The Benefits Of Using Renewable Biofuels

An alternative to using traditional fossil fuels for powering diesel engine vehicles and heating homes that is growing in popularity is biofuel. Biofuel is a renewable energy source as it consists of agricultural products like soybeans. It can also be made from WVOs (also known as Waste Vegetable Oils) and is often found discarded in restaurants, making it a readily available resource in most areas. Whatever the materials renewable biofuels is made of, the benefits of using this alternative fuel source is tremendous.

With gas prices rising higher and higher at the pumps, it is no wonder that citizens are contemplating a substitute fuel source. There are benefits to using biodiesel blends that employ as little as five percent of biofuel mixed with diesel. Just a small change like that can offer a significant price reduction in fueling your vehicle. Blends range from one percent and can go as high as ninety nine percent biodiesel mixed with one percent petroleum diesel. The mixes are marked with a "B" and the percentage of how much biofuel is contained within the blend. There is also B100 available, which is a pure renewable biodiesel. These are all effortless to utilize, non-toxic and biodegradable.

Using any blend of renewable biofuels greatly reduces your impact on the environment and lightens your carbon footprint. The air quality is helped considerably by the biofuel burning cleaner than traditional fossil fuels. Renewable biofuels do not contribute to the pollution caused by burning diesel fuel. This pollution in turn has been linked with health problems associated with lung cancers, respiratory illnesses, allergies and asthma attacks.

In some cases, heart and respiratory disorders have resulted in death from the impact diesel pollution has made. Another benefit to using renewable biofuel energy is the reduction of life cycle emissions and greenhouse gasses. With a reduction in global warming, the effects of our heated planet could start to reverse and in turn protect us and future generations from one of the biggest threats that Earth faces.

Another big benefit of switching to renewable biofuels is the resulting freedom and independence from foreign oil sources. By relying on a domestic fuel source, the need to borrow money to import oil can be eliminated. And another result of cutting off foreign oil trade is the creation of a new job market. With hundreds of thousands of jobs generated across the country, the recent economic downturn could be righted. The agricultural field and rural development could also see stimulation.

From clean energy to green technology, Alexander Sutton is involved with a number of green endeavors and wishes to spread awareness about environmentally friendly issues. For more information, please visit Renewable Biofuels.

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The Benefits Of Using Renewable Biofuels

An alternative to using traditional fossil fuels for powering diesel engine vehicles and heating homes that is growing in popularity is biofuel. Biofuel is a renewable energy source as it consists of agricultural products like soybeans. It can also be made from WVOs (also known as Waste Vegetable Oils) and is often found discarded in restaurants, making it a readily available resource in most areas. Whatever the materials renewable biofuels is made of, the benefits of using this alternative fuel source is tremendous.

With gas prices rising higher and higher at the pumps, it is no wonder that citizens are contemplating a substitute fuel source. There are benefits to using biodiesel blends that employ as little as five percent of biofuel mixed with diesel. Just a small change like that can offer a significant price reduction in fueling your vehicle. Blends range from one percent and can go as high as ninety nine percent biodiesel mixed with one percent petroleum diesel. The mixes are marked with a "B" and the percentage of how much biofuel is contained within the blend. There is also B100 available, which is a pure renewable biodiesel. These are all effortless to utilize, non-toxic and biodegradable.

Using any blend of renewable biofuels greatly reduces your impact on the environment and lightens your carbon footprint. The air quality is helped considerably by the biofuel burning cleaner than traditional fossil fuels. Renewable biofuels do not contribute to the pollution caused by burning diesel fuel. This pollution in turn has been linked with health problems associated with lung cancers, respiratory illnesses, allergies and asthma attacks.

In some cases, heart and respiratory disorders have resulted in death from the impact diesel pollution has made. Another benefit to using renewable biofuel energy is the reduction of life cycle emissions and greenhouse gasses. With a reduction in global warming, the effects of our heated planet could start to reverse and in turn protect us and future generations from one of the biggest threats that Earth faces.

Another big benefit of switching to renewable biofuels is the resulting freedom and independence from foreign oil sources. By relying on a domestic fuel source, the need to borrow money to import oil can be eliminated. And another result of cutting off foreign oil trade is the creation of a new job market. With hundreds of thousands of jobs generated across the country, the recent economic downturn could be righted. The agricultural field and rural development could also see stimulation.

From clean energy to green technology, Alexander Sutton is involved with a number of green endeavors and wishes to spread awareness about environmentally friendly issues. For more information, please visit Renewable Biofuels.

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Biofuel Production - Is Membrane Technology the Answer?

