ALT-15 Alternative Fuel Sources
The year is 2045, and the world's supply of oil has run out.However, there are still a myriad of cars on the roadways, and countless miles are being driven daily, thanks in part to a man, who more than 50 years prior, did some radical research on turning citrus peel into a new efficient fuel.This research has spawned different variations of how and what the car was going to be run on.Running a car on citrus peel turned into running it on days-old bread. That turned into running on de-carbonated soda.Now, all it involves is the after-effects of a get-together at your house.You want a year's supply? Just throw a huge bash with your pals and neighbors. Even invite that guy across the street that won't stop stealing from your orange tree. He's probably got some excess peels he can give to you.Of course, this is just a hypothetical occurrence, and sounds like the movie of Back to the Future in which Doc starts loading trash into the Delorean to feed the Flux Capacitor.However, with the recent revival of ethanol being pushed as a way to calm the dependence on foreign oils, it seems this event may not be as impossible as it sounds.Ethanol has been researched for many years, but due to the low prices of oil from the Middle East, it was not efficient to make ethanol, both financially and physically.
According to the Department of Energy, the United States currently uses nearly 20 million barrels of oil a day, importing 55 percent of it. We spend more than $20 billion each year on oil from the Middle East.Twenty years from now, U.S. consumption will rise to 28.3 million barrels of oil a day, with 70 percent of it imported.
This heavy reliance on foreign oil makes America increasingly dependent on some of the least stable, undemocratic countries in the world.
Also, ethanol requires a lengthy process, which makes the financial costs even more immense.However, as the prices for oil started to rise, the number of pro-ethanol groups formed, and ways to get away from the oil dependency increased."We are a nation of inventors and entrepreneurs, and our creativity must now be aimed at energy independence," says the Natural Resources Defense Council.By dictionary definition, ethanol is a colorless, limpid, volatile, flammable, water-miscible liquid produced by yeast fermentation of certain carbohydrates, as grains, molasses, starch, or sugar, or obtained synthetically by hydration of ethylene or as a by-product of certain hydrocarbon syntheses.Ethanol was developed as an alternative fuel, and corn is usually the main ingredient used.In 2003, while most of the country was spending around three to four dollars a gallon for gas, the Midwest states were enjoying the luxuries of gas for close to two dollars a gallon.In the early 1990's, a researcher for ARS, or Agricultural Research Service, named Karel Grohmann developed a way to make ethanol using the sugars and carbohydrates from the peel of oranges.However, like stated earlier, due to the price of gas at the time, it was inefficient financially to make the ethanol.Grohmann's research was reborn in 2004, when another ARS researcher Bill Widmer was able to create a batch cheaper and more effective than Grohmann.Right now, making ethanol with orange peel is in the beginning stages. There are processes in which they are making between 10 and 1,000 gallon batches.According to a recent article in the St. Petersburg Times, due to refusal of land subleasing, a planned project that was to be opened in Port Manatee had to be scrapped.
According to the article written by Steve Huettel and Janet Zink, another one is to be built in Tampa. It is to have a payroll of close to 40 workers with salaries averaging about $50,000 a year.Widmer says that with further research, Florida's citrus peel waste could yield about 80 million gallons of ethanol per year.According to the ARS, this is not even close to cover the nation's demand, but it could meet the local demand for central Florida.Bill Levesque, a former writer of the agriculture beat for the St. Petersburg Times, did extensive research on this topic, and states, "While the amount of ethanol that could be produced from orange peels is relatively small and would be just a fraction of all ethanol produced from other sources such as corn and sugar cane, it's a potentially big deal in citrus given the cost of disposing this stuff right now."
Legislature has been a key in trying to getting citrus ethanol off the ground. One of the key players in this is the Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson.Matthew Curran, a chief in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said, "During the past year, Commissioner Bronson has taken an aggressive approach on issues regarding the sale, distribution, and production of alternative and renewable fuels in the State of Florida."Additionally, he said, "Bronson is interested in exploring avenues for converting biomass into viable energy sources. As a result, he hopes to create an environment conducive for the sale and distribution of quality alternative and renewable fuel products in this state.A group of agricultural leaders developed a plan to be known as the 25X'25 Initiative. The goal is, according to the group, "America's farms, ranches and forests will provide 25 percent of America's energy needs from renewable sources by 2025."Bronson is trying to help out on this by what he has called the Farm to Fuel plan. In this plan, according to Curran, Bronson is assisting Florida farmers and ranchers in producing bio-fuel crops to help reduce the nation's dependency on foreign oil.
According to Kevin Bouffard from the Ledger, "Until gas prices began heading toward $3 a gallon, ethanol could not compete without federal subsidies. Most ethanol is produced from Midwestern corn."
"Even with subsidies, U.S. ethanol production this year will total 3.4 billion gallons, or about 2.3 percent of 145 billion gallons of gasoline consumed annually," said Craig Evans, the president of Stewardship America Inc. in Boca Raton. The quote is stated in "The Contribution of Agribusiness to Polk County, Florida".
