Use of Biofuel as a Sustainable Engineering Solution

Introduction

With the increasing demand for electricity in this global world to access more luxurious lives and further, the industrial dependency on scarce natural resources for energy production has led this world to a chaos of global warming. Many historians believe that it was the 2nd industrial revolution which witnessed the expansion of electricity, petroleum, and steel in a quest of developing a new globalized world, neglecting the consequences of the excessive extraction of natural materials and vast energy production. And, it just during the 1960s when for the first time the modern-day environmental moment started to develop sustainable solutions for energy production.Although in the recent time, there has been going on many research on developing sustainable solutions like Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Tidal Energy, and Hydro Energy, the recent improvements in Biofuel energy is a new technology among sustainable solutions.

Not only the biofuel energy is a cost-effective but it has also been proved to be viable and emerged as a promising solution to meet the global energy needs as compared to other expensive solutions.There has also been enough articles published and researches done already to support my argument of using Biofuel as a cleaner and cheaper source. In a recent article published on The Guardian, Dr. John Abraham stresses the use of Biofuel extracted through plants, non-edible gases, food crops, and woods as a more promising solution to global energy needs. He describes the sweetness of biofuels is that they suck dioxide out of the air as they grow. After we burn them in our cars, we have a tendency to unleash dioxide, however it's constant carbon that the plants absorbed whereas growing. simply thereon basis, biofuels seem to be zero net emitters(Abraham 2018).In certain other researches, it has been found as cheap and efficient source line in (Vassilev and Vassileva 2016).

Objective

The aim of this report is to focus the engineering sustainable solutions in the energy sector. The writing especially focuses on the use of biofuel as a sustainable solution in energy sector.

Description of Biofuel

A biofuel may be a fuel that's created through modern biological processes, like agriculture and anaerobic digestion, instead of a fuel created by earth science processes like those concerned within the formation of fossil fuels, like coal and rock oil, from prehistoric biological matter. The 2 most typical kinds of biofuels square measure fermentation alcohol and biodiesel.Ethanol is associate degree alcohol, a similar found in brewage and wine. It’s created by zymotic any biomass high in carbohydrates (starches, sugars, or celluloses) through a method the same as production brewage. Fermentation alcohol is generally used as a fuel additive to chop down a vehicle's monoxide and different smog-causing emissions. however flexible-fuel vehicles, that run on mixtures of gas and up to eighty fifth fermentation alcohol, square measure currently out there.Biodiesel is created by combining alcohol (usually methanol) with edible fat, animal fat, or recycled change of state greases. It may be used as associate degree additive to scale back vehicle emissions (typically 20%) or in its pure kind as a renewable various fuel for diesel engines.

Advantages

Biofuel energy is in abundant quantity in the most of countries. As it can be extracted from solid biomass and organic waste, the developing countries in Asia and Africa could easily benefit from it. Moreover, It was found in a study that Nigeria with abundant organic waste and solid biomass produces 80% of its energy needs through biofuel energy(Ben-Iwo, Manovic et al. 2016) Total energy consumption in 2012 of Nigeria(Ben-Iwo, Manovic et al. 2016).

1. Using Biofuel energy can help reduce organic waste around the globe. As biofuel is a by-product of the organic waste, it can help minimize the wast4e generated in many nations. The waste generated by wheat straw, cornstarch, and plant crops can be converted into the Biofuel.
2. We can reduce the Co2 emissions using biofuel instead of the gasoline. In a study done in Tanzania, it was found that by using the uncultivated land and in a few years we can reach the zero-emission neutrality by producing biofuel from plant crops(Ben-Iwo, Manovic et al. 2016). In one more research done, it was shown that using biofuels we can decrease the Co2 emissions from the transport sector. Average emissions per liter of ethanol produced entirely on forest or grassland and under small and large-scale farming systems(Ben-Iwo, Manovic et al. 2016)
3. 3 CO2 reduction in transportation sector (Bhutto, Qureshi et al. 2016)
4. Biofuels, production can increase the GDP of developing countries. In a study done in Tanzania that by producing biofuels using cultivated land, the GDP of developing countries can be increased(Ben-Iwo, Manovic et al. 2016).
5. Biofuel Energy is a very cheap source of energy. It is cost effective and easily produced. In a study done on microalgae biofuel, it was observed that biofuel is cheaper than most of the other sustainable sources like solar, thermal etc. and traditional methods(Ghadiryanfar, Rosentrater et al. 2016).

