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Ethanol Feedstocks
Biological Ethanol is made from the fermentation of
sugar. Ethanol could be made directly from sugar or from any any
carbohydrate containing substance (e.g. cereal grains). In the case of the
later the substance will first be converted into sugar and
the resulting sugar fermented into Ethanol.
New technologies are extracting sugar for
Ethanol from cellulosic or woody substances. This is a good development
that is capable of reducing the dependency on food crops for ethanol
production.
Some of the feedstocks for making ethanol are listed
below.
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1.
Direct Sugar sources:
-
Sugar
beets,
-
Sugarcane,
-
Fruits
(e.g. apple)
-
Molasses
The
cost of Ethanol production from sugar
sources
is the
lowest as the process does not require any
milling but grinding
and
squeezing.
2. Higher
Carbonhydrates /
Starch
foods
-
Cereal grains:- corn, wheat, rye, barley, sorghum, rice,
etc.
-
Cassava,
-
Potatoes,
-
High-starch
vegetables.
Food
Garbage
rich in sugar substances or starch foods could be recycled, in some
cases,
to produce ethanol.
3.
Cellulosic
or woody materials.
-
Energy Crops -
Switchgrass, Poplars and Willows, Hemp
-
wood
& wood wastes,
-
Sawmill residues
-
Agricultural residues - e.g.
corncob
-
Forest thinning e.g. straw, grass
clippings,
Ethanol from
Cellulose
requires
strong acid to break down the materials to wood sugars.
The energy crops can be cultivated in large quantities to meet ethanol
production needs. They could be genetically modified.
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