Disadvantages of Biofuel Production

Switching from the expensive oil to alternative fuels has moved from a dream to reality. Today, there are dozens of alternatives to oil that are currently available us to be used. One alternative to oil that is being used more today is ethanol. Derived from plant materials, ethanol can be a cheaper, cleaner alternative to the gasoline that our vehicles run off. When going to gas pumps, one will notice that much of the gasoline is up to 10 percent of ethanol. According to our text, most ethanol in the U.S. is made from corn, yet ethanol can be made from any biomes-- including garbage. (Turk & Bensel, 2011)

However, despite its many advantages biomass still has many disadvantages. Firstly it is not as efficient as fossil fuels, for example the ethanol produced for cars via biomass is not even close to the efficiency of petrol and does damage to engines over time. It also has the potential to harm the environment through increase of methane gases which are produced as a bi-product if animal and human waste is used. Biomass also requires a large distance away from residential areas in order to burn it and a large amount of fuel in comparison to other energy sources which can have dramatic effects if large portions of forests are cut down to provide lumber.1

Bioenergy is a renewable energy which is obtained by combusting the biomass. It is also called ‘biomass energy’. Biomass is one of alternative sources, which consists of different materials such as trees, construction wood, sewage sludge, manure, and farm waste including cornhusks, peanut shells, leaves and so on (Ischenko et al, 2007). Ischenko et al (2007) claim that biomass releases less carbon dioxide than fossil fuel. In the other words, it helps to slow down the pace of global warming. Another advantage of it is turning the great amount of waste such as potato peels, used cooking oil, pig intestines into useful energy. So it can reduce the costs of

The featured film Fuel shows various points on fuel ruining the environment, from American children not being able to play in water to huge industries causing “cancer alley” such as the one on Louisiana. The Environmental Protection Agency has put a few standards into play to regulate health hazarda and complete destruction of the environment. Natural events that have been happening since the birth of Earth have created multiple types of ways humans have taken advantage to create fuel for the world. An interesting point brought up while watching this film was the fact that biofuels caught on as fast as it did to actually start to make a difference for the world. When word started to get out on how ecofriendly and cheap it really is,

Due to high costs of oil, many countries have taken the act of turning to renewable energy sources. Burning fossil fuels also has a downside to the environment, polluting the air and water, and damaging the health of plants and animals. The BP Oil spill of 2010 is one example of how dangerous fossil fuels are when they are exposed to the environment. There is much controversy in the United States for renewable energy sources being funded, but the facts are on the rise. Having a cleaner and more efficient source of energy is important for both environmental, political, and financial reasons.

Biofuels are biologically derived fuels obtained in a renewable way from organic waste. These organic remains usually come from sugar, wheat, corn or oilseeds. They all reduce the total volume of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere as they absorb it as they grow and emit virtually the same amount as conventional fuels when they burn, resulting in a closed cycle process. Biofuels are often mixed with other fuels in small proportions, 5 or 10%, providing a useful but limited reduction of greenhouse gases. In Europe and the United States, legislation has been in place requiring suppliers to mix biofuels to certain levels. This legislation has been copied by many other countries that believe that these fuels will help to improve the planet through the reduction of gases that produce the so-called 'Greenhouse Effect '.

To solve the rigorous threat to earth from global warming, bio-fuels serve as the most feasible source of energy all over the world. The environmental and economical performance of bio-fuel as compared to fossil fuel was analyzed by full Life Cycle Analyses (LCA) in Spain. The Spanish government CIEMAT, carried out two LCA’s so as to compare ethanol-ethanol mixtures with gasoline, and biodiesel-biodiesel mixtures with fuel oil according to ISO 14040-43 standards, these standards evaluate energy and mass balance for two or more objects. It was concluded that carbon dioxide emission during utilization of bio-fuel are lower than fossil fuel and bio-fuel requires less primary energy to be processed than fossil fuels. Bob Dinneen, President and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association submitted the letter to the editor of The Gazette in which he marked that “On an environmental level, conventional ethanol is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 34% compared to petroleum, including hypothetical land use change emissions” (qtd. in renewable fuel association). As the raw material for

In the United States biofuel production has grown a lot over the last two decades. In 1995 production was at 500,000 gallons, by 2005 it was 75 million gallons, and by 2006 it was at 224 million gallons [Biofuels ‘13]. The main plant used in the United States biofuel production was the soybean [Biofuels ‘13]. Currently 4 percent of the world’s demand for primary energy comes from biofuels. The more popular and more well-known hydropower only provides 2 percent of the world’s primary energy demand [Maugeri ‘10]. Most modern cars can use up to a 10 percent biofuel mix in their engines without any modifications, though some cars called flex-fuel can use 100 percent biofuel or gasoline [Maugeri ‘10]. One big advantage to using biofuel is that it produces a higher octane rating than gasoline which helps improve engine performance [Maugeri ‘10]. Biofuels currently cost a little more to make compared to gasoline at about a ten to eight ratio respectively [Sanders ‘10]. Hopefully with more farms producing the components for making biofuels hydroponically it can help drive the price down to where it can be competitive with gasoline and one day completely replace it.

