Bio Fuels - Is This The Future?

Difference between bio-fuels & fossil fuels

Bio-fuels are different from fossil fuels in the following ways:
• Fossil fuels take a million years to build whereas bio-fuels can be made very rapid, in a matter of days.
• Fossil fuels generate sizable amounts of pollution. Bio-fuels are comparatively safer.
• Bio-fuels are renewable sources of energy unlike fossil fuels.

As the term suggests, bio-fuels are fuels that are formed when biological matter decomposes. The bio-fuels are mostly derived from plants. Bio-fuels exist in all the two states of matter: solid, liquid, & gas.

Different types of bio-fuels
Bio-fuels have been categorized in to six types: first generation, second generation, third generation, & fourth generation.

The first generation bio-fuels are derived from vegetable fats, starch, & sugar, which are in turn derived from food-crops. The first generation fuels are also derived from animal fats. Biogas, bio-diesel, & vegetable oil are some examples of this type of bio-fuels.

The third generation comprises of bio-fuels derived from algae. Algae are farmed on sizable scales for generating these bio-fuels. The algae fuels are very environment-friendly as they can basically decompose in to the soil without harming it.

The second generation of bio-fuels is chiefly derived from waste biomass, thus making it a more balanced option compared to the first-generation bio-fuels. Different kinds of alcohols & diesel generated from wood fall in to the section of second generation bio-fuels.

The bio-fuels in the fourth generation are derived by a process in which micro-organisms are raised to work with carbon dioxide to generate fuel.

Advantages of bio-fuels
Bio-fuels show advantageous in the following ways:
• Bio-fuels diminish the burden on gradually-vanishing fossil fuels.
• Bio-fuels are environment-friendly. They help reduce carbon emissions in to the atmosphere.
• Bio-fuels, , bio-diesel show to be cost-effective for consumers.

Disadvantages of bio-fuels
Bio-fuels aren't bereft of criticism. Though beneficial for the environment, bio-fuels have its disadvantages, paradoxically in the environmental purview. Bio-fuels have received criticism for lots of reasons, a couple of which are said below:
• Economists have long debated on the usefulness of first generation bio-fuels when compared to the lack of food they cause. Generating fuel from food crops makes food crops unworthy of human consumption. Some people think that being a higher priority than fuel, food ought to not be farmed for making fuels but for human consumption.
• Making bio-fuels require acres of farming land, thus encroaching on the natural habitat of plants & animals.