The Molecular Structure of Ethanol - Research Paper Example

? [Should ethanol be there in Gasoline Introduction The age people are presently living in can well be termed as the age of fossil fuel. Today morethan 90 percent of the world’s energy is supplied by oil, natural gas and coal . Over the years consumption of fossil fuels has increased by magnificent amount. The twentieth century experienced the highest level of consumption of fossil fuel since the introduction of it as an important source of energy to the human civilization. Energy consumption is an important determinant of standard of living. High energy consumption results in high standard of living. Since last two three decades scientists, however, have been expressing their concerns over the over use of fossil fuels. Since coal, gas or natural energies are non-renewable and over the year’s excessive use of these fuels have caused huge depletion of these, this golden age of fossil fuel power can not run for long. Time has come to seriously think upon alternative sources of energy for the future as possession of huge amount of energy is a requisite for any kind of human civilization. Looking at the depletion rate of fossil fuels it has become quite evident that future will embrace renewable sources of energies to keep the high pace of development of human civilization. Being environment friendly these energy sources will also be able to provide mankind with a more pleasant and safe environment to live in. Here comes the importance of ethanol as it is a renewable fuel. Ethanol can be produced from various kinds of agricultural feeds like sugarcane, agricultural residues, and wastes of forestry wood. However, sometimes, it is also produced chemically from chemical components like ethane or ethylene. (Onursal and Gautam, 1997; Srinivasan and Saravanan, 2010) The molecular structure of ethanol comprises of C, H and O and it is chemically known as C2 H5 OH. Ethane has very well defined chemical as well as physical properties. Ethanol has the capacity to be used as fuel for transportation purposes in its original form. It is also quite able to get blended easily fossil fuels like gasoline. Today, many cars are no longer using pure gasoline as the source of energy, but they are using a blend of ethanol and gasoline. (Onursal and Gautam, 1997) Currently, the interest in using ethanol as an alternative fuel option has increased significantly. As a result production of ethanol is also taking at a faster pace than before. At present, most of the ethanol is being produced from renewable stocks for minimizing CO2 emissions in the air. CO2 is greenhouse gas that is responsible for global warming. The addition of ethanol to gasoline helps in the increase of the octane number in the blended fuel form and produces some changes in the distillation temperature. (Onursal and Gautam, 1997) Although addition of ethanol to gasoline is being increasingly considered to be an alternative of pure gasoline, there are some arguments against having ethanol in gasoline. In the presence of widespread debate regarding the use of ethanol in gasoline, the purpose of this study is to find out whether it should be right to use ethanol in gasoline. Thus the thesis statement of this paper can be presented as follows: Ethanol should be used as an alternative fuel option and it should be there in gasoline in appropriate proportion. Here some efforts will be made to check the cases for and against having ethanol in gasoline. On the basis of the findings, a conclusion will be made with respect to the thesis statement of this paper. (Onursal and Gautam, 1997) Arguments for having ethanol in gasoline In near future fossil fuels will no longer rule the energy sector of the world given the alarmingly fast rate of their depletion. The golden age of fossil fuels will come to an end very soon and different sorts of other power sources, particularly renewable sources, will replace fossil fuels and also play an important role in making the environment more clear. Alcohol like ethanol has some advantages in their use as an energy source over gasoline. As a fuel, ethanol possesses better anti-knock features compared to gasoline. Hence, if the proportion of ethanol in gasoline is increased, then the thermal efficiency of engine will be improved as higher percentage of ethanol in gasoline helps in increasing compression ratio. (Korzeniewski, 2009). Alcohol such as ethanol has a tendency to burn with lower temperature and thus it helps in decreasing the peak temperature within the gas cylinder. Burning at lower temperature helps in lowering emissions of NOx. The latent heat of vaporization is also quite higher in case of ethanol than for gasoline. Due to higher latent heat, density of air increases and volumetric efficiency becomes higher in case of burning of ethanol compared to gasoline. Since, the chemical body of ethanol contains oxygen, the presence of ethanol in the car fuel helps in reducing heating value. (Onursal and Gautam, 1997; Adams, 2009) During 1990s, the government of the United States issued a number of amendments relating to the clean Air Act. These amendments included increased used of oxygenated gasoline for helping the fuel burn in a more effective way in combustion. One of the widely favored and selected oxygenates was MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether). The major reason behind the selection of this chemical compound was that this compound was very cheap and it had the capacity to increase octane ratings of the fuel. Everything was going absolutely fine with the use of MTBE and gasoline until it was discovered in California in 1995 that there had been quite high concentration of MTBER in