Dpurdy's List: Biofuels

• Biomass fuel refers to anything that can either burn or decompose. Other terms are biomass energy or biofuel. The prefix "bio" refers to life.
• Also utilizing the source of bioenergy reduces pollution, helps control carbon dioxide emissions ( Remember, plants take in CO2 which will offset emissions)

• The use of biomass energy has the potential to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Burning biomass releases about the same amount of carbon dioxide as burning fossil fuels. However, fossil fuels release carbon dioxide captured by photosynthesis millions of years ago—an essentially "new" greenhouse gas. Biomass, on the other hand, releases carbon dioxide that is largely balanced by the carbon dioxide captured in its own growth (depending how much energy was used to grow, harvest, and process the fuel).

• By "biofuels" on this page, I mean fuels for vehicles, such as "biodiesel" and "bioethanol" - although you can also use the term "biofuel" to cover any kind of fuel made from living materials or their waste.

   
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  How it works   Biofuels are made from two main sources:     Growing crops such as corn, sugar cane,   soya or rapeseed; or from palm   oil     Growing algae

• Biofuels are made from two main sources:

   
   
  • Growing crops such as corn, sugar cane,   soya or rapeseed; or from palm   oil
     
   
  • Growing algae
• Biofuels are potentially carbon-neutral, because   although carbon dioxide is released when we burn them, carbon   dioxide is taken in by the plants as they grow. However, energy   is needed to grow the crops, harvest them, and to process the   results into usable products - and most of this energy will   be from fossil fuels for farm machinery and power stations.
• iofuels are potentially carbon-neutral, because   although carbon dioxide is released when we burn them, carbon   dioxide is taken in by the plants as they grow. However, energy   is needed to grow the crops, harvest them, and to process the   results into usable products - and most of this energy will   be from fossil fuels for farm machinery and power stations.
• Producing biofuels from crops   means using large amounts of land to grow those crops   - that means less land for food production. We must be   careful to strike a balance between crops ofr fuel and   crops for food.
• Producing biofuels from crops   means using large amounts of land to grow those crops   - that means less land for food production. We must be   careful to strike a balance between crops ofr fuel and   crops for food.

• Algae - that's pond scum - are microscopic   water plants.

   

  They reproduce and photosynthesise   fast, and the algae are then filtered out of the water and the   lipids (oils) are used to make biodiesel.
• It is claimed that growing plants to make biofuels will take in   that carbon dioxide again. But biologists tell us that forests are   not 'the lungs of the planet' after all - they give out as much   CO2 as they absorb as the plants respire.   It seems that it's plant plankton in the oceans that takes in most   CO2 and gives out most oxygen.
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  It takes huge areas of land in order to grow   crops for biofuels, although making biofuels from algae does   not have this problem
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  • Biofuel production is closer to being carbon-neutral   than using fossil fuels.
• Is it renewable?

  Biofuels   are renewable,   we can plant more of the crops or grow more of the algae.

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• Biomass — Renewable Energy from Plants and Animals

     

   

  Source: The National Energy Education Project (Public Domain)

   

    

   

   

  Source: The National Energy Education Project (Public Domain)

   

    

  Biomass is organic material made from plants

• Biomass is organic material made from plants and animals (microorganisms). Biomass contains stored energy from the sun. Plants absorb the sun's energy in a process called photosynthesis. The chemical energy in plants gets passed on to animals and people that eat them.

   

  Biomass is a renewable energy source because we can always grow more trees and crops, and waste will always exist. Some examples of biomass   fuels are wood, crops, manure, and some garbage.

   

  When burned, the chemical energy in biomass is released as heat. If you have a fireplace, the wood you burn in it is a biomass fuel. Wood waste or garbage can be burned to produce steam for making electricity, or to provide heat to industries and homes.
• Crops like corn and sugar cane can be fermented to produce ethanol. Biodiesel, another transportation fuel, can be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats.
• Biomass fuels provided about 4% of the energy used in the United States in 2010. Of this, about 46% was from wood and wood-derived biomass, 43% from biofuels (mainly ethanol),
• Ethanol and biodiesel were the fuels used in the first automobile and diesel engines, but lower cost gasoline and diesel fuel made from crude oil became the dominant vehicle fuels. The Federal government has promoted ethanol use in vehicles to help reduce oil imports since the mid-1970s.
• Biofuels may be considered to be carbon-neutral because the plants that are used to make biofuels (such as corn and sugarcane for ethanol, and soy beans and palm oil trees for biodiesel) absorb CO₂ as they grow and may offset the CO₂ produced when biofuels are made and burned.
• Growing plants for biofuels is controversial however, as the land, fertilizers, and energy used to grow biofuel crops could be used to grow food crops instead. Also, in some parts of the world, large areas of natural vegetation and forests have been cut down to grow sugar cane for ethanol and soybeans and palm-oil trees to make biodiesel.
• Compared to petroleum diesel, biodiesel combustion produces less sulfur oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and unburned and other hydrocarbons, but more nitrogen oxide.

