Biofuel production from biomass

Developing more productive ways of converting plant sugars to fuels is the problem being tackled by this program. The current method of accomplishing this for many biofuels used today — such as ethanol, butanol and biodiesel — is similar to the centuries-old fermentation practices relied on to make beer and wine. While those methods are successful for spirits, they've proved inadequate in the production of biofuels, especially on the large scale that's necessary if the U.S. is ever to attain the Department of Energy's goals for biofuels. That target would have the U.S. satisfying 30 percent of its transportation fuel needs from biofuels by 2030.

Biofuel consist of two major categories of fuels-Bioethanol and Biodiesel, therefore there are two different procedures of producing biofuel from biomass. The methods followed have a strong impact on the end results that are achieved. There are two key reactions that are involved in the production of Bioethanol, one is Hydrolysis and the other is Fermentation.

The traditional way of producing Bioethanol would be to mix sugar, water and yeast bacteria, which are then allowed to ferment in warm environment. Gradually the mixture becomes a liquid that has an approximate of fifteen percent alcohol. As and how the alcohol percentage increases, the yeast consumes itself in the process and dies out eventually which stops the process altogether. Then the liquid mash that is created is distilled and purified to get approximately ninety-nine point five percent Bioethanol. Thus this process of fermentation is a series of chemical reactions wherein the simple sugars are converted into ethanol. Yeast or bacteria, which feed on the sugars, cause the reaction and thus fermentation occurs. Ethanol and carbon dioxide are produced as and how the yeast consumes the sugar. There is a simple formula that represents the process of simplified fermentation reaction, which is as follows:

C6H12O6 (glucose) —> 2 CH3CH2OH (ethanol)+ 2 CO2 (carbon dioxide)

As intuitive as it may seem that fuel from plants would be more benign than petroleum-based fuels, the ecological impacts of biofuel production are more complicated, and wider-reaching, than an environmentalist might first imagine.

For years, some critics have claimed that corn-based ethanol has a negative "net energy balance" -- that is, that ethanol requires more energy to produce than it delivers as fuel. But as biofuel production efficiencies have improved, critics have turned their focus to broader sustainability issues.

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Biofuel production from biomass

Biofuel production