The Biochar Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Biofuel’

Developed countries have accumulated so much garbage that there has been a scarcity of landfill space. Leaders of these countries have decided to ship their trash in third world nations for certain fees however; they do not realize that by doing so they endanger the populace from the disease and pollution that their garbage brings.  These less developed countries do not have the technology and proper knowledge on how to manage waste properly. This would also lead to precious waste of landfill space for such countries. Various companies have discovered a cost efficient stratagem in generating waste into alternative fuels.

The fuel is actually produced through conversion of organic materials into biomass fuel that could either be in the form of solid, liquid or gas. This fuel has the ability to be converted directly into environmental friendly source of energy. Environmentalist believes that it could be a compatible approach towards saving the environments resources. Biofuels would endow greater impact towards the transportation system, it is also considered as carbon neutral unlike fossil fuel generated oil. Taking waste products and converting it into useful and valuable fuel could lessen our reliance to our natural resources. With our strong desire to find alternative solutions to the growing problems of fuel cost, biofuel might be the best solution.

By replacing gasoline for biofuel that is derived from processed waste, it could lessen almost 90% percent of green house gas emission into the atmosphere. Controversies and various debates are conducted whether switching over to biofuel usage would bring harm to our environment rather than helping us fight climate change. Waste that is being disposed in landfills are constant and copious and finding the right technology that you could use in processing this waste into an eco-friendly type of fuel would no doubt be beneficial to us.

Processing waste properly and efficiently would solve the worlds growing problem once and for all. We are bothered by the harmful effects that waste may bring to our health and to our environment. Now that in our generation, we are blessed with fruitful knowledge that could aim in solving this problems for a brighter future. Biofuel can meet the world’s energy needs at the same time countering carbon emissions and fossil fuel dependency. The process in which biofuel encompass aims to produce a valuable source of energy that would provide us with clean energy solutions. Rather than having our waste dumped into landfill and wait for quite some time to be processed, we could use innovative technologies that are dedicated to diminish waste and emissions.

Biofuels may be considered as one of the renewable energy sources that are acquired from a carbon neutral process. The technology that is involved to engender this type of fuel provides a carbon neutral aspect that meets environmental standards set by the government. It takes care of the growing distress of our world today. Reducing waste in a productive way spawns renewable energy sources that would not deplete our planets natural resources.

Incoming search terms:

• disosal of biofuel
• solution forimproper garbage disposal
• solutions in improper waste disposal

Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, has announced approval for an agricultural project that will develop biofuel from rotting dates.

According to Reuters, “Iraq has the world’s third largest oil reserves but its crumbling farm sector, which has suffered from decades of sanctions, isolation and war, is the country’s leading employer.”

The dates-to-biofuel program, being developed by an unnamed company based in the United Arab Emirates, is seen as a way to encourage growth in the farming sector which Iraqi officials hope will ultimately lead to greater agricultural productivity.

Iraqi officials also hope it will reinvigorate their once vibrant date export industry. The country, which produced 900,000 tons of dates prior to the U.S. invasion, now produces only 350,000 tons. By giving farmers a way to profit from dates that are starting to rot, they help to minimize the risk.

And the oil rich country plans to use the biofuel domestically at first, with the possibility of future export.

In another oil exporting country, Oman, Oman Green Energy Company (OGEC), has been testing the development of biofuel from the date palm for some years. In the case of OGEC, they claim to use cellulosic biomass extracted from around the date palms and in a way that doesn’t interfere with the date crop.

In a 2008 study, desert dates were also found to be an excellent source of biofuel stock, especially for arid regions. The study focused particularly on the Arava desert in Israel and its potential to develop cost-effective biodiesel production.

While biodiesel production in oil poor Israel makes sense, biofuels might be seen as a gamble in a country like Oman which exports 700,000 barrels of oil a day, and derives 90% of its export revenue from oil.  Likewise a biofuel program in Iraq, where the country’s financial stability has been put in the hands of its oil industry, may seem out of place. And yet, biofuels are seen as delivering additional value. In Iraq, they may be the key to bringing back a devastated agricultural sector.

