Biofuels Leaders: Three Big Dawgs in Biofuels

The biofuels industry has received a lot of attention for the up and coming small companies, many of whom are developing novel technologies to produce bio-based alternatives to gasoline. But now as the industry prepares for the scale-up and commercial introduction of fuels at meaningful scale, it is the large industrial companies that are starting to dominate. These Big Dawgs tend to be well financed. They also have the necessary ingredients to be credible commercializers of biofuels. Typically, these are well-known multi-national companies that have prior experience in either the production and delivery of petroleum-derived fuels or in the development of bio-based processes at very large scale.

Who are these Big Dawgs? Here are the top three on my list.

1. Dupont: Known primarily as a major international chemical company, DuPont has already been successful in the development and commercialization of bio-based processes at large scale. The company launched a new monomer called trimethyleneglycol, or 1,3-propanediol, which is produced by an engineered microorganism by fermentation of sugar. Since this is exactly the type of process that is necessary to produce biofuels, the step into the biofuels arena is a natural one for this industry behemoth.

DuPont has formed a partnership with the major enzyme producer Danisco. Named appropriately DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (DDCE), this company aims to be nothing less than the world's leading provider of technology for producing fuel-grade ethanol from cellulose. DDCE plans to license its patented technology to ethanol producers for deployment in the United States and elsewhere.

DuPont also has a joint venture with oil giant British Petroleum to produce butanol. The BP partnership is an interesting one since butanol is an advanced biofuel with better properties as a fuel than ethanol. IN the commercialization announcement, the product has a nice name: Butamax. By covering both the ethanol and advanced biofuel space, DuPont is positioning itself to earn revenues in both the short and intermediate time frames.

2. British Petroleum: Famous now for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has been preparing its future in biofuels for longer than most people know. In addition to the aforementioned joint venture with DuPont to produce butanol, BP recently bought out its venture with Verenium to enter the cellulosic ethanol market. The company is also funding about half a billion dollars in research over 10 years at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Funded under the EBI, or Energy Biosciences Institute, the research is geared toward the development of technologies to replace fossil fuels. The company is also investing in technology to produce diesel from sugar and in operations in Brazil near the sugar plantations there.

3. Shell: This oil industry giant owns a majority interest in cellulosic ethanol producer Iogen and is underwriting a large project to develop enzymes for breaking down cellulose to produce biofuels with Codexis. Shell recently signed a major agreement with Brazilian sugar producer Cosan, which gives it access to an inexpensive source of sugar as a raw material. The Brazilian venture alone is worth an estimated $12 billion. In addition, Shell is funding research through a variety of smaller venues, both at universities and small companies. Without a doubt, Shell is signaling that it intends to be a long-term player in biofuels.

These are three Big Dawgs to watch as biofuels go commercial.

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Prospect Of Jatropha Curcas As An Energy Plant

Jatropha Curcas plant or can be called physic nut has a large potential as a source of renewable energy in the future. This is caused by the depletion of fossil fuel sources. Petroleum is expected to be exhausted in 50 years. Meanwhile, gas and coal have the time to stay longer because its reserves are still abundant.

In addition, the use of fossil fuels increases the amount of emissions in the atmosphere. This emission is greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. These gases will withstand the heat that will flow out of the earth.

This phenomenon will increase the atmospheric temperature in the earth, called global warming. The result of global warming is the imbalance system in the earth. A hot environment will lead to melting of polar ice that will increase the volume of sea water. Increasing this volume will shrink the mainland. Moreover, temperature of sea water will be increased. Therefore, some fish species will be extinct. This extinction of certain fish species will result in the other species that rely on food this fish.

Because of the global warming impact, countries in the world have thought to look for renewable energy sources, which are friendlier to the environment. Physic nut plant was allegedly going to be a popular because its advantages as the energy plant. The advantages of physic nut can be grown in areas that are less fertile than another energy plant. In addition, the physic nut can also live in extreme environments such as sand.

