Fuel ethanol produced from substances like Cellulose can contribute significantly to reducing the use of petroleum and will help a great deal in solving the energy crisis. Developments in science and technology in a number of disciplines are required to make cellulosic ethanol dream come true.
Cellulose is the most abundant biological molecule in the world. Cellulose is a polymer of sugar. Polymers are large molecules made up of simpler molecules bound together much like links in a chain. Cellulose is a polymer of glucose, a simple sugar that is easily consumed by yeast to produce ethanol. Cellulose is produced by every living plant on the earth, from single-celled algae in the oceans to giant redwood trees. This means that cellulose is the most abundant biological molecule in the world.
The way it works is as follows:
The cellulose chains are broken down into individual links thereby releasing which can be further used to produce ethanol to be used as a fuel. Many companies like Iogen, NREL, Mascoma are employing their own enzymes to make this industry reach great heights. You can refer to my previous post, if you wish to know more details about the technology employed by the top leaders in the Cellulosic Ethanol Industry.
Conventional Ethanol Vs Cellulosic Ethanol:
Cellulosic Ethanol has a number of advantages when compared to the conventional ethanol. Differences between conventional ethanol and cellulosic ethanol have also been highlighted in my previous post. They share a lot of similarities as well . The technology for fermentation,distillation and recovery of the ethanol are the same.
Challenges faced by the Cellulosic Ethanol Indusry :
The major challenges are linked to reducing the costs associated with production, harvest, transportation, and up-front processing in order to make cellulosic ethanol competitive with grain-based fuel ethanol and gasoline.
The major processing challenges are linked to the biology and chemistry of the processing steps. Plant genetics research and biotechnology are giving researchers the tools to increase agricultural yield of cellulosic plant material that is tailor-made for conversion to biofuels.Advances in biotechnology and engineering will help a great deal in achieving the goal of making CE a reality
Issues with the Pre-treatment technology:
This is done to soften the cellulosic material to make the cellulose more susceptible to being broken down. There are some issues in pretreatment of cellulosic ethanol.. Better understanding of the chemistry of plant cell walls and the chemical reactions that occur during pretreatment is leading to improvements in these technologies which lower the cost for producing ethanol. The leading pretreatment technologies under development use a combination of chemicals (water, acid, caustics, and/or ammonia) and heat to partially break down the cellulose or convert it into a more reactive form.
I, along with companies like Iogen, TMO renewables ,Mascoma and many other sustainable minds believe that Cellulosic Ethanol will soon definetely solve the enrgy- crisis.
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