Incoming search terms:

• iraq date export
• Iraq dates export
• palm oil

Biofuels from Engineered Tobacco Plants?

A biofuel is tricky to define because the usual fossil fuel we use, is in a way biofuel too. But we can safely say that most of the biofuels don’t add up their quota of carbon dioxide to the environment. The biofuels are therefore considered to be “CO2 neutral.” Researchers from the Biotechnology lenovo thinkpad x61 battery Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University have developed a new method to increase the quantity of oil in tobacco leaves. So that oil in tobacco leaves can be utilized as biofuels in future. Their paper was published in Plant Biotechnology Journal which is an online journal.

Vyacheslav Andrianov is a Ph.D. and assistant professor of Cancer Biology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. According to him tobacco can produce biofuel more efficiently than other agricultural crops. But there is a hitch. When we try to extract oil lenovo ideapad y430 battery, most of it is available in tobacco seeds. Statistics say that tobacco seeds are composed of about 40 percent oil per dry weight. Another snag is tobacco plants don’t produce seeds in copious amounts. It is about 600 kg of seeds per acre. Dr. Andrianov and his colleagues aim to find ways so that the tobacco leaves produce more oil.

A usual tobacco plant leave has 1.7 percent to 4 percent of oil per dry weight. The researchers modified two genes of the plant. They are the diacyglycerol acytransferase (DGAT) gene or the LEAFY COTYLEDON 2 (LEC2) gene. The plants were engineered to over express one of the two genes. The alteration of DGAT gene resulted in about 5.8 percent of oil per dry weight in the leaves. It is around twice the amount of oil produced by and large. When the researcher went for the LEC2 gene modification it yielded around 6.8 percent of oil per dry weight.

According to Dr. Andrianov, “Tobacco is very attractive as a biofuel because the idea is to use plants that aren’t used in food production. We have found ways to genetically engineer the plants so that their leaves express more oil. In some instances, the modified plants produced 20-fold more oil in the leaves.”

Dr. Andrianov opines, “Based on these data, tobacco represents an attractive and promising ‘energy plant’ platform, and could also serve as a model for toshiba satellite a215 battery the utilization of other high-biomass plants for biofuel production.”

There is a growing concern these days for the environment, and several countries have taken the initiative to promote the use of renewable energy to lessen humanity’s impact on the planet.  Canada is one such country taking the lead in green technologies, and using biofuels is one of the steps they have taken in becoming one of the world’s leaders in the consumption of environmentally friendly fuels.

Biofuels are simply liquid fuels manufactured from plant and animal materials.  Because this matter is biodegradable, it is not only capable of powering vehicles and heating homes, but the waste is then absorbed once again into the earth, nurturing new life able to provide future renewable energy sources.

Bioethanol, commonly referred to as just ethanol, is the most common biofuel currently in production.  Canada’s federal government has taken note of ethanol’s potential as an alternative renewable energy and created a plan requiring gasoline to contain 5% ethanol by the end of this year.  The plan would also require diesel fuels to contain at least 2% ethanol by the end of 2012.  As a matter of fact, the provincial government of Manitoba has taken a leadership role in the biodiesel industry by creating mandates requiring similar percentages as those devised by the federal government that will go into effect in 2010.  This precedes the federal mandate by two years.  Manitoba is known for its prairie lands, the crops that grow there, and the animals that graze upon these crops.  The amount of plant and animal materials available for the production of biofuels is great.  Manitoba has inspired the provincial government of British Columbia to adopt similar strategies.

The corporation of Raven Biofuels Limited was established to research and develop technologies conducive to efficient and prolific use of biofuels throughout Canada, and they have identified British Columbia as a starting point.  Joining Raven Biofuels International Corporation (RBIC), their goal is to pay RBIC a fee providing them exclusive rights to biofuel development in Canada.  Their intent is to build the first commercial biorefinery and place it in Kamloops, British Columbia.  Though it may seem as though a monopoly or trust would emerge from this partnership, the goal is to set an example and to provide guidance to other potential commercial endeavors.  Municipalities have partnered with British Columbia’s provincial government to create the BC Bioenergy Strategy, which has already garnered million to fund a Biofuel Network focused on furthering biofuel energy technology not just in British Columbia, but throughout Canada.

