Advantages and disadvantages of biofuels

Advantages and Disadvantages of Biofuels
By Jared Skye
Since the term "biofuel" first entered the energy lexicon of the average consumer, there has been a
steady stream of advancements to this technology. While public perceptions on biofuels may have
changed over the years, quite a lot of interest in the pros and cons of this fuel source still remain. It is
important for all consumers to seriously consider both the positive and negative aspects of this stillemerging technology.
Primary Advantages and Disadvantages of Biofuels
No fuel source is completely positive or completely negative. Consumers need to weigh the pros and
cons of biofuels to determine whether they feel comfortable with this resource as an alternative to
traditional fuels.
Advantages
Biofuel advocates frequently point out the advantages of these plant- and animal-based fuels, such as:
•

Cost: Biofuels have the potential to be significantly less expensive than gasoline and other
fossil fuels. This is particularly true as worldwide demand for oil increases, oil supplies dwindle,
and more sources of biofuels become apparent.

•

Source material: Whereas oil is a limited resource that comes from specific materials,
biofuels can be manufactured from a wide range of materials including crop waste, manure,
and other byproducts. This makes it an efficient step in recycling.

•

Renewability: It takes a very long time for fossil fuels to be produced, but biofuels are
much more easily renewable as new crops are grown and waste material is collected.

•

Security: Biofuels can be produced locally, which decreases the nation's dependence upon
foreign energy. By reducing dependence on foreign fuel sources, countries can protect the
integrity of their energy resources and make them safe from outside influences.

•

Economic stimulation: Because biofuels are produced locally, biofuel manufacturing plants
canemploy hundreds or thousands of workers, creating new jobs in rural areas. Biofuel
production will also increase the demand for suitable biofuel crops, providing economic
stimulation to the agriculture industry.

•

Lower carbon emissions: When biofuels are burned, they produce significantly less carbon
output and fewer toxins, making them a safer alternative to preserve atmospheric quality and
lower air pollution.

Disadvantages
Despite the many positive characteristics of biofuels, there are also many disadvantages to these energy
sources.


•

Energy output: Biofuels have a lower energy output than traditional fuels and therefore
require greater quantities to be consumed in order to produce the same energy level. This has
led some noted energy analysts to believe that biofuels are not worth the work.

•

Production carbon emissions: Several studies have been conducted to analyze the carbon
footprint of biofuels, and while they may be cleaner to burn, there are strong indications that
the process to produce the fuel - including the machinery necessary to cultivate the crops and
the plants to produce the fuel - has hefty carbon emissions.

•

High cost: To refine biofuels to more efficient energy outputs, and to build the necessary
manufacturing plants to increase biofuel quantities, a high initial investment is often required.

•

Food prices: As demand for food crops such as corn grows for biofuel production, it could
also raise prices for necessary staple food crops.

•

Food shortages: There is concern that using valuable cropland to grow fuel crops could
have an impact on the cost of food and could possibly lead to food shortages.

•

Water use: Massive quantities of water are required for proper irrigation of biofuel crops as
well as to manufacture the fuel, which could strain local and regional water resources.

The Future of Biofuels
Biofuels are not a silver bullet for the energy problems of the world. To solve the issue of dwindling fossil
fuel reserves, all viable means of harvesting energy should be pursued to their fullest. However, the fact
remains that biofuels are a reliable alternative energy resource. With more development and research, it
is possible to overcome the disadvantages of biofuels and make them suitable for widespread consumer

use. When the technology is available, many of the disadvantages will be minimized and the market very
clearly has potential. Much of this could rely on the ability of energy producers to discover better plants to
raise for fuel that use less water, less land, and grows quickly.
Biofuel Information
Also known as agrofuel, these fuels are mainly derived from biomass or bio waste. These fuels can be
used for any purposes, but the main use for which they have to be brought is in the transportation sector.
Most of the vehicles require fuels which provide high power and are dense so that storage is easier.
These engines require fuels that are clean and are in the liquid form.
The most important advantage of using liquid as fuel is that they can be easily pumped and can also be
handled easily. This is the main reason why almost all the vehicles use liquid form of fuels for combustion
purpose. For other forms of non transportation applications there are other alternative solid biomass fuel
like wood. These non transportation applications can bring into use these solid biomass fuels as they can
easily bear the low power density of external combustion. Wood has been brought into use since a very
long period and is one of the major contributors of global warming.
Biofuels are the best way of reducing the emission of the greenhouse gases. They can also be looked
upon as a way of energy security which stands as an alternative of fossil fuels that are limited in
availability. Today, the use of biofuels has expanded throughout the globe. Some of the major producers
and users of biogases are Asia, Europe and America. Theoretically, biofuel can be easily produced
through any carbon source; making the photosynthetic plants the most commonly used material for
production. Almost all types of materials derived from the plants are used for manufacturing biogas. One


