Prospects Of Biofuels Research Articles

In-vitro Cr (III) alleviation and the concurrent biochemical responses by Chlorella minutissima to establish its phycoremediation potential and biofuel prospects

Different microalgal species possess the proficiency of tolerating heavy metals and enhance certain metabolic processes under metal stress. This is a novel study on C. minutissima under Chromium (III) stress to determine the IC50 value for optimization, to evaluate its phycoremediation potential and biofuel prospects. Varied range of Chromium Sulfate (20-120 mg/L) exposure on C. minutissima presented an IC50 value of 83.78 mg/L and ICPMS data stated that C. minutissima was able to eliminate 96.5% of Cr (III) from the medium with a BCF value of 0.96 and a high TI value of 1.035, reflecting on the high Cr (III) resistance ability and remediation potential of the selected microalgal species. A higher biomass productivity was observed for stressed cells (17.92 mg/L/day) than control (15.42 mg/L/day). The lipid content and productivity in the metal treated cells was elevated (21.21% and 0.77 mg/L in control, 30.12% and 1.26 mg/L under stress, respectively) with simultaneous maintenance of growth and photosynthetic functions. GC-MS study indicated a rise in MUFA under Cr (III) stress. This study presents significant insights for further investigation in utilization of C. minutissima for integrated approaches toward Cr (III) bioremediation and biodiesel production.

Gromakov A. V., Fil' A.V. Prospects of biofuels as fuel for marine diesels

Gromakov A. V., Fil' A.V. Prospects of biofuels as fuel for marine diesels

Prospects for Biofuels: A Review

Biofuels have the potential to be sustainable, secure, low carbon footprint transportation fuels. Primarily due to government mandates, biofuels have become increasingly adopted as transportation fuels over the last decade and are projected to steadily increase in production. Here the prospects of biofuels are summarized in terms of several important performance measures, including: lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy return on investment (EROI), land and water requirements, and tailpipe emissions. A review of the literature leads to the conclusion that most first-generation biofuels, including corn ethanol and soybean biodiesel produced in the United States, reduce tailpipe pollutant emissions and GHG emissions—provided their feedstocks do not replace large quantities of fixed carbon. However, their production is perhaps unsustainable due to low EROI and significant land-use and water requirements. Second-generation biofuels; for example ethanol produced from lignocellulosic biomass, have the potential for larger reductions in GHG emissions and can provide sustainable EROI with reasonable land area usage; however, they require water inputs several orders-of-magnitude greater than required by petroleum fuels. Advanced biofuels from algal oils and synthetic biological processes are further from commercial reality and require more assessment but potentially offer better performance due to their orders-of-magnitude greater yields per land area and lower water requirements; at present, the energy costs of such biofuels are uncertain.

The Long-Term Prospects of Biofuels in the EU-15 Countries

The core objective of this paper is to analyze the energy and CO2 reduction potentials as well as the market prospects of biofuels in EU-15 in a dynamic framework till 2050. The most important result of this analysis is that 2nd generation biofuels might become economically competitive between 2020 and 2030, yet this can only be achieved if the following preconditions are fulfilled: (1) achievement of significant learning effects leading to considerably lower plant costs; (2) significant improvement of conversion efficiency from feedstock to fuel leading to lower feedstock costs and better ecological performance; (3) increases in conventional diesel and gasoline prices, e.g., due to CO2 based taxes.

Creating value in African biofuels

AbstractDuring the global financial crisis, prospects for biofuels in Africa looked gloomy. Moving beyond the crisis and the food vs fuel debate, biofuel producers, academics, and policy‐makers alike are looking for ways to create value from sustainably produced biofuels in Africa. Meghan Sapp from PANGEA looks at why it is important that biofuels are ‘done right’ and for the benefit of Africa. © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Primary productivity and the prospects for biofuels in the United Kingdom

Estimates of land use and plant productivity are combined to predict total annual primary production in the UK as 252 million tonnes dry matter (10.5 t ha−1yr−1). Annual above ground production is predicted to be 165 Mt (6.9 t ha−1yr−1). Within these totals, intensive agriculture contributes 60%, productive woodland 8%, natural vegetation 26% and urban vegetation 5%.