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Biofuel

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Environment

       Environmental science
   Environmental technology
     * Air pollution control
     * Alternative energy
     * Biofuel
     * Composting
     * Conservation biology
     * Conservation ethic
     * Ecoforestry
     * Energy conservation
     * Energy development
     * Environmental design
     * Future energy development
     * Green building
     * Hydrogen technologies
     * Recycling
     * Renewable energy
     * Remediation
     * Solid waste treatment
     * Sustainable energy
     * Waste water treatment
     * Water purification
     * Waste management

   Biofuel is any fuel that is derived from biomass — recently living
   organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. It
   is a renewable energy source, unlike other natural resources such as
   petroleum, coal and nuclear fuels.

   One definition of biofuel is any fuel with an 80% minimum content by
   volume of materials derived from living organisms harvested within the
   ten years preceding its manufacture.

   Like coal and petroleum, biomass is a form of stored solar energy. The
   energy of the sun is "captured" through the process of photosynthesis
   in growing plants. (See also: Systems ecology) One advantage of biofuel
   in comparison to most other fuel types is it is biodegradable, and thus
   relatively harmless to the environment if spilled. 25 Years: The Down
   Fall of Petrochemical Fuels Intro Petroleum, fossil fuel, fact it is
   not an inexhaustible source. Current life depends on petroleum, and yet
   we use it faster than we can make it. To sustain current life, the
   usage of an alternative fuel, in replacement of petroleum, is critical.
   The alternative fuels are much healthier for nature and the community.
   Corn fuel and cooking oils are also inexhaustible. Why Alternate? The
   alternate fuels have some pros that are a deciding factor among many to
   switch to the alternate source. The petrochemicals cause many smog
   problems in cities and suburbs that surround it, therefore causing
   children and adults alike to have health issues. All alternative fuel
   sources are much healthier, such as corn-based fuel called gasohol.
   Also, unlike petrochemicals, the alternative fuel sources are
   unlimited. The use of alternative fuels such as corn and soybean fuel
   will increase the economy in the U.S. and decrease the amount of money
   we send to the Middle East for oil. Also, it "Costs MUCH less than . .
   . diesel." ("Quick Breakdown: Vegetable" par.11.) The alternative fuel
   will also decrease the smog problems, in places like California, New
   York City, and Chicago.

   What’s Available? Currently there are already alternative fuels on the
   market, though they are hard to locate. Vegetable oil is one good
   source of fuel; there is even a bus, which uses vegetable oil for fuel,
   which travels the country promoting the usage of alternative fuels.
   Also, vegetable oil is“Usually gathered from cooperating restaurants .
   . . ” (“Quick Breakdown: Vegetable” par. 12) Another fuel source is
   gasohol which can be made out of soybeans and corn. Also, cooking oil
   in general will work as fuel. The Impact. In 1970 the Clean Air Act was
   instated for the protection of the U.S. environment and society.
   “Vegetable oil and Biodiesel are virtually sulfur free . . . ” (“Quick
   Breakdown: Vegetable” par. 17) Switching to alternative fuels would
   support this act. The U.S. would also stop having to export money to
   the Middle East and start paying off our 8.66 trillion dollar debt.
   This would affect petroleum-based fuel companies. They will have to
   adapt for the betterment of the country. This would also hurt the
   Middle East’s economy. Though that is true, the use of corn and soybean
   fuels will spike the U.S.’s, specifically the mid west’s, economy
   upward. It would also promote farmers to work and it would increase
   their profit.
   Sugar cane a biofuel
   Enlarge
   Sugar cane a biofuel

   Agricultural products specifically grown for use as biofuels include
   corn and soybeans, primarily in the United States; as well as flaxseed
   and rapeseed, primarily in Europe; sugar cane in Brazil and palm oil in
   South-East Asia. Biodegradable outputs from industry, agriculture,
   forestry, and households can also be used to produce bioenergy;
   examples include straw, timber, manure, rice husks, sewage,
   biodegradable waste and food leftovers. These feedstocks are converted
   into biogas through anaerobic digestion. Biomass used as fuel often
   consists of underutilized types, like chaff and animal waste.

