A Look at How The Energy Crisis of the 1970’s Propelled Ethanol Back Into The Fuel Market

1978-1979 were significant years in the history of fuel ethanol.  During these years the Iranian Revolution had gone underway, and during November of 1978 a strike led by 37,000 of Iran’s oil refinery laborers led to a significant decrease in oil production (6 million barrels a day to 1.5 million barrels a day).  The Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza Pahlavi had to flee the country and U.S. President Jimmy Carter ordered a termination of imports from Iran.

Realizing that the American energy supply was in jeopardy, the U.S. Congress passed the Energy Tax Act that same month.  The purpose of this act was to promote energy conservation and to shift American energy away from oil and fuel towards renewable sources of fuel.

Despite passing this act, beginning in 1979 the most significant energy crisis had begun in the U.S., the price of oil had more than doubled ($15.85/barrel to $39.50/barrel) and long lines began to appear at gas stations in fear of a gasoline shortage.  However this energy shortage alerted the U.S. public to the need for alternative sources of energy, and would provide more popular support for future alternative energy bills that would be brought before Congress.

Once the Energy Crisis of 1979 subsided the long term benefits of the Energy Tax Act began to take hold.  The Energy Tax Act also gave 4 cents a gallon tax exemption on gasoline that contained 10% ethanol, which resulted in the first significant research in developing ethanol for fuel in the U.S. that gone underway in more than fifty years.

Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s ethanol production grew steadily as E10 became a common fixture in gasoline.  It wasn’t until 2005 that ethanol received its next big boost in the market place with the Energy Policy Act.  This act provided tax incentives and loans for various forms of energy production including: coal, biofuel, wind, ocean, geothermal, and nuclear energy.

In 2007 the Energy Independence and Security Act (a kind of extension for the Energy Policy Act) was passed and signed into law by George W. Bush.  This new act requires automakers to boost fleetwide gas mileage to 35mpg by 2020, offers incentives for the development of plug-in or hybrid vehicles, and that biofuel production increase to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022.

Between 2005 and 2010 (when these two Acts were first passed into law) ethanol production in the U.S. has more than tripled.  Ethanol has re-emerged in the market place, and right now ethanol production continues to be encouraged by the government and U.S. consumers with the recent mandate by the EPA to increase the amount of ethanol in gasoline from E10 (10% ethanol) to E15 (15% ethanol), and by the Obama administrations plans to install an additional 10,000 flex fuel pumps throughout the U.S. over the next 5 years.

Sources:

The Energy Policy Act:http://www.doi.gov/pam/EnergyPolicyAct2005.pdf

The Energy Independence and Security Act (CRC Report to Congress) a summary of the bill http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34294_20071221.pdf

http://www.agjournalonline.com/news/x1798431020/USDA-to-fund-more-blender-pumps

http://www.davemanuel.com/investor-dictionary/1979-energy-crisis/

Activated Carbon’s Historical Use of Being A Medicine

Activated carbon and charcoal (which is what is primarily used to make activated carbon) has been used medicinally for thousands of years.  Our previous article “Making Whiskey” mentions that Hippocrates the western father of modern medicine recorded using charcoal in some of his treatments.

Activated carbon has had its skeptics throughout history but chemist Pierre-Fleurus Touery put the critics to rest with his famous demonstration in the mid 19th century.  Touery’s demonstration which was performed in front of the French Academy of Medicine saw Touery ingest a dose of strychnine, that was ten times higher than what was required to be a lethal dose.

I believe it is important to mention that strychnine is a  poison that can cause some of the most painful symptoms a person can experience  by ingesting a toxic substance.  Strychnine is rumored to be the poison that killed Alexander the Great and its symptoms have been used to great dramatic effect by Hollywood with one of the more notable films being Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.  In Psycho Norman Bates kills his mother and her lover with strychnine.

Touery took 15 grams of activated carbon with the (mentioned above)  lethal dose of strychnine and stood there as time ticked away.  Nothing happened, and Touery’s shocked audience watched as Touery walked away from the event unharmed.  The end result: activated carbon had been proven that it could be used to stop the effects of poison on humans.

Activated carbon works by adsorbing all of the toxins onto its highly porous surface area.  (10 grams of Activated Carbon has enough surface area to cover an entire American football field).  In other words it doesn’t take a lot activated carbon to adsorb toxins.

The toxins once adsorbed remain on the activated carbon until it is passed through the digestive system and out of the body.  The toxins are bound so tight to the activated carbon that the stomach and intestines are not able to absorb them.

