Biofuels, is it a new hope?

Prices of oil is increasing in the world’s market. Higher oil prices push up the price of fuel, energy bills and food.  Some country try to search other source of oil replacement from crude oil to fuel that can be renewable.

Biofuels are any kind of fuel made from living things, or from the waste they produce. This is a very long and diverse list, including:

• wood, wood chippings and straw
• pellets or liquids made from wood
• biogas (methane) from animals’ excrement
• ethanol, diesel or other liquid fuels made from processing plant material or waste oil

 

In recent years, the term “biofuel” has come to mean the last category – ethanol and diesel, made from crops including corn, sugarcane and rapeseed.  Bio-ethanol, an alcohol, is usually mixed with petrol, while biodiesel is either used on its own or in a mixture.

Ethanol for fuel is made through fermentation, the same process which produces it in wine and beer. Biodiesel is made through a variety of chemical processes. There is interest in trying biobutanol, another alcohol, in aviation fuel.

In principle, biofuels are a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional transport fuels. Burning the fuels releases carbon dioxide, but growing the plants absorbs a comparable amount of the gas from the atmosphere.

However, energy is used in farming and processing the crops, and this can make biofuels as polluting as petroleum-based fuels, depending on what is grown and how it is treated. So …….. 

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