Biofuels: Our Energy Future? Mark Lyford Department of Botany University of Wyoming ?

Biofuels: Our Energy Future?Biofuels: Our Energy Future?

Mark LyfordDepartment of BotanyUniversity of Wyoming

?

Energy and Biofuels in Education

• Timely and relevant


• Timely and relevant• Fits a wide range of content settings


• Timely and relevant• Fits a wide range of content settings• Is a rich (i.e. complex) subject– Energy science content– Social connections (economics, politics,

environmental, human health)




• Fosters critical thinking and quantitative reasoning




• Fosters critical thinking and quantitative reasoning

• Challenges preconceptions about biofuels


Peak Oil

Fossil Fuel

Fossil Fuel (Paleobiofuel)


Biological, geological, chemical, physical processes

Considerable time


Fossil Fuel (Paleobiofuel) Biofuel


Biological, chemical, physical processes

Short time



CH2O CH2O

Biofuels Production

Biomass

Solid Biofuels Gaseous Biofuels

Wood, sawdust, grass, charcoal,

manure, non-food crops

Liquid Biofuels

Ethanol, butanol, methanol, biodiesel

Methane

Liquid Biofuels Production

Biomass

Sugar, starch, cellulose Oils and lipids

Ethanol Biodiesel

Corn, sugar beets, sugar cane, switchgrass, wood

Soybeans, sunflowers, rapeseed, palm, algae

Ethanol Production

Ethanol Production

LIFE 1002: Discovering Science


• Integrated Science Class


• Integrated Science Class• Focuses on several issues including Energy Use


• Integrated Science Class• Focuses on several issues including Energy Use• Biofuels piece from Discussion portion of the

course where students focus on Energy Use for ½ semester


• Integrated Science Class• Focuses on several issues including Energy Use• Biofuels piece from Discussion portion of the

course where students focus on Energy Use for ½ semester

• Discussion is where we focus on the interaction of science and society and how we go about making decisions

Have you hugged something green today?

Ethanol and Foreign Oil• The U.S. currently imports a substantial amount of foreign oil.

Knowing that it is unlikely we can become energy independent by increasing U.S. domestic oil production, one proposed solution is increasing corn-based ethanol production to replace foreign oil. Thinking specifically about the production of gasoline for cars and given the information below, estimate how many gallons of ethanol would need to be produced on an annual basis to make up for the U.S. importation of oil.

• U.S. oil consumption: 21 million barrels/day• U.S. oil production: 6 million barrels/day• Approximately 20 gallons of gas can be produced from 1

barrel of oil

Ethanol and Foreign Oil

• 110 billion gallons gas/year

Ethanol and Foreign Oil• Unfortunately, ethanol does not contain the same amount of

energy per volume as gas. Given the information below, estimate how much more ethanol would need to be produced to make up for this energy difference. What is the total amount of ethanol required now?

• Gas: 131 MegaJoules/gallon• Ethanol: 90 MegaJoules/gallon


• 150 billion gallons of ethanol needed

Ethanol and Foreign Oil• Ethanol production requires substantial fossil fuel energy

inputs associated with the production and transportation of corn, as well as the processing of corn into ethanol. Estimates on the amount of fossil fuel energy required to produce ethanol range from roughly 60 MegaJoules/gallon to 105 MegaJoules/gallon. Which of these two extremes paints a good or bad picture for the future of ethanol production? If the optimistic estimate is correct, and we wanted to replace the use of fossil fuels for ethanol production with ethanol, how many more gallons of ethanol would need to be produced each year? How does this impact your total estimated production of ethanol?

Ethanol and Foreign Oil• If you only get 90 MagaJoules/gallon

with ethanol, using 105 MegaJoules of fossil fuels is an energy waste. We should just burn the fossil fuel instead of making the ethanol.

• 260 billion gallons of total ethanol needed

Ethanol and Foreign Oil• Given your estimate of the total amount of ethanol that

would need to be produced each year, we now need to determine how many acres of corn would need to be grown to support the production of ethanol. Use the following figures to determine how many bushels of corn would need to be grown each year.

• Ethanol production from corn: 2.5 gallons/bushel corn


• 110 billion bushels of corn

Ethanol and Foreign Oil• Given your estimate of the total number of bushels

of corn that must be grown, determine how many acres of corn would need to be planted assuming the current average production rate is 170 bushels/acre.


• 600 million acres of corn

Ethanol and Foreign Oil• Given the table below, determine if the current U.S.

corn production could support your estimated ethanol production needs.

State Acres in production (millions)

Ave. bushels/acre Total bushels

Colorado 1.0 145

Illinois 12.9 170

Indiana 5.4 167

Iowa 13.9 181

Kansas 2.0 165

Kentucky 1.1 158

Michigan 1.5 160

Minnesota 5.3 167

Missouri 3.5 180

Nebraska 7.5 163

Ohio 3.6 150

South Dakota 2.3 157

Wisconsin 2.2 164


• 60 million acres of corn in production• Order of magnitude less than what

we would need

Ethanol in Brazil

Ethanol in Brazil

Atmospheric CO2

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Biofuels: Our Energy Future? Mark Lyford Department of Botany University of Wyoming ?