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"Biofuels" are transportation fuels like ethanol and biodiesel that are made from biomass materials.

Ethanol and biodiesel are usually more expensive than the fossil fuels that they replace, but they are also cleaner-burning fuels, producing fewer air pollutants.

What Is Ethanol? Ethanol is an alcohol fuel made from the sugars found in grains, such as:

First generation biofuel are those fuel derived from vegetable or animal fats/oils, starch or sugar with the use of modern technology.

Ethanol yields 25% more energy than the energy invested in its production, whereas biodiesel yields 93% more. Compared with ethanol, biodiesel releases just 1.0%, 8.3%, and 13% of the agricultural nitrogen, phosphorus, and pesticide pollutants, respectively, per net energy gain. Relative to the fossil fuels they displace, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced 12% by the production and combustion of ethanol and 41% by biodiesel. Biodiesel also releases less air pollutants per net energy gain than ethanol.

15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2015, leaving a net of 12.3 billion bushels of corn available for feed, food, and export markets. This is up 3.0 billion bushels from 2006 and 0.9 billion bushels from 2007.

In 2006, US dry-grind ethanol plants produced 4.9B gallons of ethanol, 72% of overall US ethanol production. Correspondingly, 14.6 mmt of DDGS were produced. USDA FAS records suggest 9% of this was exported. Within the domestic market, 45% of this product was utilized by dairy cattle, 37% by beef cattle, 13% by swine, and 5% by poultry (Markham, 2005). The production of 15B gallons of ethanol from corn grain would result in 37 mmt of DDGS and 50 mmt at 20B gallons.4

Fueling up with ethanol and vegetable oils  was common long before the development of the internal combustion engine. Vegetable and animal oil lamps have been used since the dawn of civilization. Increasingly efficient heaters and lamps meant that higher quality fuels were developed.  For example, small alcohol stoves (also called “spirit lamps”) were commonly used by travelers in the 17th century to warm food and themselves. One of Ben Franklin’s spirit lamps is on display in a Philadelphia exhibit.

Fueling up with ethanol and vegetable oils  was common long before the development of the internal combustion engine. Vegetable and animal oil lamps have been used since the dawn of civilization. Increasingly efficient heaters and lamps meant that higher quality fuels were developed.  For example, small alcohol stoves (also called “spirit lamps”) were commonly used by travelers in the 17th century to warm food and themselves. One of Ben Franklin’s spirit lamps is on display in a Philadelphia exhibit.

At the end of WWI, gasoline quality was declining, and Detroit dropped the standard compression ratio to 3.8 to one. According to Scientific American in 1919, there were to options. One, lower the compression ratio even further, sacrificing efficiency but allowing the continued use of low-grade petroleum.  Or two, use more ethanol in the fuel mix in order to conserve petroleum and allow the creation of more efficient, higher compression engines.  The choice was further skewed in the direction of ethanol when the US Geological Survey announced, in 1920, that oil was running out.[20]

The U.S. consumes a little more than 20 million barrels of oil a day. The largest end uses are motor gasoline (9 million barrels) and diesel (4 million barrels). That works out to about 140 billion gallons of gasoline and 60 billion gallons of diesel a year. In 2006, the U.S. consumed nearly 5.4 billion gallons of ethanol, 12 percent of which was imported. Adjusting for its lower energy content, that amounted to about 2.5% of the total U.S. demand for gasoline. Biodiesel consumption was much lower, about 250 million gallons in 2006.

The U.S. consumes a little more than 20 million barrels of oil a day. The largest end uses are motor gasoline (9 million barrels) and diesel (4 million barrels). That works out to about 140 billion gallons of gasoline and 60 billion gallons of diesel a year. In 2006, the U.S. consumed nearly 5.4 billion gallons of ethanol, 12 percent of which was imported. Adjusting for its lower energy content, that amounted to about 2.5% of the total U.S. demand for gasoline. Biodiesel consumption was much lower, about 250 million gallons in 2006. In the Energy

