BIOFUEL - THE FUEL OF THE FUTURE

A sustainable low-cost, lower-carbon source of fuel, offering the best means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport in the short term, bringing further diversity to the energy mix.

What Are Biofuels?

Also known as agrofuel, these fuels are mainly derived from biomass or bio waste. These fuels can be used for any purposes, but the main use for which they have to be brought is in the transportation sector. Biofuels are also known as non conventional fuels, alternative fuels. Alternative fuels can be classified as any fuel that is not derived from conventional sources like petroleum, coal and natural gas. The main purpose of fuel is to store the energy that can be used sometime later. Almost all forms of fuels are chemical fuels having energy in the form of chemical energy. The end use of the fuel is to release the energy that is captured by it at any time of use.

Some of the other forms of non conventional fuels are chemically stored electricity like batteries, hydrogen and various other sources. The demand of these alternative fuels came into picture when the world recognized that it has a very limited supply of fossil fuel and burning it leads to various other environmental problems like global warming. Burning conventional fuels like petroleum leads to a lot of greenhouse gas emission. Another factor of concern is the rising prices of the oil. This rise has been reported because of the shortages faced by the various countries producing conventional fuels. According to the researchers, the demand of the conventional fuel is going to surpass the supply which will make the people look for other alternative fuels.
Biofuels are the best way of reducing the emission of the greenhouse gases. They can also be looked upon as a way of energy security which stands as an alternative of fossil fuels that are limited in availability. Today, the use of biofuels has expanded throughout the globe. Theoretically, biofuel can be easily produced through any carbon source; making the photosynthetic plants the most commonly used material for production. Almost all types of materials derived from the plants are used for manufacturing biogas.
There are two methods currently brought into use to solve the above problem. In the first one, sugar crops or starch are grown and through the process of fermentation, ethanol is produced. In the second method, plants are grown that naturally produce oil like jatropha and algae. These oils are heated to reduce their viscosity after which they are directly used as fuel for diesel engines. This oil can be further treated to produce biodiesel which can be used for various purposes. Most of the biofuels are derived from biomass or bio waste. Biomass can be termed as material which is derived from recently living organism. Most of the biomass is obtained from plants and animals and also include their by products. The most important feature of biomass is that they are renewable sources of energy unlike other natural resources like coal, petroleum and even nuclear fuel.