Gaseous biofuels
Biogas is a mixture composed primarily of methane and carbon dioxide produced by the process of
anaerobic digestion of organic material by micro-organisms.
Other trace components of this mixture includes water vapor, hydrogen sulfide, siloxanes,
hydrocarbons, ammonia, oxygen, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen.
It can be produced either from biodegradable waste materials or by the use of energy crops fed into
anaerobic digesters to supplement gas yields.
The solid byproduct, digestate, can be used as a biofuel or a fertilizer. When CO2 and other
impurities are removed from biogas, it is called biomethane.
The CO2 can also be combined with hydrogen in methanation to form more methane.
• Biogas can be recovered from mechanical biological treatment waste processing systems.
• Landfill gas, a less clean form of biogas, is produced in landfills through naturally occurring
anaerobic digestion. If it escapes into the atmosphere, it acts as a greenhouse gas.
Syngas
Syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and various hydrocarbons, is produced by partial
combustion of biomass (combustion with an amount of oxygen that is not sufficient to convert the
biomass completely to carbon dioxide and water).
Before partial combustion the biomass is dried and sometimes pyrolysed.
Syngas is more efficient than direct combustion of the original biofuel; more of the energy contained
in the fuel is extracted.
Syngas may be burned directly in internal combustion engines, turbines or high-temperature fuel
cells.
The wood gas generator, a wood-fueled gasification reactor, can be connected to an internal
combustion engine.
Syngas can be used to produce methanol, dimethyl ether and hydrogen, or converted via the Fischer–
Tropsch process to produce a diesel substitute, or a mixture of alcohols that can be blended into
gasoline. Gasification normally relies on temperatures greater than 700 °C.
• Lower-temperature gasification is desirable when co-producing biochar, but results in syngas
polluted with tar.
Solid biofuels
• These biofuels are consists of solid organic, non-fossil
biomass of biological origin.
• These biomasses have significant applications in
heat production, energy and electricity generation.
• These biofuels are produced from charcoal, fuelwood,
wood pellets, wood residue, animal waste and other
renewable industrial waste.
• Some significant examples are biochar
Sources of Biofuels
First-generation biofuels
• The first-generation biofuels are obtained majorly from animal
feed crops or other food products.
• This biofuel manufacturing employs the use of various
prominent technologies and processes, including
fermentation, distillation and transesterification, due to which
these biofuels are also regarded as ‘conventional biofuels’.
• The process primarily focuses on the production of fuel only,
and the rest of non-fuel matter is discarded as waste; as a
result, no membranes are required in these methods
Second-generation biofuels
• The second-generation biofuels are entirely produced from non-food
feedstocks such as dedicated energy crops and other lignocellulosic plants,
agricultural residues, forest residues and other waste products.
• Compared to first-generation biofuel production, the second generation is an
improved method that focuses on both increased fuel recovery and the
production of secondary raw material.
• Unlike the first generation process, it focuses on producing valuable fuels and
reducing the overall energy cost and amount of waste production, making it an
economically feasible method.
• Due to these reasons, researchers usually aid techniques like membrane
filtration and integration of various biorefineries for improved yield of biofuel.
• A variety of mesophilic and thermophilic organisms are used in both batch and
continuous reactions to generate biofuels, organic acids and amino acids
Third-generation biofuels
• The third-generation biofuels are derived from microalgae via
transesterification or hydrotreatment of the algal oil
• These methods can efficiently increase the biofuel yield per year than the first
generation biofuels that use traditional crops.
• The second and third-generation biofuels are still under development and
research progress, and hence, they are collectively regarded as advanced
biofuels.
• The primary sources include feasible resources that don't affect the food chain
and are feasible, readily available and flexible towards environmental
parameters.
• These sources are majorly microalgae, animal oils, fish oil, waste cooking oil,
animal fat etc. another significant advancement include the potential to
decrease water pollution and a load of waste handling plant
Fourth-generation biofuels
• The fourth-generation biofuels are processed using genetically modified
(GM) algae and photobiological solar fuels and electro-fuels.
• The GM algae biomass is effective in producing biofuels, improving
photosynthetic efficiency, and increasing light penetration.
• The fourth-generation solar raw materials are widely available,
economically cheaper and inexhaustible.
• The genetic modification of microalgal biomass holds a potential
application in oil extraction methodology by inducing autolysis of cells and
product secretary systems.
• Genome editing tools such as zinc-finger nuclease (ZFN), transcription-like
effector nucleases (TALEN), and clustered regularly interspaced
palindromic sequences (CRISPR/Cas9) are widely used bioinformatics tools
Comparison of advantages and disadvantage of the various generations of biofuels
