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Which country is the leader in ethanol fuel technology?

Main producers

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What type of engineer would be responsible for developing new fuels?

Maybe you’ve heard the words “fuel cell” or “green energy” tossed around lately, but you’re not entirely sure what they mean. Is it the lightning bolts that come out of the Emperor’s hands at the end of Return of the Jedi —no, wait, those were blue. Green (or alternative, or renewable, or sustainable) energy is that which is derived from non-combustion methods. Your Friday nights for the foreseeable future. ( Source ) To excel at this career, you’ve got to have a great mind for science and mathematics, the ability to sort through mountains of data to find meaning, and you’ll have to be able to communicate your thoughts and ideas clearly.

• There will also be a fair amount of independence, so occasionally you’ll have to be able to work without guidance or support.
• You’ve got to be willing to go the extra mile.
• You’ll likely be logging in extra hours when you’re on deadline and will have to put up with the eight to ten years it takes to get through all the secondary and post-secondary education you’ll need.

The rewarding part comes in the form of your paycheck. On average, a fuel cell engineer pulls in about $79,280, and even more once they move into managerial and team-lead positions ( source ). This is on top of any awards, recognition, or neat scholarships you might receive for your important (and very complicated) work. Or as your dad calls him, “my hero.” ( Source ) A fuel cell engineer (or technician) is a member of a small subset of the much larger mechanical engineering field, specializing mostly in the development, construction, and testing of hydrogen-based fuel cells.

While FC engineers have a singular focus, mechanical engineering itself is a wide and diverse occupation. The field is home to other tinkering professionals like electric vehicle engineers, civic engineers, and that one guy who invented the recliner. While much of what they do is performed solo (or as part of a small group), fuel cell engineers will work with other kinds of engineers as a team on various projects; this kind of coordination allows for the smooth integration of design ideas.

After all, a sweet-looking, barely street-legal, alternative fuel thrill ride is still just a box of metal and paint if it doesn’t have a way to power up. Fuel cells have been around a lot longer than you might think; the first was created way back in 1839 ( source ).

Since then, society has done as much as possible to run away from this alternate fuel source towards polluting fuels like gas, oil, and coal. There is a tale (possibly one of those tall ones) that Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest unsung inventors in modern history, built a car that ran completely on electricity back in 1931.it just never caught on.

People have been driving combustion-engine powered (Henry) Fords for a century. It would be another eighty years before someone actually drove an electric Tesla. Now, the Great Alternative Fuel Revolution That Wasn’t is picking up steam. Reliance on dirty energy has finally begun to fall and new sources are being explored as alternatives (hence the name).
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What is the easiest biofuel to make?

DIY BIOFUEL – Knowing about alternative fuels, how to make them, and how to use them can be a helpful trick to have if you are ever in a situation where diesel fuel is sparse (for your truck, car, or even a generator). Made from either animal fats or vegetable based oils, biodiesel is one the easier types of alternative fuels to make due to the simple process involved and the easy availability of the main ingredients. GATHER YOUR SUPPLIES The supplies to convert vegetable oil to a biofuel are simple and relatively inexpensive to procure. The supplies that you’ll need for this kit are minimal, and you probably already have some of them laying around your home. Safety should be one of your main concerns when making your biodiesel.

You are using chemicals, such as lye, which are highly corrosive, and they can burn and blind you. For that reason alone (not to mention we will be heating oil), eye protection and protective clothing like rubber gloves and aprons should be used. Fumes from the process itself are dangerous, so working in a well ventilated area (outside).

One liter of vegetable oil 200mL of methyl alcohol 6 grams of sodium hydroxide (lye) Glass measuring cup One- and two-liter bottles Sauce pan and a heat source (stove) Thermometer Funnel One quart glass jar Kitchen scale (digital) For the vegetable oil, you can simply buy some at the store.

