Biofuel or Biofool? Biofuel Production Needs Careful Planning

Biofuel production is being ramped up the world over, but at what cost? Replacing petrol with ethanol from food crops is a poorly thought out short term strategy. However, being able to make fuel from plant cellulose could truly be a key to a greener future for the whole world.

While we strive to deal with the imminent decline of world oil supplies we also need to consider the impact of oil alternatives. Biofuel production has been held up as a solution to our oil dependence. Biofuels have also been promoted as a replacement for oil, implying that we will be able to maintain our lifestyles even after the oil supply has run dry.

This is certainly a worthy goal, but how realistic is this and at what cost will this fuel be produced? The basis of biofuel production is the conversion of plant sugars into ethanol, which can then be used as a fuel. There are two broad types of sugars available in plants, and the choice of which to use as the fuel source directly affects the profitability of the fuel generated from the plant.

The first type are simple sugars, with one or two sugar molecules joined together. These are the sugars that we digest from plants, that are we get our energy from. These sugars are mainly present in the fruits of plants. An example of this is the corn cob. This part of the corn plant is high in energy. Making ethanol from this part of the plant is profitable since the sugar molecules are easily converted into ethanol with the help of organisms such as yeast.

The second source of sugars in the plant is in the plant body itself, the tough fibrous material called cellulose. This is comprised of the same sugar molecules present in the fruit, but are bonded together in long strands. These strands are very difficult to break down into simple sugars and involve complex enzymes such as cellulase. These can be produced commercially but this is an expensive process. The result of converting cellulose into ethanol is both a lower yield and a higher cost per unit of fuel, but its great advantage is that any plant matter, even cardboard and paper, can be converted into fuel. There is no need to reduce the availability of food with cellulose conversion.

At present virtually all biofuel production crops rely on simple sugars such as the cob of the corn plant and the sap of sugar cane. Such crops solve nothing - they are supplementing fuel supplies while reducing food availability. Given the rising global demand and price of food, use of agricultural land to make ethanol from simple plant sugars is at best irresponsible.

Biofuels may represent a partial solution to our energy needs, but they cannot be produced at the expense of food. Research into improving methods of breaking down cellulose needs to be done. If this can be done efficiently, bioethanol could mean a genuine step toward a clean energy world.

For more information on biofuels, carbon reduction, energy saving ideas, kids activities and solar power facts, visit my website, Green Planet Solar Energy.

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