Bread-based ethanol

[freeman]

Hi everybody,

I saw in an auto review article that a team participating in the Shell Eco-Marathon ran the race with ethanol made from scrap bread.
Anyone have more info?
Recipe ?
...

What do you think ?

Article also on the website THE DAILY AUTO search for Shell Eco-marathon 2006, For a few more quignon.htm

Freeman

[Targol]

Very interesting: finally an efficient recovery of the many wastes produced by our society ...
Here is a link to the page for lazy people who are too lazy to look.

[pluesy]

very interesting ...

but the journalists who wrote the article got stuck it confused the octane number and the alcoholic title of the alcohol

The purification of ethanol will be done by distillation, but only produces 95% ethanol (ie octane number, quantity of fuel mixture which can be compressed before igniting on its own) " .

ethanol has an octane number of 106 on the other hand it is true that to rise above 95 ° of alcoholic degree by distillation it is almost impossible after it is chemical treatment ...

anyway an engine transformed for alcohol very well accommodates 20% of fleet in ethanol is a title of 80 °

the only case where the alcohol needs to be very pure (98 ° minimum) is if we mix it with gasoline
if the alcohol is below 98 ° the two products do not mix and separate into two separate layers

[Targol]

The purification of ethanol will be done by distillation, but only produces 95% ethanol (ie octane number, quantity of fuel mixture which can be compressed before igniting on its own) " .

Another thing that it would be interesting to know is the overall energy balance of this solution: NRJ used for distillation / NRJ returned by ethanol ....

[Christophe]

We already talked about it (a little) on the forum... my opinion is more than mixed !!

The ethanol biofuel starting directly from wheat or sugar is already limited not econologically profitable ... then that starting from bread which required energy-consuming operations ("milling", transport of flour, preparation of bread, baking of bread). ..etc etc) I think that this yield collapses a little more ...

Regarding the recovery of bread waste, pkoi not but some objections / remarks:

1) in a "balanced" society food waste should not exist ... In this regard and for the little history we just bought a bread bin. I think it paid for itself in less than 2 months !! I recommend this purchase to everyone!

2) what about the deposit of "old" bread?

3) would it not be better to value a consumable food differently than in energy? The bedleman you know?

Frankly a nice announcement effect to make people believe anything... I'm not surprised that it's shell that support this project ...

[Targol]

in a "balanced" society food waste should not exist ...

That, we agree, unfortunately, we are in a society where

• we destroy agricultural surpluses,
• supermarkets pour bleach on unsold food so no one eats it,
• composting is marginal

In short, it's been a long time since I stopped believing that it was common sense that guided our planet.

The bedleman you know?

Well no, I personally, I do not know and I have not managed to find much on Gogol on this subject apart from a cemetery and genealogy. Wouldn't you have a link or a bit of additional explanation?

[pluesy]

Another thing that it would be interesting to know is the overall energy balance of this solution: NRJ used for distillation / NRJ returned by ethanol ....

it takes about 2250 kj to completely vaporize 1 liter of water or about (2250/3600) 625wh and about 10 times less for alcohol (200 kj / kg) when distilling an alcoholic solution which titers as 15 ° if the yield of distillation were perfect we would evaporate only alcohol and not a drop of float so it will require about 50 wh per liter of alcohol obtained (100% yield)
but if we count on a yield of 5% for distillation (I am deliberately pessimistic) it's 1kwh spent to get 1l of ethanol which provides by burning 6kwh

to distill cheaply you can make a vacuum distillation, solar, or by burning the unused parts of the plants which were used to produce the raw material for alcohol (wheat straw, corn, or sugar cane)

[bob_isat]

it's always nice to recycle waste I think ...

I sent an email 3 months ago to the teacher who supervises the project, in order to have the recipe but he never replied

[pluesy]

the recipe is not too complicated ...

1) you grind the bread and mix it with water

2) you add enzymes or germinated barley

3) you wait for the starch to transform into fermenticidal sugars

4) you add yeast and you put everything in a sealed tank with bubbler at the outlet

5) when the bubbling stops (3/4 days) you filter everything and you distill

simple right ?!

here in the main lines the way to proceed those who do not like to cook abstain ...

if you have trouble finding the enzymes or the germinated barley you can always go on a diet for a day and then watch food pubs when you salivate you will just spit in your bread soup (saliva is stuffed with zimes)

like what to spit in the soup it can be used to make energy ...

[Christophe]

it's always nice to recycle waste I think ...

I sent an email 3 months ago to the teacher who supervises the project, in order to have the recipe but he never replied

Yes for the promotion but the best is not to create them right? There is avoidable waste and bread, primary source of food is one!

For the non response, normal the patent is to shell ...