Chemists at The University of Illinois have successfully produced fuels using using water, carbon dioxide and visible light through artificial photosynthesis. Natural photosynthesis occurs when plants use sunlight as a drive to start a chemical reaction between water and carbon dioxide to form energy-dense glucose.
The new study as published by the researchers at Illinois showcased the development of the aforementioned method used by plants, using green light region from the visible light spectrum during natural photosynthesis, to convert carbon dioxide and water into fuel. The process has electron-rich gold nanoparticles acting as the catalyst. The team published their findings in the Nature Communications journal. The ‘Goal’ that the co-author of the study and professor, Prashant Jain, said was to produce complex, liquefiable hydrocarbons from excess carbon dioxide and other sustainable resources such as sunlight.
The main advantages of liquid fuel over others such as gas is their economy in the mode of transport and their capacity to hold more densely packed energy due to their long chain bonds. Work regarding the efficiency and practical use of said fuel is still under question as a combustion to produce energy ends up releasing more carbon dioxide which would be counter-productive to the work towards renewable and clean energy.
The study is still under scrutiny as of now and work is still going forward towards a more efficient method of reproducing artificial photosynthesis as researchers acknowledged that the simulated process is nowhere as efficient as it is in plants. Jain furthermore spoke of working on the catalyst for a far better result before stepping up the scale of production.
Artificial Photosynthesis takes great strides towards a greener Earth. This showcases various teams and individuals all around the globe that have dedicated themselves towards the betterment of the state of affairs in regards to our planet.
A lot of us have our old smartphones lying around as junk. Selling them wouldn’t add much to our bank accounts and fixing them would cost too much. What if you could donate it for a good cause? Well, a San Francisco based start-up called Rainforest Connection may have found the perfect solution. The company is planning on recycling old smartphones into devices that detect deforestation and alert authorities to illegal logging activity or poaching.
The smartphone is connected to a solar panel that will power the smartphone which is programmed to pick up destructive sounds, such as chainsaws or alarmed animals. Hidden in the trees, this device will alert local authorities via text message, who can then respond immediately. Also, anyone who downloads the Rainforest Connection app can listen live to the sounds of the Sumatra rainforest.
The start-up has conducted an experiment which built a security network of devices in the Air Tarusan reserve in western Sumatra to prevent illegal logging.
It is a simple idea, that will make a huge difference. Ambient sounds in the rainforest will be continuously recorded and screened using the phones’ microphones and onboard software. Any noises that match the sound-signature of a chainsaw will trigger an alert, providing rangers with information to intervene and stop the deforestation, according to Rainforest Connection’s website.
Alerts can be sent using cell networks that already exist wherever the devices are installed. For instance, in Sumatra Rainforest, home of a small batch of phones the company is installed and unlimited cell phone data cost was just $2.89 per month.
Each phone covers a circular area of about a third of a square mile, which means 15 phones are insufficient for all of Air Tarusan’s 96 square miles of old-growth forest, but it’s a start.
Current anti-deforestation efforts are aided mainly by satellites, which do not provide live updates. This means responders are often too late to stop environmental crimes before they happen. But Rainforest Connection’s device can detect exact locations and times, instantly providing information on which areas of the forest are in danger.
Right now, Rainforest Connection has able to collect 21% of it’s pledged goal which is $100,000. The company’s effort to raise funds is backed by singer Neil Young, who appears in a video on Rainforest Connection’s Kickstarter page.
Alternative fuel is the talk of the town. With the environment degrading with each passing day and more and more people joining the sane club of those who accept the climate change reality. The race to find the next best fuel is intense. Ethanol seems to be the immediate answer to the issue.
Now is the time for Alternative fuels
There are many contenders for the title of the best alternative fuel. There is everyone’s favorite; Solar energy. This is in fact the cleanest and the best fuel for our civilization. There have been massive investments around the world to substitute solar power as an alternative to coal based power.
There are Wind and Geothermal energy options which are also seen as good long term solutions for the global energy crisis. These options are great for electricity solutions but we still have major issue of pollution from automobiles around the world. These gas based monsters will take forever to replace to electric car systems which are still in developmental phase. The alternatives are not yet efficient enough as their internal combustion engine counterparts.
