BIO FUEL

Bio-fuel is a hydrocarbon originated from organic matter (living or once living material or
metabolic byproduct) to be used as a source of energy. Although, Bio-fuels and Fossil Fuels have
almost similar definitions, the main differences are that the latter has formation period of more
than million years and hence the former can be replenished rapidly.

Bio-fuels are considered as a better alternative to fossil fuels since it has many appealing factors.
The most important quality that makes a bio-fuel a front runner in the energy scenario is its
sustainability. Bio-fuels contribute very less to Green House Gases since it is a cleaner source
than the rest of the existing ones. It has been claimed that as much as 70% carbon di oxide gas
emission can be reduced offering environment protection. Bio-fuels generated from wastes have
positive impact on the environment. Furthermore, biomass sources for biofuel production are
found in abundance.

Introduction of Bio-fuels as an alternative to regular fossil fuels had been addressed as early as
the World War II. Then Germans used Bio-fuels produced from potatoes due to lack of import of
fossil fuels [ environmentalhistory.org/billkovarik/about-bk/research/cabi/] The production of
Bio-fuels from agricultural and forestry bloomed after 1970s Energy Crisis. [Schneider, U.A.,
and McCarl, B.A. Economic Potential of Biomass Based Fuels for Greenhouse Gas Emission
Mitigation, Environmental and Resource Economics, 2003, 24, 291–312.] Many countries
started looking for an alternative source. By 1984, around 163 ethanol plants were producing
more than 595 million gallons of Bio-fuels.

Although Bio-fuels provide a better scenario, fossil fuels cannot be replaced totally by Bio-fuels
yet. Study estimated that high yielding crops (50 tonnes/ha) that have a conversion efficieny of
75% would have required a global land footprint of around 100 million ha to had replaced the
consumption of fossil fuel in 2008.[Evaluation of plant biomass resources…….. Robert J henry].
Newer technologies to produce more bio fuels are being researched. Presently the timeline for
bio-fuel technologies are categorized into 4 parts.

The first stage is also known as the First generation Bio-fuels. This category refers to the bio-
fules made from the food crops grown on fertile lands. In this case, the cultivation of such crops
is explicitly done for the purpose of bio-fuel production only. The most well known first
generation bio-fuel is ethanol which is produced by the fermentation of sugar from sugar beets or
sugar cranes. Varying fermentation organisms can yield different types of alcohol. While ethanol
production has been well established, commercializations for other alcohols (butanol) are
ongoing.[dupont,com/biofules/en US/news/index.html] USA and Brazil are the highest amount
of bioethanol producers in the world. China and India contributed around 11% of the total
biotethanol production in 2006 [Macedo IC, 2007 Etanol De CANA de…Sao Paolo Brazil]
Ethanol Demand is expected to rise about 60%. [recent advances on the production and
utilization …. Demirbas and balat ]Biodesel made from oil seed crops are also on the rise. USA
is planning to produce most of its Bio-fuels from the Jatropha plants. China has announced plans
to plant an additional 11 million hectares across its southern states by 2010. [Nature 449, 652-
655 (2007) | doi:10.1038/449652a] Mandates have been passed to use bio-fuel blends in 31
countries and in 29 states. [Renewable 2011 Global status report]However, bio-ethanol’s
potential for petroleum substitution is limited since it requires a lot of land and production cost is
quite high. In addition, low cost oils and fats from restaurant waste and animals could be a
cheaper source for feedstock. But due to higher amount of free fats present in waste oils,
separation by catalysis becomes difficult.

The Second generation Bio-fuels has compromised the fuel vs food source competition. Non
edible feedstock, mostly Lignocellulose biomasses, are the second generation Bio-fuels. Since
there are no need of solely occupying of arable lands for bio fuel cultivation, second generation
Bio-fuels have better land use efficiency (for example, a second generation ethanol fuel could be
made from the bagasse).

Third generation Bio-fuels include algal oils which shows promising prospect in replacing
vehicular fuel. Bio-fuel feedstock from algae have better growth, better CO2 fixation ability and
high production capacity of lipids; they can also be cultivated in lagoons and pools instead of
arable lands. Extraction of bio-fuel oils from seaweed are also in the process of
commercialization. [Third generation Bio-fuels from microalgae Giuliano Dragone, Bruno
Fernandes, António A. Vicente, and José A. Teixeira IBB - Institute for Biotechnology and
Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar,
4710-057 Braga, Portugal] Further improvement is being done to have higher production
efficiency. A consolidated approach by Carere et al. shows that if all the biofuel production steps
are done in one single step by CBP (consolidated bioprocessing) system, lower production cost
and energy are required with better conversion efficiency.

Forth generation Bio-fuels are similar to third generation Bio-fuels in a way that they also do not
require the occupancy of arable lands. However, the fourth generation bio-oils do not require the
destruction of biomass. Photo biological solar fuels and electro fuels are examples of fourth
generation Bio-fuels.[ From first generation Bio-fuels to advanced solar Bio-fuels Eva-Mari Aro
corresponding author]. In this process, photosynthetic microbes convert the solar energy into
chemical energy as hydrogen gas. Lab scale results show that photo biological hydrogen gas
could be more impressive than the present crop based bio-fuel.

The future of bio-fuel depends on the efficient and low cost production technologies. Bio-fuels
come with a tag of being environment friendly, economical and beneficial to consumers. Only
when more fruitful investments in advanced researches, development of efficient catalysts for
better separation and addressing the integrated system of biomass to bio-fuel can be done
properly, production capacity can be improved in a cost effective manner.