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Figure 13.9 Pros and cons possessed by biofuels.
the biodiesel has higher combustion efficiency, better lubricating qualities, thus
reducing the need for maintenance and prolonging engine life (Silitonga et al.,
2011; Atabani et al., 2012; Mofijur et al., 2012).
Despite having a huge number of benefits, there are many key issues or chal-
lenges linked to the biofuel prospect and needs to be addressed at the earliest.
There has been a rising competition for crop land between the biofuel-producing
crops and the food crops. Increased production of biofuels have led to global
increase in the agricultural prices (High Level Panel of Experts of Food Security
and Nutrition (HLPE), 2013; Thompson, 2012; Oladosu and Msangi, 2013; Tomei
and Helliwell, 2016). Claims regarding emissions are also a major topic of debate.
There are certain claims that the net greenhouse gases emission from biofuels can
be even more harmful than those by gasoline in the terms of climate effects
(Searchinger et al., 2008; Yang and Chen, 2013; Kahn Ribeiro et al., 2012). Biofuel
production has been found to indirectly affect the water availability. Seventy per-
cent of the global freshwater is used for agricultural purpose (Fischer et al., 2002).
Biofuel production that requires growing biofuel crops will lead to overuse of the
already scarce water resources and shortage for use in growing food crops.
Growing more amounts of fuel crops directly relates to large-scale use of fertilizers
to satisfy the needs of growing population. This may lead to leaching of chemical
fertilizers to nearby water bodies and into the ground water, thereby polluting them
(Solomon and Bailis, 2014; National Research Council (NRC), 2008). Large pieces
of land area are required for cultivating the biofuel crops. This can only be made
possible by clearing more and more land and forest areas, thus disrupting the natu-
ral habitats for a large number of species (Cowie et al., 2016). Moreover, the bio-
fuels especially the biodiesels are 11 17 times more viscous than the normal diesel