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A bio-ethanol fireplace with artificial wood logs. An ethanol fireplace (also bio-ethanol fireplace, bio fireplace), is a type of fireplace which burns ethanol fuel. They are often installed without a chimney. Ethanol for these fires is often marketed as bioethanol (ethanol produced from biomass). [clarification needed]
The first type uses enzymes and yeast fermentation to convert the plant cellulose into ethanol while the second type uses pyrolysis to convert the whole plant to either a liquid bio-oil or a syngas. Second generation processes can also be used with plants such as grasses, wood or agricultural waste material such as straw.
Enzymes can be used instead of fermentation. Methanol is the simpler molecule, and ethanol can be made from methanol. Methanol can be produced industrially from nearly any biomass, including animal waste, or from carbon dioxide and water or steam by first converting the biomass to synthesis gas in a gasifier. It can also be produced in a ...
In Brazil where sugar cane is used, the yield is higher, and conversion to ethanol is more energy efficient than corn. Recent developments with cellulosic ethanol production may improve yields even further. [12] In 2006 a study from the University of Minnesota found that corn-grain ethanol produced 1.25 units of energy per unit put in. [13]
The first attempt at commercializing a process for ethanol from wood was done in Germany in 1898. It involved the use of dilute acid to hydrolyze the cellulose to glucose, and was able to produce 7.6 liters of ethanol per 100 kg of wood waste (18 US gal (68 L) per ton).
Biomass (in the context of energy generation) is matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms which is used for bioenergy production. There are variations in how such biomass for energy is defined, e.g. only from plants, [8] or from plants and algae, [9] or from plants and animals. [10]
Thermal conversion processes use heat as the dominant mechanism to upgrade biomass into a better and more practical fuel. The basic alternatives are torrefaction , pyrolysis , and gasification , these are separated mainly by the extent to which the chemical reactions involved are allowed to proceed (mainly controlled by the availability of ...
The wood gas generator, a wood-fueled gasification reactor, can be connected to an internal combustion engine. Syngas can be used to produce methanol , dimethyl ether and hydrogen , or converted via the Fischer–Tropsch process to produce a diesel substitute, or a mixture of alcohols that can be blended into gasoline.