Increase in Biofuel Demand is Making Nations More Energy Independent
Date: 5.1.2006
Spike in global oil demand is making alternative fuels more attractive.
With worldwide demand for oil rising — and driving prices upward — the need for alternative oil sources to help nations achieve greater energy independence has never been greater.
Fortunately, renewed interest in bio-based fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel — which are often derived from biotech seeds and enzymes — are making a strong comeback.
Since 1999, China's oil imports have doubled, and oil consumption in India has also grown rapidly. Demand for oil in both countries is projected to grow at between 7 and 9 percent for the next several years, a rate that will have China, in less than 20 years, matching the United States' current consumption level of 21 million barrels of oil per day.
That trend, coupled with increasing demand for oil in other developing countries, is likely to keep oil prices in the $50-per-barrel-and-up range for the foreseeable future, according to energy experts. With oil costs so high, biofuels (a term commonly applied to liquid transportation fuels produced from plants) such as ethanol and biodiesel are becoming more cost-effective and attractive.
In addition, biofuels provide countries with the option of growing some of their fuel at home, curbing demand for imports — an idea that in the United States is gaining sup
port from liberals and conservatives alike.
"Biodiesel is one of our nation's most promising alternative fuels sources and by developing biodiesel, you're making this country less dependent on foreign sources of oil," said U.S. President George Bush after touring a biodiesel production facility in West Point, Va., in May 2004.
The United States has gone from importing about 33 percent of its oil in the 1970s to around 56 percent today, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That figure will likely rise to 68 percent by 2025 if there aren't substantial changes in U.S. energy policies.
"We rely on imported oil for an increasingly large fraction of our liquid transportation fuels," Michigan State University chemical engineering professor Bruce E. Dale told the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee in 2001. "We need more reliable energy supplies — and biofuels can help."
Biofuel production is growing
Although ethanol and biodiesel combined only account for about 2 percent of the total liquid transportation fuels consumed annually in the United States, the use of both is growing rapidly, both in the United States and around the world.
According to the American Soybean Association, the demand for biodiesel — which was just 30 million gallons in 2004 — will rise to more than 124 million gallons during the next 10 years, making it the fastest growing alternative fuel in the nation. Germany, the world's leading producer of biodiesel, is increasing its annual output by 40 to 50 percent.
U.S. ethanol consumption in 2004 (approximately 3.4 billion gallons) eliminated the need to import $143 million barrels of oil and reduced the U.S. trade deficit by $5.1 billion. U.S. production is projected to top 4.4 billion gallons later this year. Other signs of expansion in the U.S. and abroad include:
The construction of 16 new ethanol production plants in the United States, bringing the total to 100.
Recent completion of the world's largest ethanol plant in China — with plans for another just like it in the works.
France's plan to triple its output of ethanol and biodiesel by 2007.
Recent advances through research and development in biotechnology as well as in other fields have been critical to these expansion rates. For example, the development of pest and herbicide resistant biotech corn — by far the most common feedstock used to produce ethanol — through has helped boost overall average yields of corn in recent years. Average yields for 1999-2001 increased about 10 bushels per acre over the 1995-97 average yields — an increase that makes ethanol substantially more energy- and cost-efficient.
In addition, the development of new enzymes that enhance processing, larger processing plants, energy-saving innovations and additional co-products has also increased the economic viability of ethanol production.
The National Biomass Initiative, created in 2000, established the administrative structure to promote research and development into a wide variety of technologies used to produce biofuels.
Currently, ethanol is produced primarily from corn, using technologies that ferment the sugars, which are easily accessible from the starch in corn, to produce ethanol. New technologies that can break down plant cellulose to release those sugars to use in the production of ethanol hold the promise of further reducing the cost and increasing the availability of ethanol.
Today, biodiesel is produced primarily from either recycled cooking oils and fats or from soybean oil. Someday, it may be produced from algae.
"A very large-scale biofuels industry . . . must be based on lignocellulosic materials," said Dale, referring to technologies in development that will be able to make fuels from plant waste such as corn stalks rather than corn kernels.
In fact, such technologies will eventually enable the production of any fuels or other products that can be made from carbon, which is the common molecular building block that makes both petroleum and biomass valuable feedstock. The model of successful future ethanol production facilities is likely the model of the "biorefinery," a production facility that is capable of turning any sort of biomass into ethanol, biodiesel, animal feed products, and a multitude of other valuable chemicals and chemical compounds.
Nearly 50 research projects aimed at developing different aspects of biomass technologies have been launched since the National Biomass Initiative began funding such projects in 2002. Among the successes thus far are a new fractionation technology that enables ethanol producers to use corn bran as a feedstock and another project that has blended the use of both corn and corn stover to produce ethanol.
To help curb the reliance on oil, a project completed by the Ag Energy Working Group created a "blueprint for action" for the United States to meet 25 percent of its total energy needs from agricultural sources by 2025 without harming food production.
Reaching that "25 by 25" goal could also produce substantial gains for the environment.
Biofuels are bio-friendly
For starters, ethanol combusts more completely than gasoline. Even a blend of 10 percent ethanol has a big impact, producing from 12 to 19 percent fewer greenhouse gases than petroleum-based fuels. In 2004, the use of ethanol in the United States reduced the emission of pollutants by 7.03 million pounds — the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.
Biodiesel yields similar environmental benefits. A 20 percent blend of biodiesel and diesel, for example, reduces emissions of carbon monoxide by 12.6 percent, hydrocarbons by 11 percent and particulates by 18 percent. A 100 percent blend boosts those numbers to 43.2 percent, 56.3 percent and 55.4 percent, respectively.
Renewable fuels also help the environment because the plants grown to make these fuels take greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide out of the air and fix it in their roots, stems and leaves. Much of this carbon dioxide gets sequestered in the soil, reducing the overall level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
This carbon-fixing phenomenon is expected to improve as biotechnology helps develop the means to produce biofuels from additional feedstock such as switch grass, willow and other perennial plants.
Finally, the same biotechnology advances that will enable researchers to economically produce biofuels from all sources of biomass will provide an outlet for many waste products that currently enter landfills and other waste management systems.
Currently, every year the United States generates some 280 million tons of lawn clippings, leaves, sawdust, wood pulp and other waste that, with expected advances in biotechnology, could be used to produce biofuels.
That could go a long way toward providing less expensive fuels, reducing our dependence on oil imports — all while helping to improve the environment.
"Source":[ http://www.whybiotech.com/index.asp?id=5044].
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