Biofuels

Introduction

               Biofuels refers to energy derived from material that have undergone through the process of biological carbon fixation. Biofuels can also be defined as the types of fuels that are possibly derived from biomass. These materials might be from either plants or animals. These types of fuels are commonly used for either transport or burning purposes. One of the significant advantages of biofuels is that they are renewable and sustainable. Biofuels seems to be the most promising type of fuels that the world will depend on mostly in the near future. The other advantage of biofuels is the fact that they

represent an immense growth area in the whole world where they will play a significant role in displacing some of other types of fuels that have been in use for a long time. However, they also have various disadvantages, which include having low energy and density and being corrosive. This paper provides detailed information about various types of biofuels.

Types of biofuels

                The common types of biofuels include bioethanol, biodiesel and straight vegetable oil (Dufey, 2006). These types of biofuels are commonly used for transport purposes. Another significant issue relating to these types of fuels is that they account for about 90% of the biofuels used in the whole world.

Bioethanol

              Bioethanol is one of the two common types of biofuels and it is derived from sugar plants. Moreover, this type of fuel is also derived from cereal crops that include corn, beet, cassava and sorghum among others (Dufey, 2006). Bioethanol is derived from these crops as a distilled liquid. This type of biofuel is also derived from a range of firstly products. Some of these products include the short rotation coppices and energy glasses (Dufey, 2006). The bioethanol derived from these products is known as lignocellulosic.

             In most cases, bioethanol is used as a replacement or a substitute for petrol. Another significant issue related to bioethanol is the fact that it can be used as a pure form without being mixed with other elements especially in vehicles adapted to this type of fuel. This means that there are vehicles manufactured aimed to use biothenol in their engines (Dufey, 2006). However, biothenol is also used in vehicles that are that are blended with gasoline. The important element of bioethnaol is that it can be blended with gasoline in any proportion (Dufey, 2006). This means that it can be blended while using 5% bioethanol and in other case 95% bioethanol. The most common types are the 5 and 10 percent blends that are usually denominated as B5 and B10 (Dufey, 2006).

Biodesel

             Biodesel is the other common type of biofuels and it is mostly used in the transport industry. This type of biofuel is produced by making a combination of vegetable oil with animal fat (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008). However, in order for the process to be successful, a catalyst is used whereby it assists to yield the monoalkylesters and glycerine (Dufey, 2006). The catalyst is then removed while the process is taking place. The chemical process used in the production of biodiesel is known as transesterification. One of the most significant features of biodiesel is that the oil used in making of the fuel can be extracted from many types of oilseed crops (Dufey, 2006). The most common types of these crops are the rapeseed mostly found in Europe. The other type of crop is the soybeans that are mostly found in Brazil and the United States of America. Moreover, small amounts of fat extracted from fish and animal processing operations are used in the preparations of biodiesel (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008). Mostly, biodiesel is blended with other materials like the traditional diesel fuels while being used in vehicles. Biodiesel is also burned on its pure form in compression ignition engines (Dufey, 2006). Another significant factor about biodesel is that its energy content is about 88-95 percent to that of diesel (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008). One of the factors that make biodesel to be of useful in a wide range of area is the fact that it has higher oxygen content. This property helps in aiding completion of fuel combustion. The higher oxygen content also provides another added advantage where it aids the completion of fuel combustion.

Straight vegetable oil

             Straight vegetable oil is commonly abbreviated as (SVO)4 and it is a potential fuel used for diesel engines (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2008). This type of biofuel can be derived from a number of different sources. Some of these sources include many of the above-mentioned crops, which include rapeseed and soybeans. Used cooking oil also tends to be useful in making this type of biofuel. Mitchell & World Bank (2011) indicates that there are several disadvantages associated with SVO that include the fact that this types of fuels are much thicker compared to conventional diesel fuel or biodiesel. This means that the SVO does not burn the same as these engines and therefore thy can damage engines (Mitchell & World Bank, 2011).

Conclusion

              The above information indicates that various types of biofuels exists and of which can be reliable as sources of energy. To be precise, the explained types of biofuels include, bioethanol, biodesel and straight vegetable oil (SVO). The main advantage of using these fuels is that they are derived from renewable sources. This makes the biofuels to be the most promising source of energy in future.

References

Dufey, A. (2006). Biofuels production, trade and sustainable development: Emerging issues. London: International Institute for Environment and Development.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2008). The state of food and agriculture 2008. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Mitchell, D., & World Bank. (2011). Biofuels in Africa: Opportunities, prospects, and challenges. Washington, D.C: World Bank.