Biofuel:

• Biofuels are combustible fuels created from biomass; in other words, fuels created from recently living plant
matter as opposed to ancient plant matter in hydrocarbons.
• The term biofuel is usually used to reference liquid fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel that are used as
replacements for transportation fuels like petroleum, diesel and jet fuel.
• Biofuels can also include solid fuels like wood pellets and biogas or syngas – however in this summary we will
focus on liquid fuels.
• There are two main types of biofuels – ethanol and biodiesel.
• The simplest way to distinguish between the two is to remember ethanol is an alcohol and biodiesel is an
oil.
• Ethanol is an alcohol formed by fermentation and can be used as a replacement for, or additive to, gasoline
whereas biodiesel is produced by extracting naturally occurring oils from plants and seeds in a process called
transesterification. Biodiesel can be combusted in diesel engines.

Comparison of ethanol productions:

Fermentation (→) (enzyme catalysed) Hydration of ethene (⇌)

(acid catalysed – phosphoric acid)
Temperature (°C) 60 (enzymes catalyse reactions at economic 300
rates or Yeast would die at higher
temperature)
Pressure 101.3 kPa / 1 atm 6000-7000 kPa / 60-70 atm
Raw Material plant material, (e.g. starch, corn) – renewable crude oil – non renewable
Rate of reaction Slow Fast
Purity of product Impure and requiring treatment Pure
Yield of ethanol Low High

Comparison of biodiesel productions:

Base-catalysed method (⇌) Lipase-catalysed method (→)

Temperature (°C) Moderate/ Milder (60°C) Low (37°C)

Purity of product Impure and requiring treatment (soap Pure

formation is an undesirable reaction)
Rate if reaction Fast Slow
Pre-treatment of Required as Inhibited by free fatty acids Not-required as treats fatty acids (FFA) and
feedstock (FFA) triglycerides
Yield of biodiesel Low High (it does not produce the soaps that are
formed using a base-catalysed method)
Product recovery Difficult (Due to presence of soap) Simple (easier separation of biodiesel from the
by-product glycerol)
Environmental High negative impact- caustic materials Less negative impact:
impact such as sodium hydroxide is used lipase catalysts are biodegradable,
not caustic nor affect acidity of the environment
as strong bases do.
Other reactions which takes place during the base-catalysed trans-esterification reaction:

1. Hydrolysis of ester: Triglyceride (ester) + NaOH -> Salt of carboxylate (soap) + glycerol

2. Hydrolysis of ester: Triglyceride (ester) + water -> Glycerol + fatty acid

3. Neutralization: Fatty acid + NaOH -> Salt of carboxylate (soap) + water

Carbon neutral: the carbon dioxide released in the bioethanol production process is the same amount as the one
the crops previously absorbed during the photosynthesis.