1. About Bio-Energy
What are biofuels?
Bio energy is energy that is derived from biomass. Bio mass is generally defined as materials that
are derived from recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts. Biofuels can be broadly
defined as a combustible fuel produced from biomass including solid, liquid, or gas forms of fuel
derived from recently dead biological material, most commonly plants. This differentiates biofuel
from fossil fuel, which is derived from long dead biological material. Biofuels are generally in the
form of alcohols, esters, ethers, and other chemicals produced from biomass. The Bio-energy
discovery kit shows a new way to create electricity using tiny quantities of biofuel mixed with
water, and without combustion - using a new energy conversion device called a direct ethanol fuel
cell (DEFC). In the immediate term, this new ethanol fuel cell technology creates a non-toxic, easy
to use, and long lasting power source alternative for small electronics.
Types and source of biofuels
The two main types of biofuels are bioethanol and biodiesel. Bioethanol fuel is mainly produced by
the sugar fermentation process. These main sources of sugars most commonly come from food
crops such as corn, maize and wheat crops, waste straw, willow and popular trees, sawdust,
grasses, jerusalem artichoke, myscanthus and sorghum plants. Biodiesel can be produced from
straight vegetable oil, animal oil/fats, tallow and waste cooking oil. The process used to convert
these oils to Biodiesel is called transesterification. The largest possible source of suitable oil
comes from oil crops such as rapeseed, palm or soybean.
1. About Bio-Energy
What are biofuels?
Bio energy is energy that is derived from biomass. Bio mass is generally defined as materials that
are derived from recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts. Biofuels can be broadly
defined as a combustible fuel produced from biomass including solid, liquid, or gas forms of fuel
derived from recently dead biological material, most commonly plants. This differentiates biofuel
from fossil fuel, which is derived from long dead biological material. Biofuels are generally in the
form of alcohols, esters, ethers, and other chemicals produced from biomass. The Bio-energy
discovery kit shows a new way to create electricity using tiny quantities of biofuel mixed with
water, and without combustion - using a new energy conversion device called a direct ethanol fuel
cell (DEFC). In the immediate term, this new ethanol fuel cell technology creates a non-toxic, easy
to use, and long lasting power source alternative for small electronics.
Types and source of biofuels
The two main types of biofuels are bioethanol and biodiesel. Bioethanol fuel is mainly produced by
the sugar fermentation process. These main sources of sugars most commonly come from food
crops such as corn, maize and wheat crops, waste straw, willow and popular trees, sawdust,
grasses, jerusalem artichoke, myscanthus and sorghum plants. Biodiesel can be produced from
straight vegetable oil, animal oil/fats, tallow and waste cooking oil. The process used to convert
these oils to Biodiesel is called transesterification. The largest possible source of suitable oil
comes from oil crops such as rapeseed, palm or soybean.
1
What is Ethanol?
In common usage, Ethanol is often referred to simply as alcohol. It is a straight-chain alcohol and
its molecular formula is variously represented as EtOH, CH
3
CH
2
OH,C
2
H
5
OH or as its empirical
formula C
2
H
6
O.
After the use of fire, fermentation of sugar into ethanol is perhaps the earliest organic reaction
known to humanity. In modern times ethanol intended for industrial use has also been produced
from byproducts of petroleum refining. Ethanol is produced both as a petrochemical, through the
hydration of ethylene, and biologically, by fermenting sugars with yeast. Advanced research today
is looking at ways to obtain ethanol efficiently, economically, and in an environmentally friendly
way from waste plant matter, and genetic engineering.
Ethanol has widespread use as a solvent for substances intended for human contact or
consumption, including scents, flavorings, colorings, and medicines. In chemistry it is both an
essential solvent and a feedstock for the synthesis of other products. The new technology in this
kit eliminates the need for combustion of ethanol and finds a new uses for tiny quantities of the
biofuel to power small electronics, not automobiles.
Ethanol for use in alcoholic beverages, and the vast majority of ethanol for use as fuel, is
produced by fermentation. When certain species of yeast, most importantly, Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, metabolize sugar in the absence of oxygen, they produce ethanol and carbon dioxide.
The chemical equation below summarizes the conversion:
2