biofuel assignment
TRANSCRIPT
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Introduction
Energy is an important factor of production in the global economy, and 90% of the commercially
produced energy is from fossil fuels such as crude oil, coal, and gas, which are non-renewable in
nature. Much of the energy supply in the world comes from geo-politically volatile economies.In order to enhance energy security, many countries, including the US, have been emphasizing
production and use of renewable energy sources such as biofuels, which is emerging as a growth
industry in the current economic environment. Biofuel is known as a potential replacement of
fossil fuel nowadays. Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon
fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid
fuels and various biogases. Although fossil fuels have their origin in ancient carbon fixation, they
are not considered biofuels by the generally accepted definition because they contain carbon that
has been "out" of the carbon cycle for a very long time. Biofuels are gaining increased public and
scientific attention, driven by factors such as oil price spikes, the need for increased energy
security, concern over greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, and governmentsubsidies.
Biofuel is also known as agrofuel, these fuels are mainly derived from biomass or bio waste.
These fuels can be used for any purposes, but the main use for which they have to be brought is
in the transportation sector. Most of the vehicles require fuels which provide high power and are
dense so that storage is easier. These engines require fuels that are clean and are in the liquid
form. The most important advantage of using liquid as fuel is that they can be easily pumped and
can also be handled easily. This is the main reason why almost all the vehicles use liquid form of
fuels for combustion purpose. For other forms of non transportation applications there are other
alternative solid biomass fuel like wood. These non transportation applications can bring into use
these solid biomass fuels as they can easily bear the low power density of external combustion.
Wood has been brought into use since a very long period and is one of the major contributors of
global warming. Biofuels are the best way of reducing the emission of the greenhouse gases.
They can also be looked upon as a way of energy security which stands as an alternative of fossil
fuels that are limited in availability. Today, the use of biofuels has expanded throughout the
globe. Some of the major producers and users of biogases are Asia, Europe and America.
Theoretically, biofuel can be easily produced through any carbon source; making the
photosynthetic plants the most commonly used material for production. Almost all types of
materials derived from the plants are used for manufacturing biogas. One of the greatest
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problems that is being faced by the researchers in the field is how to covert the biomass energy
into the liquid fuel. There are two methods currently brought into use to solve the above
problem. In the first one, sugar crops or starch are grown and through the process of
fermentation, ethanol is produced. In the second method, plants are grown that naturally produce
oil like jatropha and algae. These oils are heated to reduce their viscosity after which they are
directly used as fuel for diesel engines. This oil can be further treated to produce biodiesel which
can be used for various purposes. Most of the biofuels are derived from biomass or bio waste.
Biomass can be termed as material which is derived from recently living organism. Most of the
biomass is obtained from plants and animals and also include their by products. The most
important feature of biomass is that they are renewable sources of energy unlike other natural
resources like coal, petroleum and even nuclear fuel. Some of the agricultural products that are
specially grown for the production of biofuels are switchgrass, soybeans and corn in United
States. Brazil produces sugar cane, Europe produces sugar beet and wheat while, China produces
cassava and sorghum, south-east Asia produces miscanthus and palm oil while India produces
jatropha. Liquid biofuels (biodiesel and bio-ethanol), as an alternative to fossil fuels. Other
biofuels that are more common in developing countries (such as wood, dung and biogas) are not
included. Biofuels are fuels that are directly derived from biological sources. Sources that lead to
specific end products in biofuel production are usually classified into four groups. Of these, the
first two are in common use while the latter two are still experimental:
Cereals, grains, sugar crops and other starches that can fairly easily be fermented to produce
bio-ethanol, and can be used in their pure state or blended with fuels.
Oilseed crops, such as sunflower, rape seeds, soy, palm and jatropha, that can be converted into
methyl esters (biodiesel) and blended with conventional diesel or burnt as pure biodiesel.
Cellulosic materials, including grasses, trees and various waste products from crops and wood
processing facilities as well as municipal solid waste, that can be converted into a newer
generation of bio-ethanol (via enzymatic breakdown or acid hydrolysis, followed by
fermentation).
New biodiesel technologies, such as the FischerTropsch process, that synthesise diesel fuels
from different biomasses (such as organic waste material) via gasification.
Bio-ethanol is the most widely used biofuel, accounting for some 94 per cent of global biofuel
production worldwide in 2006. Around 60 per cent of bio-ethanol comes from sugarcane and the
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remainder comes from other crops, mostly maize. Brazil was the worlds largest bio-ethanol
producer for a long period, but in 2006 the USA took over as leading bio-ethanol producer .
Brazil still stands out as the most successful producer of biofuels due to its low production
costs, advanced technology and management systems, hybrid sugar/ethanol complexes
and favourable CO2 reduction rate. China ranks third, but in contrast to Brazil and the USA
Chinese national policies have been more restrictive in expanding ethanol production, mainly for
food security reasons. Bio-ethanol made from sugarcane is much more effective in reducing
greenhouse gas emissions (producing around 80 per cent less CO2 emission per energy unit than
petrol) than maize based bio-ethanol (that produces around 2040 per cent less). It is also much
cheaper to produce, both in Brazil and Australia, the two leading producing countries
(International Energy Agency 2004). In Europe, Germany, France and Italy dominate biofuel
production and were significantly ahead of other countries in 2006. In Southeast Asia biodiesel is
mainly produced from palm oil, in the USA and Brazil mainly from soy. In the EU biodiesel
(produced mainly from rapeseed and some sunflower seed) accounts for 80 per cent of biofuel
production, while much less bio-ethanol is produced in this region than in the USA and Brazil.