In the future, if you plan to product biodiesel on a larger scale, you can get used oil from a fast food place or a restaurant known for their fried foods and filter it heavily before use. Methyl alcohol is the active ingredient in antifreeze and can be found cheaply at any auto supply store. Lye is the active ingredient in heavy duty drain cleaners (it may be labeled sodium hydroxide or NaOH) and can be purchased at hardware and cleaning supply stores.

You could buy a 100-percent lye drain cleaner and it would work fine. BIODIESEL KITS If you want to make your own biodiesel, it is a good idea to purchase a kit. Kits will have all the equipment you need as well as detailed directions on how to proceed. 1. Place the one liter of vegetable oil in the pan and heat it on low until it reaches between 130 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Any higher than that and you will run the risk of melting your plastic mixing container. 2. Using a candy thermometer is a good way to maintain proper temperature control as it can be suspended by the side of the pot so it measures the liquid and not the bottom of the pot. 3. A digital scale that measures in grams and one that can tare weight is essential. Zero out the scale before measuring the sodium hydroxide (lye). 4. Thoroughly mix the 200mL of methyl alcohol with 6 grams sodium hydroxide (lye) in a glass jar. This will create a sodium methoxide mixture. 5. Once the oil reaches 130 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, funnel it into the two-liter plastic bottle. In our case, we used a 1.5-liter gravy strainer because it’s plastic and pours from the bottom. Note: Let the oil cool down slightly if it surpasses 140 degrees so you don’t melt the plastic. 6. Add the methyl alcohol and lye mixture to the plastic container. Do this slowly to avoid splattering or spilling, and make sure to wear rubber safety gloves at this point. 7. Secure the container’s lid and shake or stir it continuously for at least five minutes. If you are using a two-liter bottle, turn it upside down in a secure location and let it sit like this for at least two days. Over the course of those two days, you will notice that the glycerin and the biodiesel will begin to separate as visible layers in your bottle (that’s transesterification in action), with the glycerin, impurities, and debris settling to the bottom. 8. Shown is the separation of the glycerin (bottom) and the biofuel (top) after only an hour or so. After the two days have elapsed, the layers will have greatly increased. Open the container and pour off the biofuel that is floating on the top of the glycerin.

• REFINING YOUR BIODIESEL If you’ve used a vegetable oil that is full of impurities (for example, fryer oil from a restaurant), you will need to refine and filter your mixture more.
• A simple way to do this is with a water wash by adding a 1:1 ratio of water to your biodiesel.
• Be careful to add the water very gently.

You should then turn the closed bottle upside down for 24 hours, the same as you did when creating the biodiesel originally. After the 24 hours have elapsed, you will notice a separation between the dirty water on the bottom and cleaner biodiesel on top.

When it has been separated, simply open the bottle slightly and let out the dirty water in the same way you let out the glycerin. You repeat this over and over again until your biodiesel no longer creates this dirty-water layer. Then leave the biodiesel sitting open for a week or so to let the remaining water evaporate.

At this point, you have a batch of relatively pure biodiesel. MAKING BIODIESEL If you just want to experiment with making biodiesel, this will be enough to run your generator or any other compression-ignition engine for a short while. However, may be full of impurities which will cause buildup inside the engine over time.
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What are the two main types of biofuels?

Unlike other renewable energy sources, biomass can be converted directly into liquid fuels, called “biofuels,” to help meet transportation fuel needs. The two most common types of biofuels in use today are ethanol and biodiesel, both of which represent the first generation of biofuel technology.

The Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is collaborating with industry to develop next-generation biofuels made from wastes, cellulosic biomass, and algae-based resources. BETO is focused on the production of hydrocarbon biofuels—also known as “drop-in” fuels—which can serve as petroleum substitutes in existing refineries, tanks, pipelines, pumps, vehicles, and smaller engines.

Watch the Energy 101 Video: Biofuels to learn more.
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Do bioengineers go to med school?