So how do we take on the menace of fossil fuel powered, greenhouse gas emitting vehicles which have become so essential for our lives that it’s hard to imagine a life without them. As India imports around 70% of its petroleum needs, the need to find alternatives is extremely important. The immediate solution can be found in Ethanol.
Source: Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, Government of India (GOI)
As seen by the official Government of India figures, India’s fuel bill has been rising yearly. The sector that consumes the most fuel is transportation. Urgent steps need to be taken to reduce the massive expenditure on fuel or else we would have shortage of funds for developmental initiatives for education, healthcare and social improvements.
Ethanol is an organic compound that can be made with corn starch, sugar cane, sugar beet, grain, barley, hemp, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, sunflower, fruit, grain, wheat, straw, cotton, other biomass and many more. It can also be made from the by-products of sugar processing plants. Considering the amount of sugar that is in our food today, it seems there is a lot of sugar waste (molasses) out there. Currently most of it goes into the production of alcohol (Hail Old Monk).
Ethanol can be blended in with the petrol to make it more environmental friendly. Not just that, it can help to battle the meteoric rise in fuel prices. It needs an extra step in the distillation process and for this sugar plants can be retrofitted for an Ethanol treatment facility.
There are many blending options. There is e10 with 10% blend to e85 which is an 85% blend of Ethanol to petrol. The e10 can work in any vehical that was made after 1980 and e85 works with flexible fuel cars. Ethanol has about 35% oxygen which helps burn up completely thereby emitting less toxic gases.
Indian Transport and Shipping minister wants to encourage Ethanol blending
Recently the new Transport Minister of India, Nitin Gadkari declared an initiative to blend ethanol to save foreign exchange. Indian oil companies have expressed a desire to buy ethanol but they can’t find enough supply here. One of the prime reasons for this is that alcohol companies give higher prices for molasses than Ethanol producers.
According to Nitin Gadkari’s company Purti group; which is a producer of Ethanol, if 140 crore litre of ethanol can be procured in an year, it can save about Rs. 63000 Crores of precious foreign exchange on petrol.
This action, while commended for being an economically directed initiative is also being berated for its short sightedness. India has been facing the wrath of food inflation for a while. If there is a shift in the agricultural sector from food crops to fuel crops it can severely increase food prices. Also as there is an acute shortage of talented agricultural scientists, educating the farmers on increasing the efficiency will be an issue.
Currently in the world market US and Brazil are the top manufacturers of ethanol. They produce around 90% of the world’s ethanol. While US’s production is more grain based, Brazil opts for Sugarcane. As India is the second highest producer of the sugarcane, it can easily exploit that statistic in its favor. India has a biofuel policy but what is really required is long term commitments from the top brass. Investment in education of farmers to manage sustainability between food and fuel crops should also be a parallel priority.
There is also a major issue with Ethanol, if a sustainable plan isn’t worked out, farmers will dedicate a lot of land and may even clear forests for its production. This will negate whatever benefit is gained from blending it with petrol. In fact, cutting down forests adds more greenhouse gases than any other source.
Recently a group of Stanford University scientists have discovered a process by which Ethanol can be harvested without using plant agricultural resources. The process involves passing Carbon monoxide through an “oxide-derived” copper electrode. The team is now looking into making the process more efficient so that land resources can remain just for food instead of being pressurized into fueling stomachs as well as fuel tanks. This kind of developmental research and innovation should be encouraged by the governments everywhere.
Solar Powered Electric Cars are our best bet for a sustainable future
Overall the major issue with Ethanol still is that it is a short term action plan and we have to focus on long term solutions. One sure shot solution that comes to mind is Electric Vehicles. EV’s technology unknown to many is about a 100 years old. They were abandoned because of malicious campaigns against it and the cheap availability of fossil fuels in that era.
We are now close to exhausting accessible fossil fuels reserves. Exploring new places to extract oil from earth comes at a cost like the incident with BP’s Deep Water Horizon. The need for alternative transportation investment is extremely crucial right now. The time for inaction is long past gone.
If only farts could power vehicles, we Indians would have had free energy for life.