There are four main reasons behind this recent remarkable increase in the attention attracted by
biofuels and the correspondingly related increase in biofuel production, R&D programmes,
policy initiatives and debates, although not all reasons for this are the same in every country and
region (Munckhof 2006). Firstly, the continuing concern about the role of fossil fuels in climate
change via the release of greenhouse gasses during their exploitation, transport and, especially,
their use, has created favourable conditions for increased attention into all kinds of renewable
energy alternatives. The recent enforcement of the Kyoto protocol, the implementation
of national targets for biofuels in various countries2 and Al Gores campaign around his Oscar-
winning movie An Inconvenient Truth (2006) has intensified that interest. Secondly, the
dependence of a number of major fossil-fuel-importing countries (most notably the USA and the
EU) on unstable fossil-fuel-producing and exporting regions (notably Russia, the Middle East
and Venezuela) has triggered these former countries into launching programmes to lower their
dependence on fossil fuel and thus increase their national energy security. A number of events in
2005 and 2006 sensitised oil and gas importing OECD countries to this feature of their
dependence on fossil fuel. Thirdly, and partly related to the former consideration, the oil price
increases that started in 2004 gave a further boost to biofuel interests, especially since many
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projections of oil price decreases had not been met up to mid-2007, thus making biofuels
increasingly cost-effective.4 This comes together with the fact that biofuel can to a significant
extent use existing the infrastructure of conventional petroleum fuels (such as distribution and
retailing systems, cars and combustion systems [Doering2004]), making it far more competitive
than, for example, hydrogen. Lastly, an ongoing crisis in the rural areas of many OECD
countries following the over-production of agricultural commodities, low prices, land continually
taken out of production (set asides) and low income levels for farmers has provided fertile
ground for a new market for agricultural commodities, especially but not only in largescale,
capital-intensive agricultural areas (such as the USA). In the USA, the EU and Brazil
governments have heavily subsidised farmers and agribusiness to get involved in biofuel
production. In addition, although one can also witness various drivers for biofuel expansion in
the developing countries (including reduced oil imports, rural development and export
opportunities), these countries have generally not been driving the recent biofuel expansion.
Consequently, from the early 2000s we have witnessed sharp increases and spatial proliferation
in the production of biofuel, almost quadrupling between 20022006, according to OECD
estimates.5 While most biofuel production is still consumed domestically (90 per cent in 2005,
with Brazil as the largest exporter), global trade is expanding rapidly, triggered by biofuel targets
set in various countries in combination with uneven conditions for feedstock and biofuel
production.6 This increase and globalisation of biofuels has led to sharp debates on the
proclaimed environmental sustainability of biofuels and the social vulnerability for notable two
groups: the poor in developing countries and small farmers. But the common understanding
among economic and political elites is that if biofuels are going to make a significant
contribution to climate change mitigation, energy security and rural development, then biofuel
production and consumption needs to globalise further, to become part of the global space of
(energy) flows. This might, however, further endanger specific localities, interests and
sustainabilities: most notably, the interests of small farmers and the poor in developing countries
and specific local environmental sustainabilities (rather than global climate change).
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First generation biofuels
'First-generation' or conventional biofuels are biofuels made from sugar, starch, and vegetable
oil.
1) Bioalcohols
Biologically produced alcohols, most commonly ethanol, and less commonly propanol and
butanol, are produced by the action of microorganisms and enzymes through the fermentation of
sugars or starches (easiest), or cellulose (which is more difficult). Biobutanol (also called
biogasoline) is often claimed to provide a direct replacement for gasoline, because it can be used
directly in a gasoline engine (in a similar way to biodiesel in diesel engines). Ethanol fuel is the
most common biofuel worldwide, particularly in Brazil. Alcohol fuels are produced by
fermentation of sugars derived from wheat, corn, sugar beets, sugar cane, molasses and any sugar
or starch that alcoholic beverages can be made from (like potato and fruit waste, etc.). The
ethanol production methods used are enzyme digestion (to release sugars from stored starches),
fermentation of the sugars, distillation and drying. The distillation process requires significant
energy input for heat (often unsustainable natural gas fossil fuel, but cellulosic biomass such as
bagasse, the waste left after sugar cane is pressed to extract its juice, can also be used more
sustainably). Ethanol can be used in petrol engines as a replacement for gasoline; it can be mixed
with gasoline to any percentage. Most existing car petrol engines can run on blends of up to 15%
bioethanol with petroleum/gasoline. Ethanol has a smaller energy density than does gasoline; this
fact means that it takes more fuel (volume and mass) to produce the same amount of work. An
advantage of ethanol (CH3CH2OH) is that it has a higher octane rating than ethanol-free
gasoline available at roadside gas stations which allows an increase of an engine's compression
ratio for increased thermal efficiency. In high altitude (thin air) locations, some states mandate a
mix of gasoline and ethanol as a winter oxidizer to reduce atmospheric pollution emissions.
Ethanol is also used to fuel bioethanol fireplaces. As they do not require a chimney and are
"flueless", bio ethanol fires are extremely useful for new build homes and apartments without a
flue. The downside to these fireplaces, is that the heat output is slightly less than electric and gas
fires. In the current corn-to-ethanol production model in the United States, considering the total
energy consumed by farm equipment, cultivation, planting, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and
fungicides made from petroleum, irrigation systems, harvesting, transport of feedstock to
processing plants, fermentation, distillation, drying, transport to fuel terminals and retail pumps,
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and lower ethanol fuel energy content, the net energy content value added and delivered to
consumers is very small. And, the net benefit (all things considered) does little to reduce
imported oil and fossil fuels required to produce the ethanol. Although corn-to-ethanol and other
food stocks have implications both in terms of world food prices and limited, yet positive, energy
yield (in terms of energy delivered to customer/fossil fuels used), the technology has led to the
development of cellulosic ethanol. Methanol is currently produced from natural gas, a non-
renewable fossil fuel. It can also be produced from biomass as biomethanol. The methanol
economy is an interesting alternative to get to the hydrogen economy, compared to today's
hydrogen production from natural gas. But this process is not the state-of-the-art clean solar
thermal energy process where hydrogen production is directly produced from water.[12]
Butanol (C4H9OH) is formed by ABE fermentation (acetone, butanol, ethanol) and experimental
modifications of the process show potentially high net energy gains with butanol as the only
liquid product. Butanol will produce more energy and allegedly can be burned "straight" in
existing gasoline engines (without modification to the engine or car),[13] and is less corrosive
and less water soluble than ethanol, and could be distributed via existing infrastructures. DuPont
and BP are working together to help develop Butanol. E. coli have also been successfully
engineered to producebutanol by hijacking their amino acid metabolism.
2) Biodiesel
Is an easy-to-make, clean burning diesel alternative made from vegetable oil or fats, has great
promise as an energy industry that could be locally-produced, used, and controlled. Biodiesel is
an alternative fuel that is relatively safe and easy to process when conscientiously approached.
Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil or animal fat that can be used in any diesel engine without
any modifications. Chemically, it is defined as the mono alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids
derived from renewable lipid sources. Biodiesel is typically produced through the reaction of a
vegetable oil or animal fat with methanol in the presence of a catalyst to yield glycerin and
biodiesel (chemically called methyl esters). Boasting an overall 92% reduction in toxic emissions
compared to diesel, Biodiesel is by far the best alternative fuel option at present. Biodiesel is the
only alternative fuel currently available that has an overall positive life cycle energy balance. It is
renewable, sustainable, and domestically produced.The only by-product of this form of Biodiesel
is glycerin, which can be easily used to make soap or other products. Biodiesel can also be
produced from other biologically derived oils such as soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil,
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hemp oil, coconut oil, peanut oil, palm oil, corn oil, mustard oil, flaxseed oil, new or waste
cooking oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, beef tallow, pork lard, as well as other types of animal
fat. Biodiesel is actually as old as the diesel engine itself. Rudolf Diesel, the 19thcentury
originator of diesel technology, used refined peanut oil to run his invention. Diesels workhorse
engine took off, but the rise of cheap crude oil killed his vision of farmers growing their own
fuel.
3) Green diesel
Green diesel, also known as renewable diesel, is a form of diesel fuel which is derived from
renewable feedstock rather than the fossil feedstock used in most diesel fuels. Green diesel
feedstock can be sourced from a variety of oils including canola, algae, jatropha and salicornia in
addition to tallow. Green diesel uses traditional fractional distillation to process the oils, not to be
confused with biodiesel which is chemically quite different and processed using
transesterification. Green Diesel as commonly known in Ireland should not be confused with
dyed green diesel sold at a lower tax rate for agriculture purposes, using the dye allows custom
officers to determine if a person is using the cheaper diesel in higher taxed applications such as
commercial haulage or cars.
4) Vegetable oil
Straight unmodified edible vegetable oil is generally not used as fuel, but lower quality oil can
and has been used for this purpose. Used vegetable oil is increasingly being processed into
biodiesel, or (more rarely) cleaned of water and particulates and used as a fuel. Also here, as with
100% biodiesel (B100), to ensure that the fuel injectors atomize the vegetable oil in the correct
pattern for efficient combustion, vegetable oil fuel must be heated to reduce its viscosity to that
of diesel, either by electric coils or heat exchangers. This is easier in warm or temperate climates.
Big corporations like MAN B&W Diesel, Wrtsil, and Deutz AG as well as a number of
smaller companies such as Elsbett offer engines that are compatible with straight vegetable oil,
without the need for after-market modifications. Vegetable oil can also be used in many older
diesel engines that do not use common rail or unit injection electronic diesel injection systems.
Due to the design of the combustion chambers in indirect injection engines, these are the best
engines for use with vegetable oil. This system allows the relatively larger oil molecules more
time to burn. Some older engines, especially Mercedes are driven experimentally by enthusiasts
without any conversion, a handful of drivers have experienced limited success with earlier
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pre-"Pumpe Duse" VW TDI engines and other similar engines with direct injection. Several
companies like Elsbett or Wolf (http://www.wolf-pflanzenoel-technik.de/) have developed
professional conversion kits and successfully installed hundreds of them over the last decades.
Oils and fats can be hydrogenated to give a diesel substitute. The resulting product is a straight
chain hydrocarbon with a high cetane number, low in aromatics and sulfur and does not contain
oxygen. Hydrogenated oils can be blended with diesel in all proportions Hydrogenated oils have
several advantages over biodiesel, including good performance at low temperatures, no storage
stability problems and no susceptibility to microbial.
5) Bioethers
Bio ethers (also referred to as fuel ethers or oxygenated fuels) are cost-effective compounds that
act as octane rating enhancers. They also enhance engine performance, whilst significantly
reducing engine wear and toxic exhaust emissions. Greatly reducing the amount of ground-level
ozone, they contribute to the quality of the air we breathe.
6) Biogas
Biogas is methane produced by the process of anaerobic digestion of organic material by
anaerobes. It can be produced either from biodegradable waste materials or by the use of energy
crops fed into anaerobic digesters to supplement gas yields. The solid byproduct, digestate, can
be used as a biofuel or a fertilizer. Biogas can be recovered from mechanical biological treatment
waste processing systems.
Note: Landfill gas is a less clean form of biogas which is produced in landfills through naturally
occurring anaerobic digestion. If it escapes into the atmosphere it is a potential greenhouse gas.
Farmers can produce biogas from manure from their cows by using an anaerobic digester (AD).
7) Syngas
Syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and other hydrocarbons is produced by partial
combustion of biomass, that is, combustion with an amount of oxygen that is not sufficient to
convert the biomass completely to carbon dioxide and water. Before partial combustion the
biomass is dried, and sometimes pyrolysed. The resulting gas mixture, syngas, is more efficient
than direct combustion of the original biofuel; more of the energy contained in the fuel is
extracted. Syngas may be burned directly in internal combustion engines, turbines or high-
temperature fuel cells. The wood gas generator is a wood-fueled gasification reactor mounted on
an internal combustion engine. Syngas can be used to produce methanol, DME and hydrogen, or
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converted via the Fischer-Tropsch process to produce a diesel substitute, or a mixture of alcohols
that can be blended into gasoline. Gasification normally relies on temperatures >700C. Lower
temperature gasification is desirable when co-producing biochar but results in a Syngas polluted
with tar.
Second generation biofuels (advanced biofuels)
Second generation biofules are biofuels produced from sustainable feedstock. Sustainability of a
feedstock is defined among others by availability of the feedstock, impact on GHG emissions
and impact on biodiversity and land use. Many second generation biofuels are under
development such as Cellulosic ethanol, Algae fuel, biohydrogen, biomethanol, DMF, BioDME,
Fischer-Tropsch diesel, biohydrogen diesel, mixed alcohols and wood diesel. Cellulosic ethanol
production uses non-food crops or inedible waste products and does not divert food away from
the animal or human food chain. Lignocellulose is the "woody" structural material of plants. This
feedstock is abundant and diverse, and in some cases (like citrus peels or sawdust) it is in itself a
significant disposal problem. Producing ethanol from cellulose is a difficult technical problem to
solve. In nature, ruminant livestock (like cattle) eat grass and then use slow enzymatic digestive
processes to break it into glucose (sugar). In cellulosic ethanol laboratories, various experimental
processes are being developed to do the same thing, and then the sugars released can be
fermented to make ethanol fuel. In 2009 scientists reported developing, using "synthetic
biology", "15 new highly stable fungal enzyme catalysts that efficiently break down cellulose
into sugars at high temperatures", adding to the 10 previously known. The use of high
temperatures, has been identified as an important factor in improving the overall economic
feasibility of the biofuel industry and the identification of enzymes that are stable and can
operate efficiently at extreme temperatures is an area of active research. In addition, research
conducted at TU Delft by Jack Pronk has shown that elephant yeast, when slightly modified can
also create ethanol from nonedible ground sources (e.g. straw). The recent discovery of the
fungus Gliocladium roseum points toward the production of so-called myco-diesel from
cellulose. This organism (recently discovered in rainforests of northern Patagonia) has the unique
capability of converting cellulose into medium length hydrocarbons typically found in diesel
fuel. Scientists also work on experimental recombinant DNA genetic engineering organisms that
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could increase biofuel potential. Scientists working in New Zealand have developed a
technology to use industrial waste gases from steel mills as a feedstock for a microbial
fermentation process to produce ethanol.