By Zippia Expert – Feb.10, 2022 No, biomedical engineers do not go to med school. While med school is not a requirement to enter this career path, there are significant educational requirements. A biomedical engineer needs to earn at least a bachelor’s degree in biology, biochemistry, biomedical engineering, or some other similar field.

Some biomedical engineers may choose to go to med school or get a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, but this is not required to work in the field. The syllabus for these educational programs usually includes classes in medical physiology, biomedical design elements, general chemistry, physics, genetics, and other relevant areas.

The program includes both classroom instruction and practical experiences, covering topics such as medical imaging, computer programming, DNA structure, and types of biomaterials. Other useful classes that a biomedical engineers should focus on while completing their education are clinical correlations with a medical ethics focus.

Additionally, while a biomedical engineer does not have to go to med school, most states require them to be licensed. This means that candidates wishing to work in this field must pass the required examination and meet all required qualifications to earn this license to work. Biomedical engineers need to upskill throughout their careers.

To be successful in this role, a person needs to possess a wide range of knowledge and skills must be willing to keep up to date with the latest scientific and medical research and maintain a full understanding of regulations.
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Why do bioengineers do PhD?

The doctor of philosophy in bioengineering prepares students for bioengineering careers in industry, government or academia. An advanced degree in this area provides numerous opportunities to work in health care, biomedical industry, government regulatory agencies and academia.
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Are biofuels agriculture?

Congress gears up to debate the Farm Bill this week, which among other things looks to curb the growing energy crisis by using America’s farm economy as a source for biofuels. Biofuels—liquid fuels produced from agricultural crops and wastes—have the potential to deliver a secure and stable supply of fuel to supplement our growing energy demands. * Net Energy Balance : Biofuels are a potential source for renewable energy, but the production of usable fuel from crops comes at a cost. Farming, transportation, and processing are necessary steps that require an input of energy. That means we must use some energy to make more.

Thus, the ratio of how much energy goes into production versus how much energy results is in each unit of biofuel is important to consider. The figures below depict the current effectiveness of biofuel production. As technology advances and the processes are streamlined, experts expect greater efficiency and higher energy balance ratios.

Ethanol Ethanol is a biofuel that has growing popularity and significant promise. It is a clear, colorless alcohol that can be derived from numerous sources. There is a common misconception that ethanol comes only from corn. Although the vast majority of today’s U.S.-based ethanol is produced from corn, sustainable cellulosic production has opened the door to numerous other sources of ethanol, most notably switchgrass.

Though the processes are different, both corn-based and cellulosic production result in the exact same biofuel: ethanol. Consumers usually find ethanol blended with gasoline, as in E-85, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Now sold at over a thousand retailers across the country, more and more cars can take advantage of this alternative fuel.

At the same time, we need to make E-85 more available to drivers by installing more E-85 pumps at retail gas stations in every state. Flexible-fuel vehicles can run on either E-85 or gasoline, though the former burns cleaner and produces 22 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline.

1. Using E-85 in flex-fuel vehicles results in the overall consumption of 40 percent less fossil fuel energy than would burning pure gasoline due to free energy from the sun, improved crop yields, and efficient processing.
2. Congress needs to call on the auto companies to improve both the overall fuel economy standards for the nation and the fuel economy of flexible-fuel vehicles.

In addition, Congress should act to close the flexible-fuel vehicle fuel economy “loophole” that allows car manufacturers to receive extra fuel-efficiency credits for flexible-fuel vehicles without actually demonstrating the vehicle’s use of E-85. For more information on flex-fuel vehicles and a map of retailers in our area, click here,

Ethanol blenders producing fuels like E-85 receive an income tax credit of 51 cents-per-gallon of pure ethanol used in the blending process. This credit will expire in 2010. An import tariff of 54 cents per gallon is levied on ethanol entering the United States from other countries as a means of offsetting the 51-cent income tax credit available to all ethanol blenders.

Duty free imports are currently allowed from Caribbean Basin Initiative countries, but the import tariff, in general, is a significant trade barrier. The Center for American Progress recommends phasing down the import tariff in order to encourage competition in the ethanol production market.

