Tom Holm, the founder of Eco Trek foundation, in an attempt to create awareness about the usage of alternative fuel, recently made a trip across the U.S in his big Ford Super Duty Truck, powered by the E85 Cellulosic Ethanol- a fuel with 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol made out of corn cobs alone and absolutely no corns. Though his effort was to create an awareness, one could say that his awareness trip would easily make people feel that this would not be a sought after alternative fuel.
Holm stocked up 200 gallons of this E85 cellulosic ethanol in his truck at San Francisco to fuel his trip till South Dakota, where he further stocked up some more corn cob ethanol before heading across to his destination. Holm obtained more fuel for his trip from POET, America’s Mr.Ethanol, who has been producing cellulosic ethanol from corn cob, at a pilot plant in South Dakota that began operations in November 2008 and has a capacity of 20,000 gallons a year.
Holm could just manage 13 miles per gallon and that is why he has to opt for so much of fuel to go on with his trip. This mere 13 miles per gallon is not going to impress the world that is obsessed with mileage and fuel economy. The E85 has less than 70% of the energy of gasoline, and about 62% of diesel’s energy content. These numbers are very much un-impressive. But a deeper analysis would reveal a different inference.
The 13 miles per gallons, considering the size of his extra large truck (as evident from the picture) and the 2,000 pounds of fuel he was carrying along is a fairly respectable number. Also what is noteworthy here is not those numbers but the source of this alternative fuel. With major controversies and concerns over the large amount of land required for crops and its impact on grain supply, corn based ethanol has become a debatable alternative at the U.S where most of ethanol is produced from corn. But with a possibility that companies can cheaply make ethanol from what normally would go to waste, it’s much harder to argue against corn cob based ethanol. The trip by Holms should rather promote awareness about the benefits of producing fuel from a non-food source and not awareness about fuel economy.
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- Cellulosic Ethanol Vs Corn
- Cultivation of Perennial grasses better than Corn
- Plant-based fuels Vs Synthetic fuels in Aircrafts
- Switch-grass vs Corn
- Cellulosic Ethanol is better for Health !
Thanks for the information.
I’d just like to add a point infact a query on the same, the founder, Tom Holm has actually driven on highways and not on traffic stricken roads. Most of the cities across India have a heavy load of traffic. Do you think this fuel would be effective on Indian roads? And in our country, one cannot really possess such a hug vehicle..if I am right to carry these gallons.