Biofuels That Look Like Gasoline
April 15, 2009 by admin
Filed under Alternative Energy, Alternative Fuel, BioFuels, BioMass, Ethanol, Featured, Hybrid Cars
The offspring of Jay Keasling’s synthetic biology research and vision, Emeryville, CA-based Amyris Biotechnologies has made a double impact. First, the company, with more than $40 million of backing from the Bill Gates’ Institute for One World Health charity, developed a microbial route to the anti-malarial compound artemisinin. In and of itself this work was a stunningly successful scientific achievement, and the resulting process has been licensed to Sanofi-Aventis for low-cost manufacturing and distribution in the third world.
But how does that relate to biofuels? Well, producing the anti-malarial drug relied on the engineering of a metabolic pathway to produce a key intermediate that is in the class of chemicals called terpenes. Chemically, terpenes are hydrocarbons, similar to diesel or gasoline, and are therefore very good fuel compounds. Thus, the same basic science that led to artemisinin can be applied, with appropriate tweaking, to produce fuels based on terpenes. And according to the company, a desired fuel compound can be selected based on its properties (flash point, cloud point, boiling point, density, fuel value, etc), and then the pathway to produce it can be designed. Voila! You have a designer fuel. And being hydrocarbons with properties similar to gasoline, terpenes do not suffer from the limitations that alcohols (particularly ethanol) have as fuels. If you want to put something into your gas tank or jet engine, a designer hydrocarbon is likely to be superior to any alcohol. At least that is what Amyris argues.
Amyris has the backing of a well-heeled group of VCs: Kleiner Perkins, TPG Biotech, and DAG Ventures. In the area of bio-based production of gasoline-like fuels, Amyris is at the head of the class. Economics remain to be proven, but Amyris has formed a joint venture with the second largest Brazilian sugar producer, Crystalsev, to get access to inexpensive sugar feedstock, and the first demonstration plant is scheduled to be built right on the sugar plantation in Brazil by 2010. It will produce a biodiesel (with the interesting name of “No CompromiseTM”), currently being piloted at Amyris’ Emerville facility. Amyris promises that a bio-gasoline and a bio-aviation fuel are not far behind. If any company can make terpene-based fuels successfully, Amyris appears to be that company.
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David Rozzell maintains a web site and blog dedicated to the latest developments and news in biofuels, biocatalysis, and industrial biotechnology. For informative, sometimes amusing, always opinionated analysis go to http://www.bio-catalyst.com He has 25 years of experience in biocatalysis and industrial biotechnology, and speaks frequently at international symposia. He is available for consulting projects. Contact him at david@bio-catalyst.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Rozzell
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Alternative Vehicle Review
December 20, 2008 by admin
Filed under Alternative Energy, Alternative Fuel, BioFuels, Ethanol, Featured, Hybrid Cars
Alternative fuel vehicles are automobiles that are powered by fuels other than gasoline. There are many alternatives that are now being used and tested in order to decrease our dependency on fossil fuels. Some examples of alternative fuel vehicles include:
Hybrid – Hybrid vehicles are powered by both a combustion engine and an electric motor. Advanced technologies for hybrids include regenerative braking, assisted power generated by the electric motor, and the process of powering down when idling. Hybrid cars are one of the most popular alternative vehicles on the market today.
Electric – These vehicles use an electric motor and electric controls instead of the internal combustion engine. Some advantages to the electric car include very low maintenance and zero emissions. Electric cars also do not give off as much noise pollution as a normal car. Some disadvantages include limited travel distance before having to recharge and slow acceleration.
Hydrogen – Hydrogen vehicles convert hydrogen to power through either a modified version of the internal combustion engine, currently available on the market today, or via hydrogen fuel cells which are still in development. Some obstacles in the development of hydrogen fuel cells is cost, fragility of the cell itself and poor performance in freezing temperatures.
CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)- CNG vehicles run on compressed natural gas as opposed to gasoline. This kind of car is more environmentally friendly than a gasoline vehicle, and when compared to all the other alternative methods, is the safest. One complaint of CNG vehicle owners is the large fuel tank compared to that of conventional gasoline tanks, which limits trunk space.
Ethanol (e85)- E85 vehicles are powered by ethanol, a fuel made from corn and other natural products. These vehicles release no fossil based carbon dioxide. One disadvantage of this type of fueled car is that it is can be very difficult to start in cold weather. However, there are cold conversion kits on the market today that can eliminate this problem. Some people have simply added a couple gallons of gasoline to the tank prior to the cold season to eliminate the problem as well.
Propane – Propane vehicles are powered by propane fuel instead of gasoline. These vehicles are up to thirty percent less expensive than conventional gasoline vehicles to operate. Propane was approved by the 1990 Clean Air Act as an alternative fuel, and vehicles powered by propane produce thirty to ninety percent less carbon monoxide than gasoline engines.
