Importance of biofuels

1. Biofuels an alternative
source of energy
PRESENTED BY – GAURAV
REG NO. – H2018-111M

2. Fuels
• Fuels are any materials that store potential energy
in forms that can be released and used as heat or
electric energy.
• Fuels can be classified basically in two categories
Fossil fuels
Bio fuels

3. Fossil fuels
• More than 60 % of power generated comes from
fossil fuels.
• Example of biofuels – Coal, Oil and Natural gas,
• Major companies – Saudi Aramco, Gazprom,
National Iranian Oil, Coal India, Shenhua Group,
Rosneft, CNPC, ADNOC, ExxonMobil
• Fossil fuels are limited and few courtiers control the
production and export of the fossil fuels and other
countries are dependent on them

5. Bio fuels
• These are produced from the plants, agricultural,
domestic and or industrially produced.
• Bioethanol, Biomethane, Bio Diesel, Bio gas,
Syngas, Ethanol, Bio alcohols, Bio ethers, Green
diesel, Alcohol
• if the waste used in biofuel production has
biological origin its known as biomass

6. Biomass
• It is plant or animal material used for energy
production (electricity or heat), or in various
industrial processes as raw substance for a range of
products.
• Some of major example of Biomass are –
Energy crops,
wood or forest residues,
waste from food crops (wheat straw, bagasse),
 horticulture (yard waste),
food processing (corn cobs),
animal farming (manure, rich in nitrogen and
phosphorus), or
human waste from sewage plants

7. History of biofuels
• All fuel is biofuel, however, we generally reserve
the "biofuel" designation for material that was
recently living - to distinguish it from fossil fuel.
• Going back to the 1820s, a blend of camphene and
alcohol was the dominant fuel for lamps, as much
as 100 million gallons a year were sold
• In 1900 Rudolf diesel, inventor of the diesel engine,
originally designed it to run on vegetable oil.
• Petroleum based fuel originally won out over
biofuel because of cost.

8. • In 1970s and 80s American Environment protection
agency [EPA] suggested that fuel should be free
from sulphur oxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen
oxide.
• In 1998 EPA allowed biofuel production on the
commercial level.
• In 2011, European countries made around 53% of
world biodiesel.

9. Global scenario in biofuels
• In 2018, worldwide biofuel production reached 152
billion liters (40 billion gallons US), up 7% from
2017, and biofuels provided 3% of the world's fuels
for road transport
• The International Energy Agency [IEA] want
biofuels to meet more than a quarter of world
demand for transportation fuels by 2050.
• However, the production and consumption of
biofuels are not on track to meet the IEA’s target
• From 2020 to 2030 global biofuel output has to
increase by 10% each year to reach IEA's goal. Only
3% growth annually is expected.

10. India in biofuel production
• India introduced national biofuel policy in 2009 and
approved in 2018.The policy is aimed at taking
forward the indicative target of achieving 20%
blending of biofuels with fossil-based fuels by 2030.
• Fluctuating crude oil prices in the world market
majorly affect developing countries.
• MNRE has set an indicative target of 20% blending
of ethanol in petrol and 5% blending of biodiesel in
diesel to be achieved by 2030

11. Governments steps to foster the
adoption of biofuels.
• Through the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP)
Programme, ethanol produced from various
types of feedstocks would be blended with
petrol.
• Second-generation (2G) ethanol technologies
would be developed and commercialized.
• Through the Biodiesel Blending Programme,
biodiesel would be blended with diesel.

12. Classification of Biofuels based on
the biomass used.
• First generation biofuels-
• Second generation biofuels
• Third generation biofuels
• Fourth generation biofuels
It is important to note that the structure of the biofuel
itself does not change between generations, but rather
the source from which the fuel is derived changes.

13. First generation Biofuels
• First generation biofuels are produced directly from food
crops.The biofuel is ultimately derived from the starch, sugar,
animal fats, and vegetable oil that these crops provide.
• Corn, wheat, and sugar cane are the most commonly used
first generation biofuel feed stock.
• ADM HamburgAG (Germany), Diester Industrie (France), Jilin
Fuel Ethanol (China), LS9, Inc.

