How much corn does it take to produce ethanol?
You will need to plant a little more than a half an acre of corn to produce enough ethanol to fuel your trip. According to the research from Cornell, you need about 140 gallons (530 liters) of fossil fuel to plant, grow and harvest an acre of corn.
How much corn does it take to make a barrel of ethanol?
2 Acre (corn) to Gallon (ethanol) conversion is based on average corn crop yields of 120 bushels per acre and 2.55 gallons of ethanol per bushel for average conversion, and 2.60 and 2.65 for best-existing and state-of-the-art productions, respectively.
How much ethanol can be made from an acre of corn?
An acre of U.S. corn yields about 7,110 pounds of corn for processing into 328 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing and harvesting that much corn requires about 140 gallons of fossil fuels and costs $347 per acre, according to Pimentel’s analysis.
Should corn be used for ethanol?
Corn grain makes a good biofuel feedstock due to its starch content and its comparatively easy conversion to ethanol. Infrastructure to plant, harvest, and store corn in mass quantities benefits the corn ethanol industry.
What part of corn is used for ethanol?
corn kernel
Primarily the corn kernel is used for ethanol production. Figure 7.8 shows the general composition of corn. It is a picture of yellow dent corn, which is commonly used for ethanol production. The endosperm is mostly composed of starch, the corn’s energy storage, and protein for germination.
What kind of corn is used for ethanol?
Field corn
Field corn is harvested after the ear reaches physical maturity. Products such as livestock feed, ethanol, plastics, cornstarch, and many more are made with field corn.
How much energy does it take to produce 1 gallon ethanol?
It takes a lot of thermal energy to make ethanol from corn. In general, about 35,000 Btu of heat energy is required to produce a gallon of ethanol. For comparison, the energy content of ethanol is about 75,000 Btu per gallon.
How can I make 100 ethanol at home?
Steps for Making Ethanol
- Mix Your Sugar Solution. The ethanol will begin as a simple solution of sugar and water.
- Let Nature Take Over. Fermentation will occur over the course of a week.
- Filter the Solution.
- Distill Your Solution.
- Dehydrate Your Ethanol.
- Using Home Ethanol Blended With Gas.
What corn is used for ethanol?
In fact, it’s sometime called “dent corn” because of the distinctive dent that forms on the kernel as the corn dries. Field corn has dozens of uses, but it is most commonly fed to animals or used to make renewable fuels like ethanol to power our cars and trucks.
How much of the corn plant is used?
About 9 percent of all the corn grown is used to produce food for humans. These foods include corn meal and other food products such as cooking oils, margarine, and corn syrups and sweeteners (fructose). Sixty four percent of all corn grown is used as feed for livestock.