BY BELEWU, M.A (Ph.D) UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN NIGERIA Paper presented at the 12 th National / International Conference of the Students’ Chemical Society of Nigeria—Fountain University, Oshogbo, Osun State, Nigeria on the 30 th June, 2011.

INTRODUCTION Biofuels in Nigeria offer a great opportunity for the production of new cash crops for internal consumption and for export. The increase production could be felt mostly in the rural areas as resources will be shifted from traditional crops while prices for all agricultural commodities are increase.

 Biofuel /Biodiesel is commonly defined as “renewable energy produced from biological materials / biomass (sugar cane, corn, cellulose, vegetable oil etc)  Biofuels are fuel that are degradable and non toxic  Biofuels refer also to any solid, liquid or gas fuel that has been derived from biomass

 Biofuels could include biobuthanol (biogasoline) and biodiesel as well as other fuel made from biomass and use for automotives, thermal and power generation according to specification stipulated by Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and any other competent government agency ( Nigerian Biofuel Policy,2010).

TYPES OF BIOFUELS  Liquid Biofuel Biodiesel  Gaseous Biofuel Ethanol  Solid Biofuel wood, saw dust, grass cutting, domestic refuse, charcoal, agricultural wastes, non food energy crops e.g Jatropha plant

DIFFERENT GENERATIONS OF BIOFUELS There are different generations of biofuels thus : First Generation of Biofuel Fuel made from sugar cane/ vegetable oil, animal fats using advanced Technology Second Generation of Biofuel Biofuel produced from sustainable feedstock It focused on biomass to liquid technology including cellulosic biofuels and non food crops –Jatropha plant

Jatropha curcas

 I t includes biofuel from algae. It produces 30 times more energy than soybean

 It focused on the conversion of biodiesel to gasoline

 Biomass means agriculturally produced raw materials which are available on renewable / recurring basis.  It include tree crops, plant fibre, cellulose based materials, industrial wastes and other biodegradable parts of municipal solid waste (Nigeria Biofuel Policy Development and Incentives, 2010)  Biomass could also be defined as biological materials obtained from living or recently living organisms  It could also be plant materials grown to generate electricity/ produce heat  Biomass could be converted into other useful forms of energy—methane gas/ transportation fuels---- like ethanol/biodiesel

It includes:  Wood ---- It is a typical source of biomass  Corn/Maize  Sugar cane  Soybean

 It refers to a vegetable oil/ animal fat based diesel fuel obtained by chemically reacting liquids (vegetable oil, animal fat ) with alcohol through the process of transesterification

 Soybean oil  Rape seed oil  Mustard oil  Sunflower oil  Palm oil  Coconut oil  Waste vegetable oil  Animal fat  By- products of Omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil  Algae  Oil from Halophytes e.g. Salicornia bigelovii

 Sugar cane  Cassava  Sugar beet  Corn  Other sugar/starch crops etc

 It has better lubricating properties and much higher cetane ratings  It reduces fuel system wear  Calorific value is about 37.27MJ/kg which is 90% lower than petrol diesel  It gives complete combustion thus increasing the engine energy output and partially compensating for the higher energy density of petrol-diesel  It has no sulphur content

 Its flash point is 150 0c ( temperature of ignition)  It is less flammable than petrol-diesel and burn at 50 0C  It loose viscosity- (gel ) at lower temperature when compared to petro-diesel  Biodiesel can be blended with conventional diesel in any concentration  Jatropha oil is 10 times higher than that of maize and soybean  Jatropha nuts could provide up to 1,650 liters of high quality biodiesel /hectare

 Biodiesel can be used alone / blended with petrol-diesel in standard diesel engine  In Nigeria, the recommendation was blending of up to 10% of fuel ethanol with gasoline (10% ethanol plus 90% petroleum)…….known as E-10  In USA/UK a blending of 15% ethanol plus 85% petroleum is recommended  Also, 20% ethanol plus 80% petroleum is recognized

