Introduction

Biofuels are energy sources made from living things, or waste that living things produce. It contains energy from geologically recent carbon fixation. These fuels are made by a fermentation of plant or plant like materials. This biomass is converted to energy using thermal, chemical and biochemical conversion.

The sources of biofuels can roughly be divided into four categories:

• First generation biofuels, made from sugars, vegetable oils and animal fats that are converted into fuels like biodiesel, bioalcohols, ethanol through a process called transesterification.

• Second generation biofuels, made from non-food crops or agricultural wastes like willow or wood chips,

• Third generation biofuels, made from algae or other quick growing biomass sources

• Fourth generation, made from specially engineered plants or biomass that are able to grow on non-cultivated lands or in water bodies.

(http://www.greenchoices.cornell.edu/energy/biofuels/)

 

Biofuel can be dated back to approximately 300 years ago, when Rudof Diesel first envisioned vegetable oil as a source of fuel for his engine. He demonstrated his engine by running it on peanut oil. Henry Ford, too, tried to use ethanol as a fuel for his Model T. However, petroleum became the preffered source of fuel due to its price and efficiency.

In the 1970’s, with the passing of the Clean Air Act by the Environmental Protection Agency, the concept of biofuels was revisited. This Act triggered the need for a cleaner and less polluting surce of fuel. Also, with the rising price of fossil fuels like petroleum, there was a need to find an alternative source of energy, which would be more cost effective.

In 1992, the EPA passed the Energy Policy Act to encourage an increase in the amount of alternative fuel used by the U.S. government and also aimed at promoting biofuel as an efficient source of fuel for transportation. (http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/alternative-fuels/biodiesel2.htm)

           

 In the present time, fossil fuels, being a non renewable source of energy is depleting and is also      

 becoming increasingly costly. They are available in limited reserves and are found only in certain regions. Not only this, but the use of fossil fuels generates harmful gases into the environment causing global warming. Hence, biofuel has gained popularity over the years as an efficient alternative to petroleum.  (Demirbas, A. 2009).  The use of biofuel does not add to the level of carbon di oxide in the atmosphere, it only makes use of the amount, which was already there.