Biofuel production with the help of membrane filtration technology is not entirely new technology as some think it is. In fact we are talking here about tried and proved industrial method that has been utilized in many industrial facilities, and after many positive experiences has been now implemented in biofuels production.

Many energy experts expect that with the help of membrane filtration technology "second-generation" cellulosic ethanol production could be significantly improved, especially in terms of fuel recovery as well as getting as much as possible secondary products from the used feedstock. To put things as simply as possible this new technology should mostly help improve the efficiency of biofuel production by offering lower overall energy costs.

The things you need to know about the membranes used in this process is that they are highly engineered, and they are designed to allow the passage of materials only up to a certain size and shape. As said above the process of membrane filtration has been used extensively in several different industry facilities for many years. The best examples to mention here would be sugar, food, wine, and similar other enzyme manufacturing sectors.

But let us get back to biofuel production. Membrane filtration technology is becoming very important in production of biodiesel, where membranes are used to facilitate water reuse, this is especially helpful in areas where water is scarce..

Energy experts expect that within this decade we will see lot more biofuel facilities that will use this process for biofuel production. This should also increase the popularity of biodiesel and other biofuels on global level.

Ned Hall has so far written many interesting articles about biofuels, as well as many other interesting renewable energy articles

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Cellulosic Biofuel Issues

There are many different types of fuel available for use by consumers for transportation purposes. Some of these fuels are sourced from naturally occurring deposits below the earth's surface. Crude oil, a form of fossil fuel, is one of the most common types of substances extracted from deposits deep below the earth's surface. Crude oil is processed into a useable substance, either gasoline or diesel fuel, that can be used in automobiles, trucks, locomotives, ships and generators. Although fossil fuels are the most common fuel sources, they are also some of the least efficient and produce some of the highest levels of carbon emissions of any fuel. Carbon emissions can be harmful to environmental processes, which is undesirable and there is a finite natural source which may be depleted very rapidly at the present rate of consumption.

There have been technological advancements that allow the use of non-fossil based materials that can be converted into useable products that can, in part, replace fossil fuels. One of the materials that have used to produce biofuels is corn. Corn is a reasonably good alternative fuel source. However, there are some downfalls of corn as a feedstock; it needs to be replanted in order to have a crop each growing cycle. While corn is a good alternative to fossil fuel, some argue, there are even better alternatives know as cellulosic biofuels.

Biofuels are fuels produced from organic materials that are grown rather than drilled for in deposits found in the earth. Cellulosic biofuel is fuel that is produced from organic sources but not from corn or other high sugar content feedstock. It is actually produced by using feedstock that is alternative to corn feedstock. Wood chips are just one example of an alternative feedstock source. Another example is algae; algae are very abundant and are very easily renewable as a feedstock choice.

Cellulosic biofuel is fast becoming a viable option to traditional fossil fuel based products. The abundance of material is changing the industry very rapidly. What was once a fringe idea and a very inefficient model has become the new challenge and goal of fuel producers. By utilizing organic feedstock, that in some cases is waste product from other manufacturing processes like saw dust or wood chips, the producers of petroleum and petroleum based products will slowly change the landscape of transportation fuels. Cellulosic biofuels are the future of the petroleum industry.

From clean energy to green technology, Alexander Sutton is involved with a number of green endeavors and wishes to spread awareness about environmentally friendly issues. For more information, please visit Cellulosic Biofuel.

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Algae Based Biofuel Production: The New Wave Of Green Energy

The "green" trend has been around since the 1970s, when an OPEC boycott, gas rationing, and spiking prices called into question our reliance on oil. The creation of suburbs and expansion of cities led to increased numbers of large, gas-guzzling cars on the road, and air pollution was growing more prevalent, begging the question, "How can we find inexpensive, clean, renewable energy?"

Enter the Biofuel Revolution. Biofuel is any fuel produced from biomass, or organic material. The challenge is to produce biofuel from biomass that can be renewed, so that it won't tap out as a fuel source the way oil reserves will. With recent gas price hikes and the number of SUVs and inefficient fuel-burning vehicles on the road today, the issue of biofuel production is once again at the forefront. Some recent biofuels, such as ethanol, have met with limited success: Yes, ethanol waste is mostly water and ethanol is cheap. But the amount of land and energy that goes into planting, maintaining, and harvesting corn for ethanol, on top of ethanol production, make it much less environmentally-friendly than previously thought. Plus, there are ethical considerations about growing fields of food crops just for biofuel production.

