Cellulose Ethanol as a Renewable Resource

The Last resort - Cellulose Ethanol

Cellulose ethanol, as opposed to conventional ethanol that comes from soft starches (e.g. corn), is type of bio fuel that is produced from grasses, wood and other non-edible parts of plants. It is also very efficient since it uses the resources that would be nothing but waste. It is produced from lignocelluloses, which is structural material that consists mostly of the mass of plants. The lignocelluloses itself consists mostly of lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses, with woodchips, byproducts of lawn, miscanthus, corn stove, switch grass and other. Although production of ethanol from lignocelluloses requires greater amount of processing, it has great advantage since it uses abundant and other diverse raw material. It is certainly emerging technology and it will require continuous technological advancement to become commercially feasible. The requirements for cellulosic ethanol production will be 100 million gallons in 2010, with this value increasing by 16 billion gallons up to year of 2022. There is also request that cellulosic ethanol should achieve minimum of 60 percent reduction per gallon (analogous to gasoline) within life-cycle greenhouse gas emission.
The origination of ethanol out of cellulosic components is more complicated than the procedures employed for sugar-based or starch ethanol. This comes as a result of the highly complex cellulose-hemicelluloses-lignin structure, where cellulosic materials need to be broken up, heretofore fermentation can eventuate. The cellulosic ethanol permutation process abides of two steps: pretreatment and evaporation. This process increases the convolution of it, fulfills required time and finally, it converts the cellulosic biomass into ethanol.
This bio fuel has great environmental benefits and great potential of emission reduction. If you compare it with the petroleum based gasoline, cellulosic ethanol can provide compelling lifecycle GHG devaluation. The use of cellulosic components in order to produce ethanol can also outturn many other environmental benefits in comparison with corn-based ethanol. The use of biomass for transportation needs brings some questions about change of land use, as well as overall land use. There are various pesticides, fertilizers, great water consumption and energy needs that must be considered. Trees and grass require lower quantities as opposed with other row crops, e.g. corn.
Regarding costs, the increasing complexity as well as longer processing time that is associated with production of ethanol out of cellulose materials, makes production cost more expensive in comparison when corn or sugarcane compounds are used. The main factors that shape the cellulosic ethanol production costs are rather high predominant costs and ambiguous feedstock costs.
The technological callowness and previously mentioned costs are crucial barriers for higher presence of cellulosic ethanol. If this type of fuel will want to be more competitive on the market, it will certainly require more experience as well as reduction of production costs. These costs, though, will certainly reduce as the technology advances. Let us say few final words about food vs. fuel debate. There are some moral doubts regarding use of corn, since there are many people dying of hunger in the world, so use of the food for the fuel is certainly questionable. The cellulosic ethanol does not compete with food markets directly, but there are still questions that will certainly be a source of debates in years to come.