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Industrial Biomass is a research business setup to develop technology for the production of environmentally responsible biofuels. Our goal is to produce biomass for fuel and biochemical production that does not use arable land, fresh water or exorbitant amounts of energy.
Biopetroleum from Industrial Biomass is identical to traditional gasoline, can be produced independent from arable land and fresh water, and can be produced in such quantities that we can meet the demand for liquid fuel now and into the future.
Carbon Sequestration Because Industrial Biomass feedstock can be converted into biochemicals as well as biofuel we can produce solid materials from atmospheric carbon. By producing everything from building materials to food to lubricants and solvents Industrial Biomass technology can sequester atmospheric carbon into long-term storage, effectively taking carbon out of the air permanently.
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Biofuel refers to fuel produced from plant matter (otherwise known as biomass). Plants use energy from sunlight (photosynthesis) to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into sugars (carbohydrates) that can be used for energy as well as building blocks for the body of the plant. These carbohydrates can be used as a starting material (feedstock) for different processes that can result in different types of biofuel. Right now there are a number of different biofuels being developed, and the cars of tomorrow might run on any or all of these. While they show potential each of these biofuels also have their own disadvantages, so this is an exciting time where the future will be decided. See the list on the right of this page to get an introduction to some of the other biofuels around.
Advantages The major attraction of biofuels is that they are sustainable, that is since they are produced using sunlight we can produce biofuel as long as we can grow plants. Another attractive feature of biofuels is that they do not contribute to atmospheric carbon. Although carbon is released when biofuels are burned, it is taken up when they are produced, resulting in a zero net increase in atmospheric carbon.
Disadvantages of biofuels include the limited production potential. Because biofuels require biomass as a feedstock, they are limited by our ability to produce biomass. Most biomass feedstocks are based on traditional agricultural crops or waste materials. These land-based (terrestrial) crops require arable land and fresh water to produce, and they grow relatively slowly (have you ever watched grass grow?). Along with land and water biofuels also need energy. While sunlight provides the energy for biomass production, the processing of biomass into fuel often requires enormous amounts of energy, which we currently get from fossil fuel sources.
Food vs. Fuel debate Because biofuel feedstocks are often derived from agricultural crops, they use the same land and water that we use for food production. By moving to a world that uses arable land and fresh water for fuel we threaten the food supply not just for the developed world but more importantly for the developing world. As competition for cropland increases thanks to traditional biofuels the price of food has been increasing. Because of the immense demand for fuel many people are becoming more concerned about the potential impacts on food supply. In response to this Industrial Biomass is developing a technology for biofuel production based on algae. Not only are algae the fastest growing plants on earth, but they do not require arable land or fresh water. Learn more about Industrial Biomass biopetroleum on the left of this page, and go to our technology section for more detail.
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Ethanol has a long history as a biofuel. Ethanol is an alcohol produced traditionally by yeast feeding on carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen (anaerobically). Ethanol fermentation has been carried out for thousands of years for the production of alcoholic beverages and as a fuel product. It is attractive thanks to our long history of ethanol production and also because it uses traditional agricultural feedstocks such as corn and sugar crops. However because yeast can produce no more than 20% ethanol before they poison themselves, pure ethanol must be boiled out of large quantities of effluent (distillation). This process uses large quantities of heat energy, and in most cases the amount of fossil fuel energy used in producing ethanol is greater than the amount of energy contained within the resultant fuel. In addition to this ethanol production requires large amounts of water for cooling and effluent, and cannot be used in car engines at over 20% without modification of the engine.
Hydrogen has received more attention recently as car technology has improved. Today hydrogen is considered a potential alternative fuel not in combustion engines but for electric vehicles that can run on hydrogen fuel cells – generators that produce electricity through combining hydrogen with oxygen from the air. The benefits of hydrogen are clear; it is a renewable resource and the only tailpipe emissions from hydrogen-powered vehicles are water vapour. The downside to hydrogen is that it must be produced, and hydrogen production methods currently take a lot of energy themselves. For instance a lot of hydrogen is produced by electrolysis which requires very large amounts of electrical energy which we currently get from coal. However hydrogen can also be produced from biomass, and if a clean and efficient method of hydrogen production from biomass can be found it is an excellent potential fuel.
Biodiesel has been one of the most successful biofuels. Because diesel engines are designed to run on a rough, low quality oil-based fuel they can be run on alternatives based on vegetable oil and animal fats. Waste oil from cooking and agricultural oil such as rapeseed and canola can be converted to biodiesel through a process known as transesterification. However most of the biodiesel produced today comes from tallow, a waste product from the meat industry. While biodiesel is a potential alterative it is only useful in diesel engines (not in aeroplanes or petrol-driven cars) and the quality of current biodiesel is a problem. Also, because of the demand for fuel, biodiesel crops are beginning to displace large amounts of natural land and drive up the price of agricultural crops (food vs. fuel). For instance palm oil is being harvested for biodiesel production, which endangers the last remaining habitat of the orangutan. Despite this large scale agriculture, we cannot even come close to producing the amount of biodiesel required to replace significant quantities of fossil fuel.
Biobutanol is another alcohol fuel like ethanol but with characteristics more similar to gasoline. Because it performs like petroleum it is sometimes promoted as a better option to ethanol. Butanol can be produced via the same fermentation process as ethanol, or by a catalytic process. As a biofuel it suffers from problems similar to ethanol, such as the high land and water requirements, and the energy required to separate that butanol product from the fermentation effluent.
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