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Advantages of biofuel production and use
1)Production of Biofuels for the Transport Sector
Biofuels have an organic origin as opposed to fossil fuel-based origin, and because
they are liquid, they are compatible with vehicle engines and blendable with current fuels.
They can be derived from agricultural sources such as sugarcane, beets, maize, energy-rich
herbaceous plants, vegetable oils, agriculture waste, lumber offcuts, and manure. The two
most prevalent biofuels are ethanol (an alcohol fermented from sugars, starches, or from
cellulosic biomass) and biodiesel (produced from vegetable oils or animal fats). Ethanol is
mixed with gasoline, and blends typically vary from 5% to 85%, the lower blends being
compatible with conventional gasoline engines. Similarly, biodiesel is to be used in various
blends with petroleum diesel or as a substitute of that. Although the use of biofuels is not
limited to the transport sector alone, application in this sector gained a lot of attention over
the last decades due to soaring oil prices, successful application of sugarcane-based ethanol
in Brazil, and the increasing share of the transport sector in worldwide GHGs. Besides,
only a small amount of biofuels is used for non-transportation purposes. In the developing world,
the undisputable leader in the biofuel market is Brazil, with production of approximately 15
billion liters of bioethanol from sugarcane, 38% of worldwide production (Dufey 2006). Brazil
was the pioneer in biofuels since the 1970s and has
taken advantage of the learning curve effect with regard to bioethanol production. Thus,
other developing countries are interested in replicating Brazils successful experience and
increase the production and use of biofuels. Some countries, such as Colombia, India,
Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand, have adopted targets for increasing the contribution
of biofuels to their transport fuel supplies (Kojima and Johnson 2006). Significant
volumes of bioethanol are already being produced in China and India (Coelho 2005). On
the other hand, biodiesel production lacks scale in the developing world, and only recently,
there have been efforts for large-scale production. Latin American countries, such as Brazil,
Argentina, and Colombia, have set up targets for the production and use of biodiesel. Also,
countries in South-East Asia have started or are exploring opportunities for producing
biodiesel either for domestic use or for exporting it. The same applies for various African
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countries interested in biofuel production in order to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and
take advantage of the expected environmental and socio-economic benefits. Examples of
these countries are South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ghana, and others (Dufey
2006; Winkler 2005).
There are several benefits of using biofuels for transport. Besides the apparent one
of reducing harmful pollutants from vehicle exhaust (Kojima and Johnson 2006) and those
applicable to most renewable energies like reducing CHG emissions, decreasing dependence
on fossil fuels, and diversifying energy portfolio, there are important socio-economic benefits to
be expected. Examples include new jobs in rural areas, the improvement of
income distribution (Islas, Manzini, and Masera 2007), and reduced poverty. Biofuel production
is responsible for creating jobs in feedstock production, biofuel manufacture, and
the transport and distribution of feedstock and products (Kojima and Johnson 2006). Only
in Brazil, the sugarcane sector is responsible for approximately 700,000 direct and 3.5 million
indirect jobs. Compared with other energy sectors, the ratio of jobs created per unit of
energy produced is very high (Coelho 2005). According to Berndes and Hansson (2007),
liquid biofuels for transport produced from agricultural crops in the EU are typically about
210 and 2550 times as employment intensive as biomass use for electricity and heat,
respectively. Furthermore, rural areas and developing countries can benefit the most from
energy crop production for biofuels, since most of these jobs involve poor populations in
rural regions and the quality of their jobs gets better due to increasing wages over time and
lower seasonality (Dufey 2006).
There are quite a few obstacles standing in the way of widespread use of biofuels.
Some of them relate to biodiversity and landscape conservation, soil health and maintenance
(Panoutsou 2008), intensive farming, fertilizers, and use of chemicals. Availability
of feedstock for their production is another problem, while concerns also exist about the
issues of intensive land use, competition for land, and the possible conflict with food
production (Faaij and Domac 2006; Hall and House 1994). As regards biofuel use for
transport, there are some technical drawbacks having to do with the adaptation of vehicles
to different fuel qualities and engine performance (Kavalov 2004), an issue being addressed
by research activities on flex-fuel vehicles that use different blends of ethanol and gasoline.
Even though the developments with regard to the world price of oil have acted as
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drivers for the use of biofuels, oil prices usually act as barriers since external costs of oilderived
products are not taken into account, a fact that makes biofuels more expensive than
competing fuels. Lack of policy support, technology transfer methodologies, and financing
opportunities are some other issues to be addressed in most countries, as is the case with
other biomass applications. Lastly, international trade barriers, such as transport tariffs and
varying standards, among different countries have negatively influenced the worldwide
diffusion of biofuels.
The potential for the use of biofuels is very large, something that has been proven by
the Brazilian case where bioethanol production costs have decreased significantly and are
competitive to those of gasoline. The climates and ecosystems of most developing countries
are quite favorable for biomass production. This fact, along with low land and labor costs,
could help these countries reap the significant benefits of biofuel production and export
opportunities if the abovementioned barriers are removed. The high costs of production in
Europe are limiting the biofuel market, although favorable policies have been put in place
in some countries. Studies have shown that the best potential for bioenergy production
and biofuel exports in Europe is in Central and Eastern European countries where higher
yields can be achieved on better land (van Dam et al. 2007). Moreover, second-generation
biofuel production (based on lingocellulosic feedstock) is a quite promising technology
and is expected to become commercially viable in the long term.
