U3 AOS2 Topic 8: Biofuel Production

Biofuel is a fuel generated from organic material called as biomass. Biomass can be extracted from plants and animals. Traditional fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are non-renewable and take millions of years to form by the process of fossilization. Fossil fuels can be replaced with biofuels which are renewable. Bioethanol is a biofuel made from biomass via the process of fermentation. The production of bioethanol involves following steps:

1.   Deconstruction: Biomass can be obtained from plants such as sugarcane and edible grains of corn. Biomass is broken down to increase its surface area for efficient fermentation by following methods:

·         Biological method in which enzymes are used.

·         Chemical method carried out by acids

·         Physical method such as grinding

·         Physiochemical method i.e. heating.

2.    Digestion: Enzymes are used to digest starch and cellulose in biomass into glucose. This breakdown occurs in the presence of water via a process of hydrolysis.

3.   Ethanol production: Glucose produced in digestion process undergoes anaerobic fermentation in the presence of yeast and produces ethanol which can be harnessed to make biofuel.

4.   Purification and dehydration: water is removed from ethanol to make it usable form called as biofuel.

                               

Applications of biofuel:

Biofuels can be used in transport, heating and energy generation. There is food vs fuel debate on use of biofuels as it is made from edible crops, but second-generation biofuels are made from non-edible materials such as wood wastes.