Biofuels as an Alternative Fuel Source

It is also more self sufficient, less expensive to grow, and more beneficial to the environment than both of those plants. Unfortunately, it is costly to make a perfect growing environment for algae to be grown at its highest growth rate (www.worldwatch.org). Luckily, algae can be grown anywhere as long as the environment around it is controlled. For example, if you took all the non tillable land in China, Brazil, and the U.S and grew algae on it and used it for biofuel, it would be able to make up for 30 percent of all the energy needed for all those nations combined (phys.org, may 26 2014). That's 2 billion people with 30 percent of their energy needs and their government’s energy needs taken care of. It won’t be the “cure” for energy crisis sadly because it is too expensive to grow enough algae for the whole world. It will help slow down the use of fossil fuels and oils luckily, because according to instituteforenergyresearch.org more than half of the world's oil supplies will be used up by 2030 (2014). Algae can be used for more than just

Some of the disadvantages are that it's very expensive, its difficult to store and transport, and its flammable and its impossible to detect leaks. However, biofuels have none of these problems.

But why should you care? It’s probably going to be more expensive than normal, and it is not ready for mass production yet. But do you want to keep polluting the world every day? Algae biofuels can be used to run cars, machinery, make plastics, and do anything else a normal fuel can. They are also are much safer to make, and they actually can clean the environment, giving you and your family to come a better world to live in.

–Algae can have high bio-fuel yield: algae can store energy in the form of oils and carbohydrates, which, combined with their high productivity, also can grow quickly at a large scale and can generate up to 50 times more the amount of oil per acre than row crops, like corn and soybeans, which produce vegetable oil.

Our world is finite. That means that there is only a limited amount of air, water, rock, plants and animal material. Earth is like a spaceship with only so many resources. There are no supply ships to drop in and give us a refill of resources. It make us (as global citizens) the caretakers or stewards aboard the spaceship. So, as global citizens we have to take care of our planet and make sure that it has enough resources for its own well being, the other biodiversity living on Earth and even humankind. We must preserve and wisely use what we have. Using renewable resources and energy is one way to do just that. Biofuels are a type of renewable resources. In this report I will be talking about, what are biofuels, what can they do, how biofuels are made, are they available around the world? Should biofuels be used to replace fossil fuels? Why or why not, how do biofuels impact the food supply in 3 rd World Countries, who uses biofuels? Also the cost, pros and cons and environmental benefits or concerns.

When researchers first began experimenting with the potential of algae, they knew that in order to grow, algae would need carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is what plants use during photosynthesis, and is readily available in the atmosphere. What researchers were doing however, was taking the carbon dioxide emissions from coal powered facilities, and then channeling it directly into and through the algae growing ponds. By using this technique, the algae were growing much more quickly and efficiently, and the carbon dioxide that would have been emitted into the atmosphere was now taken in and used by the algae during photosynthesis. If algae farms around the world were using this technique, the amount of carbon dioxide introduced into the atmosphere would be greatly reduced. That’s not to say however, that when the algae biodiesel is used that it won’t produce carbon dioxide, but that the algae that makes the fuel, itself consumes carbon dioxide, essentially making it carbon neutral.

The energy created from algae for biofuels is slightly less complicated than that of its bacterial cousin. Algae composition, by weight, is half lipid oil. Scientists have been studying this oil for decades to convert it into algae biodiesel -- this biodiesel burns cleaner and more efficiently than any petroleum based fuel (Stefani Newman "How Algae Biodiesel Works" 2008). The algae used in the production of diesel are grown in large open or closed ponds, the most popular and

Our world is finite. That means that there is only a limited amount of air, water, rock, plants and animal material. Earth is like a spaceship with only so many resources. There are no supply ships to drop in and give us a refill of resources. It makes us (as global citizens) the caretakers or stewards aboard the spaceship. So, as global citizens, we have to take care of our planet and make sure that it has enough resources for its own well-being, the other biodiversity living on Earth and even humankind. We must preserve and wisely use what we have. Using renewable resources and energy is one way to do just that. Biofuels are a type of renewable resources. In this report I will be talking about, what are biofuels, what can they do, how biofuels are made, are they available around the world? Should biofuels be used to replace fossil fuels? Why or why not, how do biofuels impact the food supply in 3 rd World Countries, who uses biofuels? Also, the cost, pros and cons and environmental benefits or concerns.

Biomass is the organic matter in plants which can be burned to create energy. Forms of biomass include wood, charcoal, farm crops, and different forms of waste. Some biomass can be burned directly, while others are converted to methane gas or ethanol which can be burned or used to power different things such as vehicles. Chiras states that Biomass is considered renewable, but it only is to a certain point, it cannot be used faster than it is produced to avoid depleting the resource (2016). Biomass can also be used in a variety of ways to produce energy such as burning it directly, converting it to ethanol, or converting it to natural gas. There are many pros and cons of using biomass over fossil fuels to produce energy. Biomass is great for undeveloped countries where they can’t afford other alternative energy sources because they can reduce pollution by not using fossil fuels. One of the most significant pros of biomass as it relates directly to humans everyday life is that ethanol created from biomass costs roughly 60 cents per gallon, and dropping, which means fuel for vehicles can be produced much cheaper than fuel made completely from fossil fuels (Chiras, 2016). Not only is this form of fuel cheaper, it is also cleaner and does not release as many pollutants into the atmosphere. Although biomass is relatively clean in comparison to fossil fuels, it can release many pollutants into the air such as dioxins and creosote (Chiras, 2016). Biomass can also lead to an

14 of the 15 hottest years on earth have occurred in the 21st century. Most of this environmental phenomenon has been the catalyst for countless debates on climate change, upheaval about our current inefficient production of energy, and the frightening realization that our once precious symbols of capitalist success, our automobiles, are becoming the tightening hands choking our planet with toxic pollutants. While one silver bullet to our Industrial Revolution induced dilemma doesn’t exist, biofuels could be the miniscule relief our civilization needs to buy time to tackle the larger issues at hand. Biofuels, like cellulosic biofuel, created using switch grasses and in marginal land, and algae biofuels, created by collecting algae grown in

Biofuel is a type of energy derived from renewable plant and animal materials, which is produced from biological material or biomass, such as sugar cane, corn, cellulose, wood, crops, waste material or vegetable oils. Biofuels can be solid, gaseous or liquid, even though the term is often used in the literature in a narrow sense to refer only to liquid biofuels for transport.

It’s no secret that there is an imminent energy crisis looming, the price of energy is growing at an exponential rate. Our energy stores are shrinking as the demand increases by the day, and the fuels we use are not unlimited, we can only produce what we can extract from the earth. The countries with the highest demand in a petroleum energy are not the richest in these natural resources.

Sugar based biomass: Biomass that is derived from crops such as sugarcane or sugar beet. Starch based biomass: Biomass that is sourced from crops such as corn or wheat. Lignocellulosic biomass: Also known as plant residue and is derived from woody waste such as sugarcane bagasse, corn Stover and wheat straw i.e. non-edible parts of the plant. It is composed of mainly cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. (4)

Biofuels have been around for a long time. However, huge deposits of pertroleum based resources have been found and kept gasoline and diesel cheap for decades. Biofuels were largely forgotten. However, with the recent rise in oil prices, along with growing concern about global

liquid fuel. H.C.V of a fuel is defined as the energy liberated per kg. of