Incoming search terms:

• columbia energy

In a rather “environmentally concerned” approach to cut down on the carbon emission from flights, Lufthansa airlines has announced that they will start commercial biofuel flights daily between Hamburg and Frankfurt in a six-month trial from April 2011. The move to operate an aircraft engine with biofuel over a long stretch of six months, is first of its kind in the world.

Energy security issues, hike in petrol prices and climate change from greenhouse gases emitted by airplanes have been troubling the airline industry for quite some time. Virgin Atlantic Airlines, British Airways and Continental Airline have have already tested on biofuel flights in the last two years. However, environmentalists have been constantly warning that production of biofuels can also have adverse effects on environment.

Utilizing biofuel in flight operations can save around 1,500 tonnes (15,00,000 kg) of Carbon dioxide emissions. However, as the airline industry worldwide is calling for an alternative source of energy, there’s a need to check for the sustainability of biofuels against fossil fuels and their effect on aircraft’s engine over a longer term. Plus, environmental concerns are another big issue related to production of biofuels.

According to a report by UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, biofuel plantations are destroying ecosystem of various regions in the world. Palm oil plantations set up for biofuel production in Indonesia and Malaysia, have led to deforestation resulting in more emission of greenhouse gases as the worst consequence.

In such a situation, a sustainable and environment-friendly way to produce biofuels is the need of the hour.

Incoming search terms:

• biofuel hazard
• british airways airlines
• continental airline
• malaysian palm oil
• palm oil

Copyright (c) 2009 Wes Fernley

The recent breathtaking spike in oil prices has finally awakened professionals in the energy field to the very real need for alternatives. As a result, we are seeing liquid fuels developed from plant materials entering the market. Sugar components of various plant materials if fermented will yield an alcohol called bioethanol. Even cellulosic biomass (trees and grasses, for instance) can be used to produce this kind of biofuel. Ethanol, widely used in Brazil as well as in the United States, can, actually, be used in a pure form; however, it is used more as an additive to boost octane in addition to reducing emissions.

Biodiesel, on the other hand, is made from oils—vegetable or animal. Very often, greases are recycled and used for biodiesel. Like ethanol, it can be used in its pure form for diesel engines but is more often treated as an additive. This is the most common biofuel in Europe. The process for producing it from fats and oils is called transesterification.

In 2008, 1.8% of the world’s transport fuel was biofuel. Investment in the production of this new approach to fueling transportation vehicles for the world is expanding rapidly. It was billion in 2007. The liquid biofuels are the most popular ones for these purposes because they can be pumped, and they can directly replace gasoline. Not only do internal combustion engines run cleaner on biofuels, but pollution is also minimized. Biofuels are generally classified as first generation, second generation, and third generation.

First generation biofuels are made from sugar, starch, vegetable oil, or animal fats. Grains such as wheat are fermented into bioethanol; sunflower seeds are pressed to yield vegetable oil for biodiesel. The most common first generation biofuels:

- Bioalcohols

- Biodiesel

- Vegetable Oil

- Bioethers

- Biogas

- Syngas

- Solid biofuels

Second generation biofuels are made from non-food crops such as waste biomass, stalks of wheat, corn, wood, and certain grasses. To avoid the political issues that have arisen from the use of food that is needed for humans and animals to produce fuel, the pressure is on to develop more of these sources. Some of the second-generation biofuels under development:

- Biohydrogen

- Biomethanol

- DMF

- Vio-DME

- Fischer-Tropsch Diesel

- Biohydrogen Diesel

- Mixed Alcohols

- Wood Diesel

Third-generation biofuels are made primarily from algae, which can produce up to 30 times more energy per acre than land crops such as soybeans. However, they have not yet been produced commercially. These are biodegradable and will not harm the environment if they happen to be spilled. Algae can be grown agriculturally. It’s estimated that 15,000 square miles of algae would meet all the needs for petroleum fuel in the United States.

