scholarly journals Recent Developments and Current Status of Commercial Production of Fuel Ethanol

Author(s):  
Tuan-Dung Hoang ◽  
Nhuan Nghiem

Ethanol produced from various biobased sources (bioethanol) has been gaining high attention lately due to its potential to cut down net emissions of carbon dioxide while reducing burgeoning world dependence on fossil fuels. Global ethanol production has increased more than six-fold from 18 billion liters at the turn of the century to 110 billion liters in 2019 (1,2). Sugar cane and corn have been used as the major feedstocks for ethanol production. Lignocellulosic biomass has recently been considered as another potential feedstock. This paper reviews recent developments and current status of commercial production of ethanol across the world. The review includes the ethanol production processes used for each type of feedstock, both currently practiced at commercial scale and newly developed technologies, and production trends in various regions and countries in the world.

Fermentation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 314
Author(s):  
Tuan-Dung Hoang ◽  
Nhuan Nghiem

Ethanol produced from various biobased sources (bioethanol) has been gaining high attention lately due to its potential to cut down net emissions of carbon dioxide while reducing burgeoning world dependence on fossil fuels. Global ethanol production has increased more than six-fold from 18 billion liters at the turn of the century to 110 billion liters in 2019, only to fall to 98.6 billion liters in 2020 due to the pandemic. Sugar cane and corn have been used as the major feedstocks for ethanol production. Lignocellulosic biomass has recently been considered as another potential feedstock due to its non-food competing status and its availability in very large quantities. This paper reviews recent developments and current status of commercial production of ethanol across the world with a focus on the technological aspects. The review includes the ethanol production processes used for each type of feedstock, both currently practiced at commercial scale and still under developments, and current production trends in various regions and countries in the world.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey Amelse

Mitigation of global warming requires an understanding of where energy is produced and consumed, the magnitude of carbon dioxide generation, and proper understanding of the Carbon Cycle. The latter leads to the distinction between and need for both CO2 and biomass CARBON sequestration. Short reviews are provided for prior technologies proposed for reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuels or substituting renewable energy, focusing on their limitations. None offer a complete solution. Of these, CO2 sequestration is poised to have the largest impact. We know how to do it. It will just cost money, and scale-up is a huge challenge. Few projects have been brought forward to semi-commercial scale. Transportation accounts for only about 30% of U.S. overall energy demand. Biofuels penetration remains small, and thus, they contribute a trivial amount of overall CO2 reduction, even though 40% of U.S. corn and 30% of soybeans are devoted to their production. Bioethanol is traced through its Carbon Cycle and shown to be both energy inefficient, and an inefficient use of biomass carbon. Both biofuels and CO2 sequestration reduce FUTURE CO2 emissions from continued use of fossil fuels. They will not remove CO2 ALREADY in the atmosphere. The only way to do that is to break the Carbon Cycle by growing biomass from atmospheric CO2 and sequestering biomass CARBON. Theoretically, sequestration of only a fraction of the world’s tree leaves, which are renewed every year, can get the world to Net Zero CO2 without disturbing the underlying forests.


Author(s):  
Shruti Mohapatra ◽  
Raj Kishore Mishra ◽  
Khitish K. Sarangi

Environmentally sustainable energy sources are called for due to contemporaneous development in industries along with the rapid pace of urbanization. Ethanol produced from biomass can be deliberated as a clean and safest liquid fuel and an alternative to fossil fuels as they have provided unique environmental, strategic economic benefits. For the past decade, it has been noticed that there is an increasing trend found in bio ethanol production which has created a stimulus to go for advancement in bio ethanol production technologies. Several feed stocks have been used for the bio ethanol production but the second generation bio ethanol has concentrated on the lignocellulosic biomass. Plenteous lignocellulosic biomass in the world can be tapped for ethanol production, but it will require significant advances in the ethanol production process from lignocellulosic because of some technical and economic hurdles found in commercial scale. This review will encompass the current status of bio ethanol production in terms of their economic and environmental viability along with some research gaps as well as policy implications for the same.


10.28945/4385 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 075-087
Author(s):  
Douglas H Carter

Entrepreneurship has emerged over the last three decades as arguable the most potent economic force the world has ever experienced. This economic expansion has paralleled rapid growth in the field of entrepreneurship education. Recent developments in curricula and programs devoted to entrepreneurship, new venture creation and corporate innovation have been remarkable. The number of colleges and universities that offer courses related to entrepreneurship has grown from a handful 35 years ago to over 3000 today. In the midst of this expansion lies the challenge of establishing and sustaining entrepreneurship programs in universities across the globe. (Morris, Kuratko & Cornwall, 2013) The literature review will help inform us of the current status of entrepreneurship programs on university campuses and provide us with some indication of any changes in the idea of where to place a new program.


Green ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung Hoon Chae ◽  
Xiaohang Zhou ◽  
George Zheng Chen

AbstractThe enormous technical developments and rapid changes in life patterns made in the recent decades have largely been attributed to the exploitation of contemporary forms of energy sources, i.e. fossil fuels. However, their finite availability and significantly high environmental impacts have aroused concerns and spurred research to find alternatives and more efficient ways to store energy. In particular, recent developments of batteries and fuel cells as energy storage devices have been proven to be very promising, but their poor power characteristics and cyclic stability hinder their wider applications. Conversely, conventional capacitors display a great outputting pulsed power, but disappointing energy characteristics. Electrochemical capacitors (ECs), which are also known as supercapacitors, bridge the crucial performance disparity between fuel cells or batteries with high energy capacities and the traditional capacitors capable of outputting pulsed high power. The main focus of this review is to outline the latest developments of the ECs and determine their current status in terms of energy and power characteristics. In particular, recent developments in materials including new synthesis methods, structural studies and advanced configurations of ECs are discussed. Moreover, several technical challenges to further development are identified. Based on the latest results, the potential of developing supercapatteries, whose performance is in between batteries and contemporary supercapacitors, are also discussed in this review.


