Understanding The Most Efficient Types of Biofuels

Many of you are probably familiar with biodiesel oil, ethanol biofuel, solar enery, battery power and renewable energy from oil and gas, but which ones are the most effective?

First generation biofuels are made from plant sources and that is why businesses seek to use them as alternative forms of energy.

The transportation industry is the leader in using biomass simply because of the ease of conversion into liquid fuels, to get the full understanding we will discuss biomass it is defined as a renewable energy source due to it deriving from living organisms such as alcohol fuels, wood, tree branches and biodegradable waste .

Biodiesel is made by combining methanol with vegetable oil, which allows for reduced vehicle emissions,

the other one is made from starches and sugars and works as a blending agent for gasoline called ethanol it is most efficient because it helps increase octane and cut down carbon monoxide emissions. Others include biogas and new generation biofuels.

How Biomass energy works by being derived from plant material such as trees grass crops, forestry, agriculture and animal waste, to capture the energy from biomass is possible by burning it to make heat, steam and electricity, the best part is that it can also be converted into liquid fuels or cooked to produce combustible gases called gasification.

Energy crops are grown on farms to use to convert biomass into energy, it has been found that to increase biomass power generation a process known as co-firing allows for oil plants, trees, grasses, etc to be mixed with coal in power plants. Some of the conversion processes used include thermochemical, biochemical and chemical

According to a 2002 U.S. Department of Agriculture study, technological advances in ethanol conversion and efficiency increases in farm production have caused the net energy value of corn ethanol to increase gradually over time. So it is concluded that biomass reduces air pollution by being a part of the carbon cycle, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 90 percent compared with fossil fuels, it has been found that Sulfur dioxide and other pollutants are also reduced substantially. Scientist talk about the need for renewable energy to help with the petroleum crisis.

You will be interested to know that alot of research and development is being done with algae, Why such an interest? well it could be due to the fact that the Energy Security and Independence Act passed a law requiring biofuel production projection of 9 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons in 2022. So of the 36 billion gallons, no more than 15 billion gallons can be corn-based ethanol,while the remainder must be advanced biofuels in order to meet at least a 50 percent GHG reduction requirement.

William Thurmond, author of Biodiesel 2020: A Global Market Survey and President of Emerging Markets Online at the World Biofuels Markets 2007 conference in Brussels, Belgium discusses about how ethanol and biofuels will replace petroleum, because there will be more vehicles than there is gasoline, and with the tremendous global oil consumption, there will be a need for consulting and research firms helping companies, governments, and associations with long-term strategic planning, market trends analysis, strategic foresight, market intelligence, for long-term energy and renewable policy analysis.

Sustainable Regional Biofuels Companies

The following companies are making biodiesel from non-grain sources such as waste vegetable oil, algae, jetropha, and other renewable oil byproducts and biorefinery projects. 

• Arizona Biodiesel  makes B99 biodisel from waste restaurant grease.
• Amereco Biofuels Corp, soy diesel products are made from recyclable materials.
• Biofeedstocks Global LLC, algae system for jetropha plant.
• Algae Biosciences, produces algae in contaminant free salt water aquifers.
• XL Renewables, focused on large scale algae biomass.