Energy Sources
Biomass
Facts
Biofuels have traditionally been made from crops like corn, sugar cane, soybean or rapeseed. However, some believe that using traditional food crops and agricultural space to produce fuel can put significant pressure on global food prices. Newer technologies under development will likely be able to use non-food crops to produce biofuels. For example, switchgrass will grow without pesticide on land that is not suitable for food crops and can be completely converted to fuel.
Source: "Quo Vadis, Biofuels?"; Energy and Environmental Science; September 2009; available: http://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/EE/article.asp?doi=b822951c
Overview
As of 2010, 21 countries had biofuels blending mandates or targets. Governments have utilized these policies to support domestic farms, promote energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuels have widespread global support, with countries such as Peru, Australia, Thailand and Zambia all instituting biofuels mandates and targets.
Source: "World Energy Outlook 2010." International Energy Agency
Although it will be challenging to use biofuels on a mass scale in the aviation sector owing to the amount of land that would be needed to produce the fuel, efforts to mix biofuels with traditional jet fuel are quickly increasing. Airlines are scrambling for alternative feedstock sources like Camelina that can be processed into “drop-in” compatible jet fuels, in part to protect themselves financially from the potential volatility of global oil prices. In 2008, Continental Airlines conducted a test flight of a commercial airliner with one engine running on a blend of algae-derived biofuel, and in November 2010, the Brazilian airline TAM completed the first jatropha-based biofuel flight on an Airbus A320. In addition, Air New Zealand, Japan Airlines and Continental Airlines have carried out successful test flights using a blend of jatropha and traditional jet fuel. Meanwhile, Air France-KLM was the first airline to test biofuel in a passenger aircraft. Lufthansa plans to run aircraft on a mixture of kerosene and biofuel beginning in 2012.
Source: Discovery News
Source: "Biofuel Airbus A320 completes first successful test flight." http://www.gizmag.com/biofuel-airbus-a320/17123/“Aviation Sector Lags on Sustainability, but Biofuels Present Opportunity.”http://www.biomassintel.com/aviation-sector-lags-on-sustainability-biofuels-present-opportunity/
Source: "World Energy Outlook 2010." International Energy Agency
Governments give more support to biofuels than any other renewable energy source. Government support totaled $20 billion in 2009, with the largest sums coming from the U.S. and EU. Financial support is forecast to increase to an annual average of $45 billion between 2010 and 2020, rising to an average of $65 billion per year between 2021 and 2035. Around 60% of this governmental support is expected to be directed towards ethanol, while 40% will be channeled into biodiesel.
Source: "World Energy Outlook 2010." International Energy Agency
Biofuels contain virtually no sulfur, trace metals or aromatics. However, according to some experts, the production lifecycle of some biofuels can actually produce significantly more carbon emissions than are saved by using the biofuels. According to one study, the clearance of grassland to grow biofuel crops releases 93 times the amount of greenhouse gas that would be saved by the fuel made annually on that land.
Source: "Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat"; New York Times
In Brazil 90% of new cars have flex-fuel engines, meaning they can operate on either petrol or ethanol. All fuel sold in Brazil contains a minimum 20-25% blend of ethanol, and in total up to 45% of the fuel used to power vehicles in Brazil comes from ethanol. By 2010 over 10 million flex-fuel cars had been sold in Brazil.
Source: "Brazil's 10 Millionth Ethanol Flex-Fuel Vehicle Hits the Road." Gas 2.0 Available at: http://gas2.org/2010/03/08/brazils-10-millionth-ethanol-flex-fuel-vehicle-hits-the-road/
While Brazil has replaced a significant amount of its oil consumption with ethanol, liquid fuel demand in Brazil represents only about 13% of U.S. demand.
Source: "International Energy Outlook 2010"; Energy Information Administration
Ethanol production from some sources and consumption processes can cut greenhouse gas emissions. These improvements will increase dramatically with the use of cellulosic technologies currently in development. In the US, the first cellulosic ethanol production facilities are expected to come on line between 2010 and 2015.
Source: European Commission study; Energy Information Administration
Compared with traditional diesel fuel, pure biodiesel reduces emissions of small particles by 40%.
Source: American Public Transportation Association
Biofuels are derived from renewable biomass feedstocks, but biofuels are not emission free on a life-cycle basis. Greenhouse gas emissions occur at multiple stages of the biofuels supply chain. Besides emissions at the combustion stage, greenhouse-gas emissions arise from fossil fuel use in the construction and operation of biofuels conversion plants. In addition, the cultivation of biomass requires fertilizers and the use of machinery and irrigation, all of which also generate emissions.
Source: "World Energy Outlook 2010." International Energy Agency
The large amounts of biomass needed for commercial advanced biofuel plants require complex logistical systems and good infrastructure in order to deliver the biomass at an economically competitive cost. Successful production of advanced biofuels can, therefore, be a particular challenge in rural areas of developing countries, where poor infrastructure and a complex pattern of land-ownership increase the complexity of feedstock logistics.
Source: "World Energy Outlook 2010." International Energy Agency
Biomass: Opportunities
Biofuels have significant future potential
Though corn-based ethanol may not be a viable solution to our energy situation, other biofuels such as switchgrass and some species of algae have significant potential to produce usable forms of energy.
Source: "Energy for Tomorrow: Repowering the Planet"; National Geographic; Summer 2009
Biofuels can help meet increased energy demand.
If international pledges and agreements that have already been made are carried out, biofuels would meet 8% of world road-transport fuel consumption by 2035, up from just 3% in 2009.
Source: "World Energy Outlook 2010." IEA.
Biomass: Challenges
Economic Viability
Corn-based ethanol has been controversial, its critics pointing out that producing the fuel from corn drives up food prices and requires significant amounts of energy. Scientists and engineers are working to devise an economically viable method of extracting energy from more efficient biofuel crops such as switchgrass or algae, but have not yet been successful.
Source: "Energy for Tomorrow: Repowering the Planet"; National Geographic; Summer 2009
Farmland could be in short supply.
Replacing traditional petrol and diesel with food-based biofuels is likely to require converting large amounts of arable land from food to biofuel crops. Doing so would potentially put upward pressure on food prices. Advanced biofuels, such as hydrogenated biodiesel, cellulosic biomass, and algae-based biodiesel, are still in the research and development, pilot or demonstration phase. Such technologies offer the promise of more efficient energy conversion, greater lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and will not compete with food-producing crops for land.
Source: "World Energy Outlook 2010." International Energy Agency