14. Lignocelluslose
• Lignocelluloses can be broken down into ethanol because it
contains carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
• In addition to waste agricultural products, paper and cellulose
components make up roughly 70% of all landfill waste.
• When these decompose, they produce methane gas, which is
21 times more potent as a warming gas than carbon dioxide.
So, converting this material to ethanol may have a very
positive net environmental impact.

15. Second generation biofuels
• Feedstock used in producing second generation
biofuels are generally not food crops.
• The only time the food crops can act as second
generation biofuels is if they have already fulfilled
their food purpose.
• For instance, waste vegetable oil is a second-
generation biofuel because it has already been
used and is no longer fit for human consumption.

16. • Chemrec (Sweden), DuPont Danisco (United
States), Gushan Environmental Energy (China),
PetroSun (United States), Solazyme (United
States),
• Some example of biomass used in production of
second generation biofuels – Jatropha, Camelina,
Used cooking oil (UCO), Miscanthus,

17. Jatropha
• land reclamation after oil contamination,
decorative addition to many gardens, It is drought
resistant, has few pests. It produce seeds that
contain 27 to 40% oil.
• The oil from Jatropha can be refined into biodiesel
and the leftover can be used as a solid biofuel or as
a feedstock for producing syngas.
• Diesel from Jatropha qualifies as "green diesel"
because it is refined biodiesel and not chemically
converted biodiesel, and can be used in any
standard diesel engine.

18. Third Generation Biofuels-
• The term third generation biofuel has only recently
entered the mainstream it refers to biofuel derived
from algae.
• The list of fuels that can be derived from algae
includes: Biodiesel, Butanol, Gasoline, Methane,
Ethanol,Vegetable Oil, Jet Fuel.
• Some major companies in this area are: - Algae
Cluster (Europe), Algenol (US), Gevo (US), Global
GreenAlgae (US), PowerFuel (German).
•

19. Algae
• It can produce up to 300 times more oil per acre
than any conventional crop and has a harvest
cycle of 1-10 days, meaning it grows up to 30
times faster than other feedstock.
• Algae are highly suited to growth in extreme
environments and grow well in places with high
salt and dry climates. In other words, algae have
almost no impact on the food supply.
• Algae produce lipid that can be converted into a
number of different fuels including biodiesel,
ethanol, methanol, butanol, jet fuel, and others.

21. Fourth generation biofuels
• Similarly, to third-generation biofuels, fourth-
generation biofuels are made using non-arable
land. However, unlike third-generation biofuels,
they do not require the destruction of biomass.
• It include Hydrocarbon plants or petroleum plants
are plants which produce terpenoids as secondary
metabolites that can be converted to gasoline-like
fuels.

22. • Latex-producing members of the Euphorbiaceae
such as Euphorbia lathyris and E. tirucalli and
members ofApocynaceae have been studied for
their potential energy uses.
• Some companies making 4th generation biofuels
are: Algenol, Amyris Biotechnologies, Joule
Unlimited, LS9, Naturally Scientific, and Green Fuel
Technologies Corporation

23. Some important biofuels are -
• Biodiesel
• Bioethanol
• Biogas
• BioDME
• Used cooking oil (UCO)
• Various solid biofuels

24. Biogas
• It is produced from the anaerobic (without oxygen)
breakdown of organic matter that can include anything
ranging from manure to sewage to plant material and
even crops.
• The main chemical of interest in biogas is methane,
which typically constitutes half of the mixture.The rest
of the gas includes carbon dioxide, water, oxygen,
hydrogen, nitrogen, and often a small amount of
hydrogen sulfide.
• The presence of many of these other chemicals can be
eliminated through refinement, processing, and
through controlled production procedures.

