INTRODUCTION
There is an ever increasing demand for oil and the world is already struggling with high prices, international insecurity and environmental anxiety as it tries to meet the current demands for oil. An alternative to petroleum based fuels is required to overcome all of these problems. The fascinating concept of turning biomass into a combustible fuel or biofuel has been around for a very long time but it has not received the attention it deserves mainly due to lower oil prices over half a century ago. However the time has come when it can no longer be swept below the carpet as we enter a new level of consciousness about our fuel consumption and awareness about the impact n the environment.
This literature review is an attempt to merely address these issues regarding biofuel production, their usage and their impact on a global scale.
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Figure 1-Burning fossil fuels releasing billions of tons of CO2 |
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Figure 2 - Coal mining destroying the environment and natural beauty |
HISTORY OF BIOFUELS
The fact must be acknowledged that biofuels technology has been researched and shown to be workable before the world plunged into the fuel crisis of the 1970s. Only after the fuel crisis a few decades ago which involved major oil producing countries cutting the supply of petroleum based products in order to drive the price of oil up by almost $40, that the world renewed its interest in alternative fuel technologies. This is good news for the environment because we can avoid scenes in the Middle East such as the picture shown below where natural gas is burnt off before crude oil can be extracted, creating so much pollution.
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Figure 3 - Oil wells in the Middle East burning off natural gas |
Nearly more than a century ago, in the Paris Exposition in 1900 the first successful use of biofuels was demonstrated in a diesel engine by Rudolf Diesel apparently operating on peanut oil[i]. Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine showed interest in biofuels however the early history of biofuels has been presently inconsistently. It is only appropriate to include a statement made by Diesel in chapter called “Liquid Fuels” in his book Die Entstehung des Dieselmotors where he mentions the use of vegetable oils for fuel: “For [the] sake of completeness it needs to be mentioned that already in the year 1900 plant oils were used successfully in a diesel engine…a small diesel engine was operated on arachide (peanut) oil by the French Otto Company. It worked so well that the only a few insiders knew about this inconspicuous circumstance. The engine was built for petroleum and was used for the plant oil without any change. In this case also, the consumption experiments resulted in heat utilization identical to petroleum”[ii].
Diesel stated in later papers that the diesel engine was tested on peanut oil at the request of the French government and worked so smoothly that only a few people were aware of it. The engine was made to be used with mineral oil but it worked with vegetable oil without at changes to the engine. At that time, the French government wanted to test the use of peanut or earth-nut oil to power engines, which grows in abundant quantities in their African colonies. This can be cultivated on site and be used to provide power and industry from their own natural resources and not having to import coal or liquid fuel[iii]. Diesel continued his work in major cities such as St Petersburg, and London to show that vegetable oils work as efficiently as the natural mineral oils[iv].
However the world turned a blind eye to these new findings and continued to use mineral oil or petroleum based fuels to power their engines as this was cheaper at the time. As wars broke out throughout history, vegetable oils have still been used as emergency fuels for example during World War II, Brazil stopped exporting cottonseed oil so that it could replace the diesel oil imported from other countries and become self-reliant. Also during this time, researchers in India started researching on vegetable oils for the development of domestic fuels[v]. However the work on using vegetable oils as diesel fuel stopped when petroleum based diesel fuel became easily available at low cost.
In modern times, biofuel is produced from many different sources such as vegetable oils, animal fats, used frying oil and biodegradable wastes. To determine which vegetable oil was used for biofuel production, geography, climate and economics were considered. For example, in the United States, soy bean was considered the prime feedstock as it was widely available and the excess unsold crops were processed and sold as biodiesel. While in tropical countries such as Malaysia, huge plots of land were cleared to grow palm trees to obtain palm oil. Throughout history different feedstocks were investigated these included palm oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, castor oil, non-vegetable sources such as industrial tallow and even fish oils[vi].
Over the last century, the world has become accustomed to petroleum based transportation fuels, lubricants and other useful products derived from fossil fuels. However in recent times, oil prices have been escalating ever since the 1970s fuel crisis and global climate has been changing drastically. Perhaps it is time to learn a few lessons from history and adopt the idea of biofuels for the benefit of humanity and to save the planet instead of taking the easiest and cheapest way out.
[i] Knothe G, Jon Harlan Van Gerpen, Krahl J (2005) The Biodiesel handbook, AOCS Press, University of Michigan USA pp 2
[ii] Diesel, R., Die Entstehung des Dieselmotors, Verlag Von Julius Springer, Berlin, 1913 Chapter: Liquid fuels
[iii] Diesel, R., The Diesel Oil-Engine, Engineering 93: 395-406 (1912); Chem. Abstr. 6: 1984(1912)
[iv] Diesel, R., The Diesel Oil-Engine and its Industrial Importance particularly for Great Britain, Proc.Inst.Mech.Eng. 179-280 (1912); Chem. Abstr. 7: 1605 (1913)
[v] Chowhury, D.H., S.N. Mukerji, J.S. Aggarwal, and L.C. Verman, Indian Vegetable Fuel Oils for Diesel Engines, Gas Oil Power 37: 80–85 (1942); Chem. Abstr. 36:53309 (1942)
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