Important Facts About Biofuel Production

Biomass fuel production in different countries can be a touchy subject, because not all countries agree with the production and use of biofuels. India is very outspoken in their dissent, because of the mistaken belief that biofuel production takes away from the food supply and contributes to global hunger. Biofuels are produced from biomass, which is an organic material such as dead plant particles, manure or municipal solid waste. More than 20 countries so far have biofuel production facilities and programs in place, with others moving forward in this arena as well. Biofuels do not have to be made with corn or soybeans, Germany is using rapeseed, and there are many other sources that do not come from food crops. These fuels are the future of the energy used globally, because soon fossil fuels will be gone. Biofuels are an environmentally friendly alternative that will be used to meet future energy needs.

It is not widely understood by many but biofuel production can help third world economies instead of causing problems. The production of these fuels offers many benefits to these economies. The entire economy of the local area can be improved. Using local employees and materials mean more income and taxes, as well as an improved infrastructure to serve the plant and community. Farmers would be paid regularly for their crops, and the transportation of these materials is much less because they are local. Biofuels and food do not have to compete, and farmers can grow food crops on fertile land and grow biofuel crops on land that is useless for any food farming.

One of the advantages of biofuel production is that biomass fuel can be produced at comparably low cost. Whenever fuel is produced, regardless of the origin of the fuel, cost is always going to be a factor. Just a few years ago biofuels were not widely produced, and this led to a higher cost for these fuels. Ethanol, biodiesel and biogas can all be produced at a low cost financially, and a large benefit ecologically. These fuels offer many benefits and are seeing more widespread use. Ethanol is alcohol based and created through a fermentation process. Biodiesel uses oils and fats from plants and other organic materials in a process called transesterification. Biogas is usually produced from specially designed landfills and waste to energy plants and programs. Using these biofuels can also help to combat a global warming.

In a recent amazing discovery, growing biofuel on trees is also possible. There is a specific tree, called the diesel oil tree, that can be tapped to recover an oil that is remarkably easy to turn into biodiesel. This tree will produce the oil for seventy years, and Australian farmers are growing plantations of them. A fungus, called Gliocladium roseum has been located in trees in the Patagonia rainforest, and it creates carbon chains identical to the ones found in petroleum. Unfortunately, right now these are only produced under very strict and narrow conditions, but the breakthrough has lead to more research. Biodiesel can play a big part in reducing pollution and global warming, and making the earth a better place to live for everyone.

The benefits of bio fuel production to the world are many. Fossil fuels are quickly being depleted and can not be replaced. Alternative sources of energy are numerous, and eco-friendly, but most of these, like solar, wind, and ocean energy, can not be used to power a vehicle. These technologies can be used to provide heat and electricity for homes and buildings though. Biofuels are carbon neutral so they do not speed up global warming, they are an environmentally friendly source of fuel that is renewable, and they are the answer to meeting the fuel needs of the future. Any organic material can be used to make biofuels, and these fuels can make a big difference to the planet. Until recently though, they were not in high demand because of the low cost and availability of fossil fuels.

Biofuels and Renewable Energy: What Is a Biofuel Anyway?

Biofuels are a leading source of renewable energy, particularly as transportation fuels that would replace oil-derived gasoline and diesel. But when you think about it, oil deposits are derived from biomass that has decomposed and been compressed underneath the surface of the earth for millennia.  Given that the origin of petroleum is biological, why isn’t oil considered a biofuel? What is the distinction between petroleum and, for example, ethanol or biodiesel? And just what exactly is a biofuel anyway?

These are fair questions worth answering, and I will try to provide some answers here.

First of all, biofuels are essentially defined as being derived from recently dead biomass, as opposed to long dead biomass that gives rise to petroleum. This distinction is not an arbitrary one. In fact, there is sound reasoning behind making a distinction between plants that were harvested (and thus made “dead” a few months ago) and biomass that “died” millions of years ago.

One of the main purposes of replacing oil-derived fuels and products with bio-based fuels and chemicals is to reduce the net carbon emissions. (Having an alternate fuels source that would keep a lid on the cost of oil supplied by an unfriendly, price-fixing cartel would be another useful purpose of biofuels.) In the case of biofuels produced from sugar cane, corn or plant waste, the biomass replacement occurs in less than a year as a new crop comes in. The new biomass is roughly equivalent to the carbon emitted when that biofuel is burned. Thus, the net carbon emission is near zero from that cycle, and that carbon cycle is complete within a year.

Contrast the situation with corn or sugar-derived biofuels with that of oil. The production of the petroleum requires millions of years. Thus, the replacement cycle time for petroleum that is burned is thousands of millennia rather than the length of a single crop cycle. In other words, it will require millions of years for the carbon emitted by burning oil to be reconstituted into petroleum for creating a second cycle of use as a fuel. It will only take a year or less for the carbon dioxide emitted from burning bio-ethanol to be reconstituted as sugar cane or corn for conversion into a new cycle of biofuel.

Therefore, it is the difference in the length of the carbon cycle that creates the distinction between petroleum, which is derived from long-dead biomass, not being a biofuel while a similar combustible liquid (ethanol or biodiesel) produced from recently dead biomass is a biofuel.