Energy investors today are putting efforts into a new solution: algae based biofuel production. Algae use sunlight, ocean and wastewater to grow, and produce oil that is then harvested. The amount of oil that can be produced for biofuel from 15,000 square miles of algae farms is estimated by the US Department of Energy to be enough to replace all petroleum-based fuel in the country. That statistic is astounding: algae based biofuel production would use less than one-seventh of the land dedicated in the US to corn production, and would produce up to 100 times more energy per square mile. Algae are also biodegradable, and unlike petroleum, are relatively harmless if spilled. Best of all, algae don't require high-quality soil, so farms producing algae could use land unsuitable for food crops.

With the discovery of clean algae based biofuel production, what is holding back the market? The answer is the same as with many biofuels of the past: High prices. Capital investments to set up a farm are costly. In time, these investments will be recouped and prices will drop, however. And with oil prices rising steadily, green biofuel may be competitively priced sooner than we thought. Good news for green energy.

From clean energy to green technology, Alexander Sutton is involved with a number of green endeavors and wishes to spread awareness about environmentally friendly issues. For more information, please visit Algae Based Biofuel Production.

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Grassroots Innovation for Generating Efficient Biofuel - Biomass Gasifier

The whole world is busy in doing research for generating and using biofuels. Scientists have already developed biofuels in all the three forms of matter. Unaware of all these developments, an uneducated common man Raj Singh Dahiya from Rajasthan, India, has made his own biomass gasifier which generates the clean fuel producer gas from wood and agricultural wastes.

Features, process and advantages of the biomass gasifier

The whole setup of the innovative machine consists of a gasifier, an aspirator, a mixer and a modified engine. Biomass is first fed into the gasifier unit which heats up to 200 degree centigrade to convert the solid biomass into producer gas. The producer gas at this point has ash, tar and other residues and so, needs a lot of filtration which is done by a series of filters arranged sequentially in two stages. In these two stages, baffles and sieves arranged in order of progressively fine perforations filter the gas. The aspirator sucks the filtered producer gas and passes it through a water cooling cyclone followed by another cyclone which removes the carbon and ash contents. The water jacket surrounding the filtration unit and the water-cooled cyclone do the job of cooling the hot producer gas. Now, the clean producer gas is fed into the mixer unit where it is mixed with air in a correct fuel-air ratio. This mixture gas is then used to run the modified engine.

* The biomass gasifier can run an engine of 30 HP for an hour from 20 kilograms of biomass wastes.
* This system's running cost is half of what an electric run machine costs in generating the same output.
* The biomass gasifier can be used to run machines like water lifting pump sets, saw mills and flour mills.
* It can also be used to generate electricity by charging an alternator.
* The unique design of Raj Singh's biomass Gasifier enables it to consume 30 to 40 percent less biofuel than other available designs.
* The machine has been priced at Rs. 125,000 for its 10 KW units version.

Support and recognition for the grassroots innovation

The innovation was first recognized at district level and later, by National Innovation Foundation, a non-profit autonomous body under Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. NIF has awarded the innovation in its biennial national competition of unaided green grassroots innovations and traditional knowledge and has also filed a patent application for it. With the help and support of NIF, Raj Singh has also achieved some initial success in commercializing his biomass gasifier and has already sold more than 50 units of it.

Ashish Kumar D is a student at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He writes articles on grassroots innovation and other related topics. To know about Raj Singh's biomass gasifier in detail, please visit http://www.nif.org.in/bd/biogas.

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Malunggay's Moringa Oil Seen as Biofuel Source

As the Philippines seeks better ways to use its resources in combating climate change, a new discovery by a Filipino biotechnology company based in the U.S. has tapped a wonder plant in the country as a source of biofuel.

Malunggay, scientifically known as Moringa oleifera Lamk, which is widely grown in the Philippines and is considered one the world's most useful plants, is found as a good source of Moringa oil. This oil is believed to be a biofuel source.

SECURA International announced that malunggay oil is being tapped by the North American Biofuels Inc. (NABI) since January as possible raw material for biodiesel production. As a result, the former is currently growing malunggay in 500,000-hectare farmland to meet the demands of NABI.

Since malunggay can easily be grown in the country, SECURA International president Danny Manayaga encouraged the Filipino farmers to take advantage of the situation in meeting the demands of the world for the Moringa oil supply to be used as biodiesel.

Manayaga said this business is sustainable since the market is very accessible. Currently, there are 165 marketing companies in the U.S. for biodiesel using soybean oil as raw material. It is expected that in the next 50 years, Japan and Korea will be the biggest markets of Moringa oil for their automobiles that will use biodiesel.

Others might be thinking of the real viability of Moringa oil as biodiesel. But the NABI has already authenticated that it has passed the biofuels standards. This means doubts of whether this can truly be used are over.