Although there have been examples of cooperation between industrialized and developing
countries in the field of biofuels either in the form of carbon credits purchases or
trading of biofuels, there is very limited activity in the CDM arena. No projects are currently
registered for biofuels, and there are only seven projects at the validation stage for
biodiesel and none for bioethanol (URC 2008a). One of the reasons might be that the
project baselines taken into account for CDM include emissions from combustion of coal,
oil, or natural gas, CH4 recovery through enhanced animal waste management, or agricultural
residues that would be burnt in the field, cases that are not the most usual for some
developing countries where fossil fuels are not easily accessible and the only fuels used
are in most cases biomass fuels (Schlamadinger and Jrgens 2004). However, regulatory
barriers should be removed, as there is not only large potential for reduction of GHG emissions
but biofuel production is also far less expensive in some developing countries and
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can contribute to their socio-economic development.
Biodiesel is needed for Malaysia future, toward the vision 2020. Since it's made domestically, it
reduces countrys dependence on foreign oil. Using Biodiesel keeps fuel buying dollars at home
instead of sending it to foreign countries. This reduces Malaysia trade deficit and creates jobs.
It's sustainable & non-toxic. We have face the fact that this country going to run out of oil
eventually. Biodiesel is 100% renewable because it will never run out, besides it is nearly
carbon-neutral, meaning it contributes almost zero emissions to global warming. Biodiesel also
dramatically reduces other emissions fairly dramatically. According to previous research, it
reduces engine wear by as much as one half, primarily because it provides excellent lubricity.
Due to the increase in the world petroleum price every day and the environmental concerns about
pollution coming from the vehicle gases, Biodiesel is becoming a developing area of high
concern research. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engines that is produced by
chemically reacting a vegetable oil or animal fat with an alcohol such as methanol. Biodiesel
derived from a renewable, domestic resource, thereby relieving reliance on petroleum fuel
imports. It is biodegradable and proven less toxic than ordinary diesel fuel. Compared to
petroleum-based diesel, Biodiesel has a more positive combustion emission profile, such as low
emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter and unburned harmful hydrocarbons, such as
Carbon Monoxide. Carbon dioxide produced by combustion of Biodiesel can be recycled
naturally by photosynthesis, which can lower the impact of Biodiesel combustion on the
greenhouse effect . Biodiesel has a relatively high flash point (150 C), which makes it less
volatile and safer to transport or handle than petroleum diesel . It provides lubricating properties
that can reduce engine wear and extend engine life. In brief, these merits of Biodiesel make it
the best alternative to petroleum based fuel and have led to its use in many developing
countries, especially in environmentally sensitive areas. Vegetable oils, especially palm oil have
become more attractive research recently because of their environmental benefits and the fact
that it is made from renewable resources. More than 100 years ago, Rudolph Diesel tested
vegetable oil as the fuel for his engine. Palm oils have the great potential for substitution of the
petroleum distillates and petroleum based petrochemicals in the future. Others vegetable oil fuels
are not now petroleum competitive fuels because they are more expensive than petroleum fuels.
However, with the recent increases in petroleum prices and the uncertainties concerning
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petroleum availability, there is renewed interest in using vegetable oils in Diesel engines. The
Diesel boiling range material is of particular interest because it has been shown to reduce
particulate emissions significantly relative to petroleum Diesel . There are more than 350 oil
bearing crops identified, among which only Palm oil, sunflower, safflower, soybean, cottonseed,
rapeseed and peanut oils are considered as potential alternative fuels for Diesel engines .
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Barriers
Examples of such barriers could be limited affordability of the technology due to relatively high
implementation costs, energy costs, and limited availability of local and regional financial
resources; the existing domestic legal and institutional framework, bureaucracy (e.g., in favor of
conventional energy sources), non-transparent decision-making procedures, large-scale state
ownership of enterprises, availability of cheaper alternative technologies; lack of investment
protection, lack of knowledge of technology operation and management as well as limited
availability of spare parts and maintenance expertise; negative impact on community social
structures, etc.
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Issues with biofuel production and use
There are various social, economic, environmental and technical issues with biofuel production
and use, which have been discussed in the popular media and scientific journals. These include:
the effect of moderating oil prices, the "food vs fuel" debate, poverty reduction potential, carbon
emissions levels, sustainable biofuel production, deforestation and soil erosion, loss of
biodiversity, impact on water resources, as well as energy balance and efficiency. The
International Resource Panel, which provides independent scientific assessments and expert
advice on a variety of resource-related themes, assessed the issues relating to biofuel use in its
first report Towards sustainable production and use of resources: Assessing Biofuels . In it, it
outlined the wider and interrelated factors that need to be considered when deciding on the
relative merits of pursuing one biofuel over another. It concluded that not all biofuels perform
equally in terms of their impact on climate, energy security and ecosystems, and suggested that
environmental and social impacts need to be assessed throughout the entire life-cycle. Total net
savings from using first-generation biodiesel as a transport fuel range from 25-82% (depending
on the feedstock used), compared to diesel derived from crude oil . Producing lignocellulosic
biofuels offers greater greenhouse gas emissions savings than those obtained by first generation
biofuels. Lignocellulosic biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 90% when
compared with fossil petroleum, in contrast first generation biofuels were found to offer savings
of 20-70%. Biofuels currently appear to be one of the major controversies in the agriculture/
environment nexus, not unlike genetically modified organisms. While some countries (such as
Brazil) have for quite some time supported successful large-scale programmes to improve the
production and consumption of biofuels, policy-makers and research institutions in most
developed and developing countries have only recently turned their attention to biofuels. Threat
of climate change, new markets for agricultural output, reduced dependencies on OPEC
countries and high fossil fuel prices are driving this development. But opposition to biofuels is
growing, pointing at the various vulnerabilities not in the least for developing countries that
come along with large-scale energy plantations. Against this background this article analyses
the sustainability and vulnerability of biofuels, from the perspective of a sociology of networks
and flows. Current biofuel developments should be understood in terms of the emergence of a
global integrated biofuel network, where environmental sustainabilities are more easily
accommodated than vulnerabilities for marginal and peripheral groups and countries, irrespective
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of what policy-makers and biofuel advocates tell us.
