Biofuels
Biofuels are solid, liquid or gas fuels originating from plant biomass; biodiesel and ethanol are among the best known. Biofuels can directly replace petroleum derived products, with little to no modification to present engine infrastructures. With a growing worldwide concern over energy security, climate change and an increasing number of government mandates, the biofuels market is growing at an impressive rate.
As biofuels are renewable energy sources they can play an important role in the global demand for oil and ever growing concern over supply. Environmentally there are significant benefits to biofuels over petroleum products. Biofuels can be considered carbon neutral, as they do not add additional greenhouse gases to the environment when burnt. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow, once burnt either as biomass or plant oil this carbon is released back into the environment. However, only the amount of carbon absorbed during the plant's life is released back into the environment. This is very different to fossil fuels where new carbon is released into the atmosphere which had previously been stored underground.
The most widely used biofuels are as follows-
Pure vegetable oil - extracted from plant seeds. This can be achieved using a mechanical press, in which the seeds are de-hulled, before experiencing high temperatures; a screw press is then used to crush the seeds to extract the oil. Alternatively, solvent extraction can be used which requires more chemicals to extract a higher quantity of oil compared to mechanical pressing.
Biodiesel - the most common way to produce biodiesel is thermochemically using alcohol based catalysis in a process called transesterfication. Glycerine is produced as a by product and can be used in the soap industry or as animal feed, depending on the feedstock. Biodiesel can be blended with conventional mineral diesel or used straight in diesel engines with little to no modification.
Bio-ethanol - produced from crops such as corn and sugar cane to create an alcohol based fuel. Ethanol is produced in a process where the sugars from the biomass are fermented and distilled. Like biodiesel, ethanol can be used straight or in a blend with mineral gasoline.
Solid biomass - Most common form is direct burning of wood and crop residues. But also under thermal, chemical or biological changes to produce different products such as methane which itself can be burnt directly or converted to other chemicals such as alcohols.
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