Oranges, and citrus in general, is a valuable resource in Florida.As of right now, most of the orange peel that is left, after juicers are done with them, is made into animal feed.Curran said, "In general, the utilization of agricultural crops and wastes as a feedstock for renewable energy production creates an expanded market that did not previously exist for those within the agricultural community."
However, the waste of turning the citrus peel into ethanol does not just end at animal feed.There is more research going on right now into the process of using carbon dioxide to turn the oil of orange peels into environment-friendly plastic.Orange peels can also be used in making wonderful smelling potpourri and air fresheners.
Curran, adding more depth into the discussion of what could be done with the waste, said, "Agricultural crops and wastes not suitable for human consumption may now see a demand in the marketplace, thus potentially creating an additional source of revenue where previously one did not exist. Additionally, previously unused marginal land now has the potential for producing crops for energy production when previously it remained dormant and untilled."However, the research done by Grohmann, and later by Widmer, turns this valuable resource into an alternative to the high prices of gas with a more eco-friendly feeling.Although the idea of throwing your trash into your fuel tank is a little crazy, it is starting to become a little more realistic with the realization that many once-living things include carbohydrates, sugars, starches, or grains.With this possibility, there is the chance of being able to actually reduce the amount of junkyards in the world, and having a cleaner environment.The occurrence that you may have deemed to be impossible earlier may now be sounding a little more believable.Other possibilities have been tossed around in the ideas of beating the oil addiction.According to Kent R. Rieske, a registered Mechanical Engineer, there are nine other possibilities, besides ethanol, that could quell the addiction of foreign oil.The alternative of choice these days includes the running of hybrid cars. Hybrid cars are an automobile that runs on a gasoline engine, but uses an electric motor to help assist in both acceleration and deceleration.However, this possibility, according to Rieske, is not a good overall possibility."The fuel economy of a hybrid car on the highway is worse than that of a similar conventional car," says Rieske.Other possibilities of fuel for automobiles include hydrogen cars and cars that run on diesel."The combination of hydrogen powered cars and nuclear-powered electrical generating plants provides an unlimited energy-transportation base," says Reiske. "There will never be an energy shortage with this combination. Nuclear powered electrical generating plants presently provide the cheapest base-load electrical power available today; however, the hydrogen powered cars are not yet economically competitive with fossil fuel powered cars."Cars with the ability to run on diesel seem to be a top choice for Reiske."The power output of diesel engines has increased significantly. Unlike small, underpowered hybrid cars, diesel cars, SUVs and trucks are extremely powerful. The full size heavy duty pickups are purchased with turbo-diesel engines because they out pull identical trucks with gasoline engines," said Reiske. "The diesel cars and trucks get at least 50% better mileage than their gasoline engine counterparts."However, diesel is still a form of gasoline, and would still affect the amount of fossil fuels in the world. Once the fossil fuels are gone, it would take many years for it to be replaced.So, it seems ethanol is the only true choice Florida has in having a fuel that is usable, and very replaceable.
Now, this type of ethanol, like the ethanol produced in the Midwest, does have a possibility to create a noxious smell created from the process.
Joyce Shauer, a resident of a town that is close to a proposed site for a research facility said to Huettel and Zink that among her concerns, "emissions from the plant, the possibility of noxious odors, and how much water it would need to operate."
As written in the St. Petersburg Times, a director of environmental affairs for the project wrote that odors could be a problem with two neighborhoods, but some officials say that the plant will try to quell the smell with technology.
With the water problem, Huettel and Zink don't disagree.
They wrote that "ethanol plants are notorious water guzzlers. In parts of Minnesota, plants are pumping groundwater faster than the aquifer can refill."
Tampa City Council Member Linda Saul-Sena agreed, but stated that "If some industrial user has to come out of the blue to use all this water, I'd rather it be something like this than a tanning plant."Another major problem with all types of ethanol is transportation costs.
What transportation costs?
Unfortunately, due to the fact that ethanol cannot travel through pipelines like gas can, all ethanol would have to be transported by trucks or boats. Who knows, by the year 2045, they will have those things that can be easily transported telepathically.
That'd be cool, huh?
So, anyway, since we are talking about the small view, and just of the Florida, and primarily Tampa area, there are very little transportation costs.
However, some day, as some hope for, citrus ethanol will be the ethanol to get.
To tell you the truth, corn is boring and traditional.
There's something about oranges and citrus that is so enticing and exciting that you just want to add it into your gas tank.
One day, hopefully soon, someone from the Carolinas or Virginias will want some of the sweet citrus ethanol, and have the ability to get it at their neighborhood gas filling stations.
However, in the beginning, they will have to pay a hefty price for the transportation.Turning everything into usable ethanol will require some more years of research and development.
Also, just like everything else that is fairly new, it also requires many of the little kinks and bugs to be worked out.However, the ability to make your car run on rotting fruit peels, moldy breads, and stale orange juice may some day become a reality.
