This could be a way to replace gasoline.
One of the components of gasoline is ethanol, and in Mexico, cars have a catalyst to make the most of this bioethanol, nonetheless only 15% of it is used, the remaining 85% is gasoline. Thanks to this new technological development created by the students, a vehicle can consume one hundred percent of the ethanol.
This project will also contribute significantly to climate change, since the generation of greenhouse gases, would be reduced to 40%. Another benefit would be that we would no longer depend on fossil fuels and would find a solution in organic fuels, giving a new use to paper.
Mexican students of the Universidad del Valle de Mexico (UVM) Coyoacan Campus, in Mexico City created bioethanol using newspaper. (Photo: Mexico News Network)
To obtain this bioethanol, the process is via the acid digestion of newspaper, for it to later be fermented and finally distilled. The group of students is made up of Alexys Stephanya Nájera, Ariel de Jesús González, Roberto Carlos Muñoz and Delia Calderón Crespo, who together used various types of paper, but eventually discovered that newspaper was the most effective option.
The creation of bioethanol with wastes that no longer have commercial value and can be reused, (like in the case of newspaper), will also support the goals of the National Development Plan, in which it is mentioned that Mexico should depend only 65% of fossil fuels by 2024.
Although the project still needs some time to take off, the creators say that with enough financial support, they may build a plant to produce industrial level, and thus somehow support the planet earth.
By Valeria Bigurra Peñavera for Mexico News Network
