Bioenergy Meet 2020

Biomass is an energy that comes from plants and animals and it is a source of energy. It contains stored energy from the sun and it is called photosynthesis Solid biomass, such as wood and garbage, can be burned directly to produce heat. Biomass can also be converted into a gas called biogas or into liquid biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. These fuels can then be burned for energy. Ethanol is made from crops such as corn and sugar cane that are fermented to produce fuel ethanol for use in vehicles. Biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils and animal fats and can be used in vehicles and as heating oil. Although the biomass industry will be expensive it can be a very big step in protecting the resources in the world and reducing greenhouse gases that affect the environment greatly. Even though the biomass industry will be releasing emissions into the atmosphere, but will be much less than any other industry as the innovation will be using the emissions also to produce

Plants are categorized as Autotrophs, meaning they have the ability to produce their own energy source by utilizing the natural elements like sunlight, water and so on, through the longest chemical reaction found in nature, photosynthesis. Plants produce glucose, which is a carbon-based biomolecule. Carbon in glucose is gained from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is considered one of the major greenhouse gases, contributing to Global climate change. Plants are also carbon sources and they release stored carbon back into the environment in events such as a forest fire. However, the release of carbon is minute compared to carbon absorption. Therefore, Forests act as “carbon sinks” which will reduce carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Reforestation is one such controllable solution for reducing carbon footprint and preventing increasing global temperatures.

Burning either fossil fuels or biomass releases carbon dioxide a greenhouse gas. Anyhow, the plants that are the source of biomass capture a nearly equivalent amount of CO² through photosynthesis while they are growing, which can make biomass a carbon-neutral energy source. One of the major motives for producing biofuels is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate the outcomes of global warming produced through fossil fuels. But, according to the food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, a few unintended effects of biofuel manufacturing are on land, water, and biodiversity

Bioalcohols are produced by the microbial action and enzyme activity by fermentation of sugars, cellulose, and starch. At first, bioalcohol were produced by using unused parts of edible crops as feedstock, this was termed as the first generation of bioalcohol. The second generation of bioalcohols are synthesized from non - consumable crops, therefore they avoid competition with the food sector, but also create conflict for land usage. The second generation of bioalcohols is synthesized to be more efficient and cost-effective than the first generation.

The use of an alcohol as fuels is a new concept but the value of alcohol for drinking made it more expensive for use as a fuel than the newly discovered petroleum. Ethanol is the standard drinking alcohol and it is not poisoning we are very off to start with the methanol for the time being, alcohol powers won't supplant hydrocarbon fills. They will, in any case, be vital added substances to powers for a long time to come. In the event that science keeps on advancing and the issue of trading off the natural way of life can be comprehended, at that point liquor fills may give a great other option to petroleum products that enable us to better adjust how much carbon dioxide we put into the climate with how much plants expel.

Biodiesel is produced from biomass as feedstock; therefore this type of fuel is renewable. It is typically used as a blend in regular diesel. Feedstock for biodiesel includes soya bean oil, canola oil, corn oil and even animal fats, many of these sources being recycled from restaurants. Combustion of Biodiesel produces fewer amounts of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and toxic fumes compared to petroleum-based fuel. The US Government says that Biodiesel is carbon-neutral due to the fact that, the carbon dioxide emissions from burning biodiesel can be reabsorbed by the plants grown to provide feedstock for biodiesel production. Biodiesel can be produced from various techniques; recycled vegetable oil can be converted to biodiesel through the process of trans-Esterification which utilizes an acid or a base to accelerate the process. However, the most common method to produce Biodiesel is by the reaction of vegetable oil with methanol in the presence of sodium hydroxide. Using methanol is a cost-effective alternative. Biodiesel from yellow grease is the closest to petroleum-based diesel. Perhaps, the largest market for biodiesel probably will be as a fuel additive, because EPACT requirements are unlikely to increase significantly over the next 20 years. Biodiesel may also be marketed for applications in which reducing emissions of particulates and unburned hydrocarbons are paramount, such as school and transit buses. Because additives improve diesel fuel performance and therefore, are more expensive than diesel fuel, the cost disadvantage for biodiesel would not be as great in the additive market.

