Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
production of biodiesel. Certain components will be chosen based on optimum
characteristics to be observed more closely when detailing the kinetics and process design
for a selection of process systems.
1.1. Benefits of Biodiesel: Economics
As of 2007, the United States had biodiesel production capacity of 1.85 billion gallons
from 165 commercial biodiesel plants [1]. It is calculated that 1.16 jobs would be created per
million liters of annual production in a biofuels plant [2]. This number would be higher in
more labor intensive regions. Biodiesel can be produced worldwide, and in a study done by
Johnston and Holloway, its production has the potential to improve economies [2]. The study
determined that Malaysia, Indonesia, Argentina, the US, and Brazil are the top five largest
potential producers of biodiesel due to current their current production of palm and soybean.
Developing countries with the highest profit potential include Malaysia, Indonesia,
Phillipines, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand. Developing countries with highest profitable
biodiesel export potential are Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia, Uruguay, and Ghana [36].
Biodiesel can thus create hundreds of jobs and contribute millions of dollars to a country's
GDP [2].
1.2. Benefits of Biodiesel: Politics
The United States consumes 0.53 billion cubic meters of diesel annually. [1] Producing
more biodiesel domestically also lowers dependence on foreign crude oil. A significant
factor holding back large scale production of biodiesel is consumer demand. Europe created
this demand by making alternative fuel use mandatory [2,9]. In Europe, biodiesel
production has surpassed 2.0 billion litres as of 2004 [2]. This is primarily due to the
legislation passed in the 1990s making use of alternative fuels mandatory [2]. Because
diesel fuel comprised 66% of on-road, liquid fuel demand, biodiesel saw rapid popularity
there [2]. As a result of increased demand, capacity for biodiesel production has increased
significantly in Europe [3], rising from almost none in 1991 to over 5000 million liters in
2008 as shown in Figure 1.
Legislation under consideration would require motor vehicle fuel sold in the United
States from 2002 onward to contain a minimum quantity of renewable fuel. 2 Renewable
fuels include biodiesel, ethanol or any other liquid fuel produced from biomass or biogas.
Precise estimates of the minimum quantity guidelines are a current topic of discussion. It is
assumed that the minimum percentage by volume of renewable fuel content will increase
from 1.2 percent in 2002 to four percent by 2016.
Using current long-term U.S. Department of Energy projections for highway energy use
as a baseline, 3 renewable fuel use in the United States would increase from current levels of
about 1.9 billion gallons to more than 8.8 billion gallons by 2016. As shown in Figure 2, the
majority of renewable fuel would be accounted for by ethanol produced from grain, however
biodiesel is expected to account for about 15 percent of total renewable fuel use by 2016.