Earlier, the Philippine government is endorsing jatropha as a source of biofuel. However, Manayaga said Moringa oil is more useful that jatropha. What makes malunggay better than the jatropha is that malunggay is 100 percent usable; all parts are biodegradable. Unlike jatropha, it has a toxic part. Once its oil is extracted, the left-over part becomes a nuclear waste according to the findings.

With malunggay as a biofuel source in the Philippines, the country may in some way help other countries reduce the impact of global warming by sharing the benefits of Moringa oil.

Maynard Joseph Delfin finished AB Journalism (cum laude) at the University of Santo Tomas. He has worked as book editor, deskman, copy editor and research and publications officer in leading publishing and research companies in the Philippines.

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Adaro Develop Fuel "Jatropha"

PT Adaro Energy Tbk develop the use of biodiesel fuel derived from Jatropha for moving conveyances their coal products in South Kalimantan.
The project which started in early 2010 was beginning to show results even though the project has just reached a year old. "This is already showing results, but still in the pilot project level and it can not be regarded as a valuable commercial projects," said Manager of Corporate Reporting Adaro, Perry B Slangor in Jakarta on Monday (5/30/2011).

The development of this project conducted in cooperation with Komatsu Ltd. Adaro and PT United Tractors Tbk. The project started on March 31, 2010.
Bio Diesel from Jatropha curcas will be used for a fuel dump trucks (class mining truck manufactured 90-ton Komatsu). If the project is successful, then Adaro hope will gain a new source of renewable fuels, and leave the dependence on fossil fuels.
"We're going to enter the bio-diesel is gradually on the dump truck tank is gradually mixed with fossil fuels. However, over time will further increase the composition of bio-diesel," said Perry.

Bio diesel produced in this project is 1-2 tons per day. "We are planting jatropha curcas adjacent to the mine area. We select suitable jatropha because of the distance in the region that are not fertile as mine," said Perry in a journey towards the town of Tanjung, South Kalimantan, one of the largest mining areas managed by Adaro.

PT Adaro Energy require mine reclamation land or unproductive land to plant jatropha trees. These plants are needed as raw materials for manufacture of vegetable oil fuel, which is used to drive the vehicle at a coal mine operations that they manage in the Cape region, Tabalong regency, South Kalimantan.

Director of Marketing and Support, Komatsu Limited (manufacturer of heavy equipment up hope Japan) in Indonesia, Chikaya Sakai, express it in Tanjung, Tabalong, Tuesday (05/31/2011). He explained about the development projects jatropha curcas Fuel Development in the area coal mines managed by PT Adaro Indonesia, a subsidiary of PT Adaro Energy.
According to Sakai, until recently, the area planted new range of existing 50 hectares. Though the land needs to reach 4,000 acres. "The thing is, we can only develop their own land for planting distance on a land mine reclamation area of 400 per year. So much land needs," he said.
Planting 4,000 hectares of land was needed to achieve the target production of castor oil fuel as much as 8,000 tons per year in 2012.

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Algae keeps nosing around clean energy news

It doesn't have the sunny cache of solar or the exotic qualities of wind, tidal and geothermal power. But the rapidity of algae fuel's reported advances are hard to ignore. At least for this former reporter.

In my backyard at the University of California, Merced, researchers received a grant to "perform a comprehensive life cycle analysis study of algae biofuels." The money, a modest $142,747, is part of about $3.5 million issued by the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research program.

Algae takes a back seat in the grant to other projects that include improving grid reliability, energy efficiency and automobile fuel economy. But, hey, it's algae. Pond scum. This is the stuff that may be grown in wastewater settling ponds, harvested and turned into diesel fuel. Or food additives, you never know.

But the important thing is algae wasn't left out. It's not cold fusion. This stuff shows true promise as an alternative energy source.

CEC Commissioner Jeffrey Byron put it this way in a statement from the agency: "California's strength comes from the ability to invest in energy research across the board."

No kidding. And this pond scum just may keep oil prices from breaking the bank. Cambridge, Mass.-based Joule Unlimited announced that it has created a "cynobacterium" that secrete a product identical to ethanol or diesel fuel, according to Joule biologist Dan Robertson, quoted in dailytech.com.

This breakthrough, the company says, could enable the production of 15,000 gallons of diesel per acre annually. The company says it can do it for $30 a barrel.

That has yet to be proved commercially, of course. But developments are coming hot and heavy across the globe. Biodigest.com rattled off a handful of promising developments in Australia, topping off the list with serious production efforts by Aurora Algae and Algae.Tec.