Biogas is a gaseous renewable fuel similar to natural gas. Natural gas is formed alongside fossil fuel by the geological process over millions of years from decomposing organic matter whereas Biogas is formed by anaerobic digestion of organic waste by bacteria. Biogas is primarily composed of methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and minute amounts of nitrogen and hydrogen. Animal waste and landfill waste serve as a source of biogas, which is produced in anaerobic digesters. Methane is the primary flammable component of Biogas; it is also an excellent greenhouse gas, which is 21 times greater than carbon dioxide. Therefore, collecting this gas from the landfills and other dumping sites is beneficiary to the environment. Household anaerobic digesters are used in countries such as Africa and China for lighting and cooking in rural areas. Large-scale digesters are utilized to produce biogas on a commercial scale. These digesters use manure slurry from farm animals. Therefore, are typically located adjacent to large animal farms. Another source of biogas production are landfills, where the Biogas is accumulated within the soil covered waste within a period of one year and can be extracted using a series of interconnected pipelines. The gas collected can be channeled to a furnace or a thermal power plant to generate steam and electricity via a steam turbine. Collection of Biogas from landfills reduces chances of explosions within the landfill and also prevents the leakage of greenhouse effect causing methane into the environment

The burning process generates heat that transformed into energy. The advantage of biomass combustion is that you can use the heat without needing to convert it into another form of energy such as electricity is a sustainable source of fuel to produce energy since, squander buildups will dependably exist – as far as scrap wood, process residuals, and backwoods assets; and. appropriately oversaw backwoods will dependably have more trees, and we will dependably have crops and the leftover natural issue from those harvests. The advantage of biomass combustion is that you can use the heat without needing to convert it into another form of energy such as electricity. You simply use the heat directly for such things as heating your home and heating the water in your home. In addition, the combustion heat can be used for direct heat in plants, manufacturing facilities, and even office buildings. Direct heat can also be converted into electricity.

Advanced biofuels are also termed as the second generation of biofuels. This variation of biofuel is produced from biomass containing, lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose, pectin, all of which is available from agricultural, forest waste or non-food plants grown specifically grown for biofuel production. Crops for second generation biofuel are aimed to provide more fuel per unit of land and also require less energy to grow and harvest, these crops are called as energy crops. Therefore, this generation is about efficient biofuel production. Advanced biofuels also have more technical properties than previous generation biofuels and are suitable to for synthesizing biopetroleum, biojet fuel, and biobutanol. In a market report conducted, advanced biofuels production facilities worldwide have a cumulative production capacity of 2,530,000 tons per year in 2012. This sector has the potential to grow and solve our current problems with fossil fuel usage and also create several job opportunities.

A biofuel is created through contemporary organic procedures, for example, farming and anaerobic assimilation, as opposed to a fuel delivered by geographical procedures, for example, those involved with the arrangement of non-renewable energy sources, for example, coal and oil, from an ancient natural issue. Biomass is considered a renewable energy source because its inherent energy comes from the sun and because it can regrow in a relatively short time. Trees take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into biomass and when they die, it is released back into the atmosphere

These biofuels are produced by oilseeds via trans-esterification existing biofuels are Existing biofuels – bioethanol and biodiesel – there is a wide range of variation from the fossil fuels in their blend wall properties. There is a high oxygen content hydrophilicity, energy density mainly compatibility in existing engine and infrastructures there are advantages like reduced sulfur oxide emissions by ultra-low sulfur content, reduced hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxide emissions and it is a low aromatic content Thermochemical methods adopted for biomass are pyrolysis and gasification zero oxygen and sulfur content mark major challenges for production of drop-in fuels from conventional biomass. This demands high hydrogen input on the conventional biomass through crucial ambiguities existing on future of alternative fuels, drop-in fuel has a substantial potential to repute itself as an efficient sustainable eco-friendly fuel in the near future.

A biorefinery is a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels. The biorefinery concept is analogous to today's petroleum refinery, which produces multiple fuels and products from petroleum.  Biorefinery is a facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and gadget to provide fuels, power, and cost-introduced chemical substances from biomass. Biorefinery has similarities to today’s petroleum refinery, which produces a couple of fuels and merchandise from petroleum. With the aid of producing numerous products, a biorefinery takes benefit of the various additives in biomass and their intermediates, consequently maximizing the value derived from the biomass feedstock.

Being a growing population will need more food. The production of biofuels will drive farmers to take fewer food crops. The biofuel concern corn, the source is virtually ethanol the global population maintains to develop, in locations at an alarming fee, and would want to be fed and will count on to stay a progressed lifestyles style, eating more strength inside a long time, crop yields are growing year-on-year. But, decrease than anticipated yields in any given 12 months tend to growth international grain costs, as came about in 2012 in part because of terrible climate and drought affecting the Russian and United States harvest respectively. The consequences of yield versions may be exacerbated via speculation in agricultural commodities. In turn, this can make a contribution to quick-term spikes in meals charges

Biofuel is economically very important and vegetable used as a raw material for both food and non-food products the center East and Africa constitute an excess capacity for biofuels in future. Enhancing economic activity is expected to boost the biofuels market within the place. Also, exponential consumption of electricity inside the area due to urbanization and consistent infrastructure development has caused heavy dependence on fossil fuels driving the boom of the biofuels market in close to destiny.