THE ELECTRIC CAR FINALLY COMES OF AGE
(Page 3 of 3)
In the past, the more than 800,000 tons of citrus waste
produced by growers was dumped onto pastures where it either took
its natural path and fermented or was eaten by livestock. But as
crop production increases, it is becoming increasingly
impractical to continue treating the waste in this way. USDA
chemist Dr. Karel Grohmann notes that "citrus processors now
convert the waste to low-value animal feed, which is not very
profitable, bringing only 3-5 cents per pound," so the cost of
drying the waste is higher than the market value of the feed. By
converting citrus waste into fuel, a profitable system would be
established to provide economic opportunities and benefit the
environment.
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As we all know by now, one of our current problems
with the energy sources we use is that their production and
combustion releases huge amounts of C0 2 , a "greenhouse" gas.
Dr. Grohmann does not foresee this as a problem with citrus waste
conversion, however. There are three byproducts of this process:
ethanol, a bio-fuel; carbon dioxide; and acetic acid, used in
making vinegar and other foods. The percentage of C0 2 to ethanol
produced is about 50/50, but, Grohmann explains, "This C0 2 can
be cycled back into plants and organisms quickly because it is a
closed cycle, unlike the case with fossil fuels. When we burn
fossil fuels, we burn materials that have accumulated for
billions of years," thus throwing off the natural cycles of C0 2
absorption. Additionally, the amounts of C0 2 emitted as a
byproduct of citrus waste conversion are considerably lower than
that emitted by fossil fuel combustion. The wide-scale
integration of ethanol would provide a clean-burning,
domestically-produced, relatively nontoxic and non-carcinogenic
fuel.
It would also promote the international position of the
United States by reducing our dependence upon other countries for
oil. Grohmann sees this project as "strategically important
because we are currently spending $50 billion yearly in trade
deficit on oil." If we took after Brazil, a country that runs
about 1 million cars on alcohol converted from sugarcane, we'd be
in a better situation. America already does produce alcohol from
corn sugars, but not nearly enough of this alcohol is produced
yearly to make any substantial shift in consumption. We need to
increase production at least tenfold before we can blend all
gasoline with ethanol or alcohol and make a dent in fossil fuel
dependence.
—Jessica Bolson
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