Ethanol the Fuel of the Future
Abstract
Research will be done and two experiments will be conducted to evaluate ethanol as a fuel, the experiments are Fermentation and Calorimetry. Fermentation will find the best combination of sugar and yeast for optimum ethanol production and the Calorimetry experiments test ethanol against other alcohols and fuels to see how it matches up in terms of energy production. Fermentation shows glucose and baker’s yeast as the fastest producers of ethanol and the calorimetry proves that ethanol and other alcohols produce more heat energy than other fuels.
Introduction
Due to rising oil prices and rapid climate change, countries around the world are looking desperately for alternatives to crude oil products that could serve the worlds growing fuel needs. Many solutions have been scrutinized and some have shown the potential to replace non-renewable fuels like diesel and petroleum products in the future, These renewable fuels are known as biofuels. This extended Investigation will consider one biofuel in particular, Ethanol; its production methods, energy output, and its pros and cons. Ethanol, is also known as ethyl alcohol, or pure alcohol, is a flammable,(mixtures of ethanol and water above 50 percent ethanol or above are very flammable, some cooking methods use wine that’s pored on a hot pan and the ethanol evaporates quickly and the vapour is ignited causing a bright orange flame. It is a colourless liquid that is very volatile, it evaporates quickly because the carbon parts of ethanol can't hydrogen bond, therefore its hydrogen bond isn’t as strong as water and so it evaporates faster (wisteme.com) Its latent heat of vaporisation is 846 kJ/kg while water’s is 2257 kJ/kg. It is also the most common type of alcohol used in alcoholic beverages. Its molecular formula is C2H5OH and it also has the empirical formula C2H6O. It is a very miscible solvent which means it is a very versatile solvent, able to mix evenly with water and other liquids. It is a
Research will be done and two experiments will be conducted to evaluate ethanol as a fuel, the experiments are Fermentation and Calorimetry. Fermentation will find the best combination of sugar and yeast for optimum ethanol production and the Calorimetry experiments test ethanol against other alcohols and fuels to see how it matches up in terms of energy production. Fermentation shows glucose and baker’s yeast as the fastest producers of ethanol and the calorimetry proves that ethanol and other alcohols produce more heat energy than other fuels.
Introduction
Due to rising oil prices and rapid climate change, countries around the world are looking desperately for alternatives to crude oil products that could serve the worlds growing fuel needs. Many solutions have been scrutinized and some have shown the potential to replace non-renewable fuels like diesel and petroleum products in the future, These renewable fuels are known as biofuels. This extended Investigation will consider one biofuel in particular, Ethanol; its production methods, energy output, and its pros and cons. Ethanol, is also known as ethyl alcohol, or pure alcohol, is a flammable,(mixtures of ethanol and water above 50 percent ethanol or above are very flammable, some cooking methods use wine that’s pored on a hot pan and the ethanol evaporates quickly and the vapour is ignited causing a bright orange flame. It is a colourless liquid that is very volatile, it evaporates quickly because the carbon parts of ethanol can't hydrogen bond, therefore its hydrogen bond isn’t as strong as water and so it evaporates faster (wisteme.com) Its latent heat of vaporisation is 846 kJ/kg while water’s is 2257 kJ/kg. It is also the most common type of alcohol used in alcoholic beverages. Its molecular formula is C2H5OH and it also has the empirical formula C2H6O. It is a very miscible solvent which means it is a very versatile solvent, able to mix evenly with water and other liquids. It is a