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• "Our study found that any biofuel that causes clearing of natural ecosystems will increase global warming," Joe Fargione, a scientist for The Nature Conservancy, told CTV.ca.

   

   
• He said converting natural areas into croplands results in tons of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere -- a carbon 'debt' that outweighs any benefits.

• The cost of producing ethanol varies with the cost of the feedstock used and the scale of production. Approximately 85 percent of ethanol production capacity in the United States relies on corn feedstock. The cost of producing ethanol from corn is estimated to be about $1.10 per gallon.
• Because a gallon of ethanol contains less energy than a gallon of gasoline, the production cost of ethanol must be multiplied by a factor of 1.5 to make an energy-cost comparison with gasoline. This means that if ethanol costs $1.10 per gallon to produce, then the effective cost per gallon to equal the energy contained in a gallon of gasoline is $1.65. In contrast, the current wholesale price of gasoline is about 90 cents per gallon.
• A major hurdle facing commercial biodiesel production is the cost of producing the fuel. Vegetable oil seed procurement, transport, storage and oil extraction accounts for at least 75 percent of the cost of producing biodiesel. The cost varies depending on the feedstock used. For example, based on the market price for industrial rapeseed grown in Washington and Idaho, the estimated cost of producing biodiesel is $2.56 per gallon of rapeseed methyl ester. Recent estimates put the cost of production in the range of $1.30 per gallon (using waste grease feedstock) to $2.00 or more per gallon using soybean oil.

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  Method	Cents/kW-h	Limitations and Externalities
  Wind Currently supplies approximately 1.4% of the global electricity demand. Wind is considered to be about 30% reliable.	4.0 - 6.0 Cents/kW-h	Wind is currently the only cost-effective alternative energy method, but has a number of problems. Wind farms are highly subject to lightning strikes, have high mechanical fatigue failure, are limited in size by hub stress, do not function well, if at all, under conditions of heavy rain, icing conditions or very cold climates, and are noisy and cannot be insulated for sound reduction due to their size and subsequent loss of wind velocity and power.
  Geothermal Currently supplies approximately 0.23% of the global electricity demand. Geothermal is considered 90-95% reliable.	4.5 - 30 Cents/kW-h	New low temperature conversion of heat to electricity is likely to make geothermal substantially more plausible (more shallow drilling possible) and less expensive. Generally, the bigger the plant, the less the cost and cost also depends upon the depth to be drilled and the temperature at the depth. The higher the temperature, the lower the cost per kwh. Cost may also be affect by where the drilling is to take place as concerns distance from the grid and another factor may be the permeability of the rock.
  Hydro Currently supplies around 19.9% of the global electricity demand. Hydro is considered to be 60% reliable.	5.1 - 11.3 Cents/kW-h	Hydro is currently the only source of renewable energy making substantive contributions to global energy demand. Hydro plants, however, can (obviously) only be built in a limited number of places, and can significantly damage aquatic ecosystems.
  Solar Currently supplies approximately 0.8% of the global electricity demand.	15 - 30 Cents/kW-h	Solar power has been expensive, but soon is expected to drop to as low as 3.5 cents/kW-h. Once the silicon shortage is remedied through alternative materials, a solar energy revolution is expected.
• Tide
  
  2 - 5 Cents/kW-h Blue Energy's tidal fence, engineered and ready for implementation, would provide a land bridge (road) while also generating electricity. Environmental impact is low. Tides are highly predictable.

• One of the first inventors to convince the people of the use of ethanol was a German named Nikolaus August Otto. Rudolf Diesel is the German inventor of the diesel engine. He designed his diesel engine to run in peanut oil and later Henry Ford designed the Model T car which was produced from 1903 to 1926. This car was completely designed to use hemp derived biofuel as fuel
• n the period of World War II, the high demand of biofuels was due to the increased use as an alternative for imported fuel. In this period, Germany was one of the countries that underwent a serious shortage of fuel. It was during this period that various other inventions took place like the use of gasoline along with alcohol that was derived from potatoes. Britain was the second country which came up with the concept of grain alcohol mixed with petrol