Biofuels – Stay on top of upcoming trends

The potential of biomass as an energy source is enormous: experts have calculated that the planet produces eight times more biomass each year than its overall energy needs (although it currently only uses 7 percent of that available resource to produce energy). It is not only a renewable resource, it is also seemingly unavoidable; paraphrasing a common aphorism, biomass happens.

Any fuel created from biomass can be called a biofuel, although the term receives the most media attention when used to denote biomass-based fuels that power internal combustion engines, especially automobiles. These include biodiesel, biobutanol, biogas, and bioethanol. Fuels can be created from plant materials grown specifically for that purpose or from the recycling or reuse of other biomass resources.

energy crops

Crops have long been grown to feed people and animals, but until recently they were not specifically raised as sources of energy. Even the trees, which have been used for thousands of years as a source of heat, were not “grown” for that purpose alone. Today there is even a term for trees and woody plants grown for the specific purpose of creating fuel: wood energy. The products of any agriculture dedicated to producing fuel of any kind are called “energy crops”, the pompous technical term would be “closed-loop biomass” and they are steadily becoming an important resource in global energy development.

There are literally hundreds of different wood energy resources alone, from abies balsamea (balsam fir) to Zizania aquatica (wild rice) around the world. In countries without proven fossil fuel reserves, investments and research in wood energy resources have helped energy-poor countries like Sri Lanka develop alternatives to expensive and politically dependent imports, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “wood plant”. Energy”. “

Some of the energy crops grown around the world include corn, soybeans, flaxseed, and sugarcane. Additionally, biofuels are also frequently made from the unused portions of crops grown for other purposes, such as straw, stalks, husks, husks, and roots.

Energy crops add fewer emissions to the air and water supply than petroleum products in general and coal in particular. Energy crops contain almost no sulfur and much less nitrogen than fossil fuels, so their combustion does not contribute to acid rain or smog (sulfur dioxide or SO2) or smog (nitrogen oxides or NOx). And unlike fossil fuels, they don’t have significant amounts of mercury to leach into the water supply. In general, energy crops do not release nearly the same amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as anthropogenic sources (ie, man-made concoctions like natural gas, gasoline, solvents, pesticides, and paints).

However, there are biogenic sources of VOCs, and these represent significant contributors. Pine and citrus trees, for example, release large amounts of isoprene (a chemical compound found naturally in plants and animals, including humans; however, isoprene is a pollutant, especially as it contributes to the production of ozone) and terpenes (a family of hydrocarbons that are the main components of the resin and, unsurprisingly, turpentine), although these trees are used as biomass.

A promising source of biofuels is microalgae, which can be grown in aquaculture farms. A pilot program demonstrated during the 1990s showed that algae can be used to create diesel and jet fuel. This is particularly good news given the efficiency of algae relative to other energy crops. For example, corn, which is a common energy crop, produces only 18 gallons of fuel per acre. Thanks to its rapid growth cycle, algae can produce up to 10,000 gallons per acre. There is also another benefit to algae. Some power plants are already using algae bioreactors to reduce CO2 emissions by pumping the gas into a pond or tank for the algae to feed on.

recycled energy

Another way to use biomass as an energy source is by recycling biodegradable materials or water products. Industry and agriculture are important sources of biodegradable byproducts, but every home generates potentially useful biomass. On a large scale, manufacturers and other industrial and commercial services generate biodegradable materials that they no longer need.

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