Biofuels: Investigating Ethanol Production and Combustion Kit

Scientific Concepts and Processes

• Chemical reactions that release energy, such as the burning of fuels, occur all around us.
• Students conduct scientific investigations, use mathematics to improve investigations, and formula models using evidence.
• Human resource consumption places stress on the natural processes that renew some resources and depletes those resources that cannot be renewed.
• Decisions about new research and technology, such as those related to energy issues, involve assessment of alternatives, risks, costs, and benefits. Students should understand the costs and trade-offs of various decisions.

This activity includes three major parts.

• Investigation One is a demonstration of the fermentation of corn and cane sugar, the two food sources used most commonly to produce ethanol, and the distillation of the fermented stillage to produce fuel.
• Investigation Two - students investigate the energy released by the combustion of ethanol and kerosene and compares the results.
• Investigation Three - students measure and compare two by-products~CO2 and particulate matter - of the two fuels. Students compare results and discuss the trade-offs of biofuels and fossil fuels as sources of energy.

This kit is designed for use with six groups of four, or at most five, students.

Kit Contents:

• 1 Teachers Manual with MSDS
• 28 Student Worksheets and Guides
• 12 30-mL graduated cups
• 6 glass fuel burners
• 6 pieces of aluminum foil
• 6 180-ml plastic bottles with caps
• 6 15-mL dropper bottles with bromothymol blue solution (BTB)
• 6 15-mL dropper bottles of 0.05 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
• 3 45-cm pieces of clear plastic tubing
• 2 Condensers
• 2 1-holed #3 rubber stoppers (for condensers)
• 2 2-holed #7 rubber stoppers (for flasks)
• 2 plastic funnels
• 1 50-mL graduated cylinder with base
• 1 240-mL bottle of ethanol
• 1 240-mL bottle of kerosene
• 1 Transparency 1: Energy Results for Ethanol and Kerosene
• 1 Transparency 2: Combustion Equations
• 1 Transparency 3: Hydrocarbon Combustion