be the future fuel many environmentalists hoped it would be.
Reasons Why Ethanol is used as a Gasoline Additive
Starting in the 1990’s legislature was passed to make the environment a better by trying to curb
the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by combustion engines. The Clean Air Act was the
reason why ethanol is used in gas today. The reason to add the ethanol was to make the gasoline
burn more completely because the ethanol is an oxygenated fuel. This means that ethanol
already have oxygen molecules inside it which means it can use the oxygen that it contains
already and the oxygen from the air to burn easier.
Advantages Associated with the use of Ethanol as a Fuel or Fuel Additive
As previously stated the ethanol can make the fuel burn completely. Also from the website,
energy.gov, their flyer to promote the use of ethanol talks about how it has other benefits to the
engine and components. It again states how the extra oxygen from the ethanol in a gasoline
mixture will make it burn better. This better burning fuel will lead to less harmful emissions. Its
stat given is if you have a 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol mixture you will reduce carbon
monoxide levels from older vehicles by around 25%. This raises a question though, what is
considered an older vehicle? Is the percentage of carbon monoxide levels much less now with
the advances in technology in new cars? The one thing that is certain is that an alcohol based
fuel such as ethanol does give off less carbon monoxide then what a hydrocarbon ie. gasoline
give off.
Disadvantages Associated with the use of Ethanol as a Fuel or Fuel Additive
The biggest disadvantage of ethanol is that it doesn’t give the same energy that pure gasoline
offers. If you have ethanol it will give you only 27 kilojoules per gram where gasoline gives you
45 kilojoules per gram. This alone would give you less miles per gallon from a gallon of E85
which is a mixture of 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol then a gallon of gas. A test was run by Dan
Edmunds who is a Director of Vehicle Testing for Edmonds.com to see the side by side
comparison of using E85 versus pure gasoline. The test was a 667 mile trip from San Diego to
Las Vegas and back. The results where when they did the drive with the gas it cost around
$124.66 worth of gas at an average gas price of $3.42 per gallon. They achieved a miles per
gallon of 18.3 and only used 36.5 gallons of gas. The E85experiement went like this. $154.29
spent on E85 at an average price per gallon of 3.09. The miles per gallon was 13.5 and used 50
gallons of ethanol. They used a Chevrolet Tahoe for this experiment and showed that gas prices
have to rise and ethanol prices remain stable in order for ethanol to be a viable option for a fuel.
Or the supply of ethanol has to increase to drop the price.
How to use Ethanol and other Biofuels relates to the topic of Global Warming and the role
of Photosynthesis in this Relationship
The total cost of the carbon footprint is hard to know a hundred percent. The role photosynthesis
has is because of the corn being produced it does make oxygen for the earth and does help the
footprint left from ethanol production. However if the corn wasn’t there, there would be other
vegetation. It could just be a prairie, a forest, or a combination of both. The plowing of the field
is what releases carbon dioxide as well where was the prairie wouldn’t be harvested every year
and wouldn’t have as much decomposition like the stalks from the corn do.
Description of the steps used to produce ethanol for use as a fuel or fuel addictive
The way ethanol is made is very similar to the way any alcohol is made. First the ground corn is
added with water and enzymes and is heated. Once that is complete the mash is cooled and more
enzymes are added to make the starches convert into sugars. Third the yeast is added to ferment
the sugars and this in turn lets off carbon dioxide. However it is not released into the air, it is
trapped and used for things such as dry ice, or to be used in the process of making soft drinks and
carbonize them. The mash is then distilled and the ethanol is separated from the solids. These
solids then can be sold to farms for animal feed. The excess water is removed from the ethanol
to make it 200 proof which means it is 100% alcohol. The most potent alcohol you can buy is
only 95%. Finally the ethanol is ready to be mixed with gasoline.
Opinion whether or not corn derived ethanol should be used as a fuel or fuel additive
My opinion is that corn based ethanol should not be used as a fuel but does show some promise
as a fuel additive. The main purpose of having corn ethanol isn’t for it to be the biofuel everyone
is praying for, but to be a stepping stone to another biofuel more efficient. From appiello and
Apuzzo’s article, The Secret Environmental Cost of US Ethanol Policy (2013) they state how the
corn ethanol plays a huge role for the future.