   Much research is currently in progress into the utilization of
   microalgae as an energy source, with applications being developed for
   biodiesel, ethanol, methanol, methane, and even hydrogen. On the rise
   is use of hemp, although politics currently restrains this technology.

   Paradoxically, in some industrialized countries like Germany, food is
   cheaper than fuel compared by price per joule . Central heating units
   supplied by food grade wheat or maize are available.

   Biofuel can be used both for central- and decentralized production of
   electricity and heat. As of 2005, bioenergy covers approximately 15% of
   the world's energy consumption . Most bioenergy is consumed in
   developing countries and is used for direct heating, as opposed to
   electricity production.

   The production of biofuels to replace oil and natural gas is in active
   development, focusing on the use of cheap organic matter (usually
   cellulose, agricultural and sewage waste) in the efficient production
   of liquid and gas biofuels which yield high net energy gain. The carbon
   in biofuels was recently extracted from atmospheric carbon dioxide by
   growing plants, so burning it does not result in a net increase of
   carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. As a result, biofuels are
   seen by many as a way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released
   into the atmosphere by using them to replace non-renewable sources of
   energy. Noticeable is the fact that the quality of timber or grassy
   biomass does not have a direct impact on its value as an energy-source.

   Dried compressed peat is also sometimes considered a biofuel. However,
   it does not meet the criteria of being a renewable form of energy, or
   of the carbon being recently absorbed from atmospheric carbon dioxide
   by growing plants. Though more recent than petroleum or coal, on the
   time scale of human industrialisation, peat is a fossil fuel and
   burning it does contribute to atmospheric CO[2].

History

   Biofuel was used since the early days of the car industry. Nikolaus
   August Otto, the German inventor of the combustion engine, conceived
   his invention to run on ethanol. While Rudolf Diesel, the German
   inventor of the Diesel engine, conceived it to run on peanut oil. The
   Ford Model T, a car produced between 1903 and 1926 used ethanol.
   However, when crude oil began being cheaply extracted from deeper in
   the soil (thanks to drilling starting in the middle of the 19th
   century), cars began using fuels from oil. Nevertheless, before World
   War II, biofuels were seen as providing an alternative to imported oil
   in countries such as Germany, which sold a blend of gasoline with
   alcohol fermented from potatoes under the name Reichskraftsprit. In
   Britain, grain alcohol was blended with petrol by the Distillers
   Company Ltd under the name Discol and marketed through Esso's affiliate
   Cleveland.

   After the War cheap Middle Eastern Oil lessened interest in biofuels.
   Then with the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, there was an increase in
   interests from governments and academics in biofuels. However, interest
   decreased with the counter-shock of 1986 that made oil prices cheaper
   again. But since about 2000 with rising oil prices, concerns over the
   potential oil peak, greenhouse gas emissions (Global Warming), and
   instability in the Middle East are pushing renewed interest in
   biofuels. Government officials have made statements and given aid in
   favour of biofuels. For example, U.S. president George Bush said in his
   2006 State of Union speech, that he wants for the United States, by
   2025, to replace 75% of the oil coming from the Middle East.

Types of high volume industrial biomass on Earth

   Certain types of biomass have attracted research and industrial
   attention. Many of these are considered to be potentially useful for
   energy or for the production of bio-based products. Most of these are
   available in very large quantities and have low market value.
     * Algae
     * Bagasse from Sugarcane
     * Dried distiller's grain
     * Firewood
     * Hemp
     * Jatropha
     * Landscaping waste
     * Maiden Grass
     * Maize (corn)
     * Manure

                                * Meat and bone meal
                                * Miscanthus
                                * Peat
                                * Pet waste
                                * Plate waste
                                * Rice hulls
                                * Silage
                                * Stover
                                * Switchgrass
                                * Whey