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Why Ethanol is a Great Alternative and Renewable Energy Resource

Ethanol, a biomass fuel that can be used to power cars and even generate electricity, is the very same ethyl alcohol that's used to make alcoholic drinks. It is considered a sustainable energy resource because it can be extracted from agricultural stocks and crops. Brazil is the leading country that uses biofuel or bioethanol to run their cars and it's only second to the US in ethanol production. Using ethanol is gaining popularity in countries around the world as an alternative fuel to gasoline and diesel fuel. It isn't hard to see why.

Crops such as switchgrass, sugar cane, and corn that are mainly used as feed for stock are the crops that hold the most promise for conversion into ethanol. The production of ethanol starts in photosynthesis, which makes feedstocks and crops grow. These plants are then collected, fermented, distilled or dehydrated to remove the water and burned.

The only problem associated with producing ethanol is the amount of land that would be required to grow enough of these crops to fuel the world. But currently, an alternative process of making ethanol from algae without harvesting it is being studied. If this becomes successful, a growing algae can continuously provide ethanol without having to kill the plant. Research is underway. Scientists are finding new and better ways to turn plants into fuel.

The world will eventually run out of fossil fuels. There's no more being made. Fossil fuel is not a renewable energy source. When what we have is gone - well, it's just gone, and there won't be any more. On the other hand, ethanol, which is made from plants, is a renewable energy source. Corn or grass or whatever that's used to make fuel this year will be available again next year, and the year after that, and so on into infinity. Ethanol is made from a renewable source unlike gasoline and diesel.

And we can use ethanol now. Most all of the cars on the roads in America can run on a mixture of 90% gasoline and 10% anhydrous ethanol (contains less than 1% water) just fine. That would mean a 10% DECREASE in gasoline consumption. Researchers are also arguing that using ethanol to replace petroleum in generating electricity might be more efficient that using it as a liquid fuel.

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Algae Biofuel - A Promising Biofuel For The Future

Algae biofuel is currently emerging as one of the potentially promising biofuels in recent stages of development.

Petroleum is believed to have developed from kerogen, which is simply converted to an oily substance under the influences of temperature and pressure. Kerogen is formed from biodegradable compounds, bacteria, plankton, and plant material through chemical and biochemical reactions: algae. Because of this, it is widely believed that algae can be converted to a petroleum-like substance. This would be a developed algae biofuel.

The advantages of an algae biofuel should be evident to almost everyone. Biofuels that can replace fossil fuels could end our dependency on the depletion of our planet's natural resources and significantly reduce our carbon footprint on the planet. With the development of alternatives like algae biofuel, air pollution resultant from burning fossil fuels and energy crises resultant from the exhaustion of natural resources would no longer present such an imminent theat to our people and the world we live in.

Harvesting algae to manufacture algae biofuel can be fairly intricate. Gathering algae involves the process of separating it from its growing medium. The algae must then be dried and processed into the desired product. Since there are different kinds of algae, strains particular to developing algae biofuel must be designated and developed for harvesting. The drying of algae is centrally important to the harvesting process, as it retains high water content. Some processes currently under use for harvesting algae are centrifugation, flocculation, froth floatation, and micro screening.

Oil extraction from algae is a debated concept because it is currently quite costly. While in theory it is all quite simple - harvest the algae and remove the oil from it - the reality is that the processes are expensive. The two basic methods of extracting oil for algae biofuel are the mechanical method and the chemical method.

The environmental effects of extracting oil from algae are, themselves, a topic of hot debate since many see them as not being eco-friendly. The concerns with mechanical extraction are that the drying process is extremely energy intensive and supercritical extraction depends on high-pressure mechanics that are also energy intensive. The chemical process involves solvents that present health and environmental risk factors. Other methods are being developed to reduce the environmental concerns, but so far they are so costly as to make mass production almost impractical.

So, while algae biofuel is one of the most potentially promising of the biofuel alternatives currently being researched, it is far from reaching a stage where its process and progress is anywhere near on the horizon. At this point in time there are many issues to be straightened out, from environmental effects to cost challenges.

However, far from leaving us disappointed, this situation only underscores the vital need to devote our resources and expertise to the challenges of developing biofuels and other alternatives to our current fossil fuel dependency. While the advance in creating biofuels may now be riddled with challenge, we must turn our attention and resources to overcoming these challenges and creating biofuel alternatives for future generations. Setbacks only mean that we must work that much harder in order to make green energy sources like algae biofuel a reality in our lifetime.

