Biofuels
Biofuels
Biofuels
Biofuels
B.Tech Sem I
Syllabus Unit: Biofuels
Biofuels:
I. Synthesis
II. Properties
III. Applications in transportation
IV. Applications in agriculture
V. Applications in industry
VI. Challenges in biofuel production
Biofuels: Introduction
• Biofuel can be described as any fuel made from organic materials or their processing and
conversion derivatives.
• Simply, biofuels are combustible fuels derived from recently produced biomass.
• The term biofuel usually refers to liquid fuels used as replacements for or additives to
petroleum-based liquid fuel.
• Generally, gases and liquids fuels obtained from biomass are considered as biofuels. The
biomass may be plant or algae material or animal waste.
• Since such feedstock material can be replenished readily, biofuel is considered to be a
source of renewable energy, unlike fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas.
• Biofuel is commonly advocated as a cost-effective and environmentally benign alternative
to petroleum and other fossil fuels.
Biofuels: Introduction
• Biofuel can be categorized into two broad groups—bioethanol (more commonly referred to
as ethanol) and biodiesel. The basic difference between the two is that ethanol is an alcohol
and biodiesel is an oil.
Biofuels: Introduction
• The term biofuel refers to liquid or gaseous fuels for the transport sector that are
predominantly produced from biomass.
• It is generally held that biofuels offer many benefits, including sustainability, reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions, and security of supply.
• A variety of fuels can be produced from biomass resources including liquid fuels, such as
ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, and Fischer-Tropsch diesel, and gaseous fuels, such as
hydrogen and methane.
• Biofuels are primarily used in vehicles but can also be used in engines or fuel cells for
electricity generation.
Biofuels: Classification
• Based on the type of feedstock used to produce either ethanol or biodiesel, biofuels are
grouped into three categories—first generation, second generation, and third generation.
FIRST GENERATION BIOFUELS
• This category includes biofuels produced from conventional, well established processes.
• The first generation biodiesel is derived from food bio-feedstocks such as soybeans, palm,
canola and rapeseed.
• These include sugars, grains, or seeds, i.e. utilize only a specific (often edible) portion of
the above-ground biomass produced by a plant.
• Ethanol used as a biofuel is produced by fermenting sugar or starch in food-crop sources
that are biochemically categorized as carbohydrates.
First Generation Biofuels
Biofuels: Classification
• Besides cane and corn, first-generation ethanol is produced from but not limited to other
less popular sources like wheat, barley, and sugar beet.
• Common first-generation biofuels include vegetable oils, biodiesel, bioalcohols, biogas,
solid biofuels, syngas.
• The pros of first generation biofuels include mature technology, familiar feedstock, scalable
production capabilities, cost competitive to fossil fuels.
• The cons are Food vs fuel debate, feedstock price volatility, low land use efficiency,
geographical limitations, modest net reduction in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas
emissions with current processing methods.
Biofuels: Classification
SECOND GENERATION BIOFUELS
• The second generation biofuels are produced from non-food crops, such as cellulosic
biofuels and waste biomass (stalks of wheat and corn, and wood).
• It is basically ethanol/biodiesel produced from non-edible biomass sources.
• Second generation biofuels are also known as advanced biofuels.
• The only time the food crops can act as second generation biofuels is if they have already
fulfilled their food purpose.
• The sources of second generation ethanol include dedicated biofuel grasses, crop residues,
and wood chips, which are biochemically categorized as lignocellulosic materials.
• Second generation biodiesel is produced from non-edible oils like jatropha, jojoba,
moringa, castor, soapnut.
Second Generation Biofuels
Biofuels: Classification
• The pros of second generation biofuels are surplus feedstock supply, less controversial, less
dependence on geographical location, suitable for developing agrarian countries with large
population.
• The cons include high capital cost, technological breakthroughs needed, development of
high biomass feedstocks to improve land use efficiency.
THIRD GENERATION BIOFUELS
• The term third generation biofuel refers to biofuel derived from algae.
• The third generation biofuels are – sometimes referred to as ―oilgae‖.
• Generally, algae are categorized based on their habitat, such as freshwater, algae, marine
algae, or wastewater algae. Based on its characteristics, a specific alga is chosen for either
ethanol or biodiesel production.
Third Generation Biofuels
Biofuels: Classification
• Algae provide a number of advantages.
