Biofuel Introduction
Biofuel is a type of liquid fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases.
NoCOO's client, China New Energy, builds biorefineries that produce bioethanol and biobutanol of a range of feedstocks including cellulosic materials. Primary biorefinery modules include:
› Fermentation
› Distillation
› Dehydration
Ethanol and Butanol Feedstocks include:
› Cassava
› Corn
› Sugar cane
Cellulosic Ethanol Feedstocks include:
› Wood
› Grasses
› Corn stova
› Non-edible parts of plants
Biodiesel Feedstock include:
› Animal fats
› Vegetable oils
› Soy
› Rapeseed
› Jatropha
› Mahua
› Mustard
› Flax
› Sunflower
› Palm oil
› Hemp
› Field pennycress
› Pongamia pinnata
› Algae
Biobutanol
Butanol may be used as a fuel in an internal combustion engine. Because its longer hydrocarbon chain causes it to be fairly non-polar, it is more similar to gasoline than it is to ethanol. Butanol has been demonstrated to work in vehicles designed for use with gasoline without modification.
Bioethanol
Ethanol can be used in petrol engines as a replacement for gasoline; it can be mixed with gasoline to any percentage. Most existing car petrol engines can run on blends of up to 15% bioethanol with petroleum/ gasoline (E15).
Cellulosic ethanol
As with Bioethanol above, cellulosic ethanol can be blended with petroleum. The only difference is that the feedstock is derived from non-food crops such as from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants. It is a type of biofuel produced from lignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants.
Biodiesel
Biodiesel is the most common biofuel in Europe. It is produced from oils or fats using transesterification and is a liquid similar in composition to fossil/mineral diesel. Chemically, it consists mostly of fatty acid methyl (or ethyl) esters (FAMEs). Pure biodiesel (B100) is the lowest emission diesel fuel. In most cases, biodiesel is compatible with diesel engines from 1994 onwards, which use 'Viton' (by DuPont) synthetic rubber in their mechanical fuel injection systems.
Top 50 Biofuel Companies from
Biofuels Digest:
Amyris
Solazyme
POET
LS9
Gevo
DuPont Danisco
Novozymes
Coskata
Codexis
Sapphire Energy
Virent
Mascoma
Ceres
Cobalt Technologies
Honeywell’s UOP
Enerkem
BP Biofuels
Genencor
Petrobras
Abengoa Energy
Qteros
Joule Unlimited
Shell
Bluefire Renewables
Rentech
Algenol
ZeaChem
PetroAlgae
Nestle
Synthetic Genomics
LanzaTech
Iogen
OriginOil
RangeFuels
ExxonMobil
Cargill
SG Biofuels
Butamax
Terrabon
Cosan
Verenium
Waste Management
IneosBio
Dynamic Fuels
Fulcrum Bioenergy
KL Energy
KiOR
Chevron
Monsanto
Inbicon