1969 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuj K Chandel ◽  
Om V Singh ◽  
Gajula Chandrasekhar ◽  
Linga Venkateswar Rao ◽  
Mangamoori Lakshmi Narasu

The imposition of ethanol derived from biomass for blending in gasoline would make countries less dependent on current petroleum sources, which would save foreign exchange reserves, improve rural economies and provide job opportunities in a clean and safe environment. The key drivers for successful commercial ethanol production are cheap raw materials, economic pretreatment technologies, in-house cellulase production with high and efficient titers, high ethanol fermentation rates, downstream recovery of ethanol and maximum by-products utilization. Furthermore, recent developments in engineering of biomass for increased biomass, down-regulation of lignin synthesis, improved cellulase titers and re-engineering of cellulases, and process integration of the steps involved have increased the possibility of cheap bioethanol production that competes with the price of petroleum. Recently, many companies have come forward globally for bioethanol production on a large scale. It is very clear now that bioethanol will be available at the price of fossil fuels by 2010. This article intends to provide insight and perspectives on the important recent developments in bioethanol research, the commercialization status of bioethanol production, the step-wise cost incurred in the process involved, and the possible innovations that can be utilized to reduce the cost of ethanol production.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey Amelse

Many corporations aspire to become Net Zero Carbon Dioxide by 2030-2050. This paper examines what it will take. It requires understanding where energy is produced and consumed, the magnitude of CO2 generation, and the Carbon Cycle. Reviews are provided for prior technologies for reducing CO2 emissions from fossil to focus on their limitations and to show that none offer a complete solution. Both biofuels and CO2 sequestration reduce future CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. They will not remove CO2 already in the atmosphere. Planting trees has been proposed as one solution. Trees are a temporary solution. When they die, they decompose and release their carbon as CO2 to the atmosphere. The only way to permanently remove CO2 already in the atmosphere is to break the Carbon Cycle by growing biomass from atmospheric CO2 and sequestering biomass carbon. Permanent sequestration of leaves is proposed as a solution. Leaves have a short Carbon Cycle time constant. They renew and decompose every year. Theoretically, sequestrating a fraction of the world’s tree leaves can get the world to Net Zero without disturbing the underlying forests. This would be CO2 capture in its simplest and most natural form. Permanent sequestration may be achieved by redesigning landfills to discourage decomposition. In traditional landfills, waste undergoes several stages of decomposition, including rapid initial aerobic decomposition to CO2, followed by slow anaerobic decomposition to methane and CO2. The latter can take hundreds to thousands of years. Understanding landfill chemistry provides clues to disrupting decomposition at each phase.


Author(s):  
Annette Alcasabas ◽  
Peter R. Ellis ◽  
Gareth Williams ◽  
Chris Zalitis ◽  
Iain Malone

The reduction of CO2 into useful products such as fuels and chemicals is a topic of intense research activity at present, driven by the need to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels and avoid catastrophic temperature rises across the world. In this short review, we consider a range of different technological approaches to CO2 conversion, their current status and the molecules which each approach is best suited to making.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey Amelse

Many corporations aspire to become Net Zero Carbon Dioxide by 2030-2050. This paper examines what it will take. It requires understanding where energy is produced and consumed, the magnitude of CO2 generation, and the Carbon Cycle. Reviews are provided for prior technologies for reducing CO2 emissions from fossil to focus on their limitations and to show that none offer a complete solution. Both biofuels and CO2 sequestration reduce future CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. They will not remove CO2 already in the atmosphere. Planting trees has been proposed as one solution. Trees are a temporary solution. When they die, they decompose and release their carbon as CO2 to the atmosphere. The only way to permanently remove CO2 already in the atmosphere is to break the Carbon Cycle by growing biomass from atmospheric CO2 and sequestering biomass carbon. Permanent sequestration of leaves is proposed as a solution. Leaves have a short Carbon Cycle time constant. They renew and decompose every year. Theoretically, sequestrating a fraction of the world’s tree leaves can get the world to Net Zero without disturbing the underlying forests. This would be CO2 capture in its simplest and most natural form. Permanent sequestration may be achieved by redesigning landfills to discourage decomposition. In traditional landfills, waste undergoes several stages of decomposition, including rapid initial aerobic decomposition to CO2, followed by slow anaerobic decomposition to methane and CO2. The latter can take hundreds to thousands of years. Understanding landfill chemistry provides clues to disrupting decomposition at each phase.


2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-275
Author(s):  
SL Ezeoha ◽  
CN Anyanwu ◽  
JN Nwakaire

The benefits and impacts of enhanced cellulosic ethanol (CE) production, the major features of existing production processes, and some current research challenges of major pretreatment processes are presented. The prospects of enhanced CE production, especially in developing economies like Nigeria are highlighted. We conclude that in order to reap the promising prospects and conquer the challenges and negative impacts of enhanced CE production, current researches for production of cellulosic ethanol must be focused on the development of processes that are capable of liberating and fermenting lignocellulose into bioethanol at faster rates, higher yields, and overall technical and economic efficiency. These researches should concentrate on the development of cheaper enzymes, genetically engineered microorganisms, and cost-effective thermochemical processes in order to accomplish the much-needed breakthrough in cellulosic biofuel production. Properly targeted innovative researches on cellulosic ethanol production processes are the sure route to effective reduction of global dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuels. The needed research breakthroughs will obviously be based on innovative integration of processes rather than on the improvement of the well-known individual processes of bioethanol production. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v36i1.32


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