My little project

[sharpdressedscot]

OK, I'm a school club called TSA (Technology Students Association) and I'm going to the Regionals(or is it States...) to compete with other schools for a shiny award. My project is on biofuels and I have spent half my spring break working on this and I thought I would share this with y'all and gather some opinions and thoughts and everything else. I'll start off with the problem identification, then the research then I'll finish it off with my solution.

[sharpdressedscot]

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[sharpdressedscot]

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[sharpdressedscot]

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[Nick the DSM]

boo!! it stinks!!!

[Pleater]

It being 4:15am here I'm not sure how coherent this will be - but I have concerns that there could be quite a negative impact in some situations where the value of land increases, and growing for biofuels results in the loss of land previously rented by subsistence farmers, who are pushed onto ever more marginal land.

A second scenario is that land could be turned over to bio fuels to such an extent that there will be a need for fuel to transport food and other items which the growers of bio fuels will be able to afford to buy, due to the high value of the crop.

Management of land and the development of crops suitable for use as bio fuels would seem to be required if biofuels are not to have a negative impact on people, their environment and local economies.

I conjecture that the development of biofuels both from the waste parts of food crops grown on good land and also from plants which can survive on land too poor to be used for anything else would bring the maximum benefit, possibly resulting in the reduction of the expansion of deserts, stabilisation of dunes, perhaps the reclaimation of land from the sea or saltmarsh where that would have other benefits.

Biofuels seem to hold out hope of improvements in the environment, but where there is so much money to be made from them the poor and the powerless could be further disadvantaged by their introduction, and those who do benefit financially could then negate any benefits as they use their new wealth to raise their standard of living.

I can only hope that the nations where the reserch is done, and those institutes and individuals responsible for the development and breeding of biofuel crops are sensitive to the needs of those countries, areas and people who will be growing the plants.

This is perhaps a more political slant on the situation, but it is a sad fact that cash crops distort food supplies.

[James MacMillan]

While this is or could be a worthy project, I respectfully suggest that because of the political overtones, it not be persured any further on this forum.

Among other things, we are not supposed to discuss guns or politics.

[sharpdressedscot]

You raise a good point and I discovered that whilst I was researching. Yes, this does take up land usage and there has been a bit a dispute over land for farming and land for biofuels. However, there are three things that can help eliminate this problem: 1. switchgrass grows quickly and effiently, more so than corn and the amount per acre used is greater than that of corn. 2. the Zymitis Process uses the whole plant not just parts so the amount per acre again increases, instead of 6 (approx.) tons per acre, you get 10 tons per acre. So there is more of an output. And 3. cellulosic ethanol can be produced from waste products from landfills and such, so that doesn't take up any land usage for farming. However, one cannot just achieve this goal by following one of these, but maybe a combo of them.... I should probably put this in my report..

[sharpdressedscot]

While this is or could be a worthy project, I respectfully suggest that because of the political overtones, it not be persured any further on this forum.

Among other things, we are not supposed to discuss guns or politics.

This isn't politics though...

I wasn't trying to start anything, I was jsut hoping for feedback and maybe a few comments or anything I should change....

[J.B. Simpson]

One of the serious drawbacks to biofuels is their viscosity. BioDiesel as an example will gel at a higher temperature than regular diesel. This makes it's use in colder climates very very limited. The only way to prevent it from gelling (besides heating it) is to "cut" it with regular diesel. In my area most users will have 80-90% diesel with the remainder BioDiesel.

Users of "waste" cooking oil derived BioDiesel have problems with not only gelling but a formation of a hardened like what you will see on a heavily used and seldom cleaned deep fryer. In some areas the "bio" fuels will work, but not in all.

Just my $.02, take it as you will.