Biofuel is any fuel that is derived from biomass - recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. It is a renewable energy source, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal, and nuclear fuels.
Ethanol is manufactured from microbial conversion of biomass materials through fermentation. Ethanol contains 35% oxygen. The production process consists of conversion of biomass to fermentable sugars, fermentation of sugars to ethanol, and the separation and purification of the ethanol. Fermentation initially produces ethanol containing a substantial amount of water. Distillation removes the majority of water to yield about 95% purity ethanol, the balance being water. This mixture is called hydrous ethanol. If the remaining water is removed in a further process, the ethanol is called anhydrous ethanol and is suitable for blending into gasoline. Ethanol is “denatured” prior to leaving the plant to make it unfit for human consumption by addition of a small amount of products such as gasoline.
Biodiesel fuels are oxygenated organic compounds - methyl or ethyl esters - derived from a variety of renewable sources such as vegetable oil, animal fat, and cooking oil. The oxygen contained in biodiesel makes it unstable and requires stabilization to avoid storage problems. Rapeseed methyl ester (RME) diesel, derived from rapeseed oil, is the most common biodiesel fuel available in Europe. In the United States, biodiesel from soybean oil, called soy methyl ester diesel, is the most common biodiesel. Collectively, these fuels are referred to as fatty acid methyl esters (FAME).
Brazil is a global leader in the use of renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel. The National Alcohol Program (Proalcool), adopted in 1975, was the largest fossil fuel substitution program in the world, mandating the use of ethanol made from sugarcane to power automotive vehicles. Despite the collapse of mandated use, ethanol has remained an integral part of the Brazilian fuels matrix. Ethanol accounted for about 40% of passenger car fuel use in 2005 and 15% of total motor-vehicle fuels use.
Beyond the use of ethanol for passenger cars, Brazil is also a leader in the generation of electricity from renewable sources. Over 80% of Brazil’s electricity is produced via sustainable technology, mainly through the harnessing of hydroelectric power (77% of all generation). According to the Brazilian Ministry of Energy and Mines, taken as a whole, energy derived from biomass and hydroelectric plants account for 45% of the entire Brazilian energy matrix.
The report Biofuel Industry in Brazil is a complete coverage of the ethanol and biodiesel market in the country.
View Table of ContentsPages: 91
Publication Date: February 2008
Publisher: Energy Business Reports
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