Martin Aranovitch is an online publisher with a strong interest in green living. To learn more about ways to go green, save money and help the planet, go here: Green Living Tips.

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Harnessing the Power of the Ocean With Atlantic Energy Research

Atlantic Energy Research says the ocean waves that are the inspiration for surfers and a wide variety of water sports can also be used to generate electricity. There are a number of plants currently in operation, but how exactly is electricity generated from the tidal forces of the oceans?

One method is to capture the tides of the ocean and utilize them to produce mechanical motion; another is to capture the forces of the high or low tides.

Energy produced using waves: The kinetic energy produced using waves is tapped by putting in place suitable apparatus so as to harness that energy. A mechanism filled with air allows the high rising tidal wave in, which in turn pushes the air outside. The rushing outflow of air sets a turbine into rotary motion which can be used to generate electricity.

Tidal energy: Tides rising about on the surface of the oceans, which are caused by the gravitational forces of the sun and the moon, can also be tapped just as the way they are in a hydro electric plant. The rising tide is captured behind a dam like structure and is let out when there is a low tide, similar in operation to a hydroelectric plant.

Although extracting energy from the oceans is a relatively simple process, the practicality is limited to, obviously, where the oceans are located and concerns have been raised by environmental groups about the effect on the habitats of various marine and plant life. Atlantic Energy Research says, also the cost of constructing and putting into operation such plants can be high.

In light of the fact that oceans cover almost 70 % of the earth's surface, they could be thought of as a planetary solar cell. With energy-generating potential of that magnitude, it is only a matter of finding the right way to harness and deliver this energy for our everyday residential or commercial use.

While it is uncertain if it could be used for mainstream industrial purposes, Atlantic Energy Research believes there is little doubt that energy generated in this manner can and, one day, will prove to be a useful supplement to the more established and traditional methods of generating reliable and useful power to our homes and businesses.

For information on this topic and more visit http://www.atlanticenergyresearch.com.

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A New Alternative to Ethanol

Although ethanol is part of the drive to reduce dependence upon fossil fuels, the fact is that its production has been blamed for the rising price of corn, sugar and other foodstuffs.

Atlantic Energy Research has been at the forefront of the search for alternatives to corn and sugar-based ethanol as investors continue to seek opportunities in biofuels. The firm has been encouraged by the potential of a fuel developed from a source called Jatropha curcas.

Jatropha curcas is a poisonous plant that grows in abundance in Africa, Central and South America, Asia, and the Caribbean. The plant can co-exist alongside other crops including coffee, sugar, fruit and vegetables. Farmers already use the plant to defend their pre-existing crops from animals and insects. Jatropha plant seeds can be pulped to produce oil that can be burned in an unmodified diesel car engine while the remaining residue's uses include fuel for electricity plants and fertilizer.

Jatropha is able grow in areas where the environment is dry and inhospitable or where the soil has experienced erosion.

Since 2007, Jatropha has been considered to be a viable source of biofuel by a number of organizations but only recently have projects aimed at jatropha production been implemented to demonstrate the impact they can have on rural communities. Mali, a poor African nation, has abundant renewable energy resources that can be utilized to make a pertinent and tangible difference to rural Malians needing access to affordable electricity.

Atlantic Energy Research has identified a number of innovative companies that have set up sustainable biodiesel processors in parts of West Africa. Several of these firms have eschewed the traditional and somewhat callous practice of simply buying land cheaply from locals who do not appreciate the value of the resources under their very feet and, instead, have sought to offer the farmers a share in the profits which should benefit the entire community.

In contrast to other sources of biofuel, Jatropha production represents no threat to local food production and offers the most sensible advantages for the local farmer and the environment since it enables farmers to produce food whilst simultaneously reducing soil erosion, increasing soil fertility and boosting food crop yield.

The jatropha-derived biofuel is sold at a keen price, which is roughly 10 percent cheaper than the pump price of ordinary fuel.

