What is Biofuel?

Biofuel is a type of fuel that is made up of biomass. Its production can be done either by plant or by algae waste materials. It is a source of renewable energy, as the raw material can easily be refilled. 

In consideration of petrol or diesel, biofuel is more cost-effective and environment friendly. Moreover, Its prices are far better as compared to petrol or diesel. Biofuel also helps to reduce global warming.

Categorization of Biofuel

Biofuel is of three types based on raw material. There are some biofuels that can be obtained from wood, i.e., ethanol. Biodiesel is another one made up of a combination of animal fat with alcohol.

And the last one is Biobutanol which is made up of algae.

Ethanol

Ethanol is mainly made up of dissolving grains. It is a renewable fluid and highly flammable. 

An advanced way to get this product is by wood chips, waste paper, and agricultural waste. It is also obtained via synthesization of gas in the presence of low oxygen. 

When 85% of ethanol blends with the 15% of gasoline (E85) is used as an alternative fuel for certain vehicles. It helps to reduce greenhouse gas effects and less CO2 emission. 

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is made up of a combination of alcohol with animal or vegetable oil. Genetically engineered algae or artificial algae and bacteria strains are the two things to generate biodiesel. Transesterification is the process of getting biodiesel and glycerin as by-products.  

It blends with petrol to run the different types of vehicles. There are some popular forms of blending, i.e., B100, B50, B20, B5.

Biobutanol

Biobutanol is less popular than the other two biofuels, while it is a trustable alternative. It can be made via the fermentation of biomass or by algae or bacteria. Biobutanol is a form of isobutanol that can be used in gasoline engines with some modification.

It is very effective in reducing any type of fuel mileage loss and has a high-quality octane level.

Advantages of Biofuel

• It is a renewable resource.
• It decreases global warming.
• It is cheap compared to fossil fuel.
• It helps in the complete combustion of carbon monoxide.
• It is enough to produce a significant amount of energy for transport applications.

Applications of Biofuels

It is useful in forestry, mining, agriculture, and road transportations.

Biofuel provides power for medical devices. It is also used as a bioheat for heating the buildings.

It is very effective in removing the waste streams from organic compounds.

Process of Biofuel formation

Biofuel can be produced in two steps first is deconstruction, and the second is upgradation.

Deconstruction

In this process, the cell’s rigid outer wall (i.e., cell wall) will be broken down. The cell wall contains hemicellulose, lignin, molecular cellulose.

They are tightly attached to each other. The whole process may take place in two ways: high temperature or low temperature.

In high temperature

In high-temperature solid biomass breaks down into liquid or gaseous products. This process takes place in three steps.

Pyrolysis

In this process at high temperature (500°C–700°C), biomass gets heated and breaks down into pyrolysis vapor, gas, and char. After removing char, the remaining fluid is cooled down and forms a liquid known as bio-crude oil.

Gasification 

It is somehow as similar as pyrolysis; biomass gets heated at high temperatures (>700°C) but in the presence of some oxygen. While the product we get is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

Hydrothermal Liquification

This is a thermal process to deal with wet raw materials like algae. Hydrothermal liquefaction prefers a moderate temperature(200°C–350°C) and raises the pressure to convert biomass into liquid bio-crude oil.  

Low- temperature

The low-temperature deconstruction method requires enzymes or catalysts for the breakdown of intermediate raw materials. Firstly the cell wall of plants and algae breaks down and makes sugar polymers. Now, sugar such as Cellulose and hemicellulose polymers do hydrolysis and make simple sugar.

Hydrolysis is the process that takes place in the presence of catalysts or enzymes for making simple sugar molecules.

Upgrading

This step can take place via chemical or biological reactions. This reaction takes place for the upgradation of the intermediates as crude oil syngas sugars. 

For the fermentation of the sugar or gaseous intermediates, the microorganism as yeast, algae, bacteria, and cyanobacteria are used. These microorganisms just remove the unwanted compounds to improve the properties of the material. 

At last, after upgradation, the material is ready for commercial purposes. 

Scope of Biofuel in India

The scope of biofuel is easily predictable in India. It has so many advantages over petrol/diesel. Not only the benefits but also the longevity matters here. The production of less CO2 and improved fuel economy are catching the attention of the audience.

 India ranks third in the list of primary energy consumption, and all these renewable energies will become the future of the country. There are so many companies which provide you the best quality services of renewable products. G- Energetic Private Limites is one of them to fulfill your all needs.

The goal is to motivate domestic production, biofuels, renewable sources, and improving refinery. There are also so many chances to introduce some new native production of biofuels in India by 2030.

Many states are already shifting towards renewable sources as Bihar is the latest one. State governments are focusing on enhancing the production of raw materials for biofuel.

There are so many projects running across the country for promoting renewable sources. Some name of them are the TATA project, EBA project, EIA village are some of them.

There are mainly two types of biofuel. One is obtained from the burning of wood, and the other is obtained from the oily plants. But they have different physical properties for different uses.

 It is useful mainly for transportation. Ethanol and other biodiesel-based fuels are made up of biomass materials.

The usage of these oils reduces the consumption of diesel and petrol, which will reduce crude oil importation. Ethanol and other biodiesel-based fuel have so many advantages for commercial use as well as domestic use.

The amount of blending decides the usage of fuel. As ethanol blends with gasoline with a 10% ratio. Blending makes different types of fuel and is used for different vehicles.  Every vehicle has its own requirement of fueling the engine. There are various policies for the usage of different blending all over the world.