The U.S. consumes a little more than 20 million barrels of oil a day. The largest end uses are motor gasoline (9 million barrels) and diesel (4 million barrels). That works out to about 140 billion gallons of gasoline and 60 billion gallons of diesel a year. In 2006, the U.S. consumed nearly 5.4 billion gallons of ethanol, 12 percent of which was imported. Adjusting for its lower energy content, that amounted to about 2.5% of the total U.S. demand for gasoline. Biodiesel consumption was much lower, about 250 million gallons in 2006. In the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Congress enacted the Renewable Fuels Standard, which requires an annual increase in biofuels use to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012. The chart above details past levels of U.S. ethanol production and the minimum levels set by the Renewable Fuels Standard. In the 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush announced a goal of replacing “more than 75% of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.” According to the Department of Energy, meeting that goal will require 60 billion gallons of biofuels a year. A year later, the President accelerated the timetable and called for “20 in 10.”

Biomass is organic material made from plants and animals (microorganisms). Biomass contains stored energy from the sun. Plants absorb the sun's energy in a process called photosynthesis. The chemical energy in plants gets passed on to animals and people that eat them. Biomass is a renewable energy source because we can always grow more trees and crops, and waste will always exist. Some examples of biomass fuels are wood, crops, manure, and some garbage. When burned, the chemical energy in biomass is released as heat. If you have a fireplace, the wood you burn in it is a biomass fuel. Wood waste or garbage can be burned to produce steam for making electricity, or to provide heat to industries and homes.

Crops like corn and sugar cane can be fermented to produce ethanol. Biodiesel, another transportation fuel, can be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats.

Ethanol and biodiesel were the fuels used in the first automobile and diesel engines, but lower cost gasoline and diesel fuel made from crude oil became the dominant vehicle fuels. The Federal government has promoted ethanol use in vehicles to help reduce oil imports since the mid-1970s.

The cost of producing ethanol varies with the cost of the feedstock used and the scale of production. Approximately 85 percent of ethanol production capacity in the United States relies on corn feedstock. The cost of producing ethanol from corn is estimated to be about $1.10 per gallon.

Because a gallon of ethanol contains less energy than a gallon of gasoline, the production cost of ethanol must be multiplied by a factor of 1.5 to make an energy-cost comparison with gasoline. This means that if ethanol costs $1.10 per gallon to produce, then the effective cost per gallon to equal the energy contained in a gallon of gasoline is $1.65. In contrast, the current wholesale price of gasoline is about 90 cents per gallon.

A major hurdle facing commercial biodiesel production is the cost of producing the fuel. Vegetable oil seed procurement, transport, storage and oil extraction accounts for at least 75 percent of the cost of producing biodiesel. The cost varies depending on the feedstock used. For example, based on the market price for industrial rapeseed grown in Washington and Idaho, the estimated cost of producing biodiesel is $2.56 per gallon of rapeseed methyl ester. Recent estimates put the cost of production in the range of $1.30 per gallon (using waste grease feedstock) to $2.00 or more per gallon using soybean oil.

Ethanol is a grain alcohol that can be blended with gasoline and used in motor vehicles. Many gasoline stations provide a blended fuel, which typically is 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline.

Most transportation fuels are liquids, because vehicles usually require high energy density, as occurs in liquids and solids.

First generation biofuels 'First-generation' or conventional biofuels are biofuels made from sugar, starch, and vegetable oil.

Increased biofuel demand has contributed to higher world food and feed prices.

Global biofuel production has tripled from 4.8 billion gallons in 2000 to about 16.0 billion in 2007, but still accounts for less than 3 percent of the global transportation fuel supply.

Cellulosic ethanol could raise per acre ethanol yields to more than 1,000 gallons, significantly reducing land requirements. Cellulosic ethanol is made by breaking down the tough cellular material that gives plants rigidity and structure and converting the resulting sugar into ethanol. Cellulose is the world’s most widely available biological material, present in such low-value materials as wood chips and wood waste, fast-growing grasses, crop residues like corn stover, and municipal waste.

Basically biofuel is produced by using ethanol from naturally grown plant matter which allows for a more sustainable and environmentally friendly earth.