• In combination with an increase in the overall Renewable Fuel Standard, the United States should gradually begin the phase-down of the current 54 cent-per-gallon tariff on imported biofuels.
• All countries must take reciprocal action to remove trade restrictions on biofuels.
• Additionally, CAP recommends a Market Responsive Counter-cyclical Federal Subsidy for ethanol production.

This simply means that the United States should reduce the subsidy or tax credit for blending ethanol as the price of oil increases. Cellulosic Ethanol Cellulosic biofuel production results in the same ethanol that corn produces, but the feedstocks are inexpensive and easy to grow and the process of refining them is more environmentally friendly.

Cellulosic ethanol is derived from cellulose, the main component of wood, straw, and many plants. A variety of biomass materials yield considerable amounts of energy from this process, but dedicated energy crops such as switchgrass are the most promising. The cellulosic biofuel industry has not yet reached the scale of the corn ethanol industry, but cellulosic fuels can yield twice the energy output per unit of energy input than corn ethanol.

The process to derive ethanol from cellulose involves using enzymes to break down the tough and resistant cellulose in plant cell walls into sugars. Microbes then convert the sugars, which ferment into liquid ethanol. Fuels made from cellulosic biomass offer the promise of dramatically lower production costs while lessening the potential impact of production on land use and on our capacity to grow food, feed, and fiber.

• Congress has the opportunity to end U.S.
• Dependence on foreign oil and energize American agriculture by enacting business, tax, and trade incentives to grow the cellulosic biofuel market to commercial scale, beginning immediately.
• Transportation costs, fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions, and other high energy costs can be minimized if we expand our ability to grow energy crops in a broader geographic area and our capacity to disburse the sites of biorefineries in multiple regions close to population centers throughout the entire nation.

Almost half the ethanol refineries in the United States are farmer-owned. As more and more biofuel producers have entered the market, the share of production capacity dominated by large producers has actually declined in recent years. Biorefineries owned and operated by farmers in rural communities can take advantage of economies of scale and improved access to investment capital to provide new jobs and support for family farms.

• Due to transportation costs, most biorefineries are disbursed throughout rural areas and need to be located close to feedstock supplies and local farms.
• Corn-Based Ethanol Corn is currently the main source of ethanol in the United States.
• Whereas the cellulose in plants is used in cellulosic ethanol production, the starch in corn is a key ingredient in corn-based production.

The starch is fermented and distilled into simple sugars, which are then fed to microbes that produce ethanol. Once purified to a desired concentration, this alcohol is usable as a practical energy source. The sugars that ferment into ethanol extract more easily from starch than from cellulose, and corn is already one of the country’s leading crops.

1. Increased corn-ethanol production has the potential to benefit farmers by increasing demand for corn crops and creating more jobs in rural areas.
2. But corn-based ethanol does have its drawbacks.
3. The process requires a substantial energy expenditure, which in turn reduces the net energy profit.
4. In addition, corn production is land- and water-intensive and uses tremendous amounts of fossil fuel-based fertilizers.

Moreover, some have raised concerns over the effect that the increased demand for corn as a biofuel will have on our food and feed supply. As a result, CAP advocates the immediate implemention of transparent certification and labeling criteria to encourage sustainable production of biofuels in a voluntary Renewable Fuels Certification Program.

With these considerations, CAP believes that sustainably produced corn-based ethanol can play a minor role as a transitional fuel to help us improve our distribution and infrastructure while we redouble our efforts to move beyond corn and to ensure cellulosic ethanol is made commercially available to reduce the demand for fossil fuels in the United States.

Biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable alternative to petroleum diesel produced from animal fat or vegetable oil. It is biodegradable, nontoxic, and less harmful to the atmosphere than regular diesel. Biofuel has gained tremendous popularity in Europe and is slowly gaining a foothold in the United States.

