Biofuel IS IT REALLY AN OPTION ?


Biofuel defined broadly is solid, liquid, or gas fuel consisting of, or derived from biomass and used as a fuel in transportation..

Making and transporting one kilogram of nitrogen fertilizer for biofuel crops releases 3.7 kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

biofuels indirectly add to the atmosphere’s greenhouse gas levels. The process of refining and extracting biofuels also requires electricity generation.

The main reason for using biofuel is to reduce the greenhouse effect.

One is by replacing fossil fuel (old biofuel) with biofuel.

The second and maybe more important is the amount of carbon dioxide that is converted to oxygen by the bioplants as they grow. Wikipedia

ON A SMAL SCALE Both biodiesel and ethanol are clean, grow-your-own fuels that can be made on-site in small villages from renewable, locally available resources, for the most part using simple equipment that a village blacksmith can make and maintain. BUT industrialised countries are looking to the Third World to feed their [fuel] addiction: the land is there for the taking as is cheap labour, and the environmental damages of large plantations, biofuels extraction and refining can all be outsourced, exactly as they were in the extraction of crude oil … there simply isn’t sufficient arable land on which to grow all the biofuel crops needed to satisfy the voracious appetites of the industrialised nations. Clearing forests releases more greenhouse gases, and displacement of crops puts further strain on the food security and biodiversity of poor countries.
growing supposedly clean green renewable and sustainable biofuels crops by means of unsustainable industrialised agriculture monocropping methods with their heavy dependence on fossil-fuel inputs is hardly the best way of replacing fossil fuels.


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TYPES OF BIOFUEL

Biofuels are fuels produced from renewable organic sources.  Biofuels are alcohols, esters, and other chemicals made from cellulosic biomass such as herbaceous and woody plants, agricultural and forestry residues, and a large portion of municipal solid and industrial waste.  The term biofuels can refer to fuels for electricity and fuels for transportation.


Ethanol

Ethanol is an alcohol, most commonly made using a process similar to brewing beer where starch crops are converted into sugars, the sugars are fermented into ethanol, and then the ethanol is distilled into its final form.  At present, ethanol in Australia is produced from wheat starch or from C-grade molasses, which is derived from sugar cane.  Although it is possible to produce ethanol from agricultural residues, wood waste and grasses (also known as lignocellulosic ethanol) this technology is still under development.



Biodiesel



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