 In Nigeria, up to 20% biodiesel with petroldiesel was recommended ….known as B-20   In USA/UK, 100% biodiesel known as B100 was achieved   20% biodiesel with 80% petro-diesel ---B20 etc   10% biodiesel with 90 petrol diesel---B10

 University of Ilorin in 2010 used a blend of 50:50 (Biodiesel plus petroldiesel) to power a milling machine during an International workshop on Jatropha curcas held in April, 2010

 British Train Operating Company (Virgin Trains ) claimed to have run the world first biodiesel train using 80% petroldiesel with 20% biodiesel  Royal train in 2007 completed its first ever journey on 100% biodiesel fuel  I n Czech, a jet was completely powered on bidiesel

 Reduction of Green House Gas emission as compared to the fossil fuel e.g. Jatropha plant ( A plant can absorbed 8kg of carbondioxide per tree/year, hence if there are 2500 stands of trees per hectare --- about 20,000kg of carbondioxide will be absorbed/year  The biodiesel which is environmentally friendly than fossil fuel is smokeless, carbon neutral and ecologically sound  It saves drivers money--- United Kingdom government introduced many incentives to drivers of green cars based on emission ----with reduced taxation which depends on how environmentally your car is.

 With increasing prices of petrol, mixing biodiesel with fossil fuel also offers great saving at the pump in the long run when biodiesel is readily available  There is additional tax revenue for the Government from economic activities of such industry  Biofuel has the ability of uplifting many people from poverty to financial independence, from despair to respect and from unemployment to business owners  Bbiofuel will reduce dependence on fossil fuel  Biofuel provides better lubrication and with fewer residues in the engine after its burning

 Biofuel is completely biodegradable  Better utilization of undulated cultivable land  Higher income from sales of glycerin to industry  Less generation period of Jatropha plant compared to other non edible crops  Long life span (40-50 years)  Wider market for biofuel

 Jatropha plant is non edible compared to other crops  Opportunity of having carbon credit value (Kyoto protocol)  Biodiesel gives you bigger boom with more power  It was reported that a car on biodiesel could run at 27 miles /gallon  Provision of new income and new opportunity for farmers  Higher income of by-products –glycerin for industrial purpose  Poverty reduction potentials

 Biodiversity --- It was argued that natural habitats will be lost for wild animals and plants  Food vs Fuel That farmers might loose focus of food production if fuel plants are lucrative  Less food production may lead to high price of food stuffs resulting in inflation  Inclement weather condition  It could lead to deforestation  There could be variable output and oil content  Political problems (Inconsistent government policies)

 Technical problems (from harvesting to production)  Resource constraints  Lack of public awareness  Protectionism ---In form of import tarrifs and other barriers that hinders biofuel trades  Integration of biofuel into fuel supply chain  Lack of international agreement on fuel quality standards  Many oil companies have been resistant to the blending of biofuel with their products  More land is needed for the growth of biofuel plants as resource for biofuel

 It is noteworthy that first generation biofuels are not sustainable  Hence it is necessary to create sustainable biofuel production with no effect on food production and environment.  The most common strategy is to grow plants that could produce oil naturally e.g. oil palm, Jatropha plant, soybean, algae  An enabling environment must be created by the government for all players in the industry

 When the oil is heated, the resistance / viscosity is reduced  The oil must be burnt with diesel engine  The oil can be processed into biodiesel  It was found that by 2020, about 19 million tons of oil equivalent would be derived from biomass  Additionally, between 2000 and 2005 ethanol production has doubled while biodiesel production was quadrupled hence biofuels are rising.

 It interesting to note that there exists a large potential of bioenergy production in many countries of the world that are yet to be tapped.  Hence production and utilization of biofuel in Nigeria can potentially help solve the economic, social and environmental problems, if appropriate policies and related institutional and technological innovations are promoted.

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