Question

Name two fuels which are produced from biomass.

Answer 1

1. Methanol: Methanol is also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha, or wood spirit. Its chemical formula is CH30H. Methanol is termed wood alcohol because it was once produced chiefly as a by-product of the destructive distillation of wood. However, nowadays, methanol is produced in a catalytic industrial process directly from carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. Methanol is a light, volatile, colourless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odour.
2. Ethanol: Ethanol is also known as ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, beverage alcohol, or drinking alcohol. In common usage, it is often referred to simply asalcohol or spirit. It has the chemical formula C2H50H. It is the same alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, but ethanol also makes an effective motor fuel. Most ethanol used for fuel is being blended into gasoline at concentrations of 5 to 10 percent.
3. Gasohol: Gasohol is an alternative fuel consisting of a mixture of typically 90 percent gasoline with 10 percent anhydrous ethanol. Gasohol can be used in most modern and light-duty vehicles with internal combustion.
4. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG): Natural gas is a fossil fuel that exists in a gaseous state and is composed mainly of methane and a small percentage of other hydrocarbons. The use of natural gas is becoming more and more popular as it can be used with commercial, industrial, electric power generation, and residential applications.
5. Hydrogen: Hydrogen is the lightest element on the periodic table with an atomic weight of 1.00794 amu. Hydrogen is considered an alternative fuel. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colourless, odourless, tasteless, non-toxic, nonmetallic, highly combustible diatomic gas with the molecular formula H₂ . Hydrogen is locked up in enormous quantities in water (H20), hydrocarbons (such as methane, CH4), and other organic matter. One. of the challenges of using hydrogen . as a fuel comes from being able to efficiently extract hydrogen from these compounds. Hydrogen can also be produced from water through electrolysis, but this method is much more energy intensive.