Question

In a region, total annual consumption of gasoline is 30.6 million tons. The land required for growing sugarcane to produce enough bioethanol to replace the gasoline completely is ___________ \(km^2\) (an integer value). 
Ethanol energy equivalent is 67% of gasoline, gasoline density is 850 \(kg/m^3\), yield of bioethanol produced from sugarcane per hectare of land is 3750 L, and 1 \(km^2\) = 100 hectares

Answer 1

Correct Answer: 143280

Calculate the volume of gasoline converted to bioethanol and the land required to produce that bioethanol: \[ \text{Volume of Gasoline (m³)} = \frac{30.6 \times 10^9 \, \text{kg}}{850 \, \text{kg/m³}} = 36 \times 10^6 \, \text{m³} \] \[ \text{Ethanol Volume} = 36 \times 10^6 \, \text{m³} \times \frac{100}{67} = 53.73 \times 10^6 \, \text{m³} \] \[ \text{Land Required (km²)} = \frac{14.33 \times 10^6 \, \text{ha}}{100} = 143300 \, \text{km²} \]