Today activated carbon is still used to treat people who have been poisoned.  It is often associated with treating alcohol overdoses but it has seen effective results in treating indigestion, heartburn, and some intestinal disorders.  Activated carbon is most often sold to consumers in capsules, tablets, supplements, and as activated charcoal.

It is important to remember that activated carbon does not effectively treat all poisons, but it can effectively treat many of them.  Activated carbon’s use as a medicine is just one of its many functions, we will be writing more about those functions in the near future.

Sources:

Who goes first?: The Story of Self-experimentation in Medicine, Author: Lawrence K. Altman

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/activated_charcoal/page2_em.htm

A Look Into How Military’s Use Desiccants in Gas Masks and Medical Equipment

Desiccants are used all over the world and military’s around the world are no exception.

The first widespread use of desiccants by any military occurred during the First World War.  This war is famous for the use of chemical gases as a weapon, and armies that were afflicted with a barrage of gas containing shells needed protection in order to avoid being poisoned.

This led to the first gas masks being mass produced.  The material in the gas mask canisters that absorbed potential toxins was silica gel, and this helped to reduce the effects of poisonous gas attacks that opposing armies faced throughout the remainder of the war.

During 1915 ,while World War I was on-going, Russian scientist Nikolay Zelinsky improved upon the gas mask by creating a filter that used activated carbon, another desiccant.  Today activated carbon is the standard desiccant used in most modern gas masks.

The activated carbon filters in gas masks didn’t start getting used until after World War II.  During this war silica gel was replaced as the primary adsorbing material in gas mask by asbestos… which the world learned after the war caused serious illnesses like mesothelioma and malignant lung cancer.

This paved the way for modern gas masks which use activated carbon filters in combination with aerosol filters to keep soldiers safe.  Activated carbon has a larger surface area than silica gel and can adsorb more potentially dangerous airborne chemicals, thus making it more effective filter.

Besides being used in gas masks, desiccants have recently found a new use in military medical technology.

Zeolites have been attached to gauze and recently been used by the U.S. military to help reduce the blood flow in wounded soldiers and civilians.  The pores in the zeolites are small enough to adsorb the water out of the bloodstream leaving only cells and platelets.

Platelets circulate throughout our blood stream looking to clot blood.  With all the water absorbed out of the bloodstream, thanks to the zeolites, the blood is allowed to clot a lot faster.  This has helped save many lives because it greatly speeds up the time for a wound to close and stop bleeding and it also reduces the chance of wound becoming infected.

The success of zeolites in gauze has allowed this product to be used in the commercial medical market and it is now being used by law enforcement and emergency response units.

Ford’s Belief in Ethanol as the “Fuel of the Future” May Be Coming True

Henry Ford is remembered by history as the founder of Ford Motor Company and with his involvement in developing the assembly line and interchangeable parts he became the first entrepreneur to mass produce the automobile (Ford’s Model T, 1908).

Despite Ford’s visionary status in the automobile industry few people realize Ford was one of the first advocates for fuel ethanol.  In 1925, Ford told a New York Times reporter that ethyl alcohol was “the fuel of the future,” and that it would “come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust –almost anything,” he said.

Ford’s support for fuel ethanol came from his early years when he was growing up on his family’s farm in Michigan.  Ford’s farming experience allowed him to witness first-hand the economic struggles that American farmers were facing during the first half of the 20^th century.

As Ford’s automobile business began to take off he realized that ethanol had the potential to not only fuel his vehicles, it also had the potential to alleviate what was becoming a mounting economic crisis for Mid-Western farmers.  Widespread use of fuel ethanol could have helped relieve farmers of economic stress.

Ethanol as automobile fuel would eventually be replaced by oil in the early 20^th century.  Researching ethanol as a bio-fuel did translate into a broad movement of scientific research called “Farm Chemurgy,” that lasted until the 1950’s.   This movement of science studied the viability of turning cellulose based products like ethanol, soybean, and hemp into consumer products.

As we move into the 21^st century American consumers have begun to look for alternative energy sources due to high gas prices.  Chemurgy and the use of ethanol as fuel are becoming popular again because they could provide American’s with a home grown energy source, boost our struggling agricultural economy, and ultimately reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

Nearly a century after Ford called ethanol the “fuel of the future,” it looks like ethanol is well on its way to being just that.  The past decade has seen the number of ethanol plants grow to over 200 in the United States, automakers are creating more flex-fuel based automobiles, and at the end of 2010 the EPA allowed the blend of ethanol in gasoline to be increased to 15%.  Ethanol’s resurgence in today’s marketplace continues to cement Ford’s status as a visionary.