Alternative Fuels - Biomass
Biomass is a type of fuel which is created from organic waste, this means that it can be replenished easily and cannot be depleted like fossil fuels. Biogas can also be created in the same process.
Biomass fuels are a very exciting form of alternative energy, all the term biomass fuel means is that it is a fuel which is made out of animal waste, and plants. Waste from crops, manure and even wood chips are great starting points for biomass fuels.
Before you start shoving a handful of manure in your car to see how many miles you get to the shovel, you need to understand that the waste is first processed. The plant and animal waste is exposed to bacteria which decomposes it. This decomposition releases methane, which is what most of you will know as natural gas. This is known as biogas and is very useful, it can be used in the same way as normal natural gas.
In China and India there are thousands of biogas plants because there is a lot of animal and plant waste which makes these plants feasible.
Waste plant products can be fermented by using yeast, which makes them into alcohol which can be used as a fuel. It’s possible to mix this alcohol with petrol which makes something known as gasohol, however it can be used on its own.
Biogas is very simple to create, and is considered as a renewable fuel because animal and plant waste are always being created. Biogas is very easy to store, use and burn, it’s possible to use it without having to modify your equipment.
However using biomass in this way to create fuels is not without its advantages, it releases CO2 into the atmosphere, which is never good. Also more importantly it means that the animal waste is no longer used to fertilize the soil, which will result in lower productivity for crops.
Everyone thinks that biofuel is a new idea, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Biofuel has been around for a very long time, it’s older than everyone on the planet! The first biofuel was developed in the 1880’s, in fact the diesel engine was originally designed to run on peanut oil!
The father of the diesel engine, Rupert Diesel wanted to show that the future of cars didn’t have to rely on fossil fuels. Diesel engines ran on peanut oil for 40 years!
Even Ford was interested in biofuel cars, Henry Ford saw a gap in the market and started producing the Model T Ford in 1908. He also invested in his own ethanol production facility. At the time a leading fuel company in America was selling biofuel as 25% of the fuel that they sold. Peanut oil was passed by in favour of hemp, which produced much more fuel than peanut oil did.
So although biofuels are nothing new, you may not of heard about them until now because the oil industry decided that petrol was the way to go. Marketing campaigns made people believe that petrol was not only better, but it was also cheaper. The marketing campaigns looked at destroying the idea of using help as a fuel. In the US the biofuel industry was dead by 1930.
The oil companies didn’t seem to realise that petrol is a non-renewable source of energy which has a limited supply. Once the supplies run dry then all petrol powered cars will be useless.
Now the car industry is starting to realise the importance of biofuels again and is creating cars to satisfy the public’s demand for these renewable energy cars.
Jeeps have been designed to run on biofuels this year, and hybrid cars are becoming more and more popular.
Not all countries have been slow to adopt biofuels, in 1985 all the cars in Brazil could already run on such fuels! It has taken until now for many other countries to catch on.