Clearly, the jatropha plant has a number of advantages when one considers both the economic benefits for the local Malian communities and the exciting prospects for another sustainable energy alternative for the rest of the world. Atlantic Energy Research believes that communities cultivating jatropha seed in Mali are a good example of how forward-thinking and innovative companies are harnessing technology to tackle carbon emissions issues while, at the same time, making a real difference to poorer communities and, of course, generating healthy profits for shareholders.

For information on this topic and more visit http://www.atlanticenergyresearch.com

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Jatropha - A New Miracle Plant?

Jatropha is a group of plants belonging to the wood spurges. The name, derived from the Greek words for doctor (iatros) and nutrition (trophe) already hints at those plants' many uses. Native to Central America, it has been used for medicines.

Plants of the Jatropha family are evergreen or deciduous and have thick roots. Twigs and leaves are usually pubescent, but the hairs don't burn. The fruits are capsules with three chambers. Almost all of the Jatropha plants are toxic, some of them highly so: The seeds can be fatal to humans, although when roasted, they loose some of their toxins.

So what is special about the Jatropha plants, so special that it is called the Miracle Plant by some?

This refers to the seeds of the "Jatropha curcas" plant, also called physic nut or purging nut. The plant is modest in its requirements and can survive even in barren savannahs. There is over 30% of oil in the seeds, which is extremely high for such an undemanding plant. The cetane number of the oil is 60, and here is the key: Canola, the world's currently most used source of biodiesel fuels, has only a cetane number of 54, Jatropha seeds promise to be even more promising for technical uses.

It can be intercropped with other commercial crops (such as coffee or sugar), and thus promises to be an interesting source of income for some of the poorer countries. Already plantations and biodiesel plants are located in India, Indonesia, China and Brazil; several African countries are getting started. Test flights have been a success. In 2009, the Time Magazine called it The Next Biofuel, estimating a potential for 1,600 gallons of diesel fuel per acre per year. This is like a wake up call for a world desperately looking for renewable resources.

Klaus-Martin Meyer is the founder of the leading German speaking website about renewable resources and owner of http://www.jatropha.com

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Biofuels - Good Renewable Source of Energy

For the last few decades, researchers have been doing their lot of experiments and researches in finding the convenient ways to get the alternative sources of energy to compensate the shortage of the fossil fuel. Perhaps biofuels will be the major source of the energy and power to energize the commercial sectors and revitalize the society as well. To be frank, the area of biofuels has extended up to organic components which include sugar cane, vegetable and corn based oil and ethanol.

Biofuels will provide the adequate energy for doing the daily works and other activities. The government has taken the strong measures for setting up the factories and power stations to enhance the speedy production of the biofuel based energy and power. However, so far as the biolfuels are concerned, ethanol is very important source of biofuel energy but all the ethanol related products are not conducive to the production of the renewable power and electricity.

Therefore, you must be selective in terms of the choice of the specific range of the biofuel energy. You will be glad to hear that by 2025, ethanol will generate at least 10% of the total user friendly gasoline products all over the world and 30 percent more by the end of 2050. However, if you see the index, you will see that only 2% of the ethanol based fuel is now produced in the world.

However, the researchers at the Oregon State University have claimed that they will have to upgrade this biofuel based power with the latest technology so that people can be benefited by getting the gasoline products at cheaper rates. They will have to do vast research for making this biofuel more energy efficient. If you have studied more, you will find that ethanol deriving from corn field is around 20% energy efficient with 75% energy efficiency of the gasoline coming from petroleum products.

The study has further confirmed that biodiesel fuels were measured to be 69 percent energy efficient. However, cellulose based ethanol will over-excel other biofuels with the 85 percent energy efficiency capacity. Truly speaking, the recent attrition level of the availability of oil and petroleum resources will force people to opt for the biofuel. The price hike is also a prominent reason for the modern trends towards the biofuels. Therefore, the future of this alternative source of energy market is very bright.

By 2030, car, vehicles and other means of transportation will be run by biofuels. You must admit that it will boom in near future. Experts have expressed their opinions by emphatically claiming that if the government decides to invest much on biofuel industry, the demand for the other sources of energy like gasoline and lubricant petroleum products will face the steady decline. Brazil is the country which feels proud of producing the largest volume of sugarcane based ethanol products in the international market.

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What is Cellulosic Biofuel?

