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Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricultural, domestic or industrial bio waste.
Brazilian cerrado Amazon rainforest. The indirect land use change impacts of biofuels, also known as ILUC or iLUC (pronounced as i-luck), relates to the unintended consequence of releasing more carbon emissions due to land-use changes around the world induced by the expansion of croplands for ethanol or biodiesel production in response to the increased global demand for biofuels.
Biofuel development and use is a complex issue because there are many biofuel options which are available. Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel , are currently produced from the products of conventional food crops such as the starch, sugar and oil feedstocks from crops that include wheat , maize , sugar cane , palm oil and oilseed rape .
The effect on carbon dioxide emissions is highly dependent on production methods and the type of feedstock used. Calculating the carbon intensity of biofuels is a complex and inexact process, and is highly dependent on the assumptions made in the calculation. A calculation usually includes:
Food vs fuel is the debate regarding the risk of diverting farmland or crops for biofuels production in detriment of the food supply on a global scale. Essentially the debate refers to the possibility that by farmers increasing their production of these crops, often through government subsidy incentives, their time and land is shifted away from other types of non-biofuel crops driving up the ...
Biofuels have a number of properties that will make it difficult to fully and effectively incorporate them into the gasoline infrastructure and vehicle fleet. Biofuels can differ from gasoline in a number of ways, depending on the particular fuel: lower energy content, different physical and combustion characteristics, and corrosive properties.
These include: the effect of moderating oil prices, the "food vs fuel" debate, poverty reduction potential, carbon emissions levels, sustainable biofuel production, deforestation and soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, impact on water resources, as well as energy balance and efficiency.
The cost estimation of producing microalgae-biofuel is around $3.1 per litre ($11.57/US gal), [55] which is considerably more expensive than conventional gasoline. However, when compared with electrification of the vehicle fleet – a key advantage of such biofuel is the avoidance of the costly distribution of large amounts of electrical energy ...