Chemistry SL/HL

Energy Option

Solar and Bioenergy

Solar energy
Most of the energy on Earth originates with the sun. It has many
advantages:
- It is readily available, free, and requires no purification.
- It is clean and safe.
- It is available over the entire planet.

It does have some disadvantages:

- _______________________________________________
____
- Solar _______________________________ so
_____________ ________________ to be more useful.
- _________________ through the day and through the
seasons; thus an _________________________________ is
needed.

Sunlight and plants

________________________________________________________
_________________ through photosynthesis ___________________
_____________. The _______________________________________
___________ and warms the Earth’s surface; plants do not cover the
Earth’s surface and do not absorb all wavelengths of light.

The _____________ of plant cells _________________________ and

_____________ molecules that ______________________________
_________________________. The energy is used to drive a complex
series of redox reactions that ________________________________
_________________________. The overall photosynthesis reaction is
summarized as:

These substances __________________________________________

________________________________________________________
_______________________. The energy for this is often high enough
that the photon absorbed is in the UV range, thus the compounds
appear colourless.

Example
Ethene absorbs UV light with a wavelength of 185 nm.

In general, this ___________________________________________

________________________________________________________.

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Chemistry SL/HL
Energy Option

(Compounds with no double bonds or only one double bond do not

usually absorb UV or visible light photons.)

When a compound contains ______________________________

(alternating double and single bonds), _________________________
__________________________
Thus as the amount of conjugation in a molecule increases, the
frequency of photon required to excite electrons decreases. With
sufficient conjugation, visible photons are absorbed and the compound
appears coloured.

Reference the diagrams for chlorophyll and α-carotene and β-carotene

on p. 36 of the IB databook. These molecules all have conjugated
double bonds and absorb visible light.

___________________________________ and _________________

____________________; since the two molecules cover such a large
range of visible light, ___________________________________ and
thus we see green vegetation.

___________ are the most common ___________ in nature. They

________________________________________________________
in colour. Hydrocarbon carotenoids are called carotenes.

Biofuel
A biofuel is a fuel derived directly from living matter. Ethanol can be
made by fermenting plants high in starches and sugars.

This takes place at ____________________ in the _______________

___________ and ____________ to provide an _________________.

__________ is a __________________________________________
__________. The ethanol can be produced from several plants and
gasohol can be used in place of gasoline with only very minor changes
in fuel consumption and performance.

The ______________________________:
- It is __________________.

- It has a _________________________ than regular

gasoline.

- It produces

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Chemistry SL/HL
Energy Option

_________________________________________.

- It can decrease a country’s dependence on oil.

Vegetable oils
Rudolf Diesel used peanut oil to run his first engine at the World
Exhibition in Paris in 1900. Vegetable oil was not used once the oil
industry was able to produce a diesel fraction that would work in a
diesel engine.

__________________ have a _______________________________

_____________ but they are ________________________________
thus they don’t flow well. They also do not burn completely and leave
deposits in the fuel injectors of the engines.

Vegetable oils are esters of ____________ (propane-1,2,3-triol) and

____________________________________.

These are called _________________. Triglycerides can be

visualized as having “tuning fork” structure. They are _____________
____________ there are ____________________________________
________ between the long fatty acid chains.

Transesterification
To convert triglycerides into a useful, less viscous biodiesel, a process
called _____________________ is used.

________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________. Using a
long-chain ester with a small alcohol produces a smaller, less viscous
ester:

For biofuels, triglyceride oil is reacted with methanol or ethanol and a

strong acid or strong base catalyst to form glycerol and a methyl or
ethyl ester. The alcohol replaces the glycerol in the oil and forms

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Chemistry SL/HL
Energy Option

simple alkyl esters and glycerol; there may also be some fatty acids.

The reaction is reversible so excess alcohol is used to push the

equilibrium to the right.

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Chemistry SL/HL
Energy Option

O
O
H2C O C R RCO
O
O
HC O C R’ +
RCO
O
’
H2C O C R’’ O
R C O
’
’

Glycerol is heavier and more viscous and can be separated for use in
pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and detergents. The biodiesel is
biodegradable, nontoxic, and produces less emissions than crude oil-
based diesel.

Blends of 20% biodiesel with 80% crude-oil diesel can be used in

unmodified diesel engines. Pure biodiesel may be used but the engine
may require some modifications.

__________________________:
- It is _______________ if crops are replanted.
- ____________ and readily available.
- ___________________________ (note that the emissions
are the same as burning fossil fuels but CO2 is consumed by the
plants as they grow, so there is a net reduction of carbon
emissions.)
- Biofuels are more easily biodegradable than fossil fuels, so
spills are easier to clean up.

__________________________:
- Production of biomass ____________ that could otherwise
be used for food or other uses.
- Harvesting and __________________ large volumes of
crops ____________________.
- _______________________________________________
_ and other chemicals for sufficient crop growth.
- Biofuels are usually ____________________ to produce
and refine than fossil fuels.
- Biofuels have slightly _________________________ than
fossil fuels.
- Growing the crops, creating the fuel, and burning the fuel
all ______________________________.

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