Biofuel

Fuels produced from plants are considered to be biofuels. Biofuels are mainly ethanol and sometimes butanol, which whilst being a better fuel, is actually much harder to obtain from plants than ethanol. Both ethanol and butanol are alcohols produced from crops by fermentation of sugars that are present within the crops. Plants such as wheat, corn, sugar beets, sugar cane, molasses and any other sugar or starch containing plants can be used for biofuels, even potatoes. During ethanol production an enzyme is used to break down the starches in the crops into sugars, then fermentation of sugars occurs followed by distillation and drying. In 2010, global biofuel production was at 105 billion liters and provided almost 3% of fuels required for road transport. Most of the ethanol is produced in Brazil although USA also does not lag far behind.

Ethanol itself is lower energy fuel than petroleum per unit volume however it does prove to be more efficient and hence more environmentally friendly in this sense. Ethanol can actually be used in petrol engines instead of petrol if it is mixed with petrol where up to 15% of the fuel can be ethanol. Although larger fuel volumes by approximately 30% are required when ethanol becomes involved, the price of biofuel currently remains lower than that of pure petroleum.

However not everything is so pretty and shiny with biofuels. As with many new technologies, lack of research suggest that it remains uncertain whether it takes more energy to produce biofuels than is recovered. The distillation process requires a very high energy input for heat as well as energy being required for farm equipment, cultivation, planting, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, which are all made from oil, when growing the crops for biofuels. Irrigation systems, harvesting, transport, fermentation and drying all also require further energy inputs (Russo, 2008).

The other dark side of biofuels that is known as an ongoing debate called food energy and environment trilemma (Butterbach-Bahl, 2013). This debate is about crops grown on fields and farms for biofuels threatning food supplies. It has not been properly investigated whether there is sufficient land available to produce the crops needed in sufficient amounts for common biofuel use by the general public.

Some other difficulties may arise in the cultivation of biofuels such as the process of plant growth being highly seasonal in many regions of the world and climate dependent hence not all countries would be able to implement it. Also disease and insects may destroy crops and sometimes these things get out of hand potentially leaving the human population starving for oil and without energy supply if there was no other energy back up available.

Ethanol has also shown to be corrosive for today’s oil infrastructure such as piping networks and ships thus it would require infrastructure adjustments and replacements and thus investment if it was to become a global energy source (Savage, 2011).  It also produces less energy than petroleum as shown by figure 1 below but research is currently under way to try and find an easy, cheap and environmentally friendly way to either synthesize butanol and other larger hydrocarbons from ethanol or to ferment these large hydrocarbons directly from the crops themselves.

Figure 1.

Source: Savege, 2011.Energies available from biofuels compared to traditional fuels.

Finally, vegetable oil has also been recognized as a source of fuel when burned. This is because it contains fatty oils. The fatty oils are also produced by palm trees and soya, so research into these plants is also currently being done as well as algae which are also believed to be a good potential source of biofuel. Some studies such as the one by Savage, 2010 actually argue that the only viable and efficient biofuel that can be produced will be from algae as it can be affordable in large enough volumes for biofuel to become the new global energy source.

Some studies suggest that biofuels could provide up to a quarter of global transport fuel by 2050 but this is highly debatable and would require a lot of research, investment and new technologies to be invented for the myth to become reality. There is currently a lack of evidence to show that biofuels are associated with lower GHGs emissions than fossil fuels when the full life cycle of their production and combustion are considered. However the governments of more than 35 countries have already established policies promoting the use of biofuels which is especially evident in Brazil, USA and countries within the EU (Butterbach-Bahl, 2013). So in conclusion, whilst biofuels sure do seem a cleaner option of energy production than non-conventional oil, we can only hope that enough research is done into the area before it becomes our new reality and yet again we dup ourselves into something that we can no longer get out of such as the irreversible anthropogenic global warming that we have created by the combustion of fossil fuels.