In a project, two group members and I studied the field of Cellulosic Ethanol and the possible impact that such a fuel would have in the near future. We covered what kinds of biomass are used in the production of this fuel, the process needed to produce this fuel, and the current outlook on the research of this fuel as a fossil fuel alternative. My group and I decided to research this specific topic of Ethanol production because of its potential impact to the race to phase out fossil fuels. After researching this field, we found that Cellulosic Ethanol could be a very cheap alternative to fossil fuels. This kind of Ethanol is produced from the leftover stalks of crops like corn and sugarcane’s, a very common biomass, which means that this type of Ethanol can be very cost effective because these stalks are considered to be worthless currently. This fuel is also renewable because it relies on a commonly grown crop leftovers so premanently running out of this fuel is impossible. Cellulosic Ethanol also produces far less carbon dioxide because the carbon chain is less complex and contains fewer carbon atoms to bond with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide. The two issues with this type of ethanol is that the process to produce it is still very costly. Enzymes are needed to make this production process work but they are very costly and have a limit to the amount of times they can be reused. The current cheaper cost of gasoline has slowed research into this fuel too so the progress towards cheaper cellulosic ethanol has slowed. All in all, Cellulosic Ethanol has proved to be a promising alternative to fossil fuels in the years to come.
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