Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 2.4
The estimated greenhouse gas emission by gasoline production and bio methanol synthe-
sis using BioMCN process
It is estimated that by 2018, the emission of greenhouse gases will be reduced to
30 %. This is because the reuse of the byproduct of biodiesel production (glyc-
erin) reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Van Bennekom et al.
2012
), thereby reducing the greenhouse effect and global warming by controlling the
over production of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This process is environmental
friendly. Bio-methanol is used as a chemical building block for a range of future-
oriented products, including bio-methyl, tertiary-butyl ether, bio-dimethyl ether,
bio-hydrogen, and synthetic biofuels etc. Bio-methanol is environment friendly and
helps limit global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emission by about 70 % in
comparison with conventional methanol production technologies (Cifre and Badr
2007
; Van Bennekom et al.
2012
). The Nobel Laurate George Olah suggested whole
methanol budget instead of hydrogen economy because using bio methanol only,
slight changes will be required in filling stations and car engines, unlike hydrogen
gas which would require an entirely novel setup (Cifre and Badr
2007
).
4.1.2
Bio Ethanol
Fossil fuels produce about 73 % of the CO
2
and release it into the environment.
Production of bio-ethanol using biomass reduces the use of crude oil along with
environmental pollution. Bio-ethanol is used in the car engine because of its great
octane and cetane ratings, which delays self-ignition in an engine (Lokhorst and
Wildenborg
2005
). Some drawbacks of bio ethanol include low energy density
compared to gasoline, corrosive nature, little flame radiance, low vapor pressure
that make cold starts challenging, miscibility and harmfulness to environment
(Luque et al.
2010
). It can be produced from cellulosic feedstocks; but the main
issue with it is the handiness of raw materials. The accessibility of feedstock for
this can vary greatly from one season to another and is dependent on geographical
localities. For planning bioethanol manufacture procedures, evaluation of consump-
