Biofuel As An Alternative Source of Energy

 

For the most part the term biofuel is used to refer to that of alternative substitutes for petrol, diesel or aircraft fuel.

Biofuels are produced by converting organic matter into fuel for powering our society.



Biofuels are not a recent invention and have a long history in the motor industry, stretching right back to the development of the internal combustion engines of the 1800s. Rudolf Diesel designed his compression engine to run on peanut oil, while Nicolaus Otto’s pioneering spark-ignition engine was developed to run on ethanol. The case for bioethanol was in particular championed by Henry Ford who had a vision to

“Build a vehicle affordable to the working family and powered by a fuel that would boost the rural farm economy”.

He himself also owned an ethanol plant and his famous mass produced Model T Ford first ran on bioethanol. Biofuels are an alternative energy source to the fossil fuels that we currently depend upon and include ethanol and derivatives of plants such as sugar cane, as well as vegetable and corn oils. How are biofuels made?

• The sun helps to grow crops and plants, which are then eventually used to produce biofuel. Biofuel is actually derived from biomass, which can come from gas, solid and liquid states.
• Crops that are specifically grown to be used to produce biofuels are referred to as feedstocks. These feedstocks are the raw and unprocessed form that the bio fuel is derived from. Among the more common types of feedstocks and crops that are used for the production of biofuel are corn, sugar crops, and forests.
• Some of the by-products of materials such as those that come from wood can be used in this process. These special by-products are often converted to the liquid forms of biofuel, which include methanol and ethanol. With the ability to use these by-products, production methods have become a lot less expensive since there is much less waste involved.
• There are also certain natural oils that are also used to help produce this special type of fuel. For example, oil palm, soybean and algae are surprisingly capable of being burned directly in certain types of furnaces and engines and can also be blended with certain types of fuels or petroleum based fuels for a more powerful blended mixture.
• Certain bio active agents are also being developed which essentially stimulate the activity of biomass. This mixture and addition of these special bio agents creates a catalyzing reaction to encourage more efficient production of the elements necessary for the creation of biofuel.
• Another means of producing biofuel that has proven to be especially efficient and cost effective is the conversion of vegetable oil to a burnable fuel that can be used with most types of engines.

At the moment there is a long way to go to refine and make economic and practical these biofuels that are being researched. We have yet to develop biofuels that are as energy efficient as gasoline made from petroleum. Energy efficiency is the measure of how much usable energy is derived from a certain amount of input energy. A study by Oregon State University found corn-derived ethanol to be only 20% energy efficient (gasoline made from petroleum is 75% energy efficient). Biodiesel fuel was recorded at 69% energy efficiency. However, the study did turn up one positive: cellulose-derived ethanol was charted at 85% efficiency, which is even higher than that of the fantastically efficient nuclear energy. There are several nations who are seriously involved in the development of biofuels.

• There is Brazil, which happens to be the world's biggest producer of ethanol derived from sugars. It produces approximately three and a half billion gallons of ethanol per year.
• The United States, while being the world's greatest oil-guzzler, is already the second largest producer of biofuel behind Brazil.
• The European Union's biodiesel production capacity is now in excess of four million (British) tonnes. 80 percent of the EU's biodiesel fuels are derived from rapeseed oil; soybean oil and a marginal quantity of palm oil comprises the other 20 percent.