drinking water. The high concentration of MTBE was resulted from leaky underground container of fuels and spilled gasoline. Since then, ethanol has started to be largely seen as a safer substitute of MTBE in gasoline. Hence, in most of the cases vehicles are run by ethanol blended fuel in the USA. Very often, trucks and cars are using E10 that is a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline. It has been found that the use of E10 is quite efficient in keeping the engine operation at the optimum level. Some of the old car engines are also capable of running through ethanol blended fuel. On the other hand, if some engines are found to be not suitable of ethanol blended fuel, there is nothing to worry, as it is not very expensive to make some up-gradation in the standard gasoline fuel to turn them into one that is suitable for using ethanol blended fuels like E85, E10 etc. (Guibet and Birchem, 1999; Yacobucci, Schnepf and Net, 2010). Many people are now favoring ethanol blend gasoline over unblended gasoline for a number of benefits than ethanol blended fuel offers. These benefits re as follows: First, ethanol blended gasoline is a more environment friendly fuel option compared to unblended gasoline. The vehicles which run using ethanol blended fuel produce lower level of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide as a result of which the level of the emission of green house gases is lower in case of ethanol fueled vehicles compared to unblended gasoline-fueled vehicles. Ethanol-fueled cars also produce same or lower levels of nitrogen dioxides and hydrocarbon compared to pure gasoline-fueled cars. Second, if the proportion of ethanol in the blended becomes as high as 85 percent with 15 percent gasoline, then this blended fuel will have lower levels of volatile components compared to pure gasoline. It means that at the time of evaporation, there will be lower emissions of hazardous gases. This kind of blended fuel is generally known as E85. Third, Addition of lower level of ethanol in gasoline is also quite effective in reducing the emissions of hazardous gases. For example, if the blended fuel contains 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline, then it would be efficient in reducing the emissions of carbon monoxide at the time of burning of the fuel. Addition of ethanol to gasoline also helps in improving octane number in the fuel. Fourth, ethanol is easily available and since it is renewable, there is no fear of its depletion irrespective of the volume of the use. Fifth, it is also quite easy to use ethanol blended fuel. Currently, various types of flexible vehicles that can use E85 are available. Most of the auto manufacturers of USA are now manufacturing the vehicles that can use ethanol blended fuels, like E85 or others having lower percentage of ethanol. E85 are becoming very popular and now largely available in a huge number of fuel stations throughout the USA. Sixth, increasing use of ethanol blended fuel will also be useful for the economy. Increasing use of ethanol blended fuel implies increasing production of ethanol. Higher level of ethanol production will help farmers and create many more domestic jobs. Since ethanol is mainly produced domestically by using domestically cultivated agricultural crops, higher use of ethanol in fuel will reduce the dependency of country on the import of oil and thus helps in enhancing a nation’s independence in the field of oil production. ( Silva and Sodre, 2000; Worldwatch Institute, 2007) Arguments against having ethanol in gasoline Ethanol is one of the plant based bio-fuels, which are prompted to be clean and being available comparatively at a lower rate than Gasoline. But then there are certain problems and negative effects that are seem to be related to it. Some problems are like having severe outer effects on nature and also on human lives. (Gupta and Demirbas, 2010) In order to have a widespread adoption of bio fuels based on plants, huge acres of land needs to be provided which requires to be sustained for long duration. In order to meet the extensive demand of production of bio-diesel over fuels like normal diesel, enough crops were harvested, but then still it is incapable of overcoming the demand effect of bio-fuels. It is similar like converting the remaining forests and open lands of the world into farmland in order to have increased production of ethanol. (Gupta and Demirbas, 2010) Unblended gasoline consumption does have adverse effects on the environment, but in order to replace diesel with bio-diesel consumption, one require to compromise hugely on the harvest of soy crops. It is like replacing bio-fuels with normal fuel just by five percent, but, for that we need to sacrifice about sixty percent of our natural harvest in order to produce bio-diesel. (Gupta and Demirbas, 2010) Besides this, its production consumes more energy than it itself generates. Wide research says in order to generate ethanol from corn or soya beans, twenty-nine percent of energy is extra required. Precisely, it can be said that, we can reap no extra benefit for liquid fuel using plant biomass. (Gupta and Demirbas, 2010) Vivid studies have also revealed that fuel emissions out of ethanol are rich in ozone than gasoline. This can be supported by fuels like E85, a product of both gasoline and ethanol with a proportion of about 85%, which are said to release more ozone pollutants during summer season. Ozone is a kind of pollutant, which does not cause much harm during cold days, but E85 is very much capable enough to release a problematic propotion of ozone component into the environment which can lead to unfavourable health effects. Besides being rich in ozone content, E85 