From Biomass to Biofuel: BurnBurn aa NutNut What is the energy in ? How do we find it? How do we use it? Minimum Completion Time Where do we get energy? The same energy 45 minutes that you get from food can be used for fuel. Skill Level What is a biofuel? Biofuels are made from Intermediate Ages 11-13 renewable materials like plants rather than Learner Outcomes non-renewable sources like crude oil and Explores how agricultural crops can be used to coal. How much energy can you get create fuel, Investigates ethanol-based fuels from a —a ? a ? based on their biological properties. Try this experiment. Science Skills Note: Always wear eye protection and consult an adult when Learn More • Measure working with an open flame. Find a responsible adult that • Observe you trust to do this activity with you. Be sure to protect your • Bio Architecture Lab • Interpret/analyze/ reason clothing and hands and set up your experiment in an open • Biotechnology and You area. Biodiesel Basics Life Skills • • Reason • Acquire and Evaluate 1. Gather these materials: 1 nut (pecan, Information , or ), 1-2 , Virtual Fun Educational 2 large paperclips, stopwatch, empty Figure 1 Standards aluminum can, small glass dish, Tour an ethanol plant • Properties and changes • of properties in matter masking tape, thermometer, ring Figure 1 • Willie Nelson on biodiesel • Transfer of energy stand, food or balance scale, safety • Burning a brazil nut on • Populations, resources, glasses, grill lighter, copy of Burn a Nut and environment YouTube Observation Log, glass fuel burner and • with an almond Success Indicator lamp oil. Follows the Scientific Method in an experiment 2. Arrange a nut on the unfolded to release energy from paperclip. Tape to bottom of the dish nuts and beans (see figure 1). Measure the mass of News & Careers the fuel, (nut or soybean), fuel holder • Tracking Renewable Fuel (paperclip) and glass dish. Add this (article and video) data to the Observation Log. • BP biofuels 3. Pour 50 ml of water into the aluminum • Fuel and feed from can. Record the temperature. Suspend microalgae from the ring clamp using an unfolded • Importance of enzymes Acknowledgements: Robert L. Horton, PhD, Ohio paper clip (see figure 2). State University Extension, Carol Warkentien and Jeanne Gogolski, 4. Ignite the nut or bean by holding a EP&P LLC flame on it until it begins to burn on Content adapted from DuPont (www2.dupont.com) and Pioneer its own. Start the stopwatch when you (www.pioneer.com) web pages. apply the flame. Adapted with permission from the Figure 2 Ohio Soybean Council.

Figure 2

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No endorsement of a commercial entity or its products or services is intended or implied. 1 Do ••• 5. Adjust the can to hang directly over the burning fuel source. Do not extinguish the flame! If the nut/soybean stops burning before it is completely consumed, try to relight. 6. Monitor the temperature of the water, but do not allow the thermometer to touch the bottom of the can. 7. Allow the fuel to burn until it is consumed. Record both the burning time and the temperature of the water on the Observation Log. Measure the mass of the glass dish, paperclip and any ashes. 8. Calculate the change in time, temperature and mass and record on the Observation Log. 9. Repeat steps 1-8 using the soybean. Record your data. 10. Repeat steps 1-8 using a glass fuel burner containing lamp oil instead of the nut/soybean. Allow the lamp oil to burn for exactly 3 minutes. Record your data on the Observation Log. 11. Calculate the change in temperature over the change in mass. Which fuel produced the greatest change in temperature compared to the More Challenges mass? Which fuel has the most stored energy? • Test other nuts or food sources. Make predictions about how much stored energy there is in some of your favorite foods. • Learn about the fermentation process for making ethanol and the transesterification process for producing biodiesel. Compare the process of making ethanol made from More than a century ago in 1892, Rudolph plant to the process of making Diesel patented the diesel engine which he biodiesel made from the oil in oilseeds. designed to run on vegetable oil. In 1925 • Find out about other biomass sources Henry Ford, founder of the Ford motor such as switchgrass, algae, jahtropha that company, told a reporter that fuel made from scientists and engineers are exploring for plant matter was the “fuel of the future.” advanced biofuels in your home state. Today energy crop innovation is continuing to develop sources of sustainable biofuels. The development of advanced biofuels technologies is on course to begin mass, commercial use in this decade. Engineers and entrepreneurs believe that 10-25% of global agricultural wastes alone can provide a sustainable source of 12% of the global road transport fuels market in the near future.

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No endorsement of a commercial entity or its products or services is intended or implied. 2 Name— ———————————————— Share ••• Date — ———————————————— Which was the better fuel: the nut, the soybean or the lamp oil? Records—Intermediate Level From Biomass to Biofuel: Burn a Nut

Reflect••• Which contained the most “stored energy:” the nut, the soybean or the lamp oil?

Generalize ••• How could the expanded use of biofuels affect the future? What other crops should be considered as possible fuel sources?

Apply ••• Would you recommend the use of nuts, soybeans or other crops for food, fuel or both? How is it possible to use the same plant or biomass for both food and fuel?

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No endorsement of a commercial entity or its products or services is intended or implied. 3

Background Information FutureFuture FuelsFuels NowNow Most of the world’s energy needs today are met with oil and natural gas, which come from fossil fuel. Every year America imports 3.67 billion barrels of oil. No one knows how long the supply can last. Renewable fuels have the potential to solve the problem. How can we find the energy in plants to be the biofuels in the future? Scientific research and the development of biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel will help us to cut back on the amount of petroleum we use. Biotechnology is helping make alternative energy sources easier and more affordable to produce. Biofuels are made from renewable sources. Along with corn, there are many other grains, grasses, , and even agricultural wastes being investigated for their usefulness. Biofuels include ethanol and biodiesel, which you may have heard of. They also include methanol, butanol, straight vegetable oil, syngas, and a seemingly endless array of other unconventional, often experimental fuels. For example, one technology uses algae to convert the CO2 into a clean, renewable biofuel. Researchers are working on miniature fuel cells powered by methanol, butane, or even diesel fuel. These cells could replace the batteries in laptops and cell phones. Breakthroughs in the use of discarded agricultural waste and nontraditional crops like switchgrass have the potential to replace a large portion of the fossil fuels Americans now use. Careers in this emerging fieldemphasize chemistry and engineering. Biofuel jobs can be thought of by the stages of production. Farmers grow the raw material, called feedstock or biomass. Agricultural researchers and scientists and microbiologists find ways to develop feedstock that will yield the most energy. Agricultural engineers focus on the overall manufacturing procedures, called bioprocessing. Animal nutritionists are needed to figure out how much of the co-products can be fed to animals. After the oil is extracted for biodiesel, the remaining soybean meal is processed into feed for livestock. The corn that remains after the is removed becomes animal feed prepared for exports around the globe. Biofuel production involves more than a making a liquid to drive cars. Plastic that is now made from petroleum can be made out of biofuel. People will have to market the products and help society accept bioproducts. Those with computer skills will be needed, along with office workers, and lab technicians as well as legislative and governmental regulatory agents.

Glossary biodiesel­­—diesel fuel made from renewable resources fermentation process—biological processing in which biofuels—fuels developed from biomass or agricultural are converted into cellular energy, producing crops ethanol and carbon dioxide as a waste product; ethanol fermentation is the same process that occurs in the rising biomass—organic material made from plants and animals of bread dough that contains stored energy from the sun transesterification—process used in the production of ethanol—an alternative fuel to gasoline made from a grain biodiesel that involves reacting the vegetable oil with such as corn or sugarcane methanol or ethanol feedstock—raw material required for an industrial process; biofuels start with feedstocks

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No endorsement of a commercial entity or its products or services is intended or implied. 4 Name— ———————————————— Date — ————————————————

Records—Intermediate Level Observation Log From Biomass to Biofuel: Burn a Nut

Fuel: Nut Initial Final Change

Temperature (°C) of water in can

Combined mass of fuel (g) holder, glass dish

Time (min.) 0

Fuel: Soybean Initial Final Change

Temperature (°C) of water in can

Combined mass of fuel (g) holder, glass dish

Time (min.) 0

Fuel: Lamp Oil Initial Final Change

Temperature (°C) of water in can

Combined mass of lamp oil and glass burner

Time (min.) 0 3:00 3 minutes

Compare change in mass to change in temperature. Change in Temperature °C Fuel Change in Mass Temperature °C Change in mass (g)

Nut

Soybean

Lamp oil

Look at the data. Which fuel is the best? Why?

Which fuel would you recommend for food? For fuel? Why?

What other factors should be considered when choosing a source of fuel?

What kinds of scientists are looking for new fuels? New foods?

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