Examples of biofuels

Biologically produced alcohols

   Biologically produced alcohols, most commonly ethanol and methanol, and
   less commonly propanol and butanol are produced by the action of
   microbes and enzymes through fermentation — see alcohol fuel.
     * Methanol, which is currently produced from natural gas, can also be
       produced from biomass — although this is not economically viable at
       present. The methanol economy is an interesting alternative to the
       hydrogen economy.
     * Biomass to liquid, synthetic fuels produced from syngas. Syngas in
       turn, is produced from biomass by gasification.
     * Ethanol fuel produced from sugar cane is being used as automotive
       fuel in Brazil. Ethanol produced from corn is being used mostly as
       a gasoline additive (oxygenator) in the United States, but direct
       use as fuel is growing. Cellulosic ethanol is being manufactured
       from straw (an agricultural waste product) by Iogen Corporation of
       Ontario, Canada; and other companies are attempting to do the same.
       ETBE containing 47% Ethanol is currently the biggest biofuel
       contributor in Europe.
     * Butanol is formed by A.B.E. fermentation (Acetone, Butanol,
       Ethanol) and experimental modifications of the ABE process show
       potentially high net energy gains with butanol being the only
       liquid product. Butanol can be burned "straight" in existing
       gasoline engines (without modification to the engine or car),
       produces more energy and is less corrosive and less water soluble
       than ethanol, and can be distributed via existing infrastructures.
     * Mixed Alcohols (e.g., mixture of ethanol, propanol, butanol,
       pentanol, hexanol and heptanol, such as Ecalene^TM), obtained
       either by biomass-to-liquid technology (namely gasification to
       produce syngas followed by catalytic synthesis) or by bioconversion
       of biomass to mixed alcohol fuels.
     * GTL or BTL both produce synthetic fuels out of biomass in the so
       called Fischer Tropsch process. The synthetic biofuel containing
       oxygen is used as additive in high quality diesel and petrol.

Biologically produced gases

   Biogas is produced by the process of anaerobic digestion of organic
   material by anaerobes. Biogas can be produced either from biodegradable
   waste materials or by the use of energy crops fed into anaerobic
   digesters to supplement gas yields. The solid output, digestate, can
   also be used as a biofuel.

   Biogas contains methane and can be recovered in industrial anaerobic
   digesters and mechanical biological treatment systems. Landfill gas is
   a less clean form of biogas which is produced in landfills through
   naturally occurring anaerobic digestion. Paradoxically if this gas is
   allowed to escape into the atmosphere it is a potent greenhouse gas.

Biologically produced gases from wastes

   Biologically produced oils and gases can be produced from various
   wastes:
     * Thermal depolymerization of waste can extract methane and other
       oils similar to petroleum.
     * Pyrolysis oil may be produced out of biomass, wood waste etc. using
       heat only in the flash pyrolysis process. The oil has to be treated
       before using in conventional fuel systems or internal combustion
       engines (water + pH).
     * One company, GreenFuel Technologies Corporation, has developed a
       patented bioreactor system that utilizes nontoxic photosynthetic
       algae to take in smokestacks flue gases and produce biofuels such
       as biodiesel, biogas and a dry fuel comparable to coal .

Biologically produced oils

   Biologically produced oils can be used in diesel engines:
     * Straight vegetable oil (SVO).
     * Waste vegetable oil (WVO) - waste cooking oils and greases produced
       in quantity mostly by commercial kitchens
     * Biodiesel obtained from transesterification of animal fats and
       vegetable oil, directly usable in petroleum diesel engines.

   DK MAFIA

Applications of biofuels

   One widespread use of biofuels is in home cooking and heating. Typical
   fuels for this are wood, charcoal or dried dung. The biofuel may be
   burned on an open fireplace or in a special stove. The efficiency of
   this process may vary widely, from 10% for a well made fire (even less
   if the fire is not made carefully) up to 40% for a custom designed
   charcoal stove^1. Inefficient use of fuel may be a minor cause of
   deforestation (though this is negligible compared to deliberate
   destruction to clear land for agricultural use) but more importantly it
   means that more work has to be put into gathering fuel, thus the
   quality of cooking stoves has a direct influence on the viability of
   biofuels.

   "American homeowners are turning to burning corn in special stoves to
   reduce their energy bills. Sales of corn-burning stoves have tripled
   this year [...] Corn-generated heat costs less than a fifth of the
   current rate for propane and about a third of electrical heat" .

Direct electricity generation

   The methane in biogas is often pure enough to pass directly through gas
   engines to generate green energy. Anaerobic digesters or biogas
   powerplants convert this renewable energy source into electricity. This
   can either be used commercially or on a local scale.