contains various other pollutants which can lead to health related problems like lung problems, irritation in eyes and throat. (National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Ozone-Forming Potential of Reformulated Gasoline, 1999; Adams, 2009) In places where climatic temperature remains low, there vehicles take some time to get started. This is because the catalytic converter takes some time to warm up in order to have efficiency at its fullest level. During this warm up session, large amount of pollutants manage to get away through the car’s tailpipe thus polluting the environment to a very large extent. It has been studied that at places like Los Angelos and Denver, where the extent of pollution caused by ozone-rich fuels reach to such a height that the cities take extra some days in order to get rid of the smog problems, thus putting human health at a risk. (National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Ozone-Forming Potential of Reformulated Gasoline, 1999) Ethanol emissions contain aldehydes which can even damage harvest of crops. It is proved to be so much injurious that E85 was found to emit thirty nine parcents per billion more ozone into the air in a day than normal gasoline. Thus ethanol is said to cause more pollution, and hence, not beneficial at any point, rather its production has proved to be wasteful. (Gupta and Demirbas, 2010) But ethanol being disguised in the appearance of clean energy, has been the subject among one of the highly rated political issues and have remained in focus throughout, when, in real terms, its effect is just the other way round. Conclusion On the basis of the above discussion it is found that while there have been quite strong cases in favor of the use of ethnol in gasoline, some cases go against the use of ethanol blended fuel. Particularly, it is found that major criticism has come for E85. There are no such strong arguments against E10. Although, E85 seems to be not quite appropriate at present, the use of ethanol in gasoline in lower proportion should be there for the benefits that ethanol provides as an energy source. The requirement of ethanol in gasoline has rightly been recognized by the US government. Ethanol is increasingly being considered as an environment friendly fuel option. The Environment Protection Agency of the USA approved the increase of the proportion of ethanol by 5 percent in gasoline. However, it has mentioned that E15 that is made off 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline should be used for 2007 and newer vehicle models. The agency has come to a conclusion that use of E15 is not harmful to newer vehicle models. EPA, however, mentioned that use of E15 in older car models is strictly prohibited and illegal. EPA has also legalized the use of E85 for flexible vehicle models. Ethanol should be used in vehicles for lowering the emissions of hazardous gas and to reduce the consumption of nonrenewable energy sources. If renewable energy sources like ethnol are not used as alternative energy sources, then nonrenewable fuel sources will deplete t a faster rate and growth of civilization will stop. Ethanol is one of cheaper renewable fuel sources and hence, more and more focus should be placed on the use of ethanol in gasoline. Hence, more and more vehicles should be made in such a way that they become suitable for using ethanol blended fuel in their engines. More and more flexible vehicles should be produced in order to increase the use of E85, E15 and other varieties. Thus in line with the thesis statement it can be concluded that ethanol should be there in gasoline and it should be used in appropriate proportion. However, care should be taken in introducing newer types of vehicles so that the engines become suitable for ethanol blended gasoline and all the negative consequences can be minimized. References: 1. Guibet, J. and Birchem, E. (1999). Fuels and engines: technology, energy, environment, Volume 2. TECHNIP. 2. Yacobucci, B., Schnepf, R. and Net, T. (2010). Energy: Ethanol: The Production and Use of Biofuels, Biodiesel, and Ethanol, Agriculture-Based Renewable Energy Production Including Corn and Sugar, The Ethanol "Blend Wall", Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS and RFS2), Cellulosic Biofuels, 2007 Energy Bill. PublisherThe Capitol Net Inc. 3. Onursal, B and Gautam, S. (1997). Vehicular air pollution: experiences from seven Latin American urban centers. World Bank Publications. 4. Worldwatch Institute. (2007). Biofuels for transport: global potential and implications for sustainable energy and agriculture. Earthscan. 5. Gupta, R. B. and Demirbas, A.. (2010). Gasoline, Diesel and Ethanol Biofuels from Grasses and Plants. Cambridge University Press. 6. National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Ozone-Forming Potential of Reformulated Gasoline. (1999). Ozone-forming potential of reformulated gasoline. National Academies Press. 7. Silva, N. S. and Sodre, J. R. (2000). Using additive to improve cold start in ethanol-fuelled vehicles. SAE International, 2000 8. Adams, M. (2009). Ethanol burns dirtier than gasoline, study finds. Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/027815_ethanol_gasoline.html on 22nd February, 2011 9. Korzeniewski, J. (2009). Why is there ethanol in gasoline? Retrieved from http://green.autoblog.com/2009/08/13/greenlings-why-is-there-ethanol-in-gasoline/ on 22nd February, 2011 10. Srinivasan, C. and Saravanan, C. G. (2010). Emission Reduction on ethanol- Gasoline Blends using 1. 4 Dioxan. Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering, Vol II. Retrieved from www.iaeng.org/publication/WCE2010/WCE2010_pp1501-1504.pdf on 22nd February, 2011 Read More