Title: Unit 1 Readings and Lecture
Course: BFM 201 Ethanol Production > Section: BFM 201 Ethanol Production

Unit 1 Readings and Lecture

To Do:
Read Textbook: Ethanol Process Fundamentals – Chapter 1 pages 1.1 – 1.14
Challenges

The primary reason there is a growing interest in renewable fuels is due to concern for the environment from the continued use of fossil fuels such as petroleum oil used for transportation energy. Renewable fuels benefit society because they are renewable, they are good for the environment, they reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and they provide job opportunities benefiting local communities. Ethanol production is part of the U.S. governments plan for energy security. The ethanol industry is a growth industry. The majority of the ethanol produced in the U.S. is derived from corn. U.S. ethanol production has increased. Production figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) are presented below in (billions of gallons) for the years 1990 to 2012.
Corn ethanol is known as first-generation ethanol or “conventional biofuel.” Second-generation ethanol or cellulosic ethanol is derived from cellulose, hemicellulose, or lignin. Cellulose is the major component of wood and vegetable fibers and plant cell walls. Lignin is a polymer that, together with cellulose, forms the woody cell walls of plants and binds them together providing strength and structure to the plant. Cellulosic ethanol, along with biodiesel, is known as “advanced biofuels.”

Favorable government policies are needed to entice corporate investors to continue to invest in the ethanol industry and in particular the new investments required to ramp up cellulosic ethanol production.  The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) provides that security. The RFS was signed into law in 2005 and was amended in 2007 by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The law sets production limits/goals of renewable fuels each year growing to 36 billion gallons in 2022.  The 36 billion gallons are made up of 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuel (ethanol from corn) plus 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuel (made up of 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol and 5 billion gallons of biodiesel or ethanol produced from unspecified biomass).
References:

Chapter 1. (2006). In Ethanol process fundamentals: An introduction to ethanol processing. Granite Falls, MN: Minnesota Energy Enterprise Center.

How Much Ethanol Is Produced, Imported, and Consumed in the U.S.? (n.d.). Retrieved August 26, 2013, from http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=90