• Its production is supposed to be low cost and high-yielding – giving up to nearly 30 times
the energy per unit area as can be realized from current, conventional ‗first generation‘
biofuel feedstocks.
• The pros of using third generation biofuels as alternative energy sources are that only
inputs to get feedstock is carbondioxide and water, less controversial and a versatile array
of products possible.
• The cons are High capital costs and it is still at an early research stage.
Third Generation Biofuels
Biofuels: Classification
FOURTH GENERATION BIOFUELS
• This category includes biofuels which can be made using non-arable land.
• These do not require destruction of biomass to be converted to fuel.
• This technology aims at directly converting available solar energy to fuel using
inexhaustible, cheap and widely available resources.
• They (photobiological solar fuels and electrofuels) are the most advanced biofuels
currently under research.
• The fourth generation of biofuels is about metabolic engineering of algae for producing
biofuels from oxygenic photosynthetic microorganisms.
• It has least environmental ill effects but it has a higher cost and slower processing time.
Fourth Generation Biofuels
Biofuels: Synthesis/Production
• Ethanol and biodiesel are produced through different biochemical/chemical pathways.
• Fermentation and transesterification are the major pathways for ethanol and biodiesel
production, respectively.
• Thus, ethanol is produced by fermenting any biomass high in carbohydrates
(sugar/starch/cellulose) through a process similar to beer brewing.
• In first-generation ethanol production, starch is enzymatically hydrolyzed to fermentable
sugar before going through the fermentation process.
• In second- and third-generation ethanol production, cellulose is extracted from the
lignocellulosic structure by different pretreatments and then enzymatically hydrolyzed to
fermentable sugar.
Biofuels: Synthesis of Bioethanol
Biofuels: Synthesis/Production
• Compared to ethanol production, biodiesel production is theoretically more
straightforward.
• Basically, all three types of biodiesel feedstocks are first extracted to get oil, and then the
oil is converted to biodiesel through a process known as transesterification.
Biofuels: Synthesis of Biodiesel
Why biofuels?Advantages:
• There are several reasons why biofuels are considered relevant technologies by both
developing and industrialized countries.
• They include energy security, environmental concerns, foreign exchange savings, and
socioeconomic issues related to the rural sector.
• Due to the widespread availability of biomass resources, biomass-based fuel technology
can potentially employ more people than fossil fuel-based technology.
• As the major conventional energy sources like coal, petroleum, and natural gas are
gradually depleted, biomass is emerging as one of the promising environmentally friendly
renewable energy options.
• Due to its environmental merits, the share of biofuel in the automotive fuel market will
grow fast in the coming future.
Why biofuels?Advantages:
• The advantages of biofuels are:
(a) they are easily available from common biomass sources
(b) carbon dioxide cycle occurs in combustion
(c) they are very environmentally friendly
(d) they are biodegradable and contribute to sustainability
• Various scenarios have led to the conclusion that biofuels will be in widespread use in the
future energy system.
• The scenarios are to facilitate the transition from the hydrocarbon economy to the
carbohydrate economy by using biomass to produce bioethanol and biomethanol as
replacements for traditional oil-based fuels and feedstocks.
Why biofuels?Advantages:
• The biofuel scenario produces equivalent rates of growth in GDP and per-capita affluence,
reduces fossil energy intensities of GDP, and reduces oil imports.
• Each scenario has advantages whether in terms of rates of growth in GDP, reductions in
carbon dioxide emissions, the energy ratio of the production process, the direct creation of
jobs, or the area of biomass plantation required to make the production system feasible.
• The biggest difference between biofuels and petroleum feedstocks is oxygen content.
Biofuels have oxygen levels of 10 to 45% while petroleum has essentially none, making
the chemical properties of biofuels very different from those of petroleum.
• Biofuel is a non-polluting, locally available, accessible, sustainable, and reliable fuel
obtained from renewable sources.
Biofuels: Applications
• Biofuel is known to be a very efficient alternative to fossil fuels.
• Besides being used for transportation, biofuel can also provide hydrogen, clean up oil, can
be used as fuel for cooking, and much more.
• They can be used for:
1. Transportation 7. Helps in Removal of Paint and Adhesives
2. Energy generation 8. Reduce Costs and the Need to Import Oil
3. Heat production
4. Charging electronics
5. Cleaning oil spills and grease
6. Cooking
Applications for Transportation
• Biofuel costs, and the impact of their use on oil demand and greenhouse gas emissions are
important components in the overall assessment of biofuels for transport.