The greatest appeal to biodiesel is its practicality: It can serve as fuel in all regular diesel engines with few or no modifications. It is commonly sold in two forms: pure B100 and oxygenate additive B20 (20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent petroleum diesel). Biodiesel production involves using an alcohol, usually methanol, to convert vegetable oils, commonly from soy or rapeseed.

The production process has a significantly higher energy balance than the production of ethanol (corn-based or cellulosic), and the end product—biodiesel—has the ability to capitalize off pre-existing transport infrastructure, as vehicles built to run on petroleum diesel can burn biodiesel with little or no modification.

Biodiesel is currently the fastest growing and most cost-efficient fuel, primarily because it is clean burning and easy to use. Biodiesel releases 78 percent less carbon dioxide than gasoline. According to the National Biodiesel Board, over 39,000 jobs could be created in a variety of economic sectors with increased biodiesel production.

Moreover, the industry expects to produce 250 million gallons in 2007, a dramatic increase from the 75 million in 2005. Biodiesel, though still developing as a petroleum replacement, shows great promise in the years to come. Biodiesel producers and distributors are eligible for a federal excise tax credit of $1 for every gallon of biodiesel that is blended with conventional diesel.

Fueling a New Farm Economy: Creating incentives for Biofuels in Agriculture and trade Policy

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What is biofuel in environmental science?

Read a brief summary of this topic – biofuel, any fuel that is derived from biomass —that is, plant or algae material or animal waste. Since such feedstock material can be replenished readily, biofuel is considered to be a source of renewable energy, unlike fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas,
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What do bioengineers engineers do?

Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) – The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program produces employment and wage estimates annually for over 800 occupations. These estimates are available for the nation as a whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas.

Bioengineers and biomedical engineers

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What do fuels engineers do?

Fuel Cell Engineers Engineer, Fuel Cell Engineer, Research Engineer, Stack Engineer

What is the role of biofuel?

Potential economic benefits of biofuel production – Replacing fossil fuels with biofuels has the potential to generate a number of benefits. In contrast to fossil fuels, which are exhaustible resources, biofuels are produced from renewable feedstocks.

Thus, their production and use could, in theory, be sustained indefinitely. While the production of biofuels results in GHG emissions at several stages of the process, EPA’s (2010) analysis of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) projected that several types of biofuels could yield lower lifecycle GHG emissions than gasoline over a 30 year time horizon.

Academic studies using other economic models have also found that biofuels can lead to reductions in lifecycle GHG emissions relative to conventional fuels (Hertel et al.2010, Huang et al.2013). Second and third generation biofuels have significant potential to reduce GHG emissions relative to conventional fuels because feedstocks can be produced using marginal land.

Moreover, in the case of waste biomass, no additional agricultural production is required, and indirect market-mediated GHG emissions can be minimal if the wastes have no other productive uses. Biofuels can be produced domestically, which could lead to lower fossil fuel imports (Huang et al.2013). If biofuel production and use reduces our consumption of imported fossil fuels, we may become less vulnerable to the adverse impacts of supply disruptions (US EPA 2010).

Reducing our demand for petroleum could also reduce its price, generating economic benefits for American consumers, but also potentially increasing petroleum consumption abroad (Huang et al.2013). Biofuels may reduce some pollutant emissions. Ethanol, in particular, can ensure complete combustion, reducing carbon monoxide emissions (US EPA 2010).

It is important to note that biofuel production and consumption, in and of itself, will not reduce GHG or conventional pollutant emissions, lessen petroleum imports, or alleviate pressure on exhaustible resources. Biofuel production and use must coincide with reductions in the production and use of fossil fuels for these benefits to accrue.

These benefits would be mitigated if biofuel emissions and resource demands augment, rather than displace, those of fossil fuels.
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Is Bio Engineering a good career?

Biomedical Engineering is amongst the top most pursued courses in the field of Engineering science. The job opportunities and career options are huge and are also rising with the gradual development of technologies and innovations.
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Grady A. Lowry

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