Articles tagged with: ethanol
Posted in Fuel, Pollution on 4 September 2008
Sugarcane Waste is produced on a large scale in a nation like India whose Southern Belt is rich in Black Soil required for the crop to flourish. Being one of the world’s largest producers of sugar, the nation obviously has plenty of Sugarcane Waste to deal with. Bagasse, as sugarcane waste is known, is the pulp from which all the sweet has been extracted. It is rich in fiber content and it is this fiber that India is turning to provide it with much needed extra energy.
Sameerwadi, Karnataka in India is looking into the various ways money and energy can be made off the waste from sugarcane processing. Godavari Sugar Mills Ltd will use the fiber to make ethanol. The project hopes to be able to scale up from demonstration size to commercial size within a few years, processing about 5,000 tons of bagasse within four years, but they don’t state how much ethanol they plan to make with it.
The company is not just looking making ethanol out of the pulp but also other product which ensure that we utilize the maximum from natural available resources and do not waste much. They intend to produce items like paper, cardboard, textiles, water-soluble adhesives, cements, dyes – even L-lactic acid – and other items from the waste to help make the facility viable. This not conserves loads of energy but would stop felling of more trees for manufacture of paper. Hopefully the whole concept will hit the machines soon!
Via Ecogeek
Posted in Automobiles, Car, Eco-Friendly, Eco-friendly products, Energy, Environment, Fuel, Renewable, concept on 4 August 2008
You want to save the earth? Ask Mondo-green mermaid Daryl Hannah how. The pretty lass nurtures a deep love for bio-fuels and leaves no stone unturned to make it a part of her life. She has been using the fossil fuel alternative for over a decade in her converted El Camino and bio-diesel for buzzing around her farm. She even founded the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance. Wow, it is indeed very cool to see people and celebs go the extra mile to save the earth.
Daryl’s mantra is simple. She uses fuel from waste vegetable oil, and not ethanol which has received a lot of flak for rising food costs. In Daryl’s words, “There are plenty of fuel processing techniques and feed stocks that bio-fuels can come from—for both bio-diesel and ethanol— like garbage, hemp, algae, cellulose waste, prairie grasses, moringa and jatropha.”
So don’t give up on bio-diesel just because some corporate sharks are promoting otherwise!
Via ecorazzi
Posted in Animals, Eco-Friendly, Fuel, government on 25 June 2008
It’s the same tug-of-war for people of Kenya, which every nation wanting to progress, faces today. The issue being is it development or devastation in the name of development? The recent decision of Kenyan government to approve a biofuel project in the Tana River delta area has created an uproar among people. The biofuel project requires the setting up of a sugar cane plantation in the 80 sq mile river delta. Much of the crop produced at the plantation would be converted into ethanol. This would be done in a nearby purpose-built factory. The factory will provide employment opportunities to the locals. This is the government’s side of story. The other side is provided by the local farmers and fishermen. These people along with the environmentalists detest the approval to the project. The Tana River delta is an area of biodiversity in terms of animal and plant species found there. The land is home to hippos, lions, rare shark species, primates and 345 bird species. It also sustains the local community of thousands of fishermen and farmers. Their protests against this project, it seems have fallen on deaf ears! According to Paul Matiku, executive director of Nature Kenya (a Nairobi- based conservation group), the whole project is an ecological disaster. “It will seriously damage our priceless national assets and will put the livelihoods of the people living in the delta in jeopardy,” Paul said.
For the government, the biofuel project holds a promise to gain valuable euros and dollars. Biofuels are prepared from ethanol which in turn, is in huge demand in the European Union and the U.S. For the locals this project spells devastation than development. The gulf between the two sides deepens as the locals say their protests are being ignored by the powers-that-be. In order to achieve a sustainable development it is important that the government realizes the deep-set ecological concerns rather than blindly approving rampant projects.
Via Guardian