Biofuels- a Solution for Transportation of the Future

Biofuels are one of the most promising energy sources for transportation in the short term. Many vehicles can use these already, as in Brazil, where half of all vehicles run on ethanol. However, the development of these fuels faces many constraints.

Manufacturing biofuels
© Idé

Biofuels vs. Food Cultivation

Biofuels include all fuels produced from biomass (any organic matter that can be used in energy conversion). There are currently two main types:

   • Biodiesel, derived from rapeseed, soy or palm oil.

   • Bioethanol, derived from fermented sugars contained in sugar beet, sugarcane, and cereals (wheat and corn).

To date, only Brazil produces ethanol at prices that can almost compete with gasoline prices.

This is why demand for these products grows every year. However, biofuels are currently sourced from a small number of agricultural products, and this resource is finite. Further, since these products come from the edible part of the plant, the risk of competition with the food sector needs to be avoided.

To be viable- especially when compared to fossil fuels- the biofuel industry needs extensive areas of arable land. To date, only Brazil, which has huge reserves of agricultural land, produces ethanol at prices that can almost compete with gasoline prices.

This is why scientists are experimenting with new approaches to develop second-generation biofuels, espeially by drawing on a wider variety of resources.

Algo biofuels / Diatoms (June 2008)
© Alain Julien 

The Biofuels of Tomorrow

To supplement the current offering, extensive research and development is needed to bring the biofuels of tomorrow to market.

We currently produce biofuels with energy crops that could compete with food crops on arable land. With new biofuels this will no longer necessarily be the case.

True. These new biofuels, which should come on stream in the next
10-20 years, will be obtained using different biomass treatment processes, based on a wider variety of resources, such as the non-food part of plants, animal fats, straw, wood, and agri-food waste. It will thus be possible to obtain ethanol from the cellulose in plant stems, which are currently destroyed.

The advantage of these synthetic biohydrocarbons derived from biomass will be that they can be incorporated in larger proportions without any risks to engines or changes to vehicles.

Furthermore, a number of experiments are currently underway to investigate the feasibility of using microorganisms to produce biofuel. Some of these facilitate the biochemical manufacturing method for second-generation biofuels by biodegrading plant cellulose and converting it to sugars that can be directly converted into bioethanol or other hydrocarbon molecules for use as fuel. For example, Total partner Amryis has developed cutting-edge technologies to optimize how microorganisms convert sugar.

However, limited resources of raw materials remains a major hurdle to biofuels taking a leading role in the energy landscape of tomorrow. Future biofuels obviously face the issue of the availability of arable land, faced with competition from the food industry and some industries such as timber and paper.

Therefore, they will never completely replace petroleum products. However, they will provide a significant alternative- the 2007 draft European directive on renewable energy sets out a target of 10% renewable energy for the transportation industry by 2020.