Bio fuel is a natural alternative from other fossil fuels and is attained from living or biological material that has just died. Basically biofuel is produced by using ethanol from naturally grown plant matter which allows for a more sustainable and environmentally friendly earth. To assist in the manufacturing of biofuel, the plants and plant-derived materials that contribute to its formation includes corn, corn cob, sugar cane, soybeans, flaxseed, rapeseed, vegetable oils, waste cooking oils, animal fats, tall oil and even cow manure. However, at present the most widely used source of bioeenergy is of course wood.

First generation biofuel are those fuel derived from vegetable or animal fats/oils, starch or sugar with the use of modern technology. 1. Let the base organic material (corn, sugarcane, wheat, etc) pass through a grinding meal to pulverize the selected material. 2. Then, liquefy it by placing the blend of water, grain powder and an enzyme that facilitates the breakdown of the grain compound into a high-heat cooker. 3. Cool it afterwards. Add another enzyme that will facilitate the conversion of starch into sugars which are then fermented, producing alcohol from the cooled mash. 4. Start the fermentation by adding yeast to the sugar mixture. The sugars will be broken down to ethanol (a form of alcohol) and carbon dioxide. 5. Distill the fermented mixture in order for the ethanol to separate from the solids. 6. Get rid of the water from the separated ethanol through a dehydration process.

Biofuel, based on fuel derived from organic biomass from recently living animals or plants or their byproducts, has transformed from a niche alternative to fossil fuels (e.g., gasoline, diesel) to become a booming industr

The term “biofuels” encompasses a wide range of fuels, including vegetable oils, animal fats, ethanol, biodiesel (any oil or fat that undergoes transesterification to more closely resemble mineral-based fuel), and synfuel (fuel made from gasified organic matter, then liquefied to form fuel). The main common trait of all these fuels is that they are derived from organic biomass, rather than minerals.

Biofuels have been around as long as cars have. At the start of the 20th century, Henry Ford planned to fuel his Model Ts with ethanol, and early diesel engines were shown to run on peanut oil.

ofuels can be derived from almost any type of "biomass," a broad term that refers to living or recently alive biological material. Because biomass is produced on a short time scale, it is considered a renewable resource. I will describe types of biofuels—ethanol, biodiesel, syngas, bio-hydrogen, biogas, and solid biofuel—and their use. I'll also identify the crops and wastes being used to produce biofuels, and some issues surrounding biofuel production. How are biofuels being used? Biofuels are already used to supply a small fraction of our energy needs, with significant opportunities to expand their use as infrastructure is developed. In addition to ethanol and biodiesel for transportation, biofuels are currently used for power production, heating and cooling of buildings, and the thermal needs of industry. Biomass is today the largest non-hydroelectric renewable source for electricity produced in the U.S. Most of this is produced in pulp and paper mills, which often generate electricity by burning wood chips, bark, or the sludges and "liquors" that are byproducts of the paper-making process. At the same time, they recover waste heat from electricity generation to meet the thermal needs of the mill. This highly efficient combination is referred to as combined heat and power (CHP) or cogeneration. The electricity generated may be used onsite and/or supplied to the local utility for distribution to the public.

Biofuels are basically any fuel that can be burned in air to produce heat that is produced by biological means, normally by plant growth. Currently the most prominant biofuels are ethanol and bio-deisel because these can be burned in existing internal combustion engines and are thus a direct replacement for oil. The most important biofuel historically is wood with oth

Biofuels are currently cheaper than oil although this is only because we are seeing very high oil prices at the moment. Under what might be termed more 'normal' market conditions, biofuels lack any meaningful price advantage. Biofuel production is very labor intensive and very land intensive. Production of ethanol from sugar cane was pioneered by the Brazilians in the 1970's as a solution to an oil import bill they could ill afford. It worked for them as they have plenty of land they can convert to growing sugar cane and at the time, plenty of cheap labor with which to harvest it.

he simple truth is the world does not have enough land to produce anywhere near the quantity of biofuels we need to make any dent in our oil consumption. They are only in fashion now oil prices are high and it is cost effective to produce them. Sooner or later food prices will rise to such a point that biofuel production will cease to be economic.

Even normal

gasoline vehicles can operate on a 10 percent ethanol blend with no problems. Diesel cars and trucks can run on biodiesel, though older models may need to have their fuel lines and gaskets replaced with modern synthetic materials, since biodiesel is a solvent