Biodiesel – Vehicles that are powered by biodiesel are very similar to diesel vehicles in operation except for the fuel itself. Biodiesel vehicles can run on a combination of natural oil and an alcohol such as ethanol or methanol or exclusively on waste vegetable oil, from restaurant fryers or other food industries.
Limited petroleum sources combined with rising gasoline prices and consumer demand will encourage vehicle manufacturers to produce and develop alternative fuel vehicles. These vehicles, in the long run, will reduce transportation costs as well as benefit the environment.
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Please visit alternative fuel vehicles for more information and gas saver tips to increase fuel mileage. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Taylor_Turnstone |
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Ethanol and Hybrid Cars
November 23, 2008 by admin
Filed under Ethanol, Hybrid Cars
Hybrid cars are starting to gain a modicum of popularity in the world market and this popularity seems to be growing.
Current fears regarding climate change combined with rising costs of gasoline have led to great public interest in hybrid cars although this interest has not entirely yielded huge sales at present.
This has led to many people wonder about the future of hybrid cars and this future is based on a variety of factors.
The future of hybrid cars will always center on the state of ethanol as ethanol remains the active component within the internal combustion engine process that makes hybrid cars possible.
Since ethanol derives from corn, the status of corn farming will always have an impact of the future of hybrid cars. This can be a somewhat curious status to predict because corn is also an important food source for many people and if corn supplies are directed towards fuel production there is a possibility that an unexpected negative impact can result from reduced food supplies.
For example, in Latin America civil unrest almost developed when the production in ethanol threatened to cause food shortages. Because of this, ethanol production was slowed down. This is not to say increased production of ethanol will always cause food shortages because a process can always be set in motion to correct any potential hazards.
Ultimately, the future of hybrid cars will be based on marketplace demand. In other words, if there is adequate demand in the market place for increased production of hybrid cars and these cars sell and continue to sell strong, then the future of hybrid cars will be strong.
Of course, there will always be a number of factors that will contribute to the success or failure of hybrid cars in the marketplace. One of the factors will be cost. This includes the cost of the car itself and the fuel costs associated with the car.
At present, a hybrid car would save people a great deal of money in both those areas so this is a huge positive for the potential of the cars.
The other area that will contribute to the success or failure of hybrid cars is sales and promotions. In other words, a solid advertising campaign would need to be set in place in order to stimulate public interest in the cars. Considering the skill of many ad companies, this should not be a problem and the future of these cars will look bright.
Other Posts with additional information
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Hybrid Cars
November 19, 2008 by admin
Filed under BioFuels, BioMass, Ethanol, Hybrid Cars
A hybrid car is a vehicle that uses two or even more distinct sources of power in order to get propelled. Among the power sources for a hybrid car there are gasoline or diesel fuel, on-board or out-board rechargeable energy storage systems (RESS), hydrogen, wind, compressed or liquid natural gas, solar, coal, wood or other solid combustibles, etc. The term hybrid car/vehicle is used most frequently to refer to hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in which an internal combustion engine is combined with one or more electric motors.
As mentioned above, there are other hybrid vehicles beside the hybrid car we will mainly deal with here. Just think of mopeds and electric bicycles. These are the simplest forms of hybrid vehicles. They combine the power from an internal combustion engine or electric motor with the power of the rider’s muscles. Then there are hybrid heavy vehicles like railway locomotives, buses, heavy goods vehicles, ships or mobile hydraulic machinery. Usually, the term hybrid car/ vehicle is used to refer to hybrid electric vehicles. This category includes the following types of automotives: AHS2 (Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Chevrolet Silverado, Cadillac Escalade, Saturn Vue), Toyota Prius, Ford Escape Hybrid, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, Honda Insight and many others. A petroleum-electric hybrid car usually gets its power from an internal combustion engine (gasoline or diesel engine) and an electric battery.
The beginnings of the hybrid car date back to the late 1900s when David Arthurs, an electrical engineer from Arkansas, invented the braking regenerative hybrid. Besides the hybrid car as mentioned above, which uses two or more different propulsion devices, there are also vehicles which use distinct sources of energy or input types but only one engine. These are also considered by some people to be similar to the hybrid car. Actually the latter should be more appropriately called dual mode vehicles (electric trolleybuses, dual mode buses, flexible-fuel vehicles, etc).
A hybrid car presents a number of advantages from the environmental perspective and there are two sides to consider here. First, there is the aspect of fuel economy, and secondly, the benefit for the environment and, implicitly, for humankind is undeniable in the fight to reduce pollution. These two advantages and benefits brought about by the hybrid car are tributary to at least three elements in the design: the combination of gasoline and the electric motors, a battery with plenty of storage capacity and the possibility to re-capture important amounts of energy, which are normally wasted while braking.
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