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Biofuels—The NextGreat Source of Energy?
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A worker unloads kernels of corn from a truck into a delivery chute at a bioethanol plant in …A boom in the production of biofuel was under way in 2007, especially in the UnitedStates, where in January about 75 refineries for producing the biofuelethanolfromcorn (maize) were being built or expanded. This construction, not including additionalfacilities on the drawing board, was expected to double existing capacity, and the demandfor corn pushed its price so high that U.S. farmers planted more land to the crop than theyhad in a generation. Biofuel was perceived as a beneficialalternativeto petroleum andother fossil fuels as the price of petroleum rose during the year to record levels andworldwide concern increased about how greenhouse-gas emissions from petroleum-derived fuels were contributing to climate change in the form of global warming. Despiteits perceived economic and environmental benefits, however, many critics wereexpressing concerns about the scope of the expansion of certain biofuels because of their  potential to create new problems.Biofuels are fuels that are derived from biomass—that is, plant material or animal waste.Since such materials can be replenished readily, biofuels are a renewable source of energy, unlike fossil fuels, such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas. Some long-exploited biofuels, such as wood, can be used directly as a raw material that is burned to produceheat. The heat, in turn, can be used to run generators in a power plant to produceelectricity. A number of existing power facilities burn grass, wood, or other kinds of  biomass.
 
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A cutting machine on a plantation in southeastern Brazil harvests sugarcane, the primary source of …
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At a plant in Ipoh, Malay., a worker pumps palm-oil-derived biodiesel into atanker.Liquid biofuels are of particular interest because of the vast infrastructure already in place to use them, especially for transportation. The liquid biofuel in greatest productionis ethanol (an alcohol), which is made by fermenting starch or sugar. In the United States —the leading producer—ethanol biofuel is made primarily from corn grain, and ittypically is blended with gasoline to produce a fuel that is 10% ethanol. InBrazil, whichhad been the leading producer until 2006, ethanol biofuel is made primarily fromsugarcane ,and it is commonly used as 100% ethanol fuel or in gasoline blends containing85% ethanol. The second most common liquid biofuel is biodiesel ,which is made primarily from oily plants (such as the soybean or oil palm
 
) and to a lesser extent fromother sources (such as cooking waste from restaurants). Biodiesel, which has foundgreatest acceptance in Europe, is used in diesel engines, usually blended with petroleumdiesel in various percentages.Other biofuels include methane gas, which can be derived from the decomposition of  biomass in the absence of oxygen, and methanol, butanol, and dimethyl ether, which arein development. Much focus is on the development of methods to produce ethanol from biomass that has a high content of cellulose. This cellulosic ethanol could be producedfrom abundant low-value material, including wood chips, grasses, crop residues, andmunicipal waste. The mix of commercially used biofuels will undoubtedly shift as thesefuels are developed, but the range of possibilities presently known could furnish power for transportation, heating, cooling, and electricity.In evaluating the economic benefits of biofuels, the energy required for producing themhas to be taken into account. For example, in growing corn to produce ethanol, fossilfuels are consumed in farming equipment, in fertilizer manufacturing, in corntransportation, and in ethanol distillation. In this respect ethanol made from cornrepresents a relatively small energy gain; the energy gain from sugarcane is greater andthat from cellulosic ethanol could be even greater. Biofuels supply environmental benefits but, depending on their implementation, can also have serious drawbacks. As a renewableenergy source, plant-based biofuels in principle make little net contribution to thegreenhouse effect because the carbon dioxide (a major greenhouse gas) that enters the air during combustion will have been removed from the air earlier when the combustiblematerial grew. Such a material is said to be carbon neutral. In practice, however, theindustrial production of agricultural biofuels can result in additional emissions of greenhouse gases that can offset the benefits of using a renewable fuel. These emissionsinclude carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels to produce the biofuel and nitrous
 
oxide from soil that has been treated with nitrogen fertilizer. In this regard, cellulosic biomass is considered to be more beneficial.Land use is also a major factor in evaluating the benefits of biofuels. Corn and soybeansare important foods, and their use in producing fuel can therefore affect the economics of food price and availability. In 2007 about one-fifth of U.S. corn output was to be used for  biofuel, and one study showed that even if all U.S. corn land was used to produceethanol, it could replace just 12% of gasoline consumption. Crops grown for biofuel canalso compete for the world's natural habitats. For example, emphasis on ethanol derivedfrom corn is shifting grasslands and brushlands to corn monocultures, and emphasis on biodiesel is bringing down ancient tropical forests to make way for palm plantations.Loss of natural habitat can change hydrology, increase erosion, and generally reduce biodiversity and wildlife areas. The clearing of land can also result in the sudden releaseof a large amount of carbon dioxide as the plant matter it contained decays.Some of the disadvantages apply mainly to low-diversity biofuel sources—corn,soybeans, sugarcane, oil palms—which are traditional agricultural crops. An alternativerecently proposed would use high-diversity mixtures of species, with the North Americantall-grass prairie as a specific example. Converting degraded agricultural land presentlyout of production to such high-diversity biofuels could increase wildlife area, reduceerosion, cleanse waterborne pollutants, store carbon dioxide from the air as carboncompounds in the soil, and ultimately restore fertility to degraded lands. Such biofuelscould be burned directly to generate electricity or converted to liquid fuels astechnologies develop.The proper way to grow biofuels to serve all needs simultaneously will continue to be amatter of much experimentation and debate, but the fast growth in biofuel production willlikely continue. In theEuropean Union, for example, 5.75% of transport fuels are to be biofuels by 2010, with 10% of its vehicles to run exclusively on biofuels by 2020. InDecember 2007,U.S. Pres. George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act, which mandated the use of 136 billion litres (36 billion gal) of biofuelsannually by 2020, more than a sixfold increase over 2006 production levels. Thelegislation required, with certain stipulations, that 79 billion litres (21 billion gal) of theamount be biofuels other than corn-derived ethanol. In addition, the law continuedgovernment subsidies and tax incentives for biofuel production. Some observers hopedthat the law would encourage the commercialization of technology for producingcellulosic ethanol, for which there were a number of pilot plants in the United States. InMarch the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it would be investing as much as$385 million in six refineries for cellulosic ethanol.The distinctive promise of biofuels not shared by other forms of renewable energy, suchas solar power, is that in combination with an emerging technology called carbon captureand storage, biofuels are capable of perpetually removing carbon dioxide from theatmosphere. Under this vision, biofuels would remove carbon dioxide from the air as theygrew, energy facilities would capture that carbon dioxide when the biofuels were later  burned for power, and then the captured carbon dioxide would be sequestered (stored) in
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