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The abrupt and cataclysmic weather
portrayed in “The Day After Tomorrow” is pure
Hollywood drama, but the overwhelming consensus among scientists
who study the atmosphere is that global warming is real. It’s
primarily caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases, mostly
the result of burning fossil fuels like coal and oil.
University of Georgia scientists are developing a bio-refinery
that will be an environmentally sound alternative to crude
oil refineries. The bio-refinery processes biomass such as
agricultural waste and biofuel crops to produce fuel. And,
it’s beneficial for the environment.
“Obtaining our energy through a bio-refinery instead
of depending on fossil fuels doesn’t just reduce carbon
dioxide emissions,” said K.C. Das, a bioconversion engineer
for UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, "it actually sequesters carbon."
That means a potential source of the greenhouse gas, carbon
dioxide, is transformed into a form of carbon that’s
harmless. “It could remain in the soil for a long time,
away from the atmosphere where it would contribute to global
warming,” Das said.
The researchers began with a simple idea: The chemical difference
between hydrocarbons, such as coal and oil, and carbohydrates,
found in plants, is small. “We realized that all we’re
missing is a process that can mimic nature’s conversion
of biomass to fossil fuel,” Das said.
Pyrolysis, an old technique that creates charcoal, can do
this. Pyrolysis transforms biomass and agricultural waste
products into a fuel and chemical feedstock called bio-oil.
One byproduct of pyrolysis is hydrogen, a much cleaner fuel
and a substance used to make ammonia fertilizer.
One of the most exciting aspects of the technology is that
it also generates carbon char, a solid form of carbon. Unlike
carbon dioxide, the analogous byproduct of crude oil refineries
and a major environmental problem, the char is beneficial
as a fertilizer.
Since the bio-refinery uses agricultural waste like peanut
hulls, poultry litter and other byproducts, the technology
turns an environmental obstacle into an environmental advantage.
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