Biofuels: Environment, technology and food security
Edgar Antonio Gonzalez Castillo2009, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
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Abstract
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The paper examines the recent surge in biofuel production driven by skyrocketing oil prices and environmental concerns. It highlights the significance of biofuels in addressing energy security while analyzing various raw materials and production methods. Furthermore, it addresses the environmental impacts of biofuel production, including land use and food security issues, concluding that responsible policies and international cooperation are essential for sustainable development in this sector.
Key takeaways
- Replacing a percentage of gasoline and diesel, for example, for biofuels (biodiesel or bio-ethanol) is the simplest way to increase the availability of the fuels in the transport sector [3].
- Ethanol is expected to be the greatest responsible for the growth in the use of biofuels all over the world, because its production costs must go down faster than the costs of biodiesel.
- Fossil fuels are used for the production of raw materials, transport and for it conversion into biofuels.
- As the oil prices go up, the production of biofuels out of agricultural products is more profitable and, therefore, there is a risk of the price of a raw material used for biofuel production to increase beyond the price offered by the food industry, then, this raw material will be converted into fuel.
- H Technological development will allow the advance from the current option, limited to biodiesel and bio-ethanol (1st generation biofuels), to cellulosic ethanol, methanol, DME and bio-hydrogen, all attained from thermo-chemical platforms and the biological conversion of ligno-cellulosic residues (2nd and 3rd generation biofuels).
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