Ethanol production

Ethanol is produced from grains and grasses grown as food for livestock. Grains such as corn and grasses such as switchgrass are two examples. Ethanol is produced to reduce greenhouse gasses that cause an atmospheric problem referred to as the greenhouse effect. There are three major components in ethanol production in order to convert plant material into ethanol. These components are fermentation, distillation and dehydration.

All plant life is comprised of sugar and cellulose, which is also a sugar. Fermentation can only work with sugar at the present time. By fermenting the sugars of the plant it is less costly to convert them to ethanol Some work is being done in an attempt to convert the cellulose to sugar and then convert the sugar to ethanol. In order for the fermented sugars to be used as fuel water has to be removed through distillation. One phase of distillation is the addition of benzene to the mixture.

What effect does ethanol production have on the environment? There is some disagreement about the effect of ethanol on the atmosphere. Plants absorb CO2 and when ethanol is used it returns CO2 in to the atmosphere. This is the advantage of using ethanol. The disadvantage of using ethanol is that the farm machinery to grow the necessary plants and the coal used to distill the ethanol cause a greenhouse effect. Some scientists involved in ethanol research believe that more energy is used in the production of ethanol than would be saved in motor fuel. Another comment on ethanol production is, do we have enough farms and farmers to produce the plant life needed to make ethanol or will we have to outsource the production? Outsourcing any part of the production would in itself be costly. We do have another advantage with ethanol and that is byproducts such as corn oil.

Ethanol production is being blamed for high food prices and as more ethanol is produced food prices will be higher.  The explanation for this reasoning is that soybean and  grain  used for its production has a direct affect on bread, pasta, beef, pork, poultry and eggs, that are dependant on both grain and soybeans. Grain prices throughout the world increased drastically only three times since the Second World War and each time the cause was weather related.

The rise in food prices through ethanol production has caused global economical and political chaos in particular in the area of food for the economically deprived. As food prices keep rising the poor have less and less money with which to buy the food necessary to maintain proper nutrition and consequently enjoy good health. Most recent unrest seen by rising food costs were in Italy, Pakistan and Mexico. A reduction in price for cooking oil in one supermarket in China caused a riot that killed three people. If this is indeed caused by ethanol production should the production go on? Perhaps far more research should be done before the use of ethanol can go on.