25. Biodiesel
• Biodiesel is mainly made from rapeseed, soya bean
and palm oil through transesterification.
• Biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide exhaust emissions
by up to 80%.
• Biodiesel produces 100% less SOx than petroleum
and reduces exhaust particulates emissions by up to
75% so eliminating usual black cloud associated
with a diesel engine.
• Biodiesel is much less dangerous to put in vehicle
fuel tank as its flash point is ± 150°C (300°F) as
opposed to petroleum diesel ± 70°C (150°F).

26. Bioethanol
• Bioethanol is made by fermentation and distillation
of cereals and sugar-based crops Bioethanol is the
most widely produced biofuel globally.The largest
producers are the USA, Brazil, the EU, China and
India (IEA, 2012)
• It has a higher octane number than ethane and
even many of the larger hydrocarbons.
• it burns cleaner than most hydrocarbon fuels and,
if created from biomass rather than petroleum,
contains little or no contamination to damage
vehicle parts or lead to smog.
• But it takes about 1.5 times more ethanol than
gasoline to get the same energy

27. Used cooking oil (UCO)
• Large quantities of UCO are available.The US Energy
Information Administration estimates that globally
approximately 378 million litres (100 million gallons) are
generated each day.
• large amounts of UCO were illegally dumped into rivers
and landfills in several countries in the period covered
by the report, causing environmental pollution.This
increases the cost and the energy consumption of
domestic waste- water treatment, as well as the GHG
emissions associated with its biodegradation.
• In general, the hydrotreatment of used/waste oils and
animal fats has been seen as important for low-cost
biodiesel production from recycled feedstocks

28. Case study on Conversion of Escherichia coli to
Generate All Biomass Carbon from CO2 Gleizer et
al.
• Metabolic rewiring and directed evolution led to the emergence of E.
coli clones that use CO2 as their sole carbon source, while formate is
oxidized to provide all the reducing power and energy demands.
• Conversion of obligate heterotroph to full autotrophy over laboratory
timescales
• Non-native Calvin cycle operation generates biomass carbon from
CO2 in E. coli
• Formate is oxidized by heterologous formate dehydrogenase to
provide reducing power
• Chemostat-based directed evolution led to complete trophic mode
change in 200 days

29. Problems with biofuels
• High cost: -To refine biofuels to more efficient energy
outputs, and to build the necessary manufacturing
plants to increase biofuels quantities, a high initial
investment is often required.
• Food prices: - As demand for food crops such as corn
grows for biofuel production. It could also raise prices
for necessary staple food crops.
• Food shortages: -There is concern that using valuable
cropland to grow fuel crops could have an impact on the
cost of food and could possibly lead to food shortages

31. • Water use: - Massive quantities of water are
required for proper irrigation of biofuel crops as
well as to manufacture the fuel, which could strain
local and regional water resources.
• Monoculture: - Monoculture refers to practice of
producing same crops year after year, rather than
producing various crops through a farmer’s fields
over time. While, this might be economically
attractive for farmers but growing same crop every
year may deprive the soil of nutrients that are put
back into the soil through crop rotation.

32. Benefits of biofuels
• Environmental Impact - Biofuels are very similar to
hydrocarbons and have some of the same emissions
problems that standard fossil fuels have.They can,
however, be more environmentally friendly if care is
taken in how they are produced and distributed.
• Spills and Surface Contamination - Biofuels are not
100% safe but the scale of the impact on spillage would
be orders of magnitude smaller than with fossil fuels.
• Sulphur and Atmospheric Contamination - burning
fossil fuels, especially coal cause acid rain that comes
from the high sulphur content of these fuels. Biofuels
can be produced in ways that completely eliminate
sulphur and thus can eliminate acid rain..

33. .
• Energy Independence - If a country has the land
resources to grow biofuel feedstock, then it can
produce its own energy.
• This ends any dependence on fossil fuel resources,
which are geographically limited to only a few
places in the world.
• Given the amount of conflict that occurs over fuel
supplies and prices, energy independence should
have a net positive effect.