Biofuel: Types, History, Carbon Cycle, and Its Usage in Australia

This report provides a comprehensive overview of biofuel, beginning with a definition and exploring its historical context, tracing its evolution from early uses like wood to modern applications. It details the three main types of biofuel: ethanol, biodiesel, and biobutanol, outlining their production methods, advantages, and disadvantages. The report then focuses on the Australian biofuel industry, discussing the types of biofuel available, production levels, and government policies. Furthermore, it explains the carbon cycle and its relationship with biofuel, illustrating how biofuel impacts carbon emissions and the environment. The report concludes with a detailed reference list of cited sources.

BIOFUEL
By (Name)
Course
Instructor
University
State
Date
1

What is biofuel?
Biofuel is a type of fuel that comes from the materials of the renewable biomass that is
mostly employed alternatively with the source of cleaner fuel in burning fossils (Walker, 2017).
This type of fuel is of low carbon intensity, and therefore, they do not have a direct impact on
global warming (Puri, Abraham & Barrow 2012, p.1623). Besides, research suggests that the
formulations from these fuels have the capability of removing materials like cooking oil and
logging waste away from the stream of wastes.
Biofuel History
Biofuels became known right from the time man discovered fire. Its first form was wood,
which was used for heating and cooking. Afterwards, it started being utilized in the form of
electricity as it was used to produce electricity. Biofuels were discovered even before the fossil
fuels but when the fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil came into existence, the biofuels faced a
major effect on their production and use. The fossil fuels with their advantages enabled the
biofuels to gain popularity.
Nikolaus August Otto, a German, was among the first persons to convince people to
make use of ethanol. Rudolf Diesel, however, managed to make his diesel engine work with
peanut oil (Bastos Lima & Gupta 2014, p.394). After that, between 1903 and 1926, Henry Ford
managed to change one of his models to use hemp which comes from biofuel. Unfortunately,
petroleum became very cheap because of the massive introduction of crude oil and further
reduced the use of biofuels as most vehicles changed to a much cheaper and efficient form of
fuel. Thereafter, between 1973 and 1979, a dire crisis of fuel hit most countries due to the
geopolitical conflict. As a corollary, in the 20th century, people started shifting to the use of
2

biofuels with claims of rising oil prices, greenhouse gas emissions and the development of the
rural areas.
Types of Biofuel
There are three main types of biofuels: ethanol, biodiesel, and biobutanol. Ethanol is
more of pure alcohol and possibly the most permeating of the different types of biofuels that go
into people’s tanks of gas. It is commonly made from sugarcane and corn, among other sources.
Its advantages are that it is renewable, it boosts the economies of rural farming as its production
help to reduce people’s reliance on foreign fossils, and it is cleaner since it emits less percentage
of the greenhouse emissions (Walker, 2017). However, it also has a number of disadvantages: (1)
It competes with the food supply industry since it is generated from sugarcane, corns and beets,
which in turn increases the cost of these kinds of food. (2) It erodes soil and contaminates water
supplies. (3) Compared to gasoline, its stored energy is less, which in turn reduces fuel mileage
up to 30 percent. (4) In case it is used on engines or pipelines that are not designed for it, it can
corrode them.
Biodiesel is similar to the petroleum-based diesel fuel. It is derived from animal oils or
vegetables. It is also renewable, boosts rural farming economies and can be recycled. Aside
from that, it reduces tailpipe emissions, it has no sulfur and eradicates sulfur dioxide emanations.
However, it is disadvantageous as it is quite costly, does not work with standard gasoline
engines, and it is prone to cold weather since when the temperature goes down, it can gel up.
Lastly, biobutanol is a type of biofuel that is derived from algae or bacteria. This type of
biofuel is not well-known but it has an outstanding beauty since it can be directly used in
standard gasoline engines even without being modified. Additionally, it is also renewable, has
3

high octane level, and be distributed through the supply chain infrastructure and the existing
pipeline. Unfortunately, its cost of production is quite high, making it a disadvantage (Walker,
2017).
Biofuel in Australia
In Australia, biofuel is available in two forms: biodiesel and ethanol. These types of fuels
can be produced from sugarcane, grains or sorghum. Australia has three commercial producers
of ethanol, whom are all found in the East Coast. According to the law, the fuel ethanol blends
have 10 percent market capitalization except others like the E85 which have higher
concentration. There are blends available through service stations like Shell, BP, Caltex, United
and other independents. These blends are known as E10, having concentrations of unleaded
petrol at 90 percent and ethanol at 10 percent. They are mostly found in New South Wales and
Queensland. By 2010, the government of Australia set forth a goal to sell 350 million liters of the
blend each year (Analyzing the Biofuel Industry in Australia, 2014). The average annual
production of biofuels in Australia in 2014 was circa 800 million liters, including the new
ventures in algae-based and biodiesel biofuels.
4

Carbon Cycle
Carbon follows a certain route known as the carbon cycle illustrated in the figure above.
It makes up organic matter and thus an important element on earth. Aside from making all the
living things, it is also a part of the rocks, air and ocean (Willeit, Ganopolski, Dalmonech, Foley
& Feulner 2014, p.1699). Now, since the earth is dynamic, carbon is also on the move. It is the
oxygen in the atmosphere from the carbon dioxide gas. Plants, on the other hand, make use of the
carbon dioxide gas and light from the sun to grown and make their own foods. However, if
plants do not make it and instead die, they get buried and may turn into fossil fuels with coal and
oil, which are carbon components. In turn, these fossils fuels are used by human beings. When
they are burnt, the carbon gets back into the atmosphere in form of carbon dioxide gas.
Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases. This gas traps heat in the atmosphere and
in case it is not there, the earth can freeze. However, the kinds of fuels that humans burn cannot
allow that since the percentage of carbon in the atmosphere is increasing compared to what it
5

was years ago (Eo.ucar.edu, 2017). As a corollary, the earth is even becoming warmer as days go
by.
6

References
Bastos Lima, M., & Gupta, J. (2014). 'The extraterritorial dimensions of biofuel policies and the
politics of scale: live and let die?', Third World Quarterly, 35, 3, pp. 392-410.
Eo.ucar.edu. (2017). The Carbon Cycle. [online] Available at:
https://eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/cycles6.htm [Accessed 30 Aug. 2017].
Puri, M., Abraham, R., & Barrow, C. (2012). 'Biofuel production: Prospects, challenges and
feedstock in Australia', Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16, 8, pp. 6022-6031.
Research and, M. 0012, 'Research and Markets: Analyzing the Biofuel Industry in Australia
(2014). Business Wire (English), September, Regional Business News, EBSCOhost, viewed 30
August 2017.
Walker, K. (2017). What is Biofuel?. [online] AZoCleantech.com. Available at:
https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=329#1 [Accessed 30 Aug. 2017].
Willeit, M., Ganopolski, A., Dalmonech, D., Foley, A. & Feulner, G. (2014). 'Time-scale and
state dependence of the carbon-cycle feedback to climate', Climate Dynamics, 42, 7/8, pp. 1699-
1713.
7