of the greatest problems that is being faced by the researchers in the field is how to covert the biomass
energy into the liquid fuel.
There are two methods currently brought into use to solve the above problem. In the first one, sugar crops
or starch are grown and through the process of fermentation, ethanol is produced. In the second method,
plants are grown that naturally produce oil like jatropha and algae. These oils are heated to reduce their
viscosity after which they are directly used as fuel for diesel engines. This oil can be further treated to
produce biodiesel which can be used for various purposes. Most of the biofuels are derived from biomass
or bio waste. Biomass can be termed as material which is derived from recently living organism. Most of

the biomass is obtained from plants and animals and also include their by products. The most important
feature of biomass is that they are renewable sources of energy unlike other natural resources like coal,
petroleum and even nuclear fuel. Some of the agricultural products that are specially grown for the
production of biofuels are switchgrass, soybeans and corn in United States. Brazil produces sugar cane,
Europe produces sugar beet and wheat while, China produces cassava and sorghum, south-east Asia
produces miscanthus and palm oil while India produces jatropha.
© Copyright 2010 Biofuel.org.uk
Jatropha: A Green Fuel Awash in Red Ink

Money may not grow on trees, but for a time it appeared to grow on bushes—specifically, a tropical shrub
called jatropha curcas. Over the past decade, jatropha was planted on millions of acres across Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa after research showed that oil from its crushed seeds makes an excellent biofuel.
Because jatropha can tolerate dry, rocky soil unsuited to agriculture, boosters said, subsistence farmers
could grow it as a cash crop without denting food production. And with governments worldwide pushing
renewable fuels, investors in jatropha-oil ventures looked set to win, too.
So far, the jatropha boom has produced more losers than winners. Many projects have foundered as seed
production has failed to meet expectations, and India, China, and other countries have scaled back plans
for additional planting. Farmers have discovered that while jatropha can indeed grow on barren land, it
doesn’t flourish there, says Promode Kant, director of the Institute of Green Economy in New Delhi and
co-author of a report titled The Extraordinary Collapse of Jatropha As a Global Biofuel. Says Kant:
“Without moisture it does not seed, or it seeds extremely poorly.”

Illustration by Kiji McCafferty


Moreover, some jatropha ventures appear to have harmed the environment and the poor people they
were supposed to help. In 2006, 11 villages in Tanzania agreed to let BioShape, a Dutch company,
develop a jatropha plantation in exchange for jobs and aid. BioShape logged the land but planted jatropha
on only a small portion of it, then shut down in 2010, says Stanslaus Nyembea, an attorney with the
Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team, an advocacy group representing BioShape workers who lost their

jobs. “The company was not interested in jatropha, they were interested in the timber,” Nyembea says.
BioShape’s telephone in the Netherlands has been disconnected. A spokesman for Dutch utility Eneco, a
major backer of the project, declined to comment.
Other jatropha ventures in Tanzania and Mozambique were left in limbo when Sun Biofuels, a British
company that had planned to produce biodiesel for aircraft, ceased operations last fall after failing to
obtain financing. Lion’s Head Global Partners, a London investment fund that acquired Sun’s Tanzanian
assets, wants to restart operations but is having trouble finding investors, says Christopher EgertonWarburton, a partner in the fund. Lack of financing derailed plans by another British company, Viridas
(VIR), to develop jatropha plantations in Brazil. According to its London Stock Exchange filings, Viridas
has shifted its focus to mining.
Investors have suffered, too. Shares of jatropha companies Gem BioFuels (GBF), a planter in
Madagascar, and D1 Oils (DOO), which had a joint venture with oil giant BP (BP), now trade as penny
stocks in London. And last fall a British court convicted seven men of running a scheme to sell shares in
Worldwide Bio Refineries, which they fraudulently claimed to be producing biodiesel from jatropha.
Still, potential customers remain keenly interested. Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that by 2018
jatropha-based aircraft fuel could be produced for 86¢ per liter, about the same price as conventional jet
fuel today and far less than fuel made from soybeans or palm. Last August a Boeing 777 aircraft owned
by Aeromexico made the first intercontinental flight powered by a jatropha-based fuel, from Mexico City to
Madrid. AndAirbus (EAD) has teamed with airline TAM (TAM) to grow jatropha in Brazil.
Jatropha’s commercial future could hinge on plant science. SG Biofuels, a San Diego company, is
developing hybrid strains that it says will produce more seeds. In January the company received $17
million in venture capital to expand jatropha research and planting in Brazil, Guatemala, and India. “We
are in full-court commercial mode,” says SG Chief Executive Officer Kirk Haney.
It’s unlikely, though, that small farmers will ever strike it rich growing jatropha on otherwise barren land.
“Jatropha remains promising only with adequate water, and the collection of seeds is very costly,” Indian
researcher Kant says. In the tropical latitudes where the shrub grows, just a handful of countries will be
able to produce jatropha economically, he says. “I see it only as a possibility in a very large plantation,”
Kant says, “not for subsistence farmers.”