Alternative Futures: BioFuels and Mass Spectrometry -

Alternative Futures: BioFuels and Mass Spectrometry

Apr 1, 2009
By: Michael P. Balogh
LCGC Europe
Volume 22, Issue 4

In the 1950s, petroleum-related gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS) applications were one of the founding cornerstones of modern mass spectrometry. Even now, "petroleomics" — not to be outdone by life science research — serves as an example of the cutting-edge in liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC–MS).¹ In petroleomics, several MS ionization techniques can differentiate between chemical species that differ by less than the mass of a single electron. Such astonishing sensitivity has come about as the magnetic-sector mass spectrometers of previous decades have yielded their place to modern, time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers, improving the utility and flexibility of analyses with high mass accuracy and resolution.

The Time has Arrived

Figure 1

War in the Middle East and Asia exacerbates fuel and heating oil shortages in the US, heralding the end of an era of inexpensive oil. The stock market (with the exception of oil stocks) stumbles badly and following the president's authorization of controls on oil prices, production and allocation, the secretary of state announces a national plan to make the country "energy independent". You could be forgiven for assuming that, except for the last two items, I'm recounting news of 2008. Yet the US president was Richard Nixon and it was during his tenure in the early 1970s that oil prices went from slightly more than $3 a barrel to nearly $12. Later in that decade, the country faced a resurgence of energy-related issues. As the decades passed the country's national energy policy is still a work-in-progress.

Because it requires little cultural adaptation on the part of us humans, blending novel power-generating technologies with non-renewable energy sources would seem more promising of success. But even here, besides the considerable technological hurdles involved in developing alternative energy supplies, those who promote change encounter cultural resistance. Among the non-technology issues that plague us are lawsuits brought by abutters who find wind machines problematic for aesthetic and other reasons, interest groups for whose members abandoning the status quo would cost money, the relatively high cost of the new technologies and geographical restrictions on wind, thermal, or solar generation of electricity on any useful scale. Wave farms for instance, planned for the coast of the state of Rhode Island (Oceanlinx, Australia), would consist of 10–14 floating cable-tethered units each unit 90 feet long, 60 feet wide reaching a height of 30 feet above sea level.

Figure 2

In December 2008, 120 windmills — the largest of Europe's onshore facilities — went on-line in Portugal. The total output is 650 GW hours per year, or 1% of the country's total energy needs — enough to provide power to about 300000 homes.² A relatively poor country by Western European standards, Portugal is already recognized for its unique, commercial wave-power plant, though the plant has been, so far, slow in meeting expectations.³

To date, the world's largest onshore wind farm, the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, is located in the US, in Texas, and it provides more than 700 MW.⁴ Portugal is less than one-fifth the size of Texas and its population, less than half that of Texas (10.6 million versus 23.5 million), is far more dense. Its goal of achieving more than 30% of its power generated by new technologies by 2020 is commendable (according to The Guardian, that figure is more than twice the amount planned for the UK). Nevertheless, the cost of new projects is substantial and it looms as a frequent issue in technology development discussions. In this instance, the Portuguese government supplies subsidies up to 40% of costs.

Figure 3

Whether for improved batteries, for greater deployment of electricity, or other alternative possibility for decreasing our global consumption of fossil fuels, the challenges of these technologies are interdependent, and must be addressed together.

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