Biofuels from Biomass - Novel Combustion Concepts for Sustainable Energy Development - page 29

However, it has a major disadvantage that it has low LHV per unit volume which
means need of using high volume and heavy canisters. ' Well to wheel ' analyses shows

that biohydrogen is ef cient than other alternative fuels in respect to ef ciency and

emissions.

2.5 Microbial Fuel Cells

Microbial fuel (biofuels) cells are being looked as new alternative class of energy
source. There are several classes of biofuel cells: biofuel cells that convert chemical
fuels to produce electrical power by use of catalytic enzymes, similar cells where
microorganisms rather than enzymes are used to convert the fuel to energy, and
hybrid biofuel cells that combine the utilization of photochemical chemistries and
biological systems for the generation of electricity. The development of biofuel
cells is still in its infancy, although there is immense potential for further
improvement. Microbial fuel cells offer the advantage of using power supplies with
high longevities that are capable of using complex biofuels formed from biological
waste.
Thus, biofuels offer potential bene ts as alternate energy, but their commer-

cialization appears a distinct and far possibility at present unless technologies are
developed offering chie

y economic but also social and environmental sustain-
ability. Biotechnological interventions, in this regard, offer a silver ray of hope for
these.

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3 Biofuel in Indian Perspectives

Biofuel in Indian scenario has a distinct position from those of other parts of the
world. India has limited land resources to be utilized for energy crop production
rather than food crops. In India, most of the biofuel research focuses on utilization
of agricultural residues that are available in surplus amount. These lignocellulosic
residues could be utilized as raw material for cellulosic ethanol production.
Exclusive information on availability of surplus amount of various feedstocks for
exploitation in India has been available in NIIST-TIFAC report.

3.1 Feedstock Availability

The applicability of the technologies that relies on the feedstock widely available in
India could reach to a commercialization stage. For example, companies such as
DuPont and POET-DSM that use corn crops as a feedstock will not easily be able to
transfer their technology to India as only a small amount of corn waste is available