Posts Tagged ‘sugar cane’
June 5th, 2009 | 
Author: Nitric acid is one of the top chemicals in production around the world. Its primary application is in the manufacture of nitrogen-based fertilizers. It is also used in explosives, metallurgy, dyes, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. Other minor applications include water treatment, fibers and polymers manufacture, liquid-propellant for rockets, printmaking, and nuclear fuel reprocessing.
Human-influenced sources may account for as much as 40% of the total NOx released into the atmosphere. The laughing gas, nitrous oxide (N2O), is approximately accountable to 7% of the greenhouse gases. The concentration of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere has significantly increased from the pre-industrial period as compared in the last two decades.
As a waste by-product of nitric acid production, oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are very harmful to the environment and they can also aggravate the effects of climate change. Emissions from nitric acid manufacturing plants may not be as significant as those of combustion of fossil fuels but a small difference in the levels of nitrogen oxides released into the atmosphere will mean a big difference since they are very harmful greenhouse gases.
Biofuels are also contributors to nitrous oxide. Contrary to popular belief, a report from the International Council for Science (ICSU) concludes that biofuel production can aggravate global warming rather than alleviating its effects. The theory is that annual plants and crops such as corn, wheat and sugar cane take up carbon dioxide during their growth. Hence, fuels burned from them have no significant carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.
The same study also supported an earlier finding which determined that nitrous oxide has a more harmful effect on the environment and the climate change phenomenon than previously believed. The ability of nitrous oxide in warming up the planet is 300 times more than carbon dioxide. It also stays longer in the atmosphere.
Nitrous oxide is a natural occurring gas in the atmosphere as a result of the nitrogen cycle but it is the rate at which its concentration increases and the factors which contribute to this increase that worries scientists and environmentalists. One of the greatest factors which most of them have seen is the anthropogenic sources such as nitric acid manufacturing plants.
Greenhouse effects cannot be ignored anymore. Climate change is upon us. The weather has become even more unpredictable than before. Studies have also identified that the main cause of this phenomenon are unchecked and negligent human practices.
As a result of industrialization, comforts have been afforded to us, such as electricity, transport, and other luxuries we now enjoy. But this comes with a price, the warming up of the planet.
Is this really worth it? Can we really afford the unpredictability of the weather today, the increase in intensity of natural disasters? The world has certainly begun to experience the effects of the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by the higher than normal temperatures, the melting of the polar ice caps and the rising sea levels.
We have to make a move now. A move to reduce our impacts on the environment, this especially goes to those who are in the position to make a significant change in reducing nitric acid production by-products. Owners and managers of plants and companies which use nitric acid must have proper processing and disposal strategies which are environment friendly.
But the responsibility doesn’t stop there. We must do our part as well. We are also stakeholders therefore we have to take responsibility. One thing is for sure though, we have to start today. This is because of the fact that the planet will continue to warm up for no less than 150 years due residence time of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It will take a long, long time before the climate becomes stable.
Jo is a writer for ‘ReAgent Chemical Services Ltd’ (http://www.reagent.co.uk), an established UK based chemical firm that creates, stocks and sells a vast selection of high quality chemicals. If your firm is seeking premium chemical product such as Nitric Acid or has other industrial compound requirements for purposes like chemical syntheses, analytical purposes and cleaning then check out ReAgent Chemical Services Ltd.
Article Source: Nitric Acid: Aggravating Climate Change And Furthering Its Impact To The Environment
Biofuels are created by converting organic matters into fuel so that mankind can be supplied with energy. The biofuels represent alternative ways to stop using the fossil fuels which are already depleting for the near future. Biofuels include under this designation ethanol, derivatives of plants namely sugar cane, corn oils and vegetables. Nonetheless, not all products made from ethanol can be used to generate power. The agency catering for international energy has concluded that ethanol can be used to supply ten percent of the total amounts of gasoline necessary to mankind starting from 2025, and thirty percent of it until 2050. Until now, the percentage remains relatively low, only two percent.
Nonetheless, we can still find a solution to make way for economic and practical changes in the ways biofuels will affect the current and future trends in energy. Studies carried out by scientists have pointed out so far that biofuel can be as much energy efficient as petroleum and traditional fossil fuels. With this in mind, we can easily make an impression on which one will prove to be the most effective in the long term. We need incredulous amounts of energy to provide input energy and this can be done by ensuring that we find some sort of energy source that will not deplete itself. Currently, fossil fuel resources are being depleted at high levels, therefore it is important to have a backup plan that might become the norm in some years from now on. Research has also pointed out that products made from corn ethanol derived sources is twenty percent efficient, compared to the relative success of gasoline, accounting for seventy five percent energy efficiency.
Therefore, it is important to point out that despite the fact that alternative energies and thus biofuels are under research, the ethanol derived from cellulose proved to be eighty five percent efficient, therefore even more that the efficiency of gasoline.
For instance, analysis inside the NYSE, the stock exchange of New York, predict a much wider scale and availability of biofuels to be used to create energy. By spanning the area of the impact of this technology, oil prices can be reduced and thus they can even drop under the crude amount of forty dollars per barrel or even less. Therefore, it is easily possible and predictable that the alternative energy industry would definitely have a negative impact on fossil fuel industries. Some analyses predict that alternative energies, thus biofuels will supply seven percent of total energy demands for transportation by 2030. Therefore, the energy market will definitely be affected in an irreversible way that will make institutions and government authorities unable to regulate the impact of biofuels. If the government nonetheless, agrees to subsidize firm and thus encourage the distribution of biofuels, then the eco friendly alternative will stand more chances in becoming the norm.
Worldwide, there are more nations involved and committed to promoting the usage of biofuels against the usage of more traditional fuels.
These countries include Brazil, who occurs to be the biggest producer of ethanol of them all. It produces ethanol mainly from sugar, around half a billion gallons each year of ethanol production.
While it is the largest consumer of fuels on earth at the moment, the US is also the second largest country producing biofuels, just behind Brazil. Thus, the biofuel quantity produced by the European Union amounts for up to four million tons of biofuel. About eighty percent of the amount of biodiesel fuels coming from the EU is obtained from rapeseed; the rest of it comes from soybean oils and well as some palm oil quantity . These sources represent the remaining twenty percent of the production of biofuel in Europe.
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Article Source: Biofuels Can be Considered Alternative Energetic Sources