With the possibility of oil running out in the not too distant future and the concern for the environment, biofuel research has increased and is focused on the use of biofuels as an alternative source of energy. Biofuels include the use of ethanol derived from plant material as well as derivatives from plants such as corn oil, vegetable oils and sugar cane. Ethanol is being used in a small way today, with approximately 2% of the world's fuel being ethanol based but the International Energy Agency calculates that this could rise to around 10% by the year 2025 and as much as 30% by 2050.
Biofuel research is continuing to find best ways to produce and use biofuels, but at the moment they are much less efficient than the gasoline we produce from oil. Gasoline produced from oil is around 75% efficient but bioethanol from corn, the usually plant source, is only around 20% efficient. Efficiency is a measure of how much energy is produced in relationship to how much is needed to produce the fuel. In the past only crops such as corn or sugar beet were used to produce ethanol for fuel but newer biofuel technologies are being developed to use cellulose, derived from grass or trees, as a plant source which is more efficient. Plant materials are fermented to produce the ethanol, in the same way as wine and other alcoholic drinks are made. Although it is possible ti use ethanol alone as a fuel in automobiles it is usually used in a mixture with gasoline.
Biodiesel can also be produced from animal fats, vegetable oils and other fatty materials and is also used at present with diesel produced from oil. In this form it helps to reduce toxic emissions from diesel engines. In Europe the most common biofuel in use today is biodiesel. Bioethanol and biodiesel burn cleanly, they produce only carbon dioxide and water and none of the harmful particulates, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide that cause environmental and health problems.
An alternative to bioethanol is called 'green gasoline' and can be made from trees and grasses in a process that will produce a fuel that is identical to the gasoline derived from oil. This is a very new technique first announced in 2008 by George Huber and his students Tushar Vispute and Torren Carlson of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It is a method that converts cellulose from plants directly into the components of gasoline. They also propose a method to make jet fuel in the same way, although the research for this is not so advanced. The methods proposed by this group could allow 'green gasoline' to be used significantly within ten or fifteen years. One advantage of this method over the use of bioethanol or biodiesel is that it can be used without any modifications to internal combustion engines or the jet engines of planes.
In theory 'green gasoline' can be produced with much less energy that bioethanol and will be cheaper to produce. It can also be produced from any cellulose containing plants such as wood chips, grasses and trees.
Although, in theory, the production and use of bioethanol or biodiesel seems like a good there are growing environmental concerns. According to the Marine Biological Laboratory changing the land use from pastures or food crops may increase the carbon emissions considerably so that pursuing an aggressive policy of replacing oil based fuels for biofuels may have a big impact on carbon dioxide production and hence on global warming. A further problem is that biofuel production need increased levels of nitrogenous fertilisers causing an increase in emissions of nitrous oxide which can have as big effect on the environment as increased levels of carbon dioxide have had. You can read more about this issue at Biofuel Production Increases Greenhouse Gases In Atmosphere. In addition the huge areas of land needed to grow plants for the production of biofuel lead to deforestation and an increase in carbon emissions.
So there are complex issues surrounding biofuel research and technology that need to be addressed before a major change in the way we fuel our vehicles, airplanes and factories should be made. Although it seems at first sight to be the best for the environment to switch to biofuels it may not be so good in the long run.
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