But it's a cost the administration is willing to accept. It believes supporting corn ethanol
is the best way to encourage the development of biofuels that will someday be cleaner
and greener than today's. Pulling the plug on corn ethanol, officials fear, might mean
killing any hope of these next-generation fuels.
If the 10% of ethanol added to the fuel helps it burn more completely and reduces greenhouse
gases by even a little it adds up over time. There also have been strides to be helping ethanol. A
study from Dr. Steffen Mueller from the University of Chicago shows us that when ethanol was
being produced in 2001 the amount of water used per gallon of ethanol produced was 5.1 gallons
of water. It fell to 3.45 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol in 2006, and now rests at 2.72 in
2008. The technology is improving but not to the point where the United States will change over
to E85 completely. Also like previously stated the E85 to pure gasoline comparison was
overwhelmingly in favor of gasoline. So unless the price per gallon of ethanol goes down there
will not be a change to E85.
Hypothesis of Turnip and Radish Experiment
My hypothesis of the experiment is it won’t be the next ethanol of the future. Turnips and
radishes won’t show us that we need to make a change from corn to them. There is a reason why
corn is being used extensively and will continue in the future.
Experimental Method
-
Equipment
o 250 milliliter beaker
o 500 milliliter Florence flask
o Bunsen Burner
o 2 one holed rubber stoppers
o Saran wrap
-
Chemicals
o Starch solution
o Glucose solution
o Iodine solution
o a- amylase solution (enzyme)
o Buffer solution
o Amyloglucosidase solution
o Yeast
-
Procedure
We took 100 grams of turnips and 100 grams of radishes and put them into 2 separate
500 ml Florence flasks. Then we added 100 ml of water into the flasks and boiled for 10
minutes. We then took two test tubes and filled one with a starch solution and the other
with iodine solution. We then took a iodine solution and put in 6 drops of it into each test
tube. The iodine caused the starch solution to turn into a deep blue color where the
glucose turned into a redish yellow. This gave us the basis to see whether the turnips or
radishes where a starch or sugar. After the heating the flasks had another 100 ml of water
added to both. We took around 2 ml of water from both flasks to see if it was a glucose
based or starch based. Both came out with a glucose reading from the iodine drops. The
flasks then received 10 ml of a-amylase solution and then after 5 minutes we added 35 ml
of a buffer solution. Then 15 ml of amyloglucosidase and 10 ml of a yeast solution.
Then we put in the rubber stoppers and tied saran wrap over the top of the flasks and
checked the weight every day for the two flasks.
Data Summary
-
-
Cost per Material
o Turnips-
$1.60/ pound
o Radishes-
$1.29/ pound
Weight Data for Corn (100 g) and Blank,
Day
Corn (g)
Blank (g)
11/7
552.41
413.48
11/8
551.81
413.36
11.9
547.84
413.33
11/10
545.16
413.31
11/11
544.41
413.31
11/12
543.85
413.30
11/13
553.46
413.26
11/14
542.74
413.26
Change
9.67
0.22
-
Weight Data for Radish (100 g) and Turnip (100 g)
-
Day
11/7
11/8
11/9
11/10
11/11
11/12
11/13
Change
Radish (g)
493.56
493.58
493.57
493.18
492.82
492.70
492.70
Turnip (g)
468.47
468.53
468.54
468.54
468.52
468.51
468.48
0.86
-0.01
Discussion of the Results
Neither radishes nor turnips will be a good producer of ethanol. The glucose didn’t provide
enough energy for the yeast to use up and didn’t make much a change for the CO2 emissions.
References
Cappiello, D., & Apuzzo, M. (2013, November 12). The secret environmental cost of US ethanol
policy. Yahoo Finance. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/secret-environmental-cost-us-ethanol-policy-220248907-finance.html
Edmunds, D. (2009, April 29). Running on Alcohol Fumes. Edumnds. Retrieved November 18,
2013, from http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/e85-vs-gasoline-comparisontest.html
Freedom Car & Vehicle Technology Program. (n.d.). energy.gov. Retrieved November 5, 2013,
from http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/pdfs/basics/jtb_ethanol.pdf
Mueller, S. (2013, March 1). Ethanol Facts: Environment | RFA: Renewable Fuels Association.
Ethanol Facts: Environment | RFA: Renewable Fuels Association. Retrieved November
11, 2013, from http://www.ethanolrfa.org/pages/ethanol-facts-environment