• But there are other factors, such as the impact of biofuels on the vehicles that use them and
the pollutant emissions from these vehicles, which are also relevant to this analysis.
• While biofuels can help countries to reduce their dependency on imported oil, they also
contribute to clean the energy matrix, as they can be produced again and again, using
mostly sunlight and water.
• The first use of biofuels to power vehicles came with the advent of stationary steam
engines.
• The first cars, trucks, and buses were powered by Otto and Diesel cycle engines, and both
used biofuels in their initial stages.
Applications for Transportation
Applications for Transportation
• Henry Ford‘s (1896) first models used bioethanol, and Rudolf Diesel (1895) made tests
with peanut oil in his engines.
• Nowadays, biofuels have made a comeback and represent by far the most relevant
renewable energy for transport.
• Depending on the engine technology, biofuels can be used in limited blends with fossil
fuels in conventional engines (as is mostly done in practice); as pure biofuel in adapted or
dedicated engines; and in flex engines, able to use any blend.
• For spark-ignited or Otto cycle engines, bioethanol can be used in blends up to 10% with
gasoline (E10) or even higher content in modern engines.
• A commercial application of biofuel in aviation is seen in Ipanema aircraft powered by
hydrous ethanol, which is easy to find in rural areas of Brazil.
Applications for Transportation
• The main driver behind this development was the cost reduction: the use of hydrous
ethanol replacing aviation gasoline in Brazil can reduce flight cost by 40%, and
furthermore, increase the airplane power by 5%.
• The application of biofuels in diesel engines and in gas turbines is comparatively simpler
from the technical point of view, requiring essentially that the biofuel properties assure
satisfactory efficiency and materials compatibility.
• The suitability of a biofuel to a given power system designed for conventional fossil
fuels can be expressed in terms of the “drop-in biofuel” concept, involving biofuels that
can be mixed with a conventional fuel without change of properties and use the same
logistic infrastructure (tanks, pipelines, etc.), and do not require any adaptation of
vehicle engines.
Applications for Transportation
Applications for Transportation
• Because of its particular requirements of performance and safety, aviation biofuels should
be specified as drop-in biofuels.
• Many commercial flights have been made with biofuels blends, effectively starting an
international market of the Sustainable Aviation Fuels, as they are called by the aviation
industry.
• New alternatives have been developed to apply bioenergy in transport, improving
competitiveness and sustainability of biofuels.
• The use of biogas as a fuel is increasing in urban buses and agricultural tractors.
• Huge automobile brands like Toyota and Nissan have shifted towards use of biofuels as
their choices.
Applications in Industry:
• The industrial sector, the industrial and power generation sector combined, provided little
share and contribution to general application of biofuel, which accounts for 50% of global
renewable energy application.
• As production of biofuel increases, many industries with a history of reliance on fossil
fuels are now actively converting their operations.
• The transportation industry, in particular, makes use of biofuels in various applications,
from aviation to rail transport.
• Aviation is the second largest consumer of energy in the entire transportation industry, and
requires pure, chemically stable fuels.
• Jet fuel blends with petroleum and biofuels have proven safe and effective.
Applications in Industry:
• Motor vehicles are the biggest users of conventional fuel as well as the primary users of
biofuel, pushing most of the industry‘s current research and development.
• Heavy industry, such as shipping and rail transport, is projected to see the next serious
biofuel innovation.
• Apart from automotive industry, other applications of biofuels in industry include:
• Heating Oil: Biodiesel can be blended with petroleum-based heating oil in various
proportions and used as fuel to heat domestic and commercial boilers. These heating oil
biodiesel blends are slightly different than the blends used for transportation.
• Some government authorities in several countries have passed laws and regulations to
ensure use of a minimum level of biodiesel (about 2%) in heating oils.
Applications in Industry:
• Power Generation: Biodiesel is suited for use in power generators. Various types of back-
up power generation systems with varying capacities have been designed to use biodiesel
as fuel. These generators consume 100% pure biodiesel (B100), eliminating the byproducts
(of petroleum-based diesel) that result in smog, ozone and sulfur emissions. Thus, use of
such power generators burning biodiesel leads to substantial reduction in carbon monoxide
and particulate matter. Biodiesel has been used as a fuel to run thermal power generation
plants. In remote areas, especially in India, several individuals and associations have
started producing biodiesel from different locally available raw materials. The resulting
biodiesel, though of differing quality, is being used in power generators to augment scarce
supply of electricity in those regions.
