Biofuel opportunity

The recent surge in increase in environmental issues affecting our planet coupled with the increasing costs of fossil fuels such as oil and gas have led to an increase in interest in biofuels.

All countries are now taking a new look at the potential of Biofuel technology to help supply them with cheaper, more environmentally friendly fuels.

What is a biofuel?

A Biofuel is a fuel that is sourced from non-fossilised organisms or from byproducts of these organisms. For example Biodiesel can be made from vegetable oils or animal fats. Cattle or horse manure is another biofuel and it is the side product of recently living organisms.

Petrol, oil and coal are not biofuels as they are fossilised. They are not sustainable. Biofuels on the other hand are sustainable energy sources as they can have a continuous growth/burn/growth/burn cycle.

Biofuels have an enormous environmental benefit; they can help reduce the levels of toxins in our air and water.

They can reduce the advance of global warming and can help reduce fuel needs by providing more efficient models of energy creation.

When a biofuel is burnt to release the energy contained within the biomass, the carbon that is released has recently been taken from the atmosphere by the plants that the biofuel derived from.

This is because plants take in carbondioxide in the process of photosynthesis to enable them to grow. The effect of this is that biofuels are carbon neutral, i.e. they release the same amount of carbon when burnt as the plants that the biofuel derived from took in when they grew.

Biofuels can also benefit the user through reduced costs; cheap fuel has long been a goal of man. Biofuels can also provide us with a sustainable form of energy. This is great news for future generations but also effects us today as dwindling supplies of oil and gas force prices upwards meaning that we pay more for our gas and petroleum as well as fossil fuel generated electricity.

Biofuels can easily be made at home and by local communities and farming groups. This can again make biofuels a cheap alternative to fossil fuels and can help to strengthen local communities both socially and economically.

The two major biofuels that are already available and being used on a large scale are biodiesel and bioethanol (or Ethanol fuel). These fuels are capable of running many different makes and models of existing motor vehicles.

What is Bioethanol?

Ethanol is alcohol produced from natural sugar and starch plant growth such as grains (it is sometimes known as grain alcohol), sugar cane and oil seed rape and it can be used to fuel vehicle engines. Ethanol is made from the processes of fermentation and distillation.

When people talk about using ethanol as a source of energy they sometimes refer to it as bioethanol.

Ethanol is the type of alcohol that can be consumed (ethanol as a fuel is not a new idea, indeed Henry Ford wanted the original Model T Ford to run on ethanol and thought that it was going to be the vehicle fuel of the future.

However the economic power and influence of the oil companies led to the production and importing of cheap petroleum oil and petrol was adopted as the everyday fuel.

Ethanol has been used as a vehicle fuel in the United States for a number of years but on a very small-scale. Recent growing concerns over the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels and the increasing price of oil have now forced governments and energy producers to consider biofuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol more seriously.

Ethanol is commonly used as an addition to normal petroleum to form ethanol-blended petrol.

These blends are commonly made up of around 10% ethanol and 90% petroleum but now higher ratios of ethanol are being used in blends and further testing is being done on new types of blends. The US uses more than 15 billion gallons of ethanol blended petrol every year which makes up around 12% of the US' total fuel sales.

Ethanol as a vehicle fuel on a huge scale - Brazil leads the way

The effect of economics on fuel use can clearly be seen from Brazil's significant use of biofuels. Brazil makes most of its bioethanol from crops of local sugar cane which is a great candidate for ethanol production. Half of all cars in Brazil are run on ethanol.

This demonstrates the potential of ethanol as a realistic alternative fuel to petrol and gives us an idea of the scale of potential environmental and economic benefits it could give to countries all over the planet. It is not pie in the sky, it is achievable and available now.

Sugar Cane thrives in Brazil's climate but is not suited to the climate of the US. Alternative crops for ethanol production include grains such as corn and other crops such as oil seed rape, potatoes, wheat as well as fruit and vegetable waste.

In Britain British Sugar have started developing an ethanol plant in Norfolk that will convert sugar beet to fuel.

The Increasing importance of Biofuels

The world's energy demand continues to increase as we use more and more machines in our day-to-day lives.

New high level energy users such as China and India have emerged placing a higher demand on the already short supplies of fossil fuel energy.

How we supply our energy needs and with what fuels is becoming more and more of an issue, both economically and environmentally.

Recently the US government recognised the need to be more self- sufficient in its energy supplies and reduce its 'addiction' to foreign oil.

The European Union has set targets for biofuels to account for 5.75% of all fuel used in Europe by 2010.

Benefits of ethanol as a fuel

There are many benefits of using ethanol as a fuel including both environmental benefits of ethanol and economic benefits of ethanol. A brief summary of these benefits is shown below:

* Reduced harmful exhaust emissions

* Sustainable energy source

* Reduced dependence on foreign sources of oil and gas

* Biodegradable with no toxic effect on environment

* Does not contribute to greenhouse effect due to growth/burning cycle

* Cheap method of achieving high octane fuel

* Many cars are already capable of running on ethanol with no modifications

* Can reduce levels of disease causing emissions from petrol blends.

* Can be made at home-reducing energy costs associated with transportation

Sri Lankan Opportunity

Sri Lankan expenditure on imported fossil fuel is totalling to US Dollars 1,029 Million in the year 2006 (according to Central Bank Report) and day by day cost of living is going up. We use fossil fuel for power generation to lighting lamps and if an alternative energy source such as renewable energy can be used to save Billions of Dollars we spent on importation of fossil fuel.

There are 3.5 Million households in Sri Lanka with a high potential of promoting ethanol production at domestic level.

Sri Lanka needs a positive change. We, a team of motivated students reading for a Master in Business Administration at The University of Colombo are aligned to create the positive change to Sri Lanka with bio- fuel.

We have formed a society called REBIL to further experiment on the possibilities of producing Ethanol out of illicit liquor. REBIL stands for Renewable Energy through Illicit Local Liquor and promotes biofuel to reduce the nations' dependency on imported crude oil, helping to reduce environmental effects of daily life and to create job opportunities to 3.5 million rural families.

The responsible citizen's of Sri Lanka can join hands with us to make this dream a reality.

Rebil - Green energy for Future.

[email protected]