Biofuels

The critical need to reduce fossil fuel use, improve air quality, and mitigate global climate change has spurred biofuels development. Depending on what we use to make the fuel, and how the raw materials are grown, harvested, and/or retrieved from the waste stream, we can realize quantifiable environmental and economic benