Dipsiner1 Evan Dipsiner Leslie Wolcott ENC 1102 09 November 2012 Alternatives to Fuel Sources A dilemma in modern society

is the overuse of petrochemicals (petroleum based chemicals) for fuel sources. Individuals fail to realize that their unnecessary use of these finite substances during day to day life creates harmful repercussions to the biosphere such as global warming (Bittle, Jacobs, Song, Tompkins, 2012). The alternative source at hand are more compliant with the environment because they are less harmful when combusted and are treated prior to use. By switching to an alternative fuel source such as biofuels (ethanol, glucose, alcohol, and lipids) the use of petrochemicals will be reduced dramatically and in turn the amount of chemical waste going into the environment will decrease. (Chou, Lee, Lee, Keasling, 2008). Since petrochemicals are limitied, it is essential that other fuel sources are established so that they can replicate the uses of them. Necessary Treatment Similar to petrochemicals, biofuels must undergo a treatment process prior to them being used (Menon, Prakash, Rao, 1998). However, when biofuels are treated they became far less harmful because when they are distilled the harmful wastes are not let off by them. If petrochemicals continue to be distilled at the rate they are now, global warming will continually rise at a dangerous rate and the atmosphere will have unsafe levels of toxins. (Griffin, Jaramillo, Matthews, Venkatesh, 2012). Biofuels are distilled in three different ways. They are fermented in a large tank which changes their chemical balance, extracted from alcohols and plants, or they are bred with bacterias to become more cleansed (Stephanopoulos, 2007). Environmental Issues When petrochemicals combust at a certain temperature the carbon based toxins rise into the air and harm the air, water, and everything in its surroundings. Biofuels are created from living organisms,

Dipsiner2 plants or extracted from other substances that are nowhere near as harmful as petrochemicals when combusted (Atsumi, Machado, 2012). Thus, by replacing petrochemicals with a less harmful substance that has similar qualities the problem with residual chemical waste in the envirnment will be resolved. The amount of carbon dioxide residual released into the air is huge factor in global warming because the ozone layer deteroriates as the amount of pollution increases. (Liao, Yan, 2009). Finite Fuel Source Contrary to popular belief petrochemicals do not have an infinite source. When the last amount of fuel is burnt up, there will be no more. It is crucial that another fuel source is able to replace petrochemicals when this time arises (Das, Kim, Pramanik, 2012). Due to the lack of attention given to this problem, a large sum of fuel goes into unnecessary use such as driving across the street or using it to start a bonfire. Petrochemicals should be treated like water in the desert as it is the most used fuel source available and does not have an alternative yet. Biofuels such as ethyl alcohol, lipids, and glocose can be chemically alterered into a fuel source with a vast amount of quanitity larger than its predecessor (Liao, Yan, 2009). Research Gap The largest problem at hand is the unawareness of the effects that petrochemicals have on the enviornment along with the idea that they are infinite. One way that individuals can become more aware of these dilemmas are taking a survey on their knowledge of petrochemicals and their alternatives. Then after completing the survey, they will make a schedule of their day to track the amount of fuel used. By looking over their daily schedule they will realize that they are either optimizing their use of petrochemicals or taking them for granted. By making people more aware of the problem at hand they are more likely to decrease their usage of petrochemicals and look into alternatives to this problem. If people do not realize the ramifications of their malusage , they will continue to do so until the earth rots and the fuel is non existant.

Dipsiner3 Works Cited Atsumi, Shota and Machado, Iara, "Microbial utilization of crude glycerol for the production of valueadded products." Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology, Volume 39, Issue 2. February, 2012. Bittle, J.A, Jacobs, T.J, Song, H, and Tompkins, B.T, "Efficiency considerations for the use of blended biofuel in diesel engines." Applied Energy, Volume 98, pages 209-218. October, 2012. Chou, Howard, Ham, Timothy, Lee, Sung Kuk, Lee, Taek Soon, Keasling, Jay, "Metabolic engineering of microorganisms for biofuels production: from bugs to synthetic biology to fuels." Current Opinion in Biotechnology, Vol. 19, Issue 6. December, 2008. Das, P, Kim, P.J., and Pramanik, P, "Preparation of biofuel from aremone seed oil by an alternative cost-effective technique."Fuel, Volume 91, Issue 1. January, 2012. Griffin, W.M, Jaramillo, P, Matthews, H.S, and Venkatesh, A, "Uncertainty in Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of United Stattes Coal. Energy and Fuels. Volume 28, Issue 8. August, 2012. Liao, James C and Yan, Yajun, "Engineering metabolic systems for production of advanced fuels." Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. Volume 36, (471-479). January, 2009. Menon, Vishnu, Prakash, Gyan, Rao, Mala, Enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol production using xyloglucanase and Debaromyces hansenii from tamarind kernel powder: Galactoxyloglucan predominant hemicellulose. Journal of Biotechnology. Volume 148, Issue 4. August 2012. Stephanopoulos, Gregory, Challenes in Engineering Microbes for Biofuel Productions. Science. Vol.315 Issue 5813, pages 801-804. February, 2007.