Cellulosic ethanol (also called ceetol) is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants. [1]
It is a type of biofuel produced from lignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants. Lignocellulose is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Corn stover, switchgrass, miscanthus and woodchips are some of the more popular cellulosic materials for ethanol production. Cellulosic ethanol is chemically identical to ethanol from other sources, such as corn starch or sugar, but has the advantage that the lignocellulose raw material is highly abundant and diverse. (The word "cellulosic" simply refers to the source material.) However, it differs in that it requires a greater amount of processing to make the sugar monomers available to the microorganisms that are typically used to produce ethanol by fermentation.
Switchgrass is the major biomass material being studied today, due to its high levels of cellulose. Cellulose, however, is contained in nearly every natural, free-growing plant, tree, and bush, in meadows, forests, and fields all over the world without agricultural effort or cost needed to make it grow.
According to U.S. Department of Energy studies[2] conducted by the Argonne Laboratories of the University of Chicago, one of the benefits of cellulosic ethanol is that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 85% over reformulated gasoline. By contrast, starch ethanol (e.g., from corn), which most frequently uses natural gas to provide energy for the process, may not reduce GHG emissions at all depending on how the starch-based feedstock is produced.[3] A study by Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen found ethanol produced from corn, rapeseed (canola), and sugarcane had a "net climate warming" effect when compared to oil.[4]
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Cellulosic ethanol. (2008, August 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:43, August 11, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cellulosic_ethanol&oldid=23099...
Canada explores cellulosic ethanol
May 27 - With backlash mounting over using food for fuel, scientists and industry leaders in North America are looking beyond the corn kernel in their quest for the "holy grail" of biofuels.
Julie Gordon reports.
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