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Biofuel controversies
Arguably, Brazils biofuels network was the first that could be understood as a fullfledged
national biofuel region, with an active governmental policy towards sugarcane
cropping and rural development, an elaborated infrastructure of hybrid ethanol/sugar
plants, a flex-fuel car7 development and production programme, the integration of
petrol companies and a policy mandating the mixing of bio-ethanol with petrol. There
has always been debate on the Brazilian biofuel programme in the 1970s and 1980s
(Dufey 2006), but that was largely an internal debate on its environmental, economic
and social dimensions. Currently, with the major growth and ambitions of biofuel
production and consumption under conditions of globalisation, criticism of thenational biofuel
regions in various countries has become more widespread, vivid, pointed and global in nature.
The debate encompasses several frontiers (such as its impact on the environment, development,
economics, trade and power relations) and an increasing number of participants. We will not
review the entire debate with respect to biofuels, but focus on sustainability claims and the
vulnerability of particular groups in this respect, leaving partly aside technical discussions on
economics and climate change gains. While initially biofuels were celebrated as an alternative to
fossil fuels for their contribution to combating climate change (and a range of other air pollution
problems
such as particulates, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide; although biofuels
often increase nitric oxide [NOx] emissions), more recently critics started to question
the environmental profile of biofuels on various points.
There is considerable diversity in greenhouse gas savings from biofuel use,
depending on the type of feedstock, its cultivation methods, conversion technologies
used and energy efficiency assumptions made. While the Brazilian sugarcane-based
bio-ethanol and Malaysian oil-palm-based biodiesel indeed contribute significantly to
lowering carbon dioxide emissions, this is either not the case or only partly the case
(depending on which analyst is speaking, for US maize-based biofuels (for example,
Pimentel and Patzek 2005; McElroy 2006). It is also questioned whether biofuels are
a cost-effective carbon dioxide emission abatement strategy, as other investments
towards a low carbon economy are more cost-efficient (Worldwatch Institute 2006a,
p. 19; Frondel and Peters 2007).
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In addition, several other environmental problems have recently been associated
with biofuels: deforestation and a decrease in biodiversity, monocropping, land degradation
and water pollution. Oil palm plantations inMalaysia and Indonesia were the
target of environmentalists in recent years (with the orang-utan as symbol mobiliser;
see also Painter, [2007]), but soy production also faces criticism for threatening the
savannah and tropical forests in north-east Brazil, and soil and water conservation are
endangered in the corn belt states of the USA. It is for these reasons that the NGO
network Biofuelwatch has called on the EU to abandon their targets on biofuel use in
petrol and diesel. New generation (FischerTropsch) biofuels are received more
favourably, especially when they are based on waste biomass or cellulose.
These debates have been directed mainly at national biofuel regions and hardly at
all at local biofuel regions, where small-scale oilseed production is converted by
farmer co-operatives in biofuels, to be consumed within the same locality. Production
of low-input biofuels crops such as jatropha on marginal land is perceived to be a
positive contribution to local soil improvements, providing biofuels (and farmer
income) through simple processing methods (Dufey 2006). But energy balances and
cost structures show remarkable inefficiencies of these local biofuel regions in developing
countries (van Eijck and Romijn 2006), making them attractive only in peripheral
localities that are not well served by conventional fossil-fuel infrastructure.8
Secondly, various impacts of biofuel systems on developing countries and poverty
have met with criticism. Arguably the most criticised of these, by well-known spokespersons
such as Noam Chomsky and Lester Brown, is the potential impact of largescale
biofuel production on food supplies, food prices and food scarcity. With the
development of local biofuel regions to national biofuel regions and the expansion ofnational
biofuel regions in an increasing number of countries, these impacts are
spreading globally. US large-scale biofuel production in particular is believed to
increase food prices (such as that of maize in Mexico,9 sugarcane in Brazil and even
of beer in Europe10) as well as the availability of food to the poor (Runge and Senauer
2007a, 2007b). With growing demand for biofuels on the world market, and thus the
development of a GIBN, cropping patterns in developing countries, as well as the exports of food
crops from them, will change, further jeopardising the availability of food crops in
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developing countries. For instance, Janket al. (2007, p. 25) estimate that the EU will
have to import 40 per cent of its biodiesel needs by 2012 to fulfill its targets, as
insufficient cropping areas are available within the EU. For ethanol the need for
imports is less clear until 2012, but it might still be substantial. Currently, we also see major
commitments of Malaysia and Indonesia (and to a lesser extent, Thailand) towards the expansion
of oil palm, and of India and Indonesia towards jatropha. This might all interfere with the local
biofuel regions in developing and developed countries, disturbing and transforming small-scale
biofuel networks by integrating them into national biofuel regions. Proponents of free trade and
large-scale biofuel programmes make contrasting evaluations of such developments. Such
scholars celebrate the potential for developing countries to enter into new export markets, to
provide local farmers with better opportunities and incomes and the boosting of national
economies via a model of both import substitution (of fossil fuels) and export growth (of
biomass/biofuels).11 The favourable natural conditions, widespread availability of land and low
labour costs in tropical countries, and the fact that sugarcane and oil palm (the most cost-efficient
and greenhouse gas-saving crops, according to Worldwatch [2006b, p. 8]) grow best in
tropical conditions should provide developing countries in tropical regions a comparative
advantage in growing biofuel feedstock. IFPRI (von Braun and Pachauri 2006) and to a lesser
extent the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) seem to
take a middle position in celebrating biofuels for their potential to serve the environment and the
poor, but acknowledging at that same time that careful management and governance of biofuel
production and trading is needed in order to develop pro-poor biofuel programmes. Policies and
measures on feedstock, geographies, increasing productivity, waste reuse and scale optimisation
in processing such fuels should allow winwin situations to be created and require publicprivate
partnerships in biofuel development (von Braun and Pachauri 2006). This winwin goal appears
to be easier to attain if the value-added stages of biofuel production, notably processing and
refining, take place in the developing regions themselves. But the Brazil case teaches that to
achieve this end a well-developed scape is needed. This is certainly not available in many sub-
Saharan and other less developed countries (Kojima and Johnson 2005). This would result in
developing countries becoming biomass rather than biofuel exporting regions, or in large
foreign companies investing in biofuel production facilities, preferably in developing countries
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with better infrastructure (such as South Africa). Second-generation biofuels from cellulose-rich
organic material interferes less with the food economy and might have less negative
consequences for the environment, but these require even more advanced technical processes,
higher capital investments and large facilities, thus diminishing the comparative advantage of
developing countries. Generally speaking, these debates come together with two developments.
