Page 456 - Advances in Eco-Fuels for a Sustainable Environment

Eco friendly biofuels for CI engine applications 409

animals. These fuels contain high amounts of carbons and hydrocarbons (HC). Upon
burning, these fuels release high concentrations of toxic gases that affect both humans
and the environment. Ecofuel’s intended purpose is to reduce the impact on the envi-
ronment and also to cut down on the usage of the existing conventional fuels, which
are also limited in abundance. Natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), com-
pressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen, etc., are some of the available ecofuels today.
These ecofuels, though promising as viable substitutes, are quite tricky to harness
from their raw form.
Biomass is readily available but it also depends on the region of production and the
settlement. Brazil, China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, the United States, and the
European Commission form the UN International Biofuels Forum. Russia, on the
other hand, has 22% of the world’s forest cover and provides one of the highest sup-
plies of biomass. The United States, Brazil, and the European Union alone contributed
about 87% of global biofuel production in 2011. India’s energy consumption is
increasing at the rate of 6.5% per annum whereas the fuel resources are decreasing
at an alarming rate. To balance this deficit, it has become necessary for our nation
to focus more on biofuels. India, being an agriculture stronghold, is not short of crops
and seeds that make viable alternatives. In India, the major sources of biofuels are
soybean, canola, sunflower, cottonseed, palm seed, palm kernel, etc. This makes India
more suited to spearhead the biofuel sector.
The leading manufacturers of biofuels in the nation are companies such as Reliance
Industries Limited, Godrej Agrovet, Emami Group, Aatmiya Biofuels Pvt. Ltd., and
Gujarat Oelo Chem Limited (GOCL). The production of ecofuels mainly depends on
many parameters such as the type of raw material, production quantity, surrounding
situation, and end-user requirement. Many production techniques being used around
the globe are hydrotreatment, fermentation, extraction, transesterification, and hydro-
lysis. Each process has its own merits and demerits and the selection of the production
process depends on the need for ecofuel and the available resources for production.
Ecofuels are comparable to diesel in many aspects but vary in very key facts such
as emissions, mileage, and acceleration. It has been reported that ecofriendly fuels
might improve vehicle mileage and smooth acceleration with a slight penalty in
exhaust NO x emissions. Most of the ecofriendly fuels are gaining attention in automo-
tive sectors and a few countries have adapted these ecofriendly fuels, either in partial
or complete replacement with petroleum fuels without any hardware modifications in
the existing setup. Due to the economic feasibility, many ecofuels have been used with
fossil fuels as a partial substitute. This is to help the industries find innovations and
challenging technology to produce the biofuels in an economically feasible way.
The present energy scenario has shown the path of a major shift in fuel resource
usage in future energy consumption. The biofuel resources might have a dominant
impact on the agricultural sector as well. Unlike fossil fuels, the usage of biofuels
in the automotive sector would increase the employability in the agricultural sector.
Most of the research related to biofuels has been conducted in the form of direct appli-
cations without changing the engine hardware installations. This snippet would pro-
vide emphasis on various manufacturing techniques on a cost-effective yield of
alternative fuels that enables researchers in the current production scenario.