Biofuel Production - Is It A Green Solution?

Biofuel Production - Is It A Green Solution?

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While we strive to deal with the imminent decline of world oil supplies we also need to consider the impact of oil alternatives. Biofuel production has been held up as a solution to our oil dependence. Biofuels have also been promoted as a replacement for oil, implying that we will be able to maintain our lifestyles even after the oil supply has run dry.

How realistic is this scenario? We need to consider the costs associated with alternative energy sources. The biofuel concept is that sugars from plants are fermented into alcohols such as ethanol which can be burnt for energy. The sugars that plants produce fall into two broad categories and the treatment of these two types directly affects their profitability.

The first type is simple sugars, with one or two sugar molecules joined together. These are the sugars that we digest from plants, which are we get our energy from. These sugars are mainly present in the fruits of plants. An example of this is the corn cob. This part of the corn plant is high in energy. Making ethanol from this part of the plant is profitable since the sugar molecules are easily converted into ethanol with the help of organisms such as yeast.

The second source of sugars in the plant is in the plant body itself, the tough fibrous material called cellulose. This is comprised of the same sugar molecules present in the fruit, but are bonded together in long strands. These strands are very difficult to break down into simple sugars and involve complex enzymes such as cellulase. These can be produced commercially but this is an expensive process. The result of converting cellulose into ethanol is both a lower yield and a higher cost per unit of fuel, but its great advantage is that any plant matter, even cardboard and paper, can be converted into fuel. There is no need to reduce the availability of food with cellulose conversion.

At present virtually all biofuel production crops rely on simple sugars such as the cob of the corn plant and the sap of sugar cane. Such crops solve nothing - they are supplementing fuel supplies while reducing food availability. Given the rising global demand and price of food, use of agricultural land to make ethanol from simple plant sugars is at best irresponsible.

Biofuels may provide a limited solution to our fuel needs, but we should not be making fuel at the expense of food. More research needs to be done to improve methods for converting cellulose into simple sugars, since if this can be done efficiently we will indeed have a partial, clean energy substitute for fossil fuels.

About the Author:
Read more about plant based energy substitutes at the What Is Biofuel section of Roger Vanderlely's website. There you can also read about fossil fuels, their production, use, and issues associated with them.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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