Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
F OOD A SPECTS OF B IOFUELS
Sugar beets are primary a raw material for the production of sugar for human
consumption as table sugar, food ingredient in huge varieties of semi prepared as well as
prepared food, beverages and source for fermentation to ethanol find in vine and other alcohol
beverages and distilled products. The root of the beet contains 75% water, about 20% sugar,
and 5% pulp (the exact sugar contents can vary between 12 and 21% sugar, depending on the
cultivar and growing conditions) [46]. In average 20% of beet mass represent disaccharide
sucrose whit its 17 kJ of energy per gram.
New and more efficient and therefore less ethical criticized technologies produced
bioethanol from food as case study making bioethanol from sugar beet. As reported the
conventional raw beet juice extraction in food-grade crystal sugar production is a highly
involved and energy intensive process, which includes beets washing, thawing of frozen
beets, cassettes slicing, and high temperature denaturation and diffusion. Industrial beets, a
new feedstock bred for non-food industrial use, processing for biofuel and bio products
applications can use less stringent quality requirements and simplify the juice extraction
process [70, 71]. A novel simplified front end processing, which is less expensive, energy
efficient, and involved only common equipment (hammer mill and basket press), was
developed and tested. The hammer mill pulverized the beets and basket press extracted the
juice. Four beet conditions (fresh, frozen, thawed and fresh-frozen) and four presses with
water addition were tested for juice extraction. The juice concentration had decreased with the
increased number of presses, and the fitted exponential equations determined the juice
concentration as a function of number of presses.
Frozen beets consistently produced significantly high concentration juice followed by
fresh-frozen, thawed, and fresh beets. Freezing had a beneficial effect in increasing the
cumulative approximate sugar extracted. Two presses for fresh (92%) and three for frozen
(97%) beets extracted the most available sugars. Future research may focus on water
temperature, beet particle size, juice for extraction, microbial stability, energy economics, and
products utilization. This new efficiently extracts industrial beet juice and has direct scope in
industry deployment as well as enhances the potential of the fuel generated being recognized
as an advanced biofuel by the renewable fuel standards [70, 72].
There is also serious doubt about direct impact of biofuels on food prices. As reported by
Ajanovic [73] in recent years the share of bioenergy-based fuels has increased moderately,
but continuously, and so did feedstock production, as well as yields.
As reported no significant impact of biofuels production on feedstock prices can be
observed. Numerous analyses and researches attributed at least part of the food price spikes of
2007/2008 to liquid biofuels [74, 75]. Hence, a co-existence of biofuel and food production
seems possible especially for 2 nd generation biofuels. However, sustainability criteria should
be seriously considered [73].
On one hand the authorities facing huge food lost as waste that is estimated on 40% from
farm to fork for US and Europe (some reports 30-50%), meanwhile, 925 million people suffer
from chronic hunger. On other hand some authorities even promote and financially support
with subsidies agriculture to produce food as or for fuel like bioethanol.
Worldwide, we produce 4,600 kilocalories per person per day, and yet only 2,000 to
2,800 kilocalories are available for consumption.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search