- Agricultural Algae

- Ethanol from Living Algae

- Helioculture (collection of carbon dioxide from the air using solar power)

For the non-scientist, this seems somewhat complicated, but more and more professionals in the appropriate fields are switching to this quickly-emerging industry, and we can hope that many of the problems the world faces now in obtaining energy without jeopardizing our environments will see solutions in the coming years.

Oil prices have always been a concern. Recent events, along with increased awareness of the environment, have shown us the need for the creation of alternative means of energy.

Many different options have been proposed. Nuclear power is possible but comes with obvious safety concerns. Solar and wind look like viable options, but don’t seem to be getting large amounts of support. Another option is biofuel, which involves using the energy of organic materials to replace the function of fossil fuels. Ethanol is perhaps the most widely used of these, especially in Brazil and the United States, and is used most commonly as a blend with regular fuel.

Another kind of biofuel is biodiesel, which is made from either vegetable oils or animal oils. It’s actually possible with today’s technology to take the fat that comes from the grills at McDonalds and recycle this into usable fuel! As with ethanol, it can be used purely on its own but is commonly just a supplement to be added with other fuel. It’s currently the most common biofuel in Europe. The process of turning animal and vegetable oils into usable fuel is known as transesterification.

1.8% of the world’s transport fuel was biofuel in 2008. This figure seems small, but investment in these technologies is continually increasing, and will inevitably create new technological breakthroughs and a rise in popularity. Biofuels come in many different forms, and are commonly categorized into first, second and third generation.

First generation fuels are made from food crops such as sugar, starch and animal or oil fats. Grains can be made into bioethanol, and sunflower seeds into vegetable oil and then biodiesel. These are the most common first generation biofuels: Biodiesel, bioalcohols, vegetable oil, bioethers, solid biofuels, Syngas and biogas.

From non-food crops like waste, stalks of wheat and corn we get the second generation of biofuels. Since first generation biofuels are made from edible sources, the hunt is on to create more second-generation technology that can avoid a food shortage that may occur. They include biohydrogen, biomethanol, mixed alcohols and wood diesel.

Third-generation biofuels are the most complex, and come usually from algae, which produces a large amount of energy. While the advantages of third generation fuels would be great, since it’s virtually impossible for them to cause environmental damage, the technology has so far not been sufficiently developed to allow these biofuels to be produced commercially. It’s been put forth that 15,000 square miles of algae could supply all the petroleum fuel required by the United States.

These new technological developments show just how exciting the field of biofuel is, and the great benefits it can provide to the environment. The current environmental problems and massive fuel prices could perhaps be fixed forever with the further development of second and third generation fuels. Who knows what will be powering us fifty years from now?

According to our research report “Global Biofuel Market Analysis”, the biofuel industry has substantially grown across the world on the back of strong demand (both ethanol and biodiesel) for road transport. We have also found that governments of both the developing and developed nations are supporting biofuel developments for the diversification of energy sources and the improvement of environment. Thus, the global ethanol and biodiesel production is expected to grow at a CAGR around 5% and 4% respectively between 2010 and 2019.

The report has examined the biofuel industry at the regional level. The Americas (US, Canada and Brazil) dominate the global ethanol market and accounts for around 90% of the world total ethanol production. However, the EU has a strong foothold on the biodiesel market and accounts for over two-third of the total biodiesel production in the world.

Our report gives a deep insight into the trends prevailing in different regions of the world. Apart from the Americas and EU, we have also covered the Asia-Pacific biofuel market. India and China are the emerging biofuel markets both in terms of production and consumption.

“Global Biofuel Market Analysis” provides an extensive research and rational analysis of the global biofuel market. The report contains thoroughly analyzes current market trends in both developed and emerging economies in context of statistical data. The report also covers the government initiatives which help to increase demand for biofuel. 

We have also provided the industry forecast based on correlation of past drivers, challenges and opportunities for expansion. The report includes forecast analysis of ethanol production and consumption as well as biodiesel production and consumption. We have studied the cost involved in biofuel production for major biofuel producers worldwide. 

For FREE SAMPLE of this report visit: http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM098.htm

Check DISCOUNTED REPORTS on: http://www.rncos.com/

Incoming search terms:

• bio char