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Nebraska Blue Print
By Gael Kennedy
Reprinted from
Nebraska Blue Print
Among the possible partial answers to a
portion of what is now called the "energy and
environment crisis" may be the use of Gasohol.
But what is Gasohol? Gasohol is a motor fuel
blended from alcohol and unleaded gasoline.
Current considerations are being given for a
blended solution containing a minimum of 10
per cent alcohol and a maximum of 90 percent
unleaded gasoline. This 1090 mixture of
Gasohol will allow an engine that uses regular
gasoline to burn this fuel with no adjustments.
The present Gasohol project in Nebraska was
established by the passage of Legislative Bill 776
in the 1971 Session and Legislative Bill 1208 in
the 1972 Session of the Nebraska Legislature. In
part the Bills established the AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCTS INDUSTRIAL UTILIZATION
COMMITTEE. The purpose of this committee is
not only to test, support research, further the use
of alcohol-gasoline blended fuel, and promote
the production of grain alcohol for this blend,
but also to help in the utilization of research and
production for all agricultural products.
Agricultural alcohol
The source of agricultural alcohol is any
product which contains a high concentration of
carbohydrates; such as wheat, corn, milo, sugar
UNI c
By Ken Merlin
School of Journalism
"We're trying to interest the
National Science Foundation (NSF)
in the use of alcohol on the nation's
roads-take it out of the driver and
put in in the gas tank," said Marvin
Johnson, co-investigator with
Norman Cromwell at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln of the state
gasohol project.
The Legislature has been
interested for several years in the
industrial use of alcohol, a
byproduct of the farm, and
established the gasohol project in
1971.
Since then, the University has
completed an emissions test funded
by the Legislature and is preparing
for a 2-millionmile road test using
gasohol in a mixture of nine parts
unleaded gasoline to one part
alcohol, according to Francis
Schmehl, research administrator,
office of grants and research.
Tanks Installed
Johnson, an industrial
engineering professor, said gasohol
storage tanks have been installed at
state roads department locations in
Lincoln and Grand Island and a
third tank will be located in Sidney.
National interest in Nebraska's
gasohol project has grown. The U.S.
Senate approved an amendment to
the agricultural appropriations bill
which "provides $100,000 for a
study on the feasibility of blending
grain alcohol with gasoline for use
as a motor fuel," the Omaha
World-Herald reported last week.
Senators to Washington
Senator Roman Hruska, a
member of the Senate
Appropriations Committee who
offered the amendment, "said a
study is needed before federal
assistance can be obtained to build
a $20 million plant in Nebraska to
convert grain alcohol," the
newspaper reported.
Also reported was the fact that a
group of state senators had gone to
Washington, D.C. to dicuss the
guel-grain proposal.
Johnson praised the Legislature
for establishing the gasohol project
and its members for their recently
successful effort in promoting it on
the national level.
He said the University will
submit a preliminary proposal to
NSF for a feasibility study "which
gathers everything we've learned to
date and studies the future impact
of using gasohol, including the
industrial, social, economic and
environmental aspects."
Agencies from neighboring states
would be asked to contribute so
that the resulting study will
consider the midwest farm region as
a whole, he said.
Johnson said the study would
normally take from one to two
years to complete, but that there
was pressure to complete it in a
much shorter time.
for sujs
The feasibility of storing
electrical power in large
superconducting magnets for
use in periods of high load is
lx;ing analyzed by researchers
at the University of Wisconsin
under a grant from the
National Science Foundation
(NSF).
Efficient, economic and
environmentally acceptable
means of storage are sought as
a way of lessening
requirements for new
generating installations to meet
growing demand, increasing
flexibility in planning power
systems arid improving their
performance.
The principal present
method, "pumped storage,"
uses' generating machines as
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dim
frocofy Dim imxBijjjinetfs
fines pecak periods
motors to pump water during
slack demand periods to
reservoirs at an elevation which
is released for hydroelectric
generation when demand is
heavy. The creation of artificial
reservoirs in natural settings
can encounter public
opposition.
Superconducting magnets,
cooled to just above absolute
zero to achieve
superconductivity, storing
electric energy in their
magnetic fields for use on
demand, could, if feasible at a
high energy capacity, provide a
much more compact and
environmentally less intrusive
storage installation.
