Alternative Futures: Biofuels and Mass Spectrometry -

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Alternative Futures: Biofuels and Mass Spectrometry

Apr 1, 2009
By: Michael P. Balogh
LCGC North America

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Michael P. Balogh

In the 1950s, petroleum-related gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) applications were one of the founding cornerstones of modern MS. 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, high order MS techniques can differentiate between chemical species that differ by less than the mass of a single electron. Such astonishing precision has come about as the magnetic-sector mass spectrometers of previous decades have yielded their place to modern, time-of-flight mass spectrometers, improving the utility and flexibility of analyses with high mass accuracy and resolution.

The Time has Arrived

War in the middle east and Asia exacerbates fuel and heating oil shortages in the United States, 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 am recounting news of 2008. Yet the United States' 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 United States' 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 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 nontechnology 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 ft long, 60 ft wide reaching a height of 30 ft above sea level.

Figure 1: Commonly used plant species in the United States are viable for widespread growth. (Figure courtesy of Russ Miller at ORNL from Bioenergy Feedstock Development Program Status Report, ORNL/TM-2000/92, Model woody and herbaceous crops chosen for study in the 1990s.)

In December 2008, 120 windmills — the largest of Europe's onshore facilities — went online 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 300,000 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 United States, 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 article cited here, that figure is more than twice the amount planned for the U.K.). 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.

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