COmpany found a way to make E85 Ethanol for $1/gal

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,599
1,001
126
Originally posted by: Aharami
Originally posted by: sjwaste
Originally posted by: IGBT
..why don't they use sugar beets?? I recall an article a few years ago that indicated SB is the most efficent crop to use.

Corn lobby and regulation. We're no longer a free market, period.

Fixed. Lobbyists control everything nowadays

I wonder how long before we destroy what is really fucking up this country. Lobbyists.

GOVERNMENT FOR SALE!!! GET YOUR CHEAP WHORISH GOVERNMENT OVER HERE!!!

Sometimes I really hate the politics in this country...most of the time really. :|
 

WingZero94

Golden Member
Mar 20, 2002
1,130
0
0
Seriously, is this like the 100th of it's kind??? Seems like they all just fade away like a fart in the wind (either paid off or 'silenced'.
 

Jawo

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2005
4,125
0
0
Ummmm.....I was reading in Discover probably 5 years ago about gassification was the next great thing and we wouldn't have to worry about energy for the future. Strangely enough, it is only used in limited situations (ie outside chicken rendering plants).

What most people don't realize is Henry Ford first thought to use Hydrogen in his early cars...
 

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Originally posted by: Aharami
Originally posted by: sjwaste
Originally posted by: IGBT
..why don't they use sugar beets?? I recall an article a few years ago that indicated SB is the most efficent crop to use.

Corn lobby and regulation. We're no longer a free market, period.

Fixed. Lobbyists control everything nowadays

I wonder how long before we destroy what is really fucking up this country. Lobbyists.

GOVERNMENT FOR SALE!!! GET YOUR CHEAP WHORISH GOVERNMENT OVER HERE!!!

Sometimes I really hate the politics in this country...most of the time really. :|



i have said for years its no long of the people for the people. its of the goverment for the big business.


 

TankGuys

Golden Member
Jun 3, 2005
1,080
0
0
Originally posted by: Modelworks
Still doesn't solve the co2 problem :(

It would, actually. A system like that would be nearly carbon neutral. So long as you're burning currently growing crops (that subsequently get replanted to continue the cycle) the CO2 balance remains the same, since the next round of plant growth essentially reabsorbs the CO2 released from the last round.

Burning fossil fuels only increases CO2 levels because you're releasing the carbon that was otherwise locked in those fuels, that doesn't get "recycled" through new fuel source creation.
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
When will you guys learn. Lower production costs don't necessarily translate into lower retail prices.

Exxon will announce earnings of almost $40 billion for their last fiscal year, the most ever by a US company.

Since the 1990s, when gas was $1/gallon retail or less, the production costs of gasoline have only incrementally increased, but the retail cost of gas and profits of oil companies have increased at a record setting pace.

The bottom line is that companies providing gasoline and ethanol know what prices the market will bear; technological advances that reduce production costs will only pad their pockets.
 

HannibalX

Diamond Member
May 12, 2000
9,359
2
0
Anything organic? How about dead terrorists? We seem to be killing them by the 10s of thousands. Fewer terrorists and more gas. Win Win!
 

SagaLore

Elite Member
Dec 18, 2001
24,036
21
81
Its about time this is showing up in the news. This technique has been around for awhile, but everyone keeps quoting outdated corn based production to bash ethanol production.

Those cost savings allow it to turn, say, two bales of hay into five gallons of ethanol for less than $1 a gallon

Awesome. And you don't even need to use hay, it can be any organic trash.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
Originally posted by: TankGuys
Originally posted by: Modelworks
Still doesn't solve the co2 problem :(

It would, actually. A system like that would be nearly carbon neutral. So long as you're burning currently growing crops (that subsequently get replanted to continue the cycle) the CO2 balance remains the same, since the next round of plant growth essentially reabsorbs the CO2 released from the last round.

Burning fossil fuels only increases CO2 levels because you're releasing the carbon that was otherwise locked in those fuels, that doesn't get "recycled" through new fuel source creation.

Interestingly enough, that sounds exactly right and I never thought of that for some unknown reason.
 
Sep 29, 2004
18,656
68
91
Yayyyyy!!! Global warming!


I learned something today. There is enough oil that if global warming is real, we will be able to swim in the antartic before it runs out. Go humans!
 

IGBT

Lifer
Jul 16, 2001
17,976
141
106
Originally posted by: Modelworks
Still doesn't solve the co2 problem :(


..it's not a problem. it's a wonderful money making ruse. ask algore.
 

Nik

Lifer
Jun 5, 2006
16,101
3
56
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Watch the corn industry try to squash this.

Won't happen. E85 is made from crops of corn that aren't fit for human consumption or something like that. Corn sold in the supermarket isn't affected by E85 development, despite what ol' Georgyboy wants you to think.
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Originally posted by: TankGuys
Originally posted by: Modelworks
Still doesn't solve the co2 problem :(

It would, actually. A system like that would be nearly carbon neutral. So long as you're burning currently growing crops (that subsequently get replanted to continue the cycle) the CO2 balance remains the same, since the next round of plant growth essentially reabsorbs the CO2 released from the last round.

Burning fossil fuels only increases CO2 levels because you're releasing the carbon that was otherwise locked in those fuels, that doesn't get "recycled" through new fuel source creation.

The problem is that its not that simple.
Its certainly less co2 than gasoline burning, but producing ethanol and burning it are not on an equal ratio.

The chemistry of it:
Burn ethanol (C2H5OH) in conjunction with oxygen, it produces about twice it's weight in CO2, slighty less than gasoline, depending on other atmospheric conditions:
C2H5OH + 3 O2 = 2 CO2 +3H20

The other concern is that unless your capturing the co2 directly off the car how are you going to insure that the co2 the car produces goes back to the plant that produces it ?
If you have dense populations those areas will have high co2 emissions which will take time to cycle through the air to the areas where the ethanol is being produced .

How long does it take co2 to travel through the atmosphere to where the plants would be consuming it ?

 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Originally posted by: Jawo
Ummmm.....I was reading in Discover probably 5 years ago about gassification was the next great thing and we wouldn't have to worry about energy for the future. Strangely enough, it is only used in limited situations (ie outside chicken rendering plants).

What most people don't realize is Henry Ford first thought to use Hydrogen in his early cars...

The article states that this company is using a gasification process.
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
53,688
48,291
136
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Watch the corn industry try to squash this.

lolz....did you notice who this company's chief backer is?

General Motors.

If this thing works as advertised they stand to gain a financial windfall the likes of which hasn't been seen in the better part of a century.
 

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
personally i think electric or bio-desial are going to blow ehtanol out of the water.


some of the electric cars are amazing. high speed for a few hours.
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,675
146
106
www.neftastic.com
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Its about time this is showing up in the news. This technique has been around for awhile, but everyone keeps quoting outdated corn based production to bash ethanol production.

Those cost savings allow it to turn, say, two bales of hay into five gallons of ethanol for less than $1 a gallon

Awesome. And you don't even need to use hay, it can be any organic trash.

I have lots of organic trash in the trailer park right down the road!