According to Professor
Harold Peterson of the
University of Wisconsin's
College of Engineering, one of
the researchers on the project,
total electric energy used in the
United States in 1972 was
approximately half of what
could have been generated with
available capacity. Yet
additional capacity is Ijeing
planned, he said, because with
the exception of pumped
storage, there is no practical
method now available for
storing large amounts of energy
which could Ik? generated
during off peak hours for use
during peak demand.
The feasibility analysis will
seek to identify srecific
problem areas awl evaluate the
potential of the proposed
storage system.
beets, molasses, and potatoes. The yield of
alcohol from these grains would be directly
proportional to the amount of starch content.
Typically, from wheat containing a 55 percent
starch content about 2.6 gallons of grain alcohol
can be obtained per bushel. The grains not only
yield the alcohol, but also several useful
by-products. Among these are glutens, adhesives,
carbon dioxide which is used extensively by the
soft drink industry and in the production of dry
ice, and a high protein cattle feed known as
distillers dried grains. The market for this feed,
however, is sensitive to the changes in animal
population and the availability of other vegetable
proteins such as soybeans.
At the present time a feasibility study on the
use of gasohol in motor vehicles is in progress.
The results to date for modern engines in the
areas of fuel mileage, cold weather starts, and
motor wear are encouraging. In these tests
gasohol mileage appears to be at least comparable
to that of gasoline without the alcohol blend.
Prior research indicates that a 1090 mixture
gives the best results from the standpoint of
economy and transition from one fuel to
another. A follow-up fleet demonstration will be
initiated soon to accumulate mass data on
mileage performance and to discover and solve
any problems that the ordinary motorist might
encounter.
Exhaust research
Research is presently being conducted to
determine the compositon of the exhaust
emissions from motors using Gasohol.
Preliminary results of their research indicates
that pollutants from an engine burning a Gasohol
mixture can be effectively eliminated with the
use of a catalytic muffler. An important note
here is that the burning of Gasohol does not
deactivate a catalytic muffler which does occur
when conventional leaded gasoline is burned.
With the nation facing a crisis in the
diminishing supply of crude oil and natural gas,
the petroleum industry is looking at both the
technical and economical feasibility of using
grain alcohol. This agricultural energy is an
annually renewable source of energy, although it
too can be exhausted through improper farming
methods. The inclusion of alcohol blended fuel
would have only a minor effect on the
continually expanding matket for petroleum, but
to some extent, this blended fuel could prolong
the diminishing supply.
831 million gallons
In 1972, Nebraskan's consumed 831 million
gallons of tax paid gasoline. If Gasohol were
adopted, ten percent or 83 million gallons of
gasoline would be replaced with grain alcohol. If
all of this grain alcohol were to Ix; produced
from wheat about 32 million bushels would be
required. Compare this to the total wheat
harvested in Nebraska in 1972 which was about
94.6 million bushels.
Preliminary plans have been made for a market
research program, which will be followed by a
limited insertion to be made in selected areas
through appropriate companies in Nebraska. The
blended solution would be marketed by private
enterprises as required by LB 1208. With the
rising cost of conventional gasolines it appears
that in the future the price of Gasohol will
become competitive with gasoline and no subsidy
will be needed. The attempt is being made to
interest farm service cooperatives in marketing
Gasohol since they have a market distribution
system, petroleum refinery facilities, grain
handling and purchasing facilities, fertilizer and
farm chemicals, and animal feed divisions.
Other states interested
Nebraska is not the only state interested in the
possibilities for Gasohol. Requests for
information on the project have come from every
surrounding state and from Illinois and
Washington. The interest is not limited to the
United States alone, since information requests
have also been received from Italy and Australia.
If you are asking why the alcohol fuel blend
has not been used before, I fie answer is simple: It
has! Many times throughout the world in times
when there were fuel shortages such as during
wars or when economic conditions dictated,
grain alcohol has been used as a fuel. As the
market changed, retroleum products became
more available and cheaper. At the present time
liowever, the cost of petroleum products is rising
and the economics of alcohol fuels are becoming
more favorable.
page 10
summer nebraskan
tuesday, july 10, 1973