And Oilgae.com/blog/, an aggregator of stories, lists multiple posts daily. One that caught my eye highlighted a peer review of the draft report "Biofuels and the Environment: First Triennial Report to Congress," scheduled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report will give Congress a taste of what's coming.

Expect pond scum to do more than lurk in a puddle on the floor with lobbyists during discussion.

I do like to include practical applications in these rants. Nothing epitomizes that more than the biofuel-powered Bentley Continental Supersports convertible, reportedly capable of more than 200 mph. The vehicle debuted this week at the Geneva Auto Show in Switzerland. Ami Cholia of inhabitat.com writes: "an on-board fuel supply system monitors the content of the fuel tank to make sure that power and torque remain constant regardless of the ratio of petrol to biofuel."

Pretty cool. So it can handle anything you throw at it and still go fast. We put fuel oil in a bug once and it ran. Barely. We had to clean the plugs, but it got us out of a jam.

The Bentley, I assume, would be better.

Biofuels still must prove themselves. Ethanol, even as an additive, has gotten mixed reviews. For instance, the lawnmower mechanic in Old Town Clovis told me if I kept using that "cheap garbage gas" I'd continue to have problems with my mower's carburetor. Her gripe? Ethanol. It gets gummy and nasty if allowed to sit too long. (Hint: use stabilizer.)

UC Merced plans to analyze emerging algae biofuels technology and provide feedback on the rather interesting concept of extracting fuel that doesn't require much land, water or tending. And pond scum grows rapidly in any kind of water. The leftover material, after oil extraction, could be used for fertilizer.

"We will consider the efficient use of residual algae biomass as an energy rich waste stream and new harvesting techniques that could improve the sustainability of the overall process," wrote J. Elliott Campbell and Gerardo Diaz of UC Merced and Joseph M. Norbeck of University of California, Riverside.

As I read over their proposal, I determined that the process of extracting and refining sounds far above my paygrade.

But as I was scanning through one of the many algae related websites, I found this do-it-yourself book: "Making Algae Biodiesel at Home" (Making-Biodiesel-Books.com, $99.99). It says it can, among other things, show the home brewer how to build an 80-gallon algae photobioreactor "for less than $215."

Somehow it doesn't sound as promising as my once prolific beer-brewing efforts in Anchorage before I was married. But who knows? The practice may catch on.

All you need is a biofuel Bentley.

Mike Nemeth, project manager of the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, spent 24 years working as a newspaperman editing and reporting from Alaska to California. The SJVCEO is a nonprofit dedicated to improving quality of life through increased use of clean and alternative energy. The SJVCEO is based in Fresno, Calif. and works with cities and counties and public and private organizations to demonstrate the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the eight-county region of the San Joaquin Valley. For more information, go to http://www.sjvcleanenergy.org.

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How to Make Biodiesel from Jathropha curcas

Biofuels as an Alternative Replacement Fuel

In general, the term can mean fuel biofuels from vegetable, the most probable development for the substitution or replacement of energy is biodiesel (from Jatropha oil and Palm Oil) as an alternative to diesel and bio ethanol (from cassava) as a substitute for gasoline.

How to Make Biodiesel from Jatropha Fruit (Jathropa curcas)

Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L), which is a bush plant family Euphorbiaceae. Within five months of this drought-resistant plants begin to bear fruit, full productive at the age of five years, and the productive age of 50 years. Many encountered in Indonesia as a hedge plant.

The fruit can not be consumed because it can cause poisoning. People in rural areas often make use of this plant to treat constipation in children under five years old (toddlers) or eliminate dental pain with distance tree sap dripping into a hollow tooth.

From the results of research conducted Dr.Ir.Robert Manurung MEng, a lecturer in the Department of Industrial Chemistry Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), together with his team (Nagayama and Masanori Kobayashi Eiichi from New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO-Japan):

"Jatropha oil can replace petroleum diesel to power generators. Because jatropha can be grown in almost all regions in Indonesia, the castor oil really help generate electricity in remote areas, this oil can be produced by the communities that need electricity, "

According Manurung, castor oil-making process is not too complicated and could dilakukanoleh anyone with sophisticated tools, follow these steps:

* Steam the pieces for an hour distance.
* Then, meat was destroyed by machine blender.
* After that, the fruit flesh and seeds that have been destroyed inserted into the forging machine oil.
* With emphasis on the hydraulic jack, the pulp is squeezed to produce oil.

Every 10 pounds of crushed castor seeds will produce 3.5 liter of castor oil as an alternative to diesel. This oil is intangible, such as cooking oil, which is thick, smooth, and the smell was not noticeable.

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