Biofuels

Since the first cars, ethanol has been used as an automotive fuel.  Henry Ford designed his cars to run on either gasoline or ethanol.  It had once been a competitor of gasoline, but with the discovery of major amounts of oil, it could no longer compete in the consumer market.  As the volume of oil increased, its price dropped.   During World War II, ethanol made a little bit of a comeback due to fuel shortages of the war.  Not until the energy crises of the 1970s did ethanol make it to the consumer markets.  The state and federal governments used incentives such as tax breaks, loans, research, and mandates to facilitate the building of expensive distilleries and growing of the biomass.  In 1978, an exemption of motor-fuel taxes had been approved for gasoline that contained a certain portion of ethanol mixture.  There were also tariffs put into effect to protect from cheaper, sugarcane ethanol imports from Brazil.  The United States turned to alternative fuels to combat fuel shortages.  Demand for biofuel increases as the price of oil increases.  Brazil and the United States are the major consumers of biofuel, but developing countries such as China, India, and regions of Africa are projected to increase their demand as well.  Biodiesel is expected to increase from less than 5 million metric tons in 2005 to almost 65 million metric tons in 2030. In more recent years, the threat of global warming has also led to the utilization of cleaner fuel resources.  The belief that biofuel is the cleaner alternative has brought an increase in ethanol and biodiesel production.

          

There is a trend for a transition from nonrenewable fuel resources such as oil and coal to biofuel.  Biofuel is produced from biomass.  Theses organic materials have stored energies due to the process of photosynthesis and the components involve cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, extractives, lipids, proteins, simple sugars, starches, water, hydrocarbons, and ash.  The following are the various types of alcohol and biodiesel fuels: alcohol from sugar crops, alcohol from starch crops, biodiesel from edible oils, biodiesel from non-edible oils, alcohol from cellulose, higher alcohols, biodiesel, and oils from cellulose, and third-generation biofuels.   

Alcohol from sugar crops such as sugarcane is the major type of biofuel produced in developing countries like Brazil.  Alcohol from starch crops such as corn is the primary source of biofuel in developed countries, namely the United States.  Biodiesel from edible oils is the primary source of biodiesel. It consists in making vegetable oil react with methanol. It has the highest impact on poverty and food prices.