Introduction
Biofuel is fuel that is produced from converting the starch content of the plant’s biomass such as corn, potatoes, wheat, beets or sugarcane into a source of energy. Sugar cane has been known over the years as the major producer of ethanol. In Brazil- which is the leading sugar cane producer, sugarcane has been used to produce biofuel that runs motor engines. When this ethanol is mixed with gasoline at a ratio, it is referred to as Biodiesel. Brazil remains the largest world commercial bio producer of energy and consumer in the world. Brazil started using ethanol to run car engines in the year 1979. The increase in the prices of oil in 2005 raised the production and use of sugarcane ethanol in vehicles. Currently Brazil has half of its vehicles running on pure ethanol while the other 50% uses blends. The E10 or the 10% blend does not require any engine modification.
The fermentation process used to make ethafuel is exactly the same as the one used in the fermentation of alcohol.
Biodiesel is very economical when compared to fossil fuel. For this reason the world production of ethanol production for fuel increased by more than fifty percent between 2000 and 2005 whereas the world consumption of oil increased by seven percent within the same period.
Graph showing the world Ethanol production.
Characteristics of Sugarcane Biodiesel
Biodiesel (Ethanol blended with gasoline) has favorable combustion characteristics that have made it more preferable over the fossil fuel in most developed countries. First, biodiesel has a clean complete combustion in the motor engines and also octane rated performance is good. The internal combustion of engines designed to use alcohol fuel is energy efficient by 20% more than engines operated by gasoline. The full combustion of the biofuel makes them environmentally friendly since the emissions of Carbon dioxide, Lead, Sulphur dioxide and Carbon monoxide are greatly reduced.
The chemical properties of ethanol make it more volatile (evaporating from liquid to gaseous form) than gasoline and therefore cold start engines are a common problem with the vehicles using alcohol as fuel. This problem can however be resolved through modification of the engine and also changing the formulation of the fuel for example increasing the ratio of Gasoline to Alcohol in the biodiesel.
Alcohol has more energy content than gasoline; in fact one liter of gasoline has an equivalent two-thirds of the energy in one liter of ethanol. This characteristic makes biodiesel more efficient in regard to energy saving. (International Atomic Energy Agency, 2006)
Ethanol is an organic product and is therefore biodegradable. It is safer for an alcohol spill on the environment because it will be broken down by bacteria than an oil or gasoline fuel that is nonbiodegradable. This chemical property of biodiesel gives it a special handling way over the fossil fuel.
Sugarcane is among the best photosynthetic efficient plant with about 2.5% efficiency in photosynthesis under optimal agricultural conditions. One of the bi-products in the production of sugarcane called bagasse can also be used to produce electricity making a plant distilling alcohol a self-efficient plant that generates surplus electricity.
The production process of ethanol is environmentally friendly unlike the refinery of crude oil which produces a lot of waste products that are polluting the environment. The process of oil refineries also consumes a lot of power and labor as compared to the production of alcohol. The process of producing ethanol is simple and efficient and follows the following few steps.
First the growth of sugarcane, and harvesting and the transportation of the raw materials to the industry is very environmentally friendly. It does not involve mining as in fossil fuel which causes environmental degradation. (International Atomic Energy Agency, 2006)
The sugarcane is then taken for pre-treatment (Conversion of raw material to a form suitable for fermentation). This process is very easy and does not have any serious environmental effects. The substrate is fermented to alcohol and then distillation is done to purify the alcohol. The residue of fermentation is treated to reduce pollution to the environment and obtain the by-products. The technology of fermentation is being improved in order to reduce cost of production of ethanol fuel.
The production of biodiesel is common in the developed countries although there are some possibilities of the developing countries adopting the same. However in developing countries crisis occurs in the competition for land available for agriculture most of them being dependent on agricultural production.
The table below shows the world production of ethanol fuel in the world in the year 2005.
The production of biofuel increased between years 2000 and 2005 by over 20,000 million liters all over the world. In the year 2006, Brazil spent 0.20-0.30 Euros per liter equivalent to gasoline in its production of ethanol from sugarcane. This cost is far much below the costs incurred by the United States which was between Euros 0.30-0.50 from production of ethanol from corn while gasoline cost between Euros 0.3-0.55 and ethanol from grain in the European Union cost much higher, Euros 0.40-0.65 the same year.
Advantages of Using Sugarcane biodiesel
There are several advantages associated with the use of sugarcane biodiesel or ethanol biofuel in the cars. These advantages can be discussed in regard to the environment, the energy output, cost and availability. These factors have been discussed below.
Biodiesel and the Environment
Ethanol in even very low blends in gasoline, say for example, the E10 which contains 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline has great benefits to the environment. Tests that have been carried out in both Brazil and the United States show that the production of Carbon dioxide, Carbon monoxide, Sulphur dioxide is lower in combustion of biodiesel as compared to reformulated gasoline (RFG). E10 however produces more volatile organic compounds (VOC), Nitrogen (II) Oxide and particulates more than the Reformulated Gasoline. If E85 is burned, (E85 contains 85% Ethanol and 15% Gasoline), all the above pollutants are greatly reduced. Therefore biodiesel is environmentally friendly and can reduce the effect of global warming today. Pure ethanol produces very few pollutants to the environment.
