Question

Craig Kohn advocates for using cellulose as an alternative source of energy. Using What You Need To Know About Energy as your source for background information, what do you think is limiting the adoption of cellulose-based biofuels as a source of energy?

Answer 1

Cellulose is renewable pollution free source of energy. Cellulose sources are fibrous and woody vegetation, including grasses, agricultural waste like corn’s husks and rice hulls, fast growing trees and waste wood from trees damaged by natural disasters and left over scrap wood from paper.

Cellulosic vegetation require little to no fertilizers or pesticides and emit considerably less greenhouse gases. They also provide more ethanol per acre and higher energy yields. The typical conversion process begins by grinding up the biomass, soaking it in water and adding an acidic pretreatment to separate it into its primary structural components: cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin. Enzymes are added to the mixture to break down the cellulose into its constituent sugars. The sugars are then fermented and finally distilled to create high-grade ethanol

Greater adoption of cellulosic ethanol has been limited by the high costs associated with converting vegetation into ethanol.