About
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- For the sake of simplicity think of plant biomass in terms of edible and non-edible part.
- The edible part of plant like fruits, vegetables, grains etc. are usually made simple sugar, starch.
- The other edible part is seeds that have edible oils.
- The non-edible part of biomass on the other hand is made of cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin.
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Energy From Biofuels
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- There are 3 pathways to derive energy out of biofuels:
- Burn them
- Make alcohols like ethanol and methanol
- Make biodiesel
- Make biogas
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Burning of Biofuels
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- Burning solid biofuel will leave solid ash residue which is not desirable. Eg: Cow dung, wood etc
- So, we need to gasify or liquify biomass.
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Liquifying Biofuels
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- Liquifying biofuels again include 2 pathways
- Make alcohols: ethanol and methanol: fermentation
- Make biodiesel: From vegetable oils: transesterification
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Gasifying Biofuels
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- Biogas: Bio-methanation
- Biohydrogen: from syngas
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Alcohols: Ethanol and Methanol
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- Alcohols are best alternatives to petrol.
- You can directly replace petrol with ethanol or methanol in IC engines or alternately you may blend it with petrol. (Ethanol blending upto 20% by 2030 is the target)
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