Firstly, there is the proliferation of national biofuel regions, starting with Brazil but spreading
to a still growing number of developed and developing countries. These national biofuel regions
result in large-scale monocropping biofuel production and the increasingly centralised,
homogenised production and refining of these crops, while local biofuel regions are losing their
relevance. Secondly, there is a clear tendency towards the development of a GIBN in which
production, trade investment, consumption, control and governance lies beyond the control of
nationstates (Worldwatch Institute 2006b). These developments result in major changes in the
making in the networks and scapes that structure the biofuel flows. While initially farmers, co-
operatives and individual processors were the main players in the local biofuel regions,
increasingly nowadays large companies and conglomerates (of major agribusiness such as
Cargill and Archer Daniels for the global grain trade12, conventional oil companies such as
Total and Shell13 and car companies such as Toyota and DaimlerChrysler) are moving to the
fore as powerful players that are both part of and the architects of biofuel scapes. Sometimes
these conglomerates are actively constructed by state agencies through round tables. In France
major oil companies, car industries and agroindustry and farmers associations met to discuss
progress in biofuels. In the UK the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership is a similar conglomerate of
some 250 organisations, including the automotive and fuel industries, the environmental sector
and government. In the USA the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition brings similar interest
groups together. Whether these round tables are actively constructed by state agencies or not,
large-scale farms, agribusiness and other major companies in the biofuels networks increasingly
manage to capture government subsidy programmes in both developed and in many developing
countries (Kojima and Johnson 2005). And they are also moving into developing countries. For
instance, in 2007 Swedish Scanoil was procuring land in Indonesia to grow jatropha as a
feedstock for biofuel. All the same the ownership of and access to the sources for biofuels, and
even production facilities for them, are much more diversified and small scale, compared
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to conventional fossil fuel scapes. For instance, in Minnesota (USA) and So Paulo (Brazil)
(Worldwatch Institute 2006b, p. 15) farmer co-operatives are still dominant in bio-ethanol
production facilities. Furthermore, oil extraction facilities are more dispersed compared to highly
concentrated petroleum refining facilities. This is partly related to the nature of feedstocks that
disadvantages long-distance transport and thus large-scale production facilities and requires less
capital compared to conventional oil.14 But the trend is definitely towards concentration and
capturing farmers in fixed contracts. In 2005 Archer Daniels Midland produced about 25 per cent
of ethanol in the USA and was the second largest biodiesel producer in Europe (Worldwatch
Institute 2006a, p. 72). It is not just that an emerging GIBN intrudes on the specific local space
of place where local biofuel production systems (in both developed and developing countries)
are undermined and local environmental conditions are endangered (especially withadvanced
technical processes, higher capital investments and large facilities, thus diminishing the
comparative advantage of developing countries. Generally speaking, these debates come together
with two developments. Firstly, there is the proliferation of national biofuel regions, starting with
Brazil but spreading to a still growing number of developed and developing countries. These
national biofuel regions result in large-scale monocropping biofuel production and the
increasingly centralised, homogenised production and refining of these crops, while local biofuel
regions are losing their relevance. Secondly, there is a clear tendency towards the development
of a GIBN in which production, trade investment, consumption, control and governance lies
beyond the control of nationstates (Worldwatch Institute 2006b). These developments result in
major changes in the making in the networks and scapes that structure the biofuel flows. While
initially farmers, co-operatives and individual processors were the main players in the local
biofuel regions, increasingly nowadays large companies and conglomerates (of major
agribusiness such as Cargill and Archer Daniels for the
global grain trade12, conventional oil companies such as Total and Shell13 and car companies
such as Toyota and DaimlerChrysler) are moving to the fore as powerful players that are both
part of and the architects of biofuel scapes. Sometimes these conglomerates are actively
constructed by state agencies through round tables. In France major oil companies, car industries
and agroindustry and farmers associations met to discuss progress in biofuels. In the UK
the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership is a similar conglomerate of some 250 organisations,
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including the automotive and fuel industries, the environmental sector and government. In the
USA the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition brings similar interest groups together. Whether
these round tables are actively constructed by state agencies or not, large-scale farms,
agribusiness and other major companies in the biofuels networks increasingly manage to capture
government subsidy programmes in both developed and in many developing countries (Kojima
and Johnson 2005). And they are also moving into developing countries. For instance,
in 2007 Swedish Scanoil was procuring land in Indonesia to grow jatropha as a feedstock for
biofuel. All the same the ownership of and access to the sources for biofuels, and even
production facilities for them, are much more diversified and small scale, compared to
conventional fossil fuel scapes. For instance, in Minnesota (USA) and So Paulo (Brazil)
(Worldwatch Institute 2006b, p. 15) farmer co-operatives are still dominant in bio-ethanol
production facilities. Furthermore, oil extraction facilities are more dispersed compared to highly
concentrated petroleum refining facilities. This is partly related to the nature of feedstocks that
disadvantages long-distance transport and thus large-scale production facilities and requires less
capital compared to conventional oil.14 But the trend is definitely towards concentration and
capturing farmers in fixed contracts (Table 1; Worldwatch Institute 2006a). In 2005 Archer
Daniels Midland
produced about 25 per cent of ethanol in the USA and was the second largest biodiesel
producer in Europe (Worldwatch Institute 2006a, p. 72).
It is not just that an emerging GIBN intrudes on the specific local space of place,
where local biofuel production systems (in both developed and developing countries)
are undermined and local environmental conditions are endangered (especially with
respect to soil and water degradation through large-scale, high-input, monocropping
farming), food availability and affordability for place-based locals (rather than the
mobile cosmopolitans) are jeopardised and local marginal farmers become increasingly
dependent on powerful global players in the GIBN. The emerging and increasingly
dominant GIBN also supports and takes on board the increasing global mobility
of biofuels, technologies, standards and so on, and prefers to tackle the environmental
worries and problem definitions of the cosmopolitans (such as climate change) rather
than those of the locals (who are concerned with water and soil degradation). The
Worldwatch Institute (2006a p. 68), for instance, points to the fact that in Brazil
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biofuels do improve the quality of life of the urban cosmopolitans (through lower air
emissions from traffic), at the costs of those in the rural areas. The Global Integrated
Biofuels Network also enhances the global sourcing for scarce (non-fossil fuel) energy
resources. But all this is no evolutionary, deterministic development. Then, how can
the biofuel governance structure develop in a GIBN to modify these tendencies?
