By Jessica, Jemimah and Katie

In society today, our main fuel sources are fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. However, these fossil fuels take millions of years to form and because of our greedy, consumer lifestyles, they are running out fast.

Biofuels are renewable sources of energy, produced by using ethanol from plants. This is a sustainable way of providing our society’s energy needs.

For large industry use, there are still some key problems involved with biofuels. These need to be solved before biofuels can be widely used in industries.

Using biofuels might be better than fossil fuels because it produces less Carbon Dioxide while being made. They produce up to 64% less emissions that lead directly to global warming.

Engines running on biofuels still emit carbon dioxide. BUT plants and trees use Carbon dioxide to grow. But as not as much is getting emitted it has a better chance of getting soaked up by the trees so it means less carbon dioxide reaches the atmosphere.

DDGS (Distillers Dried Grain with Solubles) a waste product of making biofuels, used as low cost animal feed. DDGS is mixed with ‘bacteria-inoculated sludge’ that has been cut off from an oxygen supply, uses the DDGS bacteria for growth. The DDGS is forced to send its outer electrons into a circuit like action leading to a supply of oxygen. The movement of the outer electron can be made into electricity.

The products of biofuels are mainly toxic because of the glycerin that contains methanol and other hazardous chemicals. For every 100 litres of biofuels there is 25 litres of glycerin. Of that produced up to 25% of it can be methanol.

Methanol is extremely flammable as it is a form of alcohol. So when it is burned it can produce energy.