ethanol fuel production and use in kenya for sustainable ... - lumes

Ethanol can be a potential means to phasing out lead because if neat ethanol is used, there iszero lead emissions (Thomas, 2001; WB, 1994).Renewable resource…“Today’s needs should not comprise the ability of future generations to meet their needs”(WCED, 1987). Ethanol is derived from biomass and biomass is a renewable resource ifproper farm management is practised. Ethanol is thus classified as a renewable form of energy.This makes its production and use sustainable in both the long tem and short term because itsuse will meet both the present and the future generations’ ethanol energy and socio-economicneeds. Its renewable nature is also a form of energy security as opposed to energy forms suchas fossil fuels that are threatened by depletion (Figure 3).4.0 DISCUSSIONThis section is divided into two sections; section one, discusses the costs and benefits of usingethanol as opposed to petroleum and section two discusses the potential crops that could beused for ethanol production and the potential size and location of the ethanol plant. It will alsodiscuss the barriers that could hinder the adoption of ethanol in Kenya.SECTION 14.1 ETHANOL END USEIn order to mitigate air pollution that emanates from the combustion of fossil fuels, ethanol ison a global scale increasingly being used as neat ethanol, blended with gasoline and as anoctane booster, as a substitute for imported oil. (Ahmed, 2001) ethanol cuts down air pollutionand improves urban air quality (Figure 5). However, in addition to the good qualities ofethanol there are some negative qualities that are encountered in the production and use ofethanol. This section will discuss the impacts of using ethanol4.1.1 Environmental FactorsNOXThe use of ethanol may actually increase NOx in the atmosphere. This can be deducted fromthe fact that different experiments have come up with different results in the tests that havebeen done to measure NOx emissions from the use of neat ethanol or ethanol blends and fromthe use of pure gasoline. For instance one study reports study, reports a slight lowering ofNOx in ethanol blended fuels while yet another study reports an increase in NOx by 4.8% forthe same; (Niven, 2004). However, Hsieh et al. (2001) concluded that NOx emission is notinfluenced by the presence or absence of ethanol but by how the engine operates. There isthus need for further research to find out if ethanol does cause an increase in NOx or not andif it does, how the NOx emissions can be reduced.AldehydesThere is a general concern that ethanol and ethanol containing fuels produce worrisomeamounts of aldehydes notably acetaldehyde and formaldehyde (Hsieh et al., 2001;Poulopoulos et al., 2001, 2003; Ahmed, 2001; Niven, 2004). When ethanol is burnt is a greatamount of acetaldehyde which is formed when ethanol emissions from car exhaust and from17