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Conclusion
It is clear that energy from biomass has a very important role to play in combating
global warming. It can also help countries gain independence from fossil fuels, not only
in the developed world but also in developing regions of Asia, Latin America, and sub-
Saharan Africa. The fact that some of the poorest countries of the planet are net importers
of oil or, in some cases, fully dependent on imports (Biopact 2007) makes energy diversification
even more compelling. Social and economic benefits can also be expected, mostly
in rural areas. The use of global mechanisms such as the CDM can help take advantage
of some of the abovementioned benefits in a less expensive manner. Moreover, the
need for sustainable and economically feasible bioenergy technologies in developing countries
can lead to significant export opportunities for technologies, know-how, and services,
particularly for small and medium capacity plants (EREC 2008).
From the current study, we have concluded that even though utilizing the CDM for
the three bioenergy options examined (biomass combustion, biomass gasification, and biofuels
for transport) has considerable benefits, it is to a large extent restricted by a number of
barriers. Barriers of economic nature exist in some cases, such as for biomass gasification,
but they are expected to be diminished as technology develops. In the mean time, favorable
policies should be introduced to boost the industry and make investments more affordable
and less risky. Dissemination of information regarding successful projects is also needed
to make bioenergy projects under the CDM more attractive to investors. Nevertheless, in
most cases, there are additional barriers of social, environmental, regulatory, and financing
nature.
The market is hampered by the lack of financial instruments that could make
investors more interested in these kinds of projects. Especially in poor rural areas, it is
very difficult for the population to take advantage of the CDM for household applications
and for applications related to agriculture since they have no cash, and even if financing
schemes exist, they are not familiar with the procedures. Also, high transaction costs and
regulatory barriers are obstacles for most small-scale applications that could otherwise be
certified for CDM. It is proposed that the idea of programmatic CDM activities (Flamos
et al. 2008) could be used in these circumstances to split transaction costs among several
projects that by themselves are too small to be handled under the CDM.
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Technology transfer is difficult not only due to the unfamiliarity of investors with
bioenergy projects and CDM procedures but also because of different standards for
biomass production among countries and the lack of clear methodologies. One idea that
has been proposed by Kishore, Bhandari, and Gupta (2004) and could be a solution to the
latter problem is to use Energy Service Companys (ESCO) to manage bioenergy projects
in rural areas. These organizations could facilitate replicability among projects, provide
technological know-how, and take care of procedures with which interested parties are
unfamiliar. As for standards, further research is required in this field to make sure that
biomass is used in a sustainable way, without harming the local environment or causing
negative socio-economic implications. Policies to remove international trade barriers for
biomass resources are also needed, as is the case with liquid biofuels. Moreover, it is
important that research in areas that are not yet cost-effective or widely deployed, such as
gasification, second-generation biofuels, and flex-fuel vehicles, is continued and supported
in order for them to be ready for large market deployment in the near future.
Biofuels represent the first serious challenge to petroleum-based fuel for a century,
but it will take at least two more decades before biofuels will seriously challenge the
oil economy. However, the architecture of a global biofuel scape is already emerging.
While the US Renewable Fuels Association (2006) only recently captured the development
of biofuels in the title of their annual report: From niche to nation, it will not
be long before a revision will follow: From nation to global. With the proliferation
and globalisation of biofuels comes a proliferation and intensification of the debate on
its merits. Environmental sustainability and vulnerabilities stand out as two of the
most critical issues in the development of a GIBN. Such a network highlights both the
inclusion of places of biofuel production and consumption into global structures and
the increased mobility of biofuel flows and systems.
It is not too difficult to imagine that environmental sustainability will be integrated
in designing the socio-material infrastructure that will structure global
biofuel flows or how this may happen. Indeed, if we use the language of mobile
sociology, environmental sustainability can be seen as an attractor that will trigger
and structure the biofuel scape, increasingly merging with and transforming the
conventional fossil fuel scape. This is certainly true in that climate change is one of
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the main drivers behind biofuels, but it is also likely that some of the other environmental
aspects will do so in the future. But it is much more difficult to see the
inclusion and mitigation of new social vulnerabilities in future GIBNs, especially
those related to smaller farmers and the poorer developing countries. The highly
technological, capital intensive nature of the global socio-material infrastructure in
the making (with standardised products, advanced logistics and management and
global actors) does not easily provide these vulnerable actors access, power and
representation in such a GIBN. As long as the emerging GIBN takes on too many of the
characteristics of the current fossil fuel GIN, we cannot expect a fuel switch to result in better
positions for such vulnerable actors. But at the same time, other vulnerabilities are being
mitigated, such as the dependence of fuel-consuming nations on the OPEC countries and the
vulnerable justifications of major oil companies and car producers in the increasingly
dominant debates on climate change. Thus, it is not that the scapes and networks
must remain equal to current structures when moving to a more biofuel-based global
integrated fuel network, but that the position, power and security of some of the most
vulnerable actors is not likely to change for the better. In coining the biofuel developments in
GIN spatialities I deliberately avoided discussion on a liquid post-national, completely
deterritorialised and footloose framing of biofuels as global fluids. Hence, I do not foresee that
biofuels will easily become truly boundless. Interpreting biofuels in terms of global fluids (as
disorganised, boundless, non-directional and non-governable timespace constellations)
requires a refocusing on carbon flows rather than biofuels. Then, indeed, the boundaries
of nations and walled routes, and those between fuels, feed, food and gasses like
methane and carbon dioxide will melt into thin air, the directionality of (carbon) flows
will become meaningless and there will no longer be an obligatory point of passage.
Flows will then become mobilities that mutate and vary in their configuration (Law
and Mol 2003). Carbon configurations switch between food, feed, fuel and air. While
this is also true with respect to fossil fuels in a glacial time frame, the time horizons
are notably shorter when biofuels become common. But it can be questioned what
such a global fluids analysis could contribute to understanding current vulnerabilities
and sustainabilities.
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Doering, O.C. 3rd (2004) Energy policy: is it the best energy alternative? Current Agriculture,
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Demirbas, A.H., and I. Demirbas. 2007. Importance of rural bioenergy for developing countries.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel