Land transportation has been the most vital aspect of human civilization for several millennia. From the use of horses and camels to the invention of wheels and motor vehicles, transportation has connected one culture to another and one environment to another. Transportation also supports civilization, from the supply of food to the sale of agricultural products.
In this modern era, motor vehicle transportation is crucial for the continuity of civilization. For example, during the Covid crisis a few months ago, when the supply chain was disrupted, many people suffered from rising prices to shortages. This opens up opportunities to search for alternative fuels and environmentally friendly energy.
However, motor vehicles currently emit air pollutants that are harmful to the environment. An example is the occurrence of climate change. This is because the majority of their fuel uses hydrocarbons, meaning that combustion releases carbon into the environment as waste. Carbon that bonds with oxygen will become carbon dioxide and make the earth warmer than usual, causing a global climate crisis.
Source of Alternative Energy
Actually, scientists have been experimenting to find alternative fuels. One of them is by using renewable resources such as plant-based materials. Plant-based resources have the potential to be environmentally friendly energy because during production, plants absorb carbon from the air, resulting in less pollution. This, if achieved, would be a major advancement for land transportation.
An example is the processing of corn into ethanol. Ethanol is a type of alcohol that can be obtained from various plant-based resources through a certain process. Ethanol almost burns completely, making it better than conventional fuel, and even has a higher octane rating than average fuel.
One of the processes for making ethanol is through sugar fermentation. The majority of sugar processing leaves molasses when refining raw sugar. This molasses, when fermented with bacteria, will convert the sugar content into ethanol. However, it still needs to be conditioned at a certain temperature to prevent the ethanol from evaporating into the air. Another way is to use a condenser to maximize the ethanol yield.
Another example besides sugar is the production of ethanol from starch. This starts with reacting starch with alpha-amylase and glucoamylase enzymes to convert it into glucose. After it is converted into glucose, it can be reacted with other bacteria to become ethanol.
The sources of starch can be many things, from corn waste, tapioca or cassava waste, to broken rice.
Move to Environmentally Friendly ?
In fact, there are three options when it comes to switching to environmentally friendly energy for land transportation. The first is the use of bioethanol, the second is using hydrogen, and the third is using kinetic or solar energy to charge batteries.
The first option requires significant investment to convert plant-based resources into bioethanol. It may also create economic instability when demand for agricultural commodities increases for bioethanol production. This could lead to political instability due to protests over expensive food. However, bioethanol has great potential to be further developed as an alternative fuel.
The second option, hydrogen, is environmentally friendly in its use as it only emits water as waste. However, most hydrogen is currently produced using fossil fuels, making it less desirable. However, hydrogen storage is cheaper than batteries. Startups like H2Pro have even developed environmentally friendly hydrogen production processes at the lowest cost.
The third option is to use solar and wind power to charge batteries. Currently, the future of cars is dominated by battery-based transportation. For example, Tesla has the highest market capitalization of any automaker in the world. Many startups and scientists are racing to design the cheapest, most efficient, and high-capacity batteries. Moreover, even a 10-minute electric vehicle charging device has been developed.
Cactus As Alternative Energy
Cactus is a plant that can thrive in extreme environments, making it easy to cultivate. Additionally, cactus can produce high biomass yields of up to 108 tons per hectare per year. One of the most commonly cultivated cacti is the nopal cactus, which is even used as a food source.
Nopal cactus is grown in Latin America, and is usually transported by land and distributed throughout South America as food.
The process involves fermenting the nopal cactus, which has been finely crushed, and then allowing and harvesting methane from it. After harvesting the methane, the next step is to convert the gas into fuel.
This method can result in cheap fuel production, as the nopal cactus can produce high biomass yields. Additionally, the plant can absorb carbon dioxide from the air, making it a form of biosequestration and an environmentally friendly energy source.
Startups in Latin America have begun to emerge, using this plant as an alternative energy source. The advantage of using cactus as an alternative fuel source is that companies can choose to convert it into either gas or liquid fuel for land transportation.
Economic Impact ?
Nopal cactus is worth 1 USD in California but could be worth half a dollar when farmer sell it.
If you have a one-hectare land with a harvest yield of 108 tons per year, then the annual revenue could reach up to 49.500 USD. If this business is conducted in Australia where the price of land per hectare is 10.000 AUD, then the profit would be substantial.
Most of the world's land is semi-arid or receives low rainfall. With the cactus commodity as an energy source, it opens up the potential for cheap lands to be transformed into drivers of the local community's economy.
However, behind the large profit, the technology for harvesting and planting this plant is still relatively new. So, it should be expected that everything is done with human labor instead of relying on machines.
