ChemIONS

Few days back, Biofuels was in top headlines of British newspapers as a team of scientific experts suggested the government to review their Biofuel Policy.  This invites some thoughts on Biofuels- are they a real promise or a disappointing alternative?

The increasing oil prices and their less availability together with the alerts on global warming triggered the recent increased interest in Biofuels.  Different countries, depending on their flora and fauna, explore the possibilities for Biofuel production, like corn and soybeans in US, cane sugar in Brazil, palm oil in Indonesia etc.  The sugar crops are fermented with microbes and enzymes on industrial scale to produce Bioethanol, while oils from crops are heated and changed their characteristics to produce Biodiesel. 

To count of the merits and demerits of Biofuel, the latter weighs much more than the former.  A strong argument against Biofuels is their chances to enhance the food prices, like the price of wheat and its products going high due to their low availability in the market.  Another serious issue is connected with the environment and climatic changes.  Deforestation to cultivate fuel producing crops may lead to global change in the ecological balance and threaten the existence of indigenous people and organisms.  A recent argument against Biofuel is that it produces more greenhouse gases during its manufacture and use, than its contemporary counterparts of petroleum products.  To top all these, the lesser energy efficiency and the corrosive nature, especially of Bioethanol contributes towards lesser preference for Biofuels.

But are these Biofuels really a good for nothing stuff? Economically, studies reveal that some developing countries may find Biofuel a solution for their unemployment and poverty.  Another point is its presence as a possible answer to increasing oil prices.  If each country, depending on their abundance of crops, could develop some cheap means of Biofuel production, that ll be a self-serving economy.  But universal laws may need to be established to prevent deforestation.  Carbon emission is another problem, and the truth is that the living plants and animals emit much higher percentage of methane and CO2 into the atmosphere.  Anaerobic digestion of biomass waste from domestic and industrial sources to produce Biogas is a positive alternative, as this will contribute to waste recycling.  But the efficiency of Biofules is still a problem, even if we could replace the corrosive engine parts by any suitable material. 

Could there be any answers to these problems? Will Biofuels emerge as the irresistible fuel alternatives in the future? What do you think? Please give your comments here..

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