New Biofuels As An Alternative Energy Source
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Biofuel can be classified into solid, liquid, or gas fuel that is mostly made from plants or recently dead biological matter, while fossil fuel is made from long dead biological matter.
As such, biofuel can be made from any biological carbon source. Green plants which capture solar energy are the most common such sources. Other sources used to produce biofuel are non-green plants and animal-derived materials.
Biofuels include under ethanol and plant derivatives like sugar cane, and corn oils. When cultivated, they are also called agrifuel or agrofuel. Only some of the ethanol products can betaken to similar uses as gasoline. The IEA or International Energy Agency says that ethanol makes up about 2% of world's gasoline today, but could make up to about 10% by 2025, and about 30% by 2050.
Today biofuels are being used all over the world with growing industries America, Asia and Europe. They can be used in automobiles as liquid fuels, thus reducing the dependence on petroleum and improving energy security.
The biofuels currently being researched need much work to be refined such that they are useful and cost effective. According to a study by OSU or Oregon State University the biofuels currently existing are not as efficient as gasoline that is produced from petroleum. Energy efficiency the amount of usable energy derived from the energy that is put in. The study found that while the gasoline from petroleum has 75 percent energy efficiency, the ethanol derived from corn is only 20 percent energy, and biodiesel fuel has 69 percent energy efficiency. The highlight of the study is cellulose-derived ethanol which has 85 percent energy efficiency, higher than even that of nuclear energy.
Many countries are currently involved in researching and developing biofuels. Brazil is the largest producer of sugar-derived ethanol, making about 3.5. The second biggest producer of biofuels is United States billion gallons of it every year. The European Union is producing about 4 million (British) tonnes of, 80% of which are produced from rapeseed oil, the remaining 20% from soybean oil and palm oil.
There are a number of issues with producing and using biofuel. These are under discussion and debate in scientific journals and media. These issues include the food vs fuel debate, the effect of moderating oil prices, the "food vs fuel" debate, soil erosion and deforestation, effect on water resources, human rights issues, carbon emissions levels, energy balance, production models (centralised and decentralized), biofuel prices, efficiency, sustainable biofuel production and the potential of the solution in reducing poverty. The biggest challenge is to be able to convert biomass energy into liquid fuels so they can be used in automobiles. Some strategies to address this include:
- growing sugar crops like sugar beet, sugar cane, and sweet sorghum, and starch crops like corn and maize. Then use yeast fermentation for making ethanol.
- growing oil producing plants like soybean , jatropha , palm, and algae and extracting their oil. On heating these oils, their viscosity reduces, and they can be burned in diesel engine.
- converting wood and its byproducts into biofuels like ethanol, methanol and woodgas, or fuel.
Many research laboratories are working earnestly to improve these processes.