Using corn residues ... corn fuel!

Endless corn fields in the center of the North of the United States can distill thousands of barrels of ethanol chemicals from . corn residue!

Corn plants can be made into ethanol to produce energy.

The endless corn fields in central North America can distill thousands of barrels of chemical ethanol, a clean fuel with a high octane (anti-knocking index) that can compensate for oil shortages. mine in the world.

However, one has to find a way to produce corn fuel more economically because at present, to produce a barrel of ethanol chemicals, it takes about two-fifths of the fuel tank (usually natural gas). ).

There is only one approach: Prepare corn into ethanol to generate energy. To produce a barrel of ethanol, it takes about two-fifths of the fuel tank (usually natural gas), not to mention the fuel to produce fertilizer to grow corn, to run the machines at Farm or transport ethanol to the market.

It is expected that this year the US will produce five billion barrels of ethanol, equivalent to about 3% of the gasoline currently supplied, and many ethanol distilleries are being built. Recently, President Bush called for research to produce ethanol more efficiently

But if you acknowledge the potential of ethanol, supporters in this direction understand that America will have to have ways to produce it in a way that consumes less natural gas - perhaps coal, as a Several distilleries are currently used to save costs.

According to the director of Chippewa Valley Ethanol fuel company at Benson, Mim, and William A. Lee, he is also the former president of the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol chemical trading group. : 'In this area, we cannot just see immediate results, we must think about a more stable future.' Engineers are testing many different methods. Here are some of the most promising methods.

Learn according to the digestive system of cows

Many companies are building ethanol factories next to livestock farms, so corn can be processed at ethanol distillation plants, then corn residues - mainly corn removed from starch. - Can be used for animal feed.

Corn residue - which has passed through the cow's intestine - and even fertilizer can be brought back into the factory and put into a device, called an anaerobic microbial digestion device, which creates the same conditions as in The cow's stomach so bacteria can produce methane, a component of natural gas.

Place the production plant close to the cow breeding area

Corn residues, called distillers residues, can evaporate hot, to convert from carbohydrates to hydrocarbons. If the residue is used as animal feed, then their fertilizer can also evaporate into hydrocarbons.

Ethanol needs energy when it evaporates. Typically, steam is used to make starch and water mixtures, keeping this mixture at the ideal temperature for enzymes to separate chemical components in starch and ferment sugars in corn into alcohol. . The mixture is then heated to distill into alcohol, and the residue is usually dried and used as a dry food for cattle.

Some ethanol producers ignore the drying of alcohol residues, if there are enough cattle nearby, they use that amount of alcohol. In Sioux Center, Iowa, at the Siouxland Animal and Energy Company, local farmers opened a factory in 2001 close to a farm of about 10,000 cows.

When not drying the residue, the Siouxland Company has saved the plant's natural gas volume to 24 000BTU, or about 6072kcal (BTU-unit for measuring heat used in the US, 1BTU is nearly 253cal) per barrel of ethanol - that is, the gas that uses less than one-third of the gas it produces, produces 85,000 BTU, or about 21505kcal per barrel when burned. (This calculation does not take into account the power used by the plant, or diesel fuel to transport ethanol to the station).

Create a new gas

At the Iowa Energy Center, a laboratory located in the middle of corn fields close to the Iowa State University campus, engineers are studying a different engineering approach.

A bundle of steam pipes, small iron barrels, drill bits and funnels, assembled by a new chemical research company - called Frontline Bioenergy - is replacing natural gas with a other gases on a small scale.

This new gas is made from the part of corn, not the grain, the tree is cut into small pieces about 1.27cm long and poured into a container containing steam and some air.

In a process called 'partial oxidation', water vapor breaks down the plant's carbohydrates into two gases: hydrogen (H) and carbon monoxide (CO) gas. Both of these chemical components burn easily as an alternative to natural gas.

About 90% of the raw materials from corn plants turn into gas, and a few remaining minerals can be sold for other uses. The process of turning into this gas uses a natural amount of gas to start, but then it produces its own gas to maintain its own reaction.

According to General Director of Frontline Bioenergy, Norman Reese said, ' This is a new gas to replace natural gas .'

The process of using the part of corn, this part is called straw, is left in the field. They can be burned but it is much more dirty.

But back to the cow

Many things can turn into gas, including fertilizer. According to Frontline Bioenergy technical director, Jerod Smeenk said: ' Fertilizer is a processed biological substance '.

Chippewa Valley Ethanol, a Minnesota state company, plans to run a factory within a year, using a corn distiller. This choice is not ideal because alcohol residues are not waste; They can make food for cattle. But it is a low-risk choice for Chippewa, which can invest in the equipment needed to collect straw if gasification is promising.

Companies like Chippewa may promote their commitment to environmental protection, but they are also being affected by energy prices in the market. " When the ethanol industry started 20 years ago, people needed to use twice as much natural gas as a barrel of ethanol could produce, but then gas was much cheaper, " Lee said. '.

' Currently, Chippewa Company is paying $ 12 for 1 million BTU of natural gas, compared with $ 2 in the mid-1980s, and gasification seems sensitive to economic problems when it is The cost for natural gas is about 10 USD or more for a million BTU ., 'Mr. Lee continued.

At Frontline, John Reardon, director of research and development, talks about the gasification project: ' This is just a beginning. Our economy is using energy to form decompose plants and animals, and we need to start somewhere . '

Cam Nhung