It is significant to note that net energy analyses of both types of biofuels will differ based on source matter, differential processing technologies, crop production techniques, and the amount of biofuel being utilized. For example, bioethanol that is produced from wheat has a greater energy renewability efficiency value (ERenEF) (48%) than does ethanol produced from corn. ERenEF “measures the fraction of final fuel energy obtained from renewable resources” (Maca and Freire, 2006). This indicates that a greater percentage of the energy from wheat-based ethanol is renewable, as compared to energy from corn-based ethanol.

Fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas provide the U.S. with over 80 percent of its energy supply (McNerney & Cheek, 2012). Fossil fuels, formed from organic materials over the course of many centuries, have fueled the global and U.S. economic development for the past two centuries. Nonetheless, fossil fuels are finite resources that cause irreversible harm to the environment. Scientists consider them nonrenewable forms of energy since they take hundreds of years to form. According to Rand (2010), fossil fuels were responsible for 79 percent of the greenhouse emissions in 2010. Poor efficiency practices and higher energy demands have increased the usage of fossil fuels, and it is now important to find substitute means of generating

Ethanol did not become such a staple addition to gasoline until the 1970s due to fuel shortage scare. Its use became even more prevalent in the early 2000s with the increase in global warming awareness. The Renewable Fuels Association reports that the United States alone produced over 15 billion gallons of ethanol, a 14 billion gallons increase from its production in 1999 (Industry Statistics, 2017). While ethanol is a clean energy when use, however, its production is not quite as clean clean as it appears to be. Ethanol is considered renewable since the heartland of the United States grows so much corn annually to supply the plant. The corn growing process is quite damaging to the environment. Farming equipment runs on diesel fuel, which directly contributes to the greenhouse gas production. The use of fertilizer and insect repellent chemical is harmful to soil and atmosphere. The transportation of crops relies heavily on semi-tractors that still heavily rely on fossil fuel, thus exacerbate the problem. Not to mention that ethanol plants require electricity primarily generated by coal-fired power plants since it is much more efficient and a lot cheaper. All these factors contribute to the global warming problem, the very problem that ethanol is supposed to

Henry Ford, in 1925, dubbed biofuels “the fuel of the future”. Today, Mr. Ford’s prediction is coming true because biofuels are proving to be one of the most promising sources of alternative energy. Biofuels are popular because they only release the CO2 that was collected during photosynthesis. They solve many of the problems that fossil fuels present: greenhouse gases, emissions, resource depletion, and foreign oil dependency. On the other hand, biofuel production has drawbacks such as resource requirements, air and groundwater pollution, and usage of space. The best material to invest in as a biofuel company is switchgrass lignocellulose, using the process of catalytic pyrolysis to better combat the fuel crisis.

Biomass is the use of organic matter to make electricity. Organic matter such as trees and plants are burned and heat water to create steam. The steam created from boiling water is used to turn turbines to create electricity. Biomass can also be used to create Methane which is used to create even more electricity.

In the world of global warming, all kinds of pollution and fuel shortages going on, renewable and clean/ green energy is increasingly the ideal solution of energy related problems we have to solve one way or another. Biofuel is one of the mainstream and highly supported solutions nowadays, an idea to make renewable fuel by living organisms such as fiber, corn, vegetable oil or sugar cane. Unlike nonrenewable fossil fuels over extracted by people causing various environmental problems like generating a considerable amount greenhouse gas, current technology already lets renewable fuel like biofuels to shrink a certain amount of greenhouse gas production, making it a more ‘clean’ source of energy.

This essay focuses on two renewable energy resources. First of all, biofuel is now accepted as alternative energy in worldwide. The figures continue upward trend in the biofuel production. ‘An annual growth rate of 6.8% from 2006 to 2030 is expected for total biofuels consumption in the transport sector’ (International Energy Agency: 2008 cited in Zhou, et al., 2009:S11). Significant leaders of the biofuel market are Brazil, the United States and the European Union. The results of research indicated that 92% of the world’s ethanol is produced by Brazil and US together, while 90% of the world’s biodiesel manufactured by the EU. In addition, several developing countries in Asia such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines have an enormous potential for biofuel production. Now these countries are