Environmentally sustainable biofuels - The case for biodiesel, biobutanol and cellulosic ethanol

Abstract

Due to diminishing petroleum reserves and the deleterious environmental consequences of exhaust gases from fossil-based fuels, research on renewable and environmentally friendly fuels has received a lot of impetus in recent years. With oil at high prices, alternate renewable energy has become very attractive. Many of these technologies are eco-friendly. Besides ethanol, other alternatives are: biodiesel made from agricultural crops or waste cooking oil that is blended with diesel; biobutanol; gas-to-liquids (GTL) from the abundance of natural gas, coal, or biomass; oil trapped in the shale formations such as found in the western United States, and heavy oil lodged in Canadian tar sands. In this chapter, we examine advances made in environmentally friendly fuels such as biodiesel, biobutanol, and cellulosic ethanol in recent years. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.