U of M Ethanol Litre-Leader

MORGAN MODJESKI, STAFF

In order to meet Canada’s plans to use five per cent ethanol blends in all gasoline by the year 2010, researchers have begun to look into more efficient methods of producing ethanol. According to the Canadian Renewable Fuel Association, two billion litres of ethanol will be required each year to meet this goal.

Ethanol is a renewable, clean-burning fuel that can be produced from high-starch crops or cellulose found in plants. Ethanol can be used in fuel flexible cars, which are vehicles manufactured that use both ethanol and fossil fuels. According to the American Coalition for Ethanol there are currently six million fuel flexible cars already on the road.

In 2003, 235 million gallons of ethanol was used. The number is expected to rise by 110 million gallons each year until the year 2010, according to Syntec Biofuel, a Canadian research company.

The current methods of producing ethanol are slow and wasteful according to an article in Wired magazine called “One Molecule Could Cure Our Addiction to Oil.”

Wired reported that corn ethanol is easier to produce than cellulose ethanol. However, corn ethanol only produces at best 30 per cent more energy than is required to process.

Currently, the University of Manitoba’s plant science department is conducting new research concerning ethanol fuel; the studies involve both starch and cellulose ethanol.

Some of the research, which is still in the beginning stages of development, includes investigating new ways to produce ethanol faster and on a larger scale.

The research began after receiving a $1-million endowment fund from Husky Energy Inc. in 2005.

Since 2005, the university plant and science department has received funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Agriculture Food Research and Development Initiative, and Western Economic Diversification with donations totalling close to $4 million.

Anita Brûlé-Babel, a professor for the department of plant sciences, said the university was chosen to conduct this research because of its expertise in biofuels research. In addition, Husky Energy plans to build a facility in Manitoba to use the products of the research it has funded.

“There is a demand increase coming from the government and also from fuel companies like Husky,” said Fawzi Razem, an assistant professor in the department of plant science.

Razem explained that as the government continues to fund the research of ethanol, larger fuel refineries are beginning to invest.

“The government wants to increase the production and consumption of ethanol and as a result this has been reflected on ethanol companies like Husky, and also on the research. If you want to increase production you have to have innovative research.”

Even though the research for ethanol fuel is being conducted, the idea of ethanol fuels replacing fossil fuels in Canada is still very far off.

“To try and have E85 (85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent gas) across the country, we [can’t] produce the crops or biomass to meet that mandate. I have limited faith that we’re actually ever going to be able to go to an E85 partly because we just don’t have the crops,” said Brûlé-Babel.