Applications in Industry:
• Agricultural Machinery: Biodiesel is also being used to run agricultural machinery, like
tractors, agricultural processor equipments, etc. The biodiesel consumption is basically for
operating the diesel engines which power these machines. Suitable blends of biodiesel with
petroleum-based diesel are used in these applications. This end-use more prevalent in
remote areas where the availability of petroleum-based diesel is scarce and biodiesel
produced from locally available raw materials is available.
• Oil Spills Cleaning: Biodiesel has been used as a solvent for crude oil spills cleaning on
sea shores. Biodiesel coating on the spilled oil on shorelines lowers the viscosity of the
crude oil and also has higher buoyancy than crude oil. Once the crude oil is removed from
the shoreline into the ocean, the mixture of oil and biodiesel on the water surface can be
removed manually using skimmers. The residual mixture is easily biodegraded.
Impact on Agriculture:
• The development of biofuels largely relies on using agricultural or biological feedstock
for fuel generation.
• Food vs fuel is the most important and the most debated point while considering the
impact of biofuels on agriculture.
• The food versus fuel debate continues partially due to the lack of understanding on the
distributional consequences across sectors and regions from the expansion in biofuels.
• Agricultural commodity prices have risen significantly since 2006 and the increasing
demand by the biofuel sector for feedstocks has contributed to that increase.
• These changes in agricultural commodity prices, have triggered concerns from
government and development agencies about implications for food security and poverty
around the world.
Impact on Agriculture:
• Biofuel production has increased steadily since the beginning of the decade and reached
80.1 million tons in 2009 with production concentrated in three main regions: the United
States, Brazil and the European Union.
• Correspondingly, the use of major feedstock crops for biofuel production has increased
dramatically.
• Among the largest biofuel producers, the US used 25% of its maize production for
biofuels in 2007; Brazil used 50% of its sugar cane for biofuels; and the EU used 68% of
its vegetable oil production, primarily rapeseeds, for biofuels.
• The expected demand for agricultural commodities associated with the emergence of
biofuels is strong enough to lead to a rise of world maize, sugar cane and vegetable oil
production.
Impact on Agriculture:
• Both prices and production of key feedstock commodities in key countries rise with the
emergence of biofuels.
• Overall, all outlook studies reviewed indicate that biofuel growth leads to higher prices
and production levels for the three primary feedstock crops of 1st generation biofuels by
2015.
• Further research on second, third and fourth generation biofuels may lead to put this food
vs fuel debate to a rest, but until then, issues like land and resources management for
biofuel production have to be considered wisely.
Challenges of Biofuel production:
• Though biofuel provides an attractive alternative to current petroleum-based
transportation fuel, its production impacts cannot be overlooked.
• The major challenges for long-term sustainability of biofuel production are mainly
twofold: economic and environmental.
• The key economic issue is that if food crops are used for biofuel production (which is the
case for first-generation ethanol and biodiesel), then there will be a shortage of food
grains in the market, leading to higher dietary costs.
• To address this concern, second-generation biofuel production, which relies on either the
biomass residues or non-edible agricultural products, has been developed.
Challenges of Biofuel production:
Challenges of Biofuel production:
• Removing residues from the field for second-generation biofuel production aggravates
environmental problems due to reduction of soil organic carbon that otherwise would
accumulate in soil when crop residues are retained.
• Loss of soil organic carbon leads to a vicious cycle of increased soil erosion, increased
GHG emissions, lower soil productivity, higher mineral fertilizer input, increased cost of
production, and impaired water quality due to surface runoff.
• Growing dedicated crop biomass only for first- or second-generation biofuel production
either competes with agricultural and pasture land or leads to deforestation with increased
GHG emissions.
Challenges of Biofuel production:
• Production of crop biomass for biofuel on marginal lands also increases the use of
fertilizer, water, and pesticides.
• Third-generation biofuels from cultured algal biomass or advanced biofuels from domestic
and industrial wastes have certain advantages over biofuels from agricultural feedstocks.
• However, biofuel production from algae that are highly productive and less resource
intensive is considered an economically viable biofuel production pathway at present.
• Ultimately, any new kind of biofuel production technology needs to be environmentally
sustainable and economically profitable.