That's what I was thinking. Wouldn't the end product be Benzene and not ethanol? Possibly methanol, but that's more petroleum based, I think.
Worlds largest coal-to-ethanol plant
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How much more ground water is needed to irrigate all these extra millions of acres of corn dedicated to ethanol production. A lot of the pumps run by zero emission controlled, carburetted V8 engines. Just check a YouTube channel called "Laura Farms".
Corn based ethanol production is another prime example of gov't thumb on the wrong side of the scale imo.
Never mind that the 10% ethanol blend gasoline returns a typical 3% less fuel economy than a straight gasoline blend.
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Not to mention the Ogallala Aquifer is likely not endless. Its dropped a lot in many places. When its gone, its likely gone - for a long time at least.
I'm not a defender of burning our food source in our gas tanks...but I have a local buddy that typically plants between 2 and 3K acres of corn, he doesn't irrigate it and he yielded 205-210 bushels per acre this year, obviously some years are better than others when you depend on the rain. He is not directly subsidized to grow corn, is government policy manipulating the market with demand and price point, sure it is.
But I get your point as there are several big farms around here who do irrigate.
Cotton is king around here, the only reason he even grows corn is because he has enough silos to store it all until the price gets to where he wants it.
A fine point I'm making, but the extra millions of acres of corn grown is not food source corn. It is solely cultivated for ethanol production. We have plenty of food produced by farmers.
corn being mostly GMO + toxic from Glyphosate should not be eaten, BUT $$$$ is everything in USA + China cares less about pollution!! living in the coal region + burn a little hard coal in the winter + since its BIG price increase + warmer weather i use my oil furnace thats less work + prolly not much more costly!!! as technology moves on anything thats cheeper will be used + in USA the lobbyist will get laws "BENT" so big money can get BIGGER!! like our overweight unhealthy population!
The basis of this chemistry was the discovery of an exotic bacteria species that can digest carbon monoxide into ethanol. The CO comes from the well known "producer gas" (or "manufactured gas") process on coal. A similar plant is being built in the USA. The overall yield has been quoted as 60 gallons (390 lb) ethanol per ton (2000 lb) of coal.
The coal can be of a low grade which is too polluting to burn directly in a power plant. However as someone else noted, the solid residue waste from the producer gas process is highly toxic and persistent.
The coal can be of a low grade which is too polluting to burn directly in a power plant. However as someone else noted, the solid residue waste from the producer gas process is highly toxic and persistent.
Very little irrigation is used here in central Illinois has to be pretty sandy soil. The ethanol plant said they would use a million gallons a day of water.
Around here, corn is not grown for any predetermined purpose. You plant it and hope it does well enough that it will grade out "fit for human consumption"(No.1) at twice the price of "feed stock" (No 2-5) if it doesn't grade out. I can only assume that ethanol is produced from the corn that didn't grade out to be fit for direct human consumption.
No... Ethanol is just grain alcohol... same stuff you drink.
Ethanol - Wikipedia
actually Most of the bigger equipment is Electric.... power comes from either the Grid ( if available) or onsite generation, which is usually Diesel...
Edit* The Bigger Trucks are Diesel-Electric. all the Diesel engine does is generate electricity, the Driveline is Electric.
some larger Mines have a few Locomotives on site just for use as a power plant.
and as for the underground Carbon Storage questions...
I read an article recently, some university Figured out that intact Coal Seams, are Perfect to Hold Hydrogen Gas for Storage. (and the lower grade coal works even better for this use) they hold it better than the Methane (Natural gas) that Forms along side the coal... so once we figure a Truly "Green*" way to make Hydrogen in bulk, there are plenty of places to store it safely underground...
* I mean Green in both the Environmentally Friendly way, and in the economic sense.
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I think here a good bit of it is GMO-not supposed to be consumed by humans. Although it can cross-pollinate with edible corn & make it also unfit for human consumption. IIRC the genetic modification is to make it able to tolerate herbicides like glyphosate (Roundup) or similar.
I'm unaware of any dent corn that is not "roundup ready" these days. GMO is a very loose term.
Sweet corn and popcorn are not roundup ready, but corn syrup and corn meal and corn oil are not made with sweet or popcorn. Chances are that you consume modified corn several times per week.
4WD
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Actually I have seen them in various parts of the world still using direct drive diesel …No... Ethanol is just grain alcohol... same stuff you drink.
Ethanol - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
actually Most of the bigger equipment is Electric.... power comes from either the Grid ( if available) or onsite generation, which is usually Diesel...
Edit* The Bigger Trucks are Diesel-Electric. all the Diesel engine does is generate electricity, the Driveline is Electric.
some larger Mines have a few Locomotives on site just for use as a power plant.
and as for the underground Carbon Storage questions...
I read an article recently, some university Figured out that intact Coal Seams, are Perfect to Hold Hydrogen Gas for Storage. (and the lower grade coal works even better for this use) they hold it better than the Methane (Natural gas) that Forms along side the coal... so once we figure a Truly "Green*" way to make Hydrogen in bulk, there are plenty of places to store it safely underground...
* I mean Green in both the Environmentally Friendly way, and in the economic sense.
I have also seen full electric and VFD equipment as well … There are hundreds of mines in SE Asia - some use this equipment :
Here is a screen shot about E85 Flex Fuel. The first car equipped to burn it was manufactured by Ford in 1996. At that time US oil production had already been falling for 10 consecutive years. The Administration was very concerned and had to have an answer. Ethanol was brought up as the solution and there was crazy talk about using “Switch Grass” to make ethanol. It was really a band-aid solution but the corn belt States loved it.
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4WD
$50 site donor 2024
After draining high fructose corn syrup from my OptiMax - I‘ll go way out of my way to get E0 in that boat …
That is only one of many GM changes. One rather remarkable on is how well corn does in a drought now. The first was making it insect resistant with BT corn. Yield increasing work. Corn by definition is the most genetically modified food humans grow if you count the old fashion way.
All you ever hear though is the roundup ready stuff. Which is applied early in the grow season.
Concur. I do pretty good with my garden and have been doing it for a long time. I tried to grow some heirloom corn (the multicolored) with no fertilizer, pesticide etc. Those ears were half the size of modern ears, 70% filled out and the bugs tore it up. I think it would have been better if I had let the chickens into the garden so they could have ate the worms before they climbed up the stalk to the corn, but I learned 100% that ANY ear of corn you buy that is 100% filled out is both genetically modified and is chemically treated.
I can usually get locally grown sweet corn that is non GMO and not sprayed with anything. Might find a worm or two but they are usually full ears.
Another thing I notice about the field corn of today is it does not necessarily need the rain at pollination time to fertilize the female parts of the plant.
Another thing I notice about the field corn of today is it does not necessarily need the rain at pollination time to fertilize the female parts of the plant.
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