Canada 5% Ethanol ..Heads Up

[keegs]

Canada enacts 5% RFS "open" mandate.

Canada implements national RFS, allows open mandate for blenders - Ethanol Producer Magazine

 

[Marlowe]

The article reads like ethanol is a good thing. According to my research the energy return on investment by the best most generous estimates are twenty five percent for ethanol. In other words, when ethanol is burned the energy output exceeds the energy it took to produce the product by twenty five percent. In comparison the energy return on investment for biodiesel is ninety one percent. That's a huge difference but the assumption is that ethanol is the green fuel, and diesel is thought to be the dirty fuel, but in reality when fed into cutting edge internal combustion engines specifically engineered to efficiently burn each fuel the emissions from diesel are far more environmentally friendly than those from ethanol. And after we digest that fact there's more. The raw material needed to produce biodiesel is again more environmentally friendly to produce than the raw material for ethanol. Yes, you heard that right. The fertilizer used to produce corn, the primary source of raw material for ethanol in the northern hemisphere, produces way more harmful nitrates into our atmosphere than the primary source for biodiesel, soy beans. And then we come to efficiency. Cutting edge diesel engines are getting phenomenal fuel economy, partially because a gallon of diesel contains way more BTU's than gasoline, and completely blows away ethanol. Under ideal circumstances in an engine specifically engineered to burn pure ethanol, that fuel can match the fuel efficiency of gasoline, but hasn't got a prayer of matching biodiesel.

So the obvious question becomes, why the push for ethanol?

Good question.

 

[keegs]

Yeah...thirty five million people sitting on the world's second largest proven oil reserves...

What's up with those Canadians anyway..?

 

[RoyJackson]

So the obvious question becomes, why the push for ethanol?

Good question.

It's a new market for farmers and, supposedly, a renewable source of energy. It's been around for a lot of years (read a bit of history on ethanol).
My guess is the farmer's having a new market for their product is the main reason for the "push" as it appears to be more of a mandate by politicians then any scientific reasoning.

 

[keegs]

It's a new market for farmers and, supposedly, a renewable source of energy. It's been around for a lot of years (read a bit of history on ethanol).
My guess is the farmer's having a new market for their product is the main reason for the "push" as it appears to be more of a mandate by politicians then any scientific reasoning.

I'd love have another market for my hay, especially If it gets us that much closer to energy independence.

 

[Chuck52]

The article reads like ethanol is a good thing. According to my research the energy return on investment by the best most generous estimates are twenty five percent for ethanol. In other words, when ethanol is burned the energy output exceeds the energy it took to produce the product by twenty five percent. In comparison the energy return on investment for biodiesel is ninety one percent. That's a huge difference but the assumption is that ethanol is the green fuel, and diesel is thought to be the dirty fuel, but in reality when fed into cutting edge internal combustion engines specifically engineered to efficiently burn each fuel the emissions from diesel are far more environmentally friendly than those from ethanol. And after we digest that fact there's more. The raw material needed to produce biodiesel is again more environmentally friendly to produce than the raw material for ethanol. Yes, you heard that right. The fertilizer used to produce corn, the primary source of raw material for ethanol in the northern hemisphere, produces way more harmful nitrates into our atmosphere than the primary source for biodiesel, soy beans. And then we come to efficiency. Cutting edge diesel engines are getting phenomenal fuel economy, partially because a gallon of diesel contains way more BTU's than gasoline, and completely blows away ethanol. Under ideal circumstances in an engine specifically engineered to burn pure ethanol, that fuel can match the fuel efficiency of gasoline, but hasn't got a prayer of matching biodiesel.

So the obvious question becomes, why the push for ethanol?

Good question.

All good except the bold part. Ethanol is CH3CH2OH. Complete combustion gives CO2 and H2O. Incomplete can give some CO. Pretty much the same for bio-diesel.

Chuck