Wet Milling
Dry MillingEthanol is an alcohol product produced from corn, sorghum, potatoes, wheat, sugar cane, even biomass such as cornstalks and vegetable waste. When combined with gasoline it increases octane levels while also promoting more complete fuel burning that reduces harmful tailpipe emissions such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.
Biodiesel is a domestic, renewable fuel for diesel engines derived from natural oils like soybean oil. Or for those of you who want a more technical definition, it is a fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats.
That information just gave you an idea of what I will be talking about and so that you aren’t confused later on. Now I am going to go into how these two fuels are made.
There are two ways to make ethanol, wet milling and dry milling. Instead of boring you with the facts about these two processes I am simply going to leave you two charts to refer to.
Biodiesel is made through a chemical process called transesterification whereby the glycerin is separated from the fat or vegetable oil. The process leaves behind two products -- methyl esters (the chemical name for biodiesel) and glycerin (a valuable byproduct usually sold to be used in soaps and other products)
The main question in all of this is which is best for the environment. Both forms of biofuel have definite environmental advantages over petroleum-based gasoline and diesel fuel. Ethanol contains 35% oxygen. Adding oxygen to fuel results in more complete fuel combustion, thus reducing harmful tailpipe emissions. Ethanol also displaces the use of toxic gasoline components such as benzene, a carcinogen. Ethanol is non-toxic, water soluble and quickly biodegradable.
Biodiesel, on the other hand is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the Clean Air Act. The use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine results in substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter compared to emissions from diesel fuel. In addition the exhaust emissions of sulfur oxides and sulfates from biodiesel are essentially eliminated compared to diesel.
Energy Balance/Energy Life Cycle Inventory
Fuel * Energy yield Net Energy (loss) or gain
Gasoline 0.805 (19.5 percent)
Diesel 0.843 (15.7 percent)
Ethanol 1.34 (34 percent)
Biodiesel 3.20 (220 percent)
As you can see ethanol and biodiesel are the two highest in energy yield and biodiesel being two times and then some higher then ethanol. At the same time all these huge companies are putting all their resources into hydrogen, which lets face it isn’t going to happen.
How much does it cost to use these fuels? A gallon of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, usually costs about the same as a gallon of regular gasoline, although prices may vary somewhat depending on location. The bad thing about this ethanol blend is that it is a bit less fuel efficient then just gasoline.
Biodiesel is priced a little lower then conventional diesel fuel about 12 cents lower. Biodiesel has shown similar fuel consumption, power, torque, and haulage rates as conventional diesel fuel.
When it comes down to it cost and efficiency of the fuel biodiesel comes out on top.
Food vs. fuel, this is a main argument in that with a lot of these biofuels such as ethanol you have to use food sources like corn or other crops and take them and make fuels out of them. People are arguing that this will affect undeveloped countries because they don’t have as much food and divert agriculture productions away from 3rd world countries. Other say that this is completely false and they say that as the demand will rise for these products such as corn then the supply will rise eventually and they will both reach an equilibrium price, but the supply will be lagging behind the demand and it will take some time to reach an equilibrium price. Also the price of corn or fuel that they are using will sadly rise in price, which also hurts people that have to buy that corn to raise their live stock. I have researched this topic or question that is presented for some time and there are strong arguments on both sides of the fence and to tell you the truth I don’t know which side I’m on or which one I believe so I am going to present both and let you decide. Here’s the more precise argument.
Food vs. fuel is the dilemma regarding the risk of diverting farmland or crops for biofuels production in detriment of the food supply on a global scale. The "food vs. fuel" or "food or fuel" debate is internationally controversial, with good-and-valid arguments on all sides of this ongoing debate. There is disagreement about how significant this is what is causing it, what the impact is, and what can or should be done about it.
A common objection to biofuels such as ethanol is energy production could divert agricultural production away from food crops in a hungry world -- even leading to mass starvation in the poor countries.
As you can conclude from the information above both ethanol and biodiesel are great alternatives to the normal forms of fuels today such as gasoline and diesel. Also ethanol and biodiesel don’t pollute nearly as much as the conventional fuels. A lot of people are thinking that it is a good thing that we should start using electricity as a fuel, but if you look back on how you get the electricity for the car you then realize that it isn’t the greatest idea because electricity comes from huge factories burning fossil fuels for that electricity. So then you come back to these two fuels and maybe hydrogen and you think which is the best. As you can see from the information presented they are two great fuels, but only one can come out on top and be the fuel of the future, and it’s obvious that fuel is biodiesel.
EY
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