Corn as a Fuel

1
Corn as a Fuel
Is it the best alternative to fossil fuels or
just the first step of independence?

2
What is corn?

• Kingdom Plantae
• Division Magnoliophyta
• Class Liliopsida
• Order Poales
• Family Poaceae
• Genus Zea
• Species Z. mays

3
Where did it come from?Several Theories
Theory one

• It is a direct domestication of a Mexican annual
  teosinte, Zea mays ssp. parviglumis, native to
  the Balsas River valley of southern Mexico.

4
Where did it come from?Several Theories
Theory two

• It derives from hybridization between a small
  domesticated maize (a slightly changed form of a
  wild maize) and a teosinte of section
  Luxuriantes, either Z. luxurians or Z.
  diploperennis

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Earliest known

• Domestication is thought to have started between
  7,500 and 12,000 years ago.
• The earliest maize cob was found at Guila Naquitz
  Cave in the Oaxaca Valley, Mexico.
• It dated back to about 6,250 years ago.

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Original Cultivation

• Native Americans planted on hills
• Used a system called three sisters
• Planted with beans and squash.
• The beans used the corn as support and the squash
  covered the ground to stop weed growth.

• Before WWII corn was harvested by hand.
• This involved many workers usually occurred at a
  social event.
• The social event was to have many friends over
  and pick corn then eat and have a party.

7
Current Cultivation and Production

• More weight of corn produced each year than any
  other grain.
• Planted in two crop rotaions
• Alternating with nitrogen fixing crops alfalfa
  and soybean

• USA produces almost ½ world production.
• Produces 23 billion dollars in revenue world
  wide.
• Silage is harvested when the plant is green and
  fruit immature
• Sweet corn is harvested from Z. mays after
  pollination but before starch formation.

8
Need for Alternate Fuels

• Price per barrel of oil
• 25.00 (2003) to 76.00 (2006)
• Green house gas increase
• Controversy over oil drilling and the rights.
• Controversy over importing oil from war torn
  countries.

9
What is E85?

• Refers to a gasoline made from corn ethanol.
• 85 ethanol 15 gasoline
• US Government defines it as an alternative fuel.

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Ethanol from Corn

• Corn is delivered to an ethanol plant
• The corn is loaded into storage tanks that is
  designed to hold enough to make ethanol for ten
  days
• The corn is passed through milling which hammers
  it into a fine powder.
• Mill is then mixed with water and enzymes that
  make a slurry mixture
• The mixture is sent to holding tanks to allow the
  enzymes time to breakdown the starches into
  fermentable sugar.

• Yeast is then added and allowed to ferment for 50
  hours. You now have beer and other solids.
• The beer is then sent to distilling tubes to
  remove the alcohol (190 proof) and the solids.
• The ethanol is now dehydrated in tubes to remove
  the 5 water to make 200 proof ethanol.
• The solid left is washed and dried to become a
  very valuable feed for livestock and the ethanol
  is mixed with gasoline.

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Ethanol Pros

• Renewable fuel that can end dependence on foreign
  oil.
• Might be able to reduce greenhouse gas because
  the source product pulls uses CO2 in its
  respiration process.
• Degrades quickly in water thus posing a less
  health risk if spilled as apposed to oil.

• Current market value
• Corn/ bushel 3.24
• Oil/ Barrel 64.73

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Ethanol Cons

• Costs could be higher for ethanol than for
  traditional gasoline.
• Cant drive as far on ethanol then traditional
  gasoline
• Not as available as traditional gasoline
• Expensive as a gasoline to produce financially
  and energetically

13
Ethanol and the Environment

• Produces low amounts of CO
• Uses a source that when planted every year pulls
  out CO2.
• Corn is biodegradable so there are no risks in
  hurting the environment in its production.

• Production of the ethanol does produce CO2 that
  would not normally be produced.
• Corn production uses a lot of water and
  fertilizer. The fertilizer could have harmful
  effects.

14
Poverty vs. Ethanol

• 692 million tons of corn are produced each year.
• The US produces 280 million tons.

• 854 million people are estimated to be hungry
• 12.4 million people in the USA alone
• 25,000 people die per day from hunger related
  diseases.
• 1 person every three seconds.

15
Questions??

• What do you think?