The use of passenger cars in the civilized world has single-handedly contributed towards maximum environmental pollution and production of greenhouse gases. The combustion of fossil fuels, petrol, and diesel produce harmful gases, not only causing immediate ill-effects towards the health of the people, but also showing slow consequences like increase in temperature, shift in weather patterns, and melting of glaciers among others. These modify our ecosystems with wide-ranging consequences that we cannot even begin to fathom. The delay in rains, excessive temperatures, snow in summer, increase in sea level are all being seen as possible repercussions.
This initiated a search for eco-friendly alternatives. Hence, there appeared on the horizon – biofuels. The much-touted biofuel, is, technically speaking, any fuel generated from a biomass. Ethanol made from corn, sugar cane, soybean as well as biodiesel qualify as a biofuel. Biodiesels are plant oils like coconut oil or vegetable oils that can be used in a diesel engine. Biofuels are eco-friendly because they are produced from renewable sources like crops. The emission gases, like CO2, produced are much less as compared to fossil fuels. There was an urgent need to produce these; especially, when the fossil fuel prices started rising alarmingly, along with the environmental threat anyway present.
Biofuels need a lot of energy to produce. Thus, 75% of the energy is consumed in production, and the energy finally available for use is just about 25% for ethanol. This is not commercially desirable or viable.
The biggest problem here is also that biofuels require a lot of crops to produce. One liter of ethanol requires nearly 3 Kg. of corn or 12 Kgs. of sugarcane to produce. That means a lot of food grain or crop is consumed giving poorer energy returns for consumption. This requires massive production of such crops and would result in forests being cut down to make more land available for growing these crops. The food meant for feeding the poor and the cattle could get diverted to generate more lucrative returns from biofuels.
Biofuels are also difficult to produce in very large quantities, due to the above reasons, to serve as a replacement for conventional fossil fuels. Hence, their impact on the environment would be negligible in this scenario as the dependence on fossil fuels would still be very high.
Biofuels do cause much less pollution, but much more research is needed to make them a viable option as a substitute for conventional fuel.
Cellulosic ethanol, still under research, seems like a more suitable alternative to bioethanol. Its promise lies in the fact that it can use waste plants and weeds like grasses and husks, which can be grown on marginal lands instead of farmlands. It also requires much less energy to produce. Being in the nascent stage of research, it requires a lot of time before it can be judged on its commercial viability.
While we research processes to come up with better fuels like biofuels, measures like reduction of usage of passenger cars, spreading awareness about the causes of environmental damage, and use of public transport must be taken up aggressively.
We will have to wait and see if biofuels really are the future of fuels.