Cover Letter
In my research paper, the audience that I targeted was the science field and those who are in some way related to science. My purpose in the essay is to bring up an environmental issue that most people are not aware of and to persuade readers that the production of corn-based ethanol in the U.S. is an issue and should be addressed. I did this by first introducing what ethanol is, then presenting both perspectives on the use of ethanol and its pros and cons. It is an issue that causes harm to the environment, and in the long run, will affect everyone’s well-being.
During this phase, I learned about how to find reliable and trustworthy sources when looking to research or learn about a topic, and how to identify misleading sources. I also learned how to search for relevant sources using techniques when searching for content for research. I learned about how to synthesize multiple sources by comparing and analyzing their similarities and differences, and how 2 or more texts either agree or contradict on a certain topic. Learning to find accurate sources and synthesize was very helpful in improving my ability to accurately write research that clearly and effectively shows multiple perspectives on a certain topic.
This is very important when writing about a topic because in order to be credible, you must thoroughly explain all perspectives on a certain topic, then form a conclusion based on analyzing the multiple perspectives. Only referring to a single source or multiple sources with the same perspective may mislead you and cause your research to be inaccurate and untrustworthy.
During the phase, 3 of the learning outcomes that I achieved were “3. Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing”, “6. Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.”, and “7. Compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation.”. I achieved outcomes #3 and #6 since during the phase I learned how to read and analyze relevant sources from both online and the library database and analyze their credibility. I achieved outcome #7 because writing this research paper, I composed a text presenting multiple sources and perspectives, then established a stance on the topic by summarizing, paraphrasing, analyzing, and synthesizing multiple sources from various perspectives on my topic.
Does The Use of Corn-Based Ethanol in Fuels in the U.S. Make Sense?
- Introduction to Ethanol
1.1 – What is Ethanol
Ethanol, also known as Ethyl Alcohol is an organic chemical compound with the formula C₂H₆O. It is a simple alcohol that is colorless and flammable.
1.2 – How is Ethanol Produced
Ethanol is produced by the natural process of fermentation of sugars. This is commonly from crops such as corn or sugarcane. Most production of ethanol in the U.S. is done in the midwest, prominently in states such as Iowa, the largest corn producer in America. A simplified explanation of the process of turning corn into ethanol is, first, the corn is milled into a fine consistency to expose the starches. It is then mixed with water and enzymes and heated which turns the mixture into complex sugars. The mixture is then further heated to kill bacteria present in the mixture, then cooled again. After the mixture is ready for fermentation, yeast is added and fermentation begins for about 72 hours. The mixture is now turned into beer with about 17% ethanol volume, then is distilled to separate the pure ethanol from the beer. At this point, the ethanol is usually around 95% pure, with about 5% being water molecules and other impurities. To create the final product, the ethanol is first liquified and then goes through a sieve which separates the remaining water molecules and any other impurities from the pure ethanol, resulting in the final 99-100% pure ethanol, which is then ready for transport and use.
1.3 – What is Ethanol Used For
Ethanol has many uses in the pharmaceutical, beverage, and fuel industries. This article will be focusing on the effects in the fuel industry. In the fuel industry, ethanol is used as a biofuel, which means that it is a natural, renewable fuel source since it is derived from natural crops such as corn. More than 98% of gasoline blends in the U.S. is E10, which means the fuel is a mixture of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol. Diesel fuel blends, on the other hand, are usually as high as 15% in ethanol volume. The significant increase in the use of ethanol in fuels is reflected in world production, which has more than tripled in the past 2 decades (table above).
2 – Pros of Ethanol Use
2.1 – The Cycle of Ethanol Production
The main benefit of the use of ethanol is that it is a biofuel, which means that, unlike normal fuel which is derived from fossil fuels in the earth’s crust, the process of creating ethanol is renewable, which means that you can’t run out of resources to create it, since you can grow them again. Ethanol’s renewable cycle is what makes it attractive to produce. When producing ethanol, the carbon dioxide that is released into the environment as a result of the machinery used in the process of production and that is released when cars burn biofuels is absorbed by crops which allows them to create food and grow, and the cycle continues (diagram above).
2.2 – Why the Government Enforces the Use of Ethanol in Fuels
In August of 2005, President George W. Bush signed the “Energy Policy Act of 2005”, which mandated that all U.S. oil manufacturers use ethanol in their fuels (AP News – The Associated Press). Since 2005, a timeline of legislation in relation to ethanol was passed, mostly in favor of the use of ethanol. The reason for the government having such a heavy presence in the regulation of ethanol, is that since 2005, the government has been trying to reduce its reliance on imports of oil from other countries such as Canada and Mexico. In 2005, around the same time Bush passed the Energy Policy Act, America was importing 60% of its fuel consumption, which was the peak in the history of the country. Today, America imports about 43% of its fuel consumption, which puts the country in a much healthier economic position, since it does not need to rely as much on other countries (Conte et al.).
2.3 – Vehicle Performance & Fuel Efficiency
In terms of performance and efficiency, ethanol has 1 disadvantage: it has lower fuel efficiency, which means vehicles will have a lower mile per gallon with a fuel blended with ethanol as compared to pure gasoline. This is because ethanol contains about 30% less energy than gasoline, which is supported by the following finding from a research article studying the effects that gasoline-ethanol blends have on engines: “It was also found that a high CR (carbon rate) can increase the efficiency of ethanol fuel blends, and as a result, the fuel economy penalty associated with the lower energy content of E85 can be reduced by about 20% [113]” (Masum et al). This claim outlines the finding that although ethanol does have a 30% lower energy content, this can be reduced by 20%, which means a net 6% increase in energy by obtaining a higher CR. This, however, still makes ethanol advantageous from a cost perspective, since it is currently about half of the price of gasoline.
Another significant advantage of using ethanol is that it serves as an octane booster. This means that it is suitable for higher pressures in higher-performance and heavier-duty engines. A higher octane reduces knock in the engine and also allows for the manufacturing of more efficient engines. So, although ethanol does have a lower energy content, it allows for the manufacturing of engines that are more efficient and made specifically to be run on ethanol blends, since it minimizes wear on the engine.
2.4 – Emissions and Environmental Effects
In research done in “Performance and emission assessment of diesel-biodiesel-ethanol/bioethanol blend as a fuel in diesel engines” by Shahir et al, it was found that the largest factor in the emissions from ethanol and gasoline were Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), in the forms of oxide (NO) and dioxide (NO₂). Shahir stated that some studies found ethanol to be higher in NOx emissions, and others found it to give off lower NOx emissions compared to gasoline. To check this, tests were performed on 6 different blends of various mixtures of diesel, biodiesel, and ethanol in different percentages. In all different ethanol-containing mixtures, the emissions were either the same or significantly less than pure diesel which shows that these blends are favorable from an environmental perspective. However, the results are inconclusive as to whether the cause of lower emissions was due to ethanol or other biofuels, or a mixture of both. Although research regarding ethanol emissions of NOx specifically is inconclusive, it is generally accepted and proven that overall, ethanol burns much cleaner than gasoline in terms of carbon emissions.
3 – Cons of Ethanol Use
3.1 – Environmental Concerns: Land Use Change
Although ethanol has been proven to directly have fewer emissions than gasoline, indirect factors are often left out from research and by companies that benefit from the production of ethanol. The main indirect factors are that to produce ethanol and meet the market demand for fuel, extremely large amounts of agricultural land must be reserved for growing corn, which could otherwise be used for growing agriculture that could be used as food, and the heavy emissions released during the process that is used from growing the corn to purifying the ethanol. The amount of land that is being used to grow corn for ethanol heavily impacts the prices of not just corn, but all crops that could otherwise have been grown on the farmland. This means that the opportunity cost or tradeoff of using more land to grow corn is using that land to grow other crops and having the supply of those crops increase, thus the price decreasing.
Studies and research done on ethanol are often highly misleading. This is mainly due to either manufacturers who profit off of ethanol production trying to convince the government and public that ethanol is better for the environment, or researchers who overlook important factors that contribute to the emissions footprint of the full cycle of ethanol production. After the Energy Policy Act in 2005, research was conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) till 2010, when they published an 1100-page, 5-year-long research analysis on biofuels titled “Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2) Regulatory Impact Analysis”. It was found that corn-based ethanol just barely met the requirement of a 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, with a 21% reduction as compared to gasoline. Between 2008 and 2016, there was a 26% increase in land used to grow corn in the U.S (Lark et al). To put the significance of this increase into perspective, the U.S. is by far the world’s largest corn producer, producing about 340 million metric tons of corn every year to create more farmland to grow corn, very large amounts of land need to be cleared by either burning the land or tilling it. When removing trees and plants from the ground, the carbon that was under the soil of the plants in the earth’s crust is exposed, releasing all of the carbon that was in the earth’s crust into the atmosphere. This is the largest and most overlooked factor in terms of emissions that the process of creating ethanol has on the environment.
In an article published by Cynthia Giles from Harvard Law School’s Environmental Energy & Law program, Giles states “The quantity of carbon released when undisturbed land is converted to agriculture is surprisingly big. Carbon is emitted when the forests or grasslands are cut down and the vegetation either decays or is burned. But the largest source of carbon from converting land to crops in the United States is the soil itself. Plowing under US grasslands releases a significant amount of carbon, 90% of which originates in the soil. Carbon in biomass accumulates over years to decades, but soil carbon accumulates slowly, over decades to centuries; releasing the carbon in soils is thus effectively irreversible over human time scales”. She also goes on to add: “The carbon released from land use changes alone can wipe out any climate benefit from biofuels.”
3.1.1 – Environmental Concerns: Agriculture
Corn is a very nutrient-demanding crop, which means that it negatively impacts soil, especially on the scale that it is grown in the U.S. This results in farmers resorting to the use of large amounts of fertilizer and pesticides to aid in the process, which also causes soil erosion, and yet again, more pollution from water runoff.
4 – Conclusion
I believe that the production of ethanol has been proven to increase emissions and carbon footprint. In 2005, the act that began all of the research done on ethanol mandated that a biofuel must emit 20fewerss greenhouse gasses than gasoline, which is unreasonably low, however, the threshold was likely low since the government wanted to get out of the position of being heavily reliant on other countries in case of conflicts, that there was not enough regard to research on environmental effects. The effects that such a complicated and large-scale process like the production of gasoline and ethanol are so wide that there are endless complex factors that need to be considered and that we do not yet know, that 20% is not enough taking into account the level of uncertainty.
The original research done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2005 assumed that ethanol had a 21% reduction in greenhouse emissions. They also found that due to the large amount of initial emissions caused when preparing land to grow corn, with a 21% decrease in emissions, that means it would take 14 years to break even from the initial point, and 28 years in total to achieve the target of a 20% reduction in emissions. With ethanol only being used as 10% volume in gasoline, a 21% decrease in emissions as compared to gasoline means that there is a net decrease in emissions of just 2.1%.
The number of resources that have been allocated to research on corn-based ethanol and preparing agriculture does not justify just a 2.1% decrease in emissions over nearly 30 years. The claim that the EPA made however of a 21% reduction is the best case and is most likely inaccurate. In his recent research, Tyler J Lark of the University of Wisconsin states “These changes increased annual nationwide fertilizer use by 3 to 8%, increased water quality degradants by 3 to 5%, and caused enough domestic land use change emissions such that the carbon intensity of corn ethanol produced under the RFS is no less than gasoline and likely at least 24% higher.” (Lark et al), in reference to the changes to the environment that needed to be made to produce corn-based ethanol, mandating that production of corn-based ethanol has at least a 24% increase in emissions as compared to gasoline, contrary to the EPA’s claim of a 21% decrease.
Works Cited
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“A Timeline of Recent Ethanol Events.” AP NEWS 12 Nov. 2013 apnews.com/article/4ef599997c1f4a7db5283c14d25de7b4.
Conte Niccolo et al. “Visualizing U.S. Oil Imports in 2021 by Country.” Visual Capitalist 16 May 2022 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-u-s-oil-imports-in-2021/. Accessed 5 November 2022.
“Corn PRICE Today | Corn Spot Price Chart | Live Price of Corn per Ounce | Markets Insider.” markets.businessinsider.com 2 Nov. 2022 markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/corn-price.
Engineering Explained. “America Was Wrong About Ethanol – Study Shows.” YouTube 4 Mar. 2022 www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-yDKeya4SU.
Giles Cynthia. “Next Generation Compliance: Environmental Regulation for the Modern Era Part 4: Preventing Widespread Violations That Threaten Climate Goals.” Harvard Law School Env. & Energy Law Program 13 Apr. 2021 eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Cynthia-Giles-Part-4-FINAL.pdf.
Lark Tyler J. “Environmental Outcomes of the US Renewable Fuel Standard.” PNAS 14 Feb. 2014 www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2101084119.
Renewable Fuels. “RFA Ethanol Process.” YouTube 7 May 2019 www.youtube.com/watch?v=JALTcEIZoZw.
Masum B. M. et al. “Effect of Ethanol–gasoline Blend on NOx Emission in SI Engine.” Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews vol. 24 2013 pp. 209–22 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.03.046.
Masum B.M. et al. “Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews vol. 1 2013 p. 14. CCNY Library. Accessed 5 November 2022.
Shirani A. et al. “Mechanochemically Driven Formation of Protective Carbon Films from Ethanol Environment.” Materials Today Chemistry vol. 26 no. C 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtchem.2022.101112.
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