Bioelectricity More Efficient than Ethanol for Transportation, Study Shows
Vehicles fueled by biomass-fired electricity would travel 81% farther on a given crop and produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than vehicles powered by ethanol, a new study finds.
In a new study published online yesterday in the journal Science, researchers led by Elliott Campbell of the University of California, Merced modeled entire fuel systems all the way from crop cultivation to vehicle propulsion, comparing cumulative greenhouse-gas emissions for both biofuels and bioelectricity. They found that the bioelectric pathway came out ahead of both corn ethanol and advanced cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass.
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“We expected that electricity would look better than corn ethanol, but it was surprising to see that this was also the case for the more advanced second-generation ethanols,” Campbell says. “In all cases, the electricity pathway uses a lot less land to achieve the same amount of transportation.”
The study suggests than electric vehicle powered by biomass will travel an average of 81% farther than an internal-combustion vehicle powered by cellulosic ethanol if both are produced from the same area of cropland.
The results also suggest that alternative bioenergy pathways have large differences in how efficiently they use the available land to achieve transportation and climate goals.
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Image: Argonne National Laboratory
How about a link to the original article so the assumptions can be looked at???
Not really surprizing when you realize an ICE powered car is 15% energy efficient… with petrol, and using Ethanol actually increases fuel consumption by 30% making the whole ICE route less efficient again.
Here is the citation for the study:
J. E. Campbell, D. B. Lobell, and C. B. Field. Greater Transportation Energy and GHG Offsets from Bioelectricity Than Ethanol. Science, 2009; DOI: 10.1126/science.1168885
Interesting stuff. There was some discussion about this at the advanced biofuels symposium earlier in the week.
So… what exactly is “the electricity pathway”?
Is the idea to have an electric generator in the car that runs on biofuel?
Actually Paul, Ethanol engines have proven thermal efficiencies of 40 to 45% in tests conducted by our own EPA. They ran a Volkswagen TDI on pure alcohol and achieved 24% better fuel efficiency than the same engine running on diesel. The ethanol made so much more power they re-geared the trans to maintain the same acceleration and increase fuel efficiency even further. It’s all documented in an SAE tech paper that is becoming harder to find every day. I,m sure the oil companies don’t have anything to do with that.
one thing to considered is efficiency of power plant.If fuel burned to power steam turbine it can be more efficient than car ice. Also the biomass can gassified an be burned in jet combine cycle system which can have efficiency in the 80s. I would like invent a piston combine cycle system that better than ones in the past and can be use in cars.
Your quoting ‘thermal efficiency’ for a highly modified turbo diesel that is equal to that of a standard Diesel.
Read the link below on a similarly highly modified Scania Diesel engine and you’ll note the engine burns 65% to 70% more ethanol than diesel…. LOL
With a petrol ICE running E10 you lose 3% MPG, with E85 you lose 33%… these are just facts mate.
Read this http://gas2.org/2008/04/15/scanias-ethanol-diesel-engine-runs-on-biodiesel-too/
How to spread propaganda to stupid people without lying, propaganda rule number one: Only mention the good things or assume best case scenario of the belief you are trying to sale. Then, only mention the bad things or worse case scenario of your competitors belief.
We can use this example: how about electricity that is generated at a distant power plant, travels by power lines for hundreds of miles, converted to chemical energy, and finally released to power the motors in the car. All this will provide 90% efficiency. Best case scenario–I guess.
On that same theme as TJ, has anyone seen any calculations on just how much global warming is caused by the resistance heating of electrical power transmission lines?
On a 400,000 volt transmission line only a 1 (one) ohm per mile resistance, which is very low, releases quite a bit of heat.