What is cellulose ethanol made of?
Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel made of cellulose, the main components of the cell walls of plants. Cellulose is contained in all plants and is the most common organic compound of the Earth. Although it is more difficult to form cellulose ethanol than it is to be from starch -based crops or sugar, such as corn, sources of cellulose are virtually unlimited. This is the main advantage that allows manufacturers to use resources such as agricultural waste, lawn products, garden and tree care and non -food crops that grow rapidly and can be increased on less desired soil. Agricultural biomass may include waste materials from food crops such as corn ears, corn stoma or rice straw. It can also come from crops grown specifically for energy production. Some crops that can be used include switches, sugar cane and miscanthus. Separate crops need not be re -deployed after each growth that are resistant to drought and weather are usualcage preferred.
Forest or Woody, biomass also offers a number of options for producing ethanol and has certain advantages of processing over agricultural biomase, which makes it a valuable alternative. As with agricultural biomass, some types of trees can be cultivated specifically as energy crops. Crops with short rotation, which can be quickly planted, harvested and quickly planted, are ideal candidates for use in cellulose production of ethanol. Another option is by -products of forestry; Chips, bark and sawdust can be used. Another alternative is the pulp of waste paper.
One of the two main processes can be used to create cellulose ethanol. The first is cellulose, a process that uses hydrolysis to divide cellulose into simple sugars. Cellulose is pre -treated to break some of its rigid structure, physically and chemically. Then it is availableFor the hydrolysis process that breaks the molecules down into sugars using enzymes called cellula enzymes. Sugars are separated from any other materials that remain, and then fermented using microbes and distilled.
The second process that can be used is gasification. During gasification, the carbon contained in cellulose is converted into hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide by partial combustion. The microorganism called Clostridium ljungdhalii is then used to ferment these gases and convert to ethanol and water. Ethanol is then distilled from the water.