Biofuels Fuel Energy Forests

Photo Credit: Some rights reserved by MΛЯK via Flickr.

One of the current trends in the development of our modern societies is the pursuit of alternative methods of producing fuel to meet ever growing demand. The surprising thing is that countries which possess large amounts of oil and gas resources, are also focused on the implementation of renewable energy methods. Solar, wind, and hydro energy have become common place as traditional alternative sources of energy, but biomass recycling and biofuel production are also promising alternatives.

Energy forests as they are often called serve as a good example of planned biofuel manufacturing. In particular, wood is a long-standing and traditional fuel source utilized by humans since ancient times. Today the tendency to utilize wood for energy production has transformed into deliberate cultivation of fast-growing tree species, such as eucalyptus, poplar, and willow. To date 20 species of these fast growing species have been tested and most have a rotation period of around 6-7 years. After the rotation period the trees are harvested and used in the production of bio-fuel. Energy producers generally gather around 7 tons of woods per hectare for this process, which proves that such purposeful growth of trees really facilitates the bio-fuel output.

Fuel pellets, which are bio-fuel cells have been used since 1947. Bio-fuel cells are produced from peat, wood, and agricultural wastes which are presented in cylindrical form of standard size. Waste of biological origin are usually raw or with minimal pre-combustion: sawdust, wood chips, bark, husks, hulls, straw, etc. The quality of these pellets generally depends on the biological material it was produced from. Different countries have their own standards on biofuel production, including fuel pellets. Demands for the pellets, new bio-fuel technology, and techniques for creating biofuels have risen in tandem with the increased prices of oil and gas – and this rise in demand is helping to define biofuel as a competitive alternative to traditional fuel sources.

The wide distribution of this fuel is preconditioned by its environmentally friendly nature – CO2 emissions from combustion are equal to the absorption of this gas during the growth of trees, and the emissions of NO and volatile organic compounds are significantly reduced by the use of advanced combustion technologies and environmental pollution controls.

In recent times ethanol has gained a huge appreciation among various countries which possess large areas of forests and vegetation. This technology of energy production has already found its leaders. In particular, Brazil and the United States contribute 45 and 44.7% to biofuel manufacture respectively. In August 2005 the “Energy Bill” (Energy Policy Act of 2005) and “Renewable Fuels Standard” laws were adopted in the USA. They include the annual production of 30 billion liters of ethanol from corn and 3.8 billion liters of cellulose (corn stalks, rice straw, waste wood industry, etc.) by 2012.

Notwithstanding the relative limitedness of biological material in the world it might be characterized as a renewable one: growing energy forests over and over and usage of industrial and agriculture wastes that encourage biofuel production. Biofuels seem to be promising and are a already successful way of getting energy that is much needed, especially considering the exhaustibility of traditional oil and gas.

Maria Kruk, an author for Patentsbase.com

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