Use on farms

   In Germany small scale use of biofuel is still a domain of agricultural
   farms. It is an official aim of the German government to use the entire
   potential of 200,000 farms for the production of biofuel and bioenergy.
   (Source: VDI-Bericht "Bioenergie - Energieträger der Zukunft".

Home use

   Different combustion-engines are being produced for very low prices
   lately . They allow the private house-owner to utilize low amounts of
   "weak" compression of methane to generate electrical and thermal power
   (almost) sufficient for a well insulated residential home.

Problems and solutions

   Unfortunately, much cooking with biofuels is done indoors, without
   efficient ventilation, and using fuels such as dung causes airborne
   pollution. This can be a serious health hazard; 1.5 million deaths were
   attributed to this cause by the World Health Organisation as of 2000
   ^2. There are various responses to this, such as improved stoves,
   including those with inbuilt flues and switching to alternative fuel
   sources. Most of these responses have difficulties. One is that fuels
   are expensive and easily damaged. Another is that alternative fuels
   tend to be more expensive, but the people who rely on biofuels often do
   so precisely because they cannot afford alternatives. ^3 Organisations
   such as Intermediate Technology Development Group work to make improved
   facilities for biofuel use and better alternatives accessible to those
   who cannot currently get them. This work is done through improving
   ventilation, switching to different uses of biomass such as the
   creation of biogas from solid biomatter, or switching to other
   alternatives such as micro-hydro power. Many environmentalists are
   concerned that first growth forest may be felled in countries such as
   Indonesia to make way for palm oil plantations, driven by rising demand
   for diesel in SE Asia and Europe.

Direct biofuel

   Direct biofuels are biofuels that can be used in existing unmodified
   petroleum engines. Because engine technology changes all the time,
   exactly what a direct biofuel is can be hard to define; a fuel that
   works without problem in one unmodified engine may not work in another
   engine. In general, newer engines are more sensitive to fuel than older
   engines, but new engines are also likely to be designed with some
   amount of biofuel in mind.

   Straight vegetable oil can be used in some (older) diesel engines. Only
   in the warmest climates can it be used without engine modifications, so
   it is of limited use in colder climates. Most commonly it is turned
   into biodiesel. No engine manufacturer explicitly allows any use of
   vegetable oil in their engines.

   Biodiesel can be a direct biofuel. However, no current manufacturer
   covers their engine under warranty for 100% biodiesel (some have
   allowed 100% in the past, and it appears that changes in emission
   standards are the only reason they don't today, but no official
   statement exists). Many people have run thousands of miles on biodiesel
   without problem, and many studies have been made on 100% biodiesel.

   Butanol is often claimed as a direct replacement for gasoline. It is
   not in wide spread production at this time, and engine manufacturers
   have not made statements about its use. While on paper (and a few lab
   tests) it appears that butanol has sufficiently similar characteristics
   with gasoline such that it should work without problem in any gasoline
   engine, no widespread experience exists.

   Ethanol is the most common biofuel, and over the years many engines
   have been designed to run on it. Many of these could not run on regular
   gasoline. It is open to debate if ethanol is a direct replacement in
   these engines though - they cannot run on anything else. In the late
   1990's engines started appearing that by design can use either fuel.
   Ethanol is a direct replacement in these engines, but it is debatable
   if these engines are unmodified, or factory modified for ethanol.

   Small amounts of biofuel are often blended with traditional fuels. The
   biofuel portion of these fuels is a direct replacement for the fuel
   they offset, but the total offset is small. For biodiesel, 5% or 20%
   are commonly approved by various engine manufacturers. See Common
   ethanol fuel mixtures for information on ethanol.

International efforts

   On the other hand, recognizing the importance of bioenergy and its
   implementation, there are international organizations such as IEA
   Bioenergy, established in 1978 by the International Energy Agency
   (IEA), with the aim of improving cooperation and information exchange
   between countries that have national programs in bioenergy research,
   development and deployment.

   European Union has set a goal for 2008 that each member state should
   achieve at least 5.25% biofuel usage of all used traffic fuel. By 2006
   it looks like most of the members states will not meet this goal.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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