How Does Biofuel Work?
Biofuels are made from the same thing that fossil fuels are made of--dead organic material. It's only the length of time that it's been dead that differentiates biofuel sources. Wood, corn, grass and animal waste are all sources currently in use to make biofuel. Biofuel sources are plentiful, they are renewable and their conversion has become economically practical in a world of diminishing fossil fuel resources.
Plant or animal material must be processed before it can be used as fuel. The process may be as simple as trapping methane gas escaping during decomposition or as complex as the rendering of ethanol from corn, using several toxic chemicals. Basically, the carbon in the organic material must be "harvested" and reformulated or refined so that it can be used to generate energy for everything from electricity to automobiles.
Just like fossil fuels, biofuels are burned in internal combustion, jet or even steam engines to provide power to move everything from pistons to turbines. And, just as with the transition from wood and coal to gasoline and gas during the twentieth century, the transition to alternative fuels like biofuel in this one will create the need for new technology and new marketing and delivery networks.
Biofuels are in use today. Existing diesel engines, for example, work more efficiently on biodiesel than on the refined diesel fuel that has become so expensive. Engines work exactly the same way on both fuels, only more efficiently on the biodiesel. Other biofuels have problems (engines that use corn-based ethanol need special adaptations because the fuel burns hotter than regular gasoline) that need to be worked out before they can be efficient replacements.
Development of biofuels is worthwhile because it takes a renewable resource--garbage, plant matter--that might otherwise end up in a landfill and converts it to usable energy. Biofuels burn like fossil fuels and can be used (with some adaptations) just like coal and gas in engines. In some cases, engines must be retuned for biofuel use but new biofuels will be developed or future engines will incorporate design changes that allow for biofuel's different qualities.
Although biofuels do not provide a complete answer to the energy problem, they are a transition component of the switch to alternate energy sources. Today's biofuels are being used just like fossil fuels, but the biofuels of the future will need to be "carbon neutral" in order to be efficient, meaning that the finished fuel must provide as much energy as it takes to produce it. Either we must invent new technologies to use the fuel or design new refining processes before biofuels become a practical replacement for fossil fuels.
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