Biofuels from Biomass - Novel Combustion Concepts for Sustainable Energy Development - page 23

1 Introduction

Sustainable energy production is one of the most formidable global problems of the
present century. The world is about to reach at the edge of the damage of global
environment caused due to constant increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
An increased demand of energy globally for expanding population is a major cause
of concern. Also, fossil fuels are depleting at an alarming rate, which necessitates
the search for an alternative renewable source of energy. Thus, the efforts are
continuing to decrease the dependency on fossil fuel so as to have carbon footprints
for a healthier and more eco-friendly future. Biofuels are being looked up as a
sustainable source of alternative renewable energy capable of solving major envi-
ronmental and energy-related issues. In last two decades, biofuel research has been
accelerated all over the world with several commercial plants coming up for bio-
ethanol and biodiesel production for various sectors.
Global production of biofuels for the road transportation sector has grown at
approximately 15 % per year since 2002, a rate over ten times that of oil, and has
accelerated rapidly since 2005 when output totaled about 31 million tons (Mt),
consisting of 27 Mt ethanol and 4 Mt biodiesel. This

figure is expected to double by
2015 and would then represent slightly more than 3 % of world auto fuel con-
sumption, compared with 1.3 % today (Fig. 1 : Trend in world biofuel production).
Current biofuel output is mainly ethanol, most of which is processed from
sugarcane and corn (maize). Ethanol production is approximately 10 times that of
biodiesel, which is derived from vegetable oils including rapeseed, sun ower, palm,

or soybean or from animal fats. Corn-based US ethanol and sugarcane-based
Brazilian ethanol account for nearly 90 % of global production ( http://www.
dupontelastomers.com/autofocus/a4/af4.asp?article=biofuels ) .
Other than biodiesel and bioethanol, there are many alternative renewable
sources of energy which could be promising for supplementing the conventional

fl

Fig. 1 Trend in world biofuel
production