Question

What is an ORGANIC molecule (at least four carbons) found in the energy industry?

Answer 1

Organic molecule are compounds of carbon also mainly containing hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.

One of the organic molecules which is used as biofuels in energy industry is ethanol containing only two carbon (CH₃CH₂OH). A litre of ethanol contains approximately two thirds of the energy provided by a litre of petrol.

Ethanol is a biofuel. Biofuel are fuels that is manufactured from biomass. Biomass means any source of organic carbon that is renewed rapidly as part of the carbon cycle. Biomass is derived from plant and animal materials.

The aim is to produce biofuels containing organic molecule with higher carbon content and therefore have a higher volumetric energy density. One method to achieve this is to remove oxygen atoms from organic molecule.

Two more organic molecules produced are Levulinic acid (containing five carbons) and furfural (containing five carbons) are potential biofuels.