Lately researchers are looking for every possible alternative energy source, this due largely to the world's energy crisis and the condition of the environment. The top of the list is replacing traditional fossil fuels with alternative and renewable energy.

The main contenders for fuel substitutes are biomass fuels. Biomass fuels are derived from organic plant matter. Ethanol-based bio fuels are extracted from corn. Biodiesel is made up primarily of used vegetable oil and grease. Jatropha oil, which comes from seeds from the Jatropha plant, is also being used to make biofuels. Now added to the list is cellulosic biofuel.

Cellulosic biofuel is very revolutionary in biofuels; this is because it is not plant specific as with Jatropha and and can be generated from both living and dead organic plant matter rather than requiring crops to be grown specifically for the purpose of cellulosic biofuel production, such as ethanol needs corn.

The carbon content in cellulose is what makes it such a good candidate in the quest for biofuel. Cellulose is the most abundant carbon form present in biomass and accounts for around 50% of its weight. Cellulose can be found in most plant matter without the need for land space or water for irrigation giving cellulose biofuel its appeal.

Cellulose is a polysaccharide comprised of a six sugar carbon polymer. Because of its composition and its abundance, cellulosic biofuel is an attractive possibility for mass biofuel production.

The researchers at NASA are further exploring cellulosic biofuel as a viable fuel source. They are researching more efficient processes to convert cellulose to sugar. Once cellulose is converted to its sugar-based form it can be used for other purposes such as chemical agents, food and cellulosic biofuel.

However, the conversion to sugar is requires around 50 hours for the process to take place. You take labor costs and the energy to covert it, and you can see how costly it can become. With time also comes higher production costs. If it would be pssible to cut this process down to 5 hours it would see cellulosic biofuel become cost effective enough to be competitive in a global market.

What scientists hope to accomplish is to refine the process for easier extraction of the complex sugars from cellulose. Because the plant cell walls were designed in nature to be robust and to stand up to the elements, it makes it difficult to break down and extract. Researchers hope to make extraction easier by engineering plant cell walls.

Another hurdle in the production of cellulosic biofuel involves the improvement in enzyme efficiency. They plan to mimic enzyme behavior from animals that are the most efficient at breaking down cell walls such as herbivores like cows and sheep which they believe is the key to cost effective cellulosic biofuel production.

Some of the things we can do to help protect ourselves from increasing oil prices is to conserve what we have now, to use less, and to alter our energy consuming patterns. We need to look into alternative energy sources when they become available to us. If we do these things, cellulosic biofuel could be on the market in as little as 5 years.

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Paul Hundrieser
http://www.paulhundrieser.com

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Grassoline - A New Biofuel Niche

During the warm seasons, people around the world cut the grass in their yard and rarely think anything else of it. The shards pile up in clumps around the yard or near the curb and some days the wind even blows them into the neighbor's yard. What many do not realize is that these shards of grass laying around the yard could actually be used as fuel for your car and other engine types. The actual name for this biofuel is called grassoline and it has caught the interest of environmentalists all over the world.

One benefit of grassoline would of course be that the yard would look a lot better without the grass clippings scattered all over the place. A person would not have to go through bagging them up for the local town to pick them up, or stare at them until the wind whips them away. But grassoline was not invented just for the purpose of making yards look a little nicer. The concept was created because there is already a similar vegetation out there that is currently being made into biofuel and that's ethanol from corn. Ethanol is currently being used and tested to fuel vehicles and other engines. It is environmentally safer than gasoline and diesel, which are currently being used in the U.S. to power most vehicles.

Unfortunately, a person won't be able to empty their lawnmower bag quite yet and fill up their gas tanks with the broken down grass. Using grass as a biofuel is one of several products being tested right now. Algae is another one being tested and it looks like it is going to be a long way off before the industry decides on the right biofuel and sticks with it.

Using grass, corn and other natural vegetation in order to power engines is something that is being done to lower the amount of greenhouse gases being leaked into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases help deplete the ozone layer and contribute to global warming. With all of the concern regarding the environment and the ozone layer, biofuel is a market trend that is going to continue to be studied.

For more information on grassoline and other biofuels, see http://www.theinternettimemachine.com.

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