Future Energy Biofuels

  Meeting Future Energy Needs With Biofuels
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  With the recent sharp increases in the price of fossil fuels, there has been renewed interest in alternative biofriendly sources of energy. One category of alternative fuels goes by the name of biofuels. Biofuels are defined as fuels derived from plant or animal sources, but not including fossil fuels. Biofuels can be used to power vehicles as well as for heating and generating electricity. (1)
Perhaps the best-known biofuel is biodiesel, which is produced from combining animal fat or vegetable oil with alcohol. Biodiesel can be used in diesel engines as a direct replacement for diesel oil, or as a diesel oil additive. An interesting development in biodiesel is the use of recycled oil from restaurants, with some people creating their own diesel fuel from recycled cooking oil in their homes. (2)
Another well-known biofuel is ethanol, which in the USA is produced from corn, with federal subsidies. Ethanol can also be produced from soybeans, barley, wheat and other cereals. In Brazil, ethanol is made from sugar cane. Typically, ethanol is mixed with gasoline (90% gasoline, 10% ethanol) as an automotive fuel. Engines can be adapted for higher ethanol content, or even 100% ethanol, but because ethanol is highly corrosive modifications have to be made to minimize the corrosive effects.
Proponents of ethanol point out that it is a renewable and in fact carbon-neutral fuel. While it does produce carbon dioxide emissions when burned in the engine, the plants that are used to make the fuel absorb that CO2 during their growth. This is known as the carbon cycle: plants absorbing CO2 and converting it into carbon-based organic compounds while releasing oxygen, then later, when that organic material is burned, the carbon recombines with oxygen to produce CO2. Fossil fuels also have that cycle, but with the difference that there the CO2 was captured millions of years ago.
Ethanol opponents claim that the net energy gain from producing ethanol is small, or even negative. It is also expensive. Another major objection is that corn grown for fuel takes away from corn grown as food, which is likely to lead to food shortages and/or high prices.
In these discussions, the word biomass frequently comes up. Biomass is defined as the raw material from which the biofuel is derived. Food crops are not the only form of biomass. Ethanol can also be produced from organic waste, such as sawdust, manure or corn stalks, for example. While producing ethanol from these sources is more complicated and expensive, they have the advantage of not reducing the food supply and lessening waste disposal problems.
An interesting development in waste processing is biogas, which is a mixture of gases, containing about 50% methane, as a result of decomposing organic matter in landfills. The effects of methane in the atmosphere are about 23 times as strong as carbon dioxide. In other words, one ton of methane produces as much warming effect as 23 tons of CO2. It is therefore in our interest to capture that methane and use it as a fuel. This is being done at many landfills. It has been calculated that the energy generated by a 3-megawatt biogas plant is the equivalent of taking 25,000 cars off the road. (3)
Biofuels are expected to play an important role in the quest for alternatives to fossil fuels, especially so because fuels like ethanol and biodiesel can be added to existing automotive fuels with little or no changes to the vehicles. This is vital in a world where oil supplies are dwindling and oil producing countries are often unstable.
Another angle to solving the energy problem is to use available fuels more effectively. This is where Biofriendly Corporation makes a contribution with Green Plus® liquid fuel catalyst, a product that causes a more complete, more linear burn of fuel in internal combustion engines, thereby reducing harmful emissions, increasing torque and providing better fuel economy.
For more information on Green Plus, visit the Biofriendly website at http://www.biofriendly.com/.
References:
(1) http://www.intuser.net/6/1/renew_32.php
(2) http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel

  Author, Peter Verhoeff, contributes articles on environmental issues for Biofriendly Corporation. More information on these and other topics can be found on the Biofriendly site.
 
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