Sustainibilty Factos

Various key sustainability factors are of prime importance in this case study. These include the following

Land Availability

The amount of biomass needed to exchange a big proportion of the fuel employed in transport runs into countless tones. Hence, a vital question is that of biomass yield. Higher yields clearly change the same quantity of biofuel to get replaced victimization less land. However, land use potency may additionally be improved by choosing Associate in nursing overall production chain which will use a high yielding biomass crop. For example, most oils seed crops solely turn out a number of tones per area unit each year, sugar and starch crops could generate five to ten tones, whereas considerably larger yields return from woody plants – or from typical crops like cereals if the straw are often used.Greater utilization of such materials depends on the event of advanced biofuels. Albeit these strategies return to promote, land availableness still sets limits to what could also be created.Suggestions are created for the movement of biomass or biomass-derived fuels from the lot of productive regions to the lot of industrial countries.

Environmental Impact

Some intensive fashionable farm strategies used for food production have a spread of negative effects on the atmosphere, like eroding, water shortage, pollution from pesticides and issues with overuse of fertilizers (including eutrophication). Eutrophication, the decrease within the diversity of Associate in Nursing system because the results of unleash of chemical nutrients (typically compounds containing element or phosphorous), is barely one threat to diversity, which can even be compact by the replacement of a natural system by monocultures, whether or not annual fields of oilseed, sugar beet or cereals, or massive areas of vegetation or short rotation forest.

For example, oil is one in all the most affordable sources of oil and is employed wide within the food and cosmetics trade, and additional recently as a feedstock for first-generation biofuels. The clearing of biodiverse timberland for growth of palm plantations has been the topic of variety of protests and campaigns by conservation teams. The Convention on Biological Diversity suggests that the employment of payment mechanisms to safeguard diversity (e.g. REDD Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) could usually be a higher environmental and economic possibility than clearing biodiverse land to plant energy crops(Hood 2016)

Land Use Changes

It has been prompt that growing energy crops on agricultural land might displace existing food-crop production, inflicting land use modification in another location. This indirect Land Use modification (iLUC) may occur during a neighboring space or maybe in another country many miles away, wherever a part of high multifariousness (and high levels of "stored carbon") may well be cleared to create additional land out there for growing food crops.

Food Versus Fuel

The global population continues to grow, in places at associate degree fearsome rate, and can have to be compelled to be fed and can expect to measure associate degree improved life style, intense a lot of energy. This raises queries of ‘Food versus Fuel'; what proportion land and alternative resources area unit on the market, however ought to they be used and what area unit the priorities?The debate on Food versus Fuel has had a serious impact on biofuels policy and gained media coverage. Variety of reports covering this issue area unit on the market within the EBTP reports info and also the Food vs.

As biofuels gain market share and international commerce of biomass, raw materials and biofuels expand, the requirement to confirm socio-economic property on the complete provide chain becomes a lot of pressing. This includes aspects like land use, agricultural practices, competition with food, energy potency and GHG emissions, life cycle analysis (LCA), etc.A strategy to realize property includes the requirement for certification systems. Developing certification procedures for biomass feedstock to be employed in biofuel production needs the identification and assessment of existing systems followed by measures taken to enhance them. Certification procedures have to be compelled to be applicable at each world and native level and relate each to little farmers or foresters additionally as giant conglomerates.

Summary

Biofuel Energy is a new source of sustainable engineering solution for Energy production. There have been many proven benefits of using Biofuel as an alternative source for reducing CO2 emission, waste reduction, increasing GDP of developing countries and many more. It is a cheap, cleaner and effective source. However, it is still in the development phase. There are certain sustainability factors need to be examined and researched on before it could be used on a large scale. Biofuel is a promising solution for future energy needs. It needs more innovative development and research to make it more efficient and eco-friendly. It could heavily reduce the burden on scarce fossil fuels.

References

1. Abraham, J. (2018). Biofuels can help solve climate change, especially with a carbon tax. The Guardian, The Guardian.
2. Ben-Iwo, J., et al. (2016). "Biomass resources and biofuels potential for the production of transportation fuels in Nigeria." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63: 172-192.
3. Bhutto, A. W., et al. (2016). "Progress in the production of biomass-to-liquid biofuels to decarbonize the transport sector–prospects and challenges." RSC Advances 6(38): 32140-32170.
4. Ghadiryanfar, M., et al. (2016). "A review of macroalgae production, with potential applications in biofuels and bioenergy." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 54: 473-481.
5. Hood, E. E. (2016). "Plant-based biofuels." F1000Research
6. Vassilev, S. V. and C. G. Vassileva (2016). "Composition, properties and challenges of algae biomass for biofuel application: an overview." Fuel 181: 1-33.