Energy Balance
The energy balance of ethanol from sugarcane as a fuel has been ranked the highest with an output/ input ratio of 2-8 after the cellulose ethanol that has an output ratio of 2-36. The amount of energy that ethanol produces is higher than the energy used to manufacture it, hence the use of biodiesel is energy saving. (Gerhard, et al, 2007)
Cost
The world’s fuel prices changes day in day out and several countries rely entirely on oil imports from the Middle East and Asia. The prices rose sharply during the year 2005 and this made many countries suffer especially the developing countries to cope with the high prices. Oil consumption was reduced in these countries with a drastic decrease in the car industry for the high prices of oil. Public transport was also affected by the increase in fares. However in Brazil, life continues to be cheaper and cheaper since ethanol goes for half price of gasoline. Using biodiesel is very economical and affordable. (Gerhard, et al, 2007)
Availability
Many countries produce sugarcane and they use gasoline in the sugar industry which is very expensive, the available sugarcane is reliable as a country can afford to grow sugarcane and stop dependency on importing oil.
Purposes of Using Biodiesel in Brazil
Biofuel in Brazil has four major roles. The first role of using biofuel in Brazil is aimed at protecting the sugarcane plantation industry in the country which was facing serious crisis before due to overproduction of sugarcane that could not be absorbed in the sugar industry. The use of biofuel therefore provided a ready market for the sugarcane. (Erik and Molly, 2007)
The ProAlcol project in Brazil was meant to increase the utilization of the local domestic resources of renewable energy. It gave the country an opportunity to develop on the capital goods in alcohol and process technology designed for alcohol production and its utilization. Brazil wanted to gain great social-economical and regional equality by cultivating the viable land for production of alcohol. The industry also provided employment opportunities to the population with over 700000 being employed directly in the sugarcane industry and over two million people in the related industries. This saved the country about 400 million US dollars in imports. Brazil has developed an agribusiness.
The other role of the use of Biodiesel in Brazil was to reduce environmental pollution that is emitted by the fossil fuels. By using the biodiesel, the country cut down the rate of pollution by more than 50%. (Erik and Molly, 2007)
Brazil has over 300 plants producing ethanol and there are at least 100 more that are yet to be established. The recently integrated ethanol plant that was inaugurated by the Brazilian president Lula is a biodiesel plant called Devin in the center of Brazil and 27 million real equivalents to 12.5 million US Dollars was invested in the project. This plant was constructed next to a big biodiesel plant that had been producing biodiesel for the last 20 years in Brazil. The government has also licensed the use of 2 % biodiesel from the oil seed crop. The increase in the world demand for biodiesel has also increased the production of biodiesel in Brazil. There are a total of 10 biodiesel producing plants in Brazil and some other 40 are under construction. In Brazil motorists can fill their engines with up to 100% ethanol at half the price of gasoline and there are over 30,000 ethanol filling stations in the country.
Disadvantages of Biodiesel
There are several limitations that have emerged with the use of ethanol fuel in Brazil. This is mainly from the agricultural side where there is fear of over-expansion of the sugar farms reducing food production. With the use of biodiesel means that there has to be overutilization of arable farms.
Biodiesel is also unsuitable as it produces high amounts of nitrogen oxide emissions which are harmful to the environment. This can be reduced by blending the biodiesel with Fischer Tropsch diesel or the liquid paraffin. (Erik and Molly, 2007)
The transportation of biodiesel and its storage is very involving and requires a lot of management hence it is not easier to use biodiesel. This is as a result of its properties which make it undesirable for use in high concentrations especially in low temperatures it becomes more viscous (does not flow). It is also a bit expensive to transport biodiesel as it cannot be transported through pipeline due to its nature.
Biodiesel cannot be used at low temperatures as it forms a gel that cannot be pumped by the engine hence causing serious engine problems and inconveniences to the car users. It reaches the pour point (The temperature below which the biodiesel cannot flow).
Biodiesel reduces the fuel economy as a vehicle can cover 10% more miles on one gallon of petrodiesel than with one gallon of biodiesel. Biodiesel damages the filters of the car engine as it has excellent solubility properties which allow it to dissolve particles requiring regular change of filters. Petrol diesel forms deposits in the vehicular fuel system of the engine which is safer as they can be removed. (Erik and Molly, 2007)
United States Use of Sugarcane Biodiesel
The United States has used the biodiesel from other sources more than the sugarcane biodiesel. They only use 3% of biodiesel from the sugarcane because the sugar industry in the United States has incentives in the world market as its sugar fetches the best prices. For this reason the country cannot diverge to the use of sugarcane for biodiesel like Brazil.
China on the other hand produces very little, 2000 million liters of biodiesel which cannot meet the large population needs in the country. The land in China is not favorable for the production of sugarcane and also the expansion of sugarcane plantations would lead to serious food problems for the large population.
Conclusion
The use of biodiesel is very reliable as the advantages outdoes the disadvantages. It is also the only way that the conservation of the environment and the world from the alarming global warming can be achieved. Fossil fuels are the greatest pollutants of the environment known ever as they produce large amounts of Carbon products. Brazil is the only leading country in Europe and the world in the production and use of biodiesel.
Work Cited Source
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International Atomic Energy Agency, Brazil: A Country Profile on Sustainable Energy Development, London, Oxford University Press, 2006.
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