Hey faithful readers! I'm excited to begin a little experiment. Every week, I will dedicate 1 post to highlighting a different biofuel company. I hope to discuss what sort of fuel they produce, how they produce it, what need they are trying to address, and give my reflections about each company.
So, this week, I want to highlight this cool company called POET.
Located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, this company presents itself as the "Number One producer of Ethanol in the world." They produce 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol each year. Well, that sounds good, but why is that significant?
Ethanol is a pretty good alternative to petroleum based fuels. It exists as a liquid and car engines can run on it without modification. Additionally, ethanol, unlike petroleum is a renewable resource, which means it can be grown again and again. It can be obtained from sugarcane, corn, and a variety of starchy or sugary plants. In fact, Brazil runs all of their cars on ethanol made from sugarcane. As you can imagine, there are multiple companies that produce ethanol for transportation. What separates POET from the crowd is it's pioneering cellulosic technologies.
Cellulose is a type of sugar found in all plant life. It's very strong, and it's the reason trees are able to grow to incredible heights. In short, it's the most abundant sugar on the face of a planet. The reason it hasn't been used to make ethanol before is because there is a chemical bond which binds cellulose together, which is very hard to break without using enzymes. (Proteins used to help chemical reactions move faster, and as you can guess, can be expensive) Much of POET's work has been to develop enzymes that are cost effective in order to lower costs of producing ethanol from cellulosic sources.
One thing that is missing from this is the cost of food! Corn based fule has driven up the production and the cost of corn. The result is that many low income countries and people no longer produce other food crops or can afford the basic ingredients in a corn based diet. This is leading to starvation and busted economic systems!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301625.html
http://feinstein.senate.gov/05speeches/ethanol-oped.htm
Some thoughts!
Dr. Armstrong
I find the topic of biofuels very important in todays world where the supply of inexpensive petroleum is very limiting. The idea that ethanol, a renewable resource, could some day replace petroleum, a natural resource, is a sign of hope for the future of transportation around the world. To have ethanol fuel all cars in Brazil is a huge step in the right direction towards a promising future, but the current difficulty and expense to recreate ethanol is not. Obviously, like many innovations, perfecting the creation of ethanol at an affordable cost could take years, but at least we have an idea for a possible future fuel. Biofuels are a very important part of research in America today and will be for years to come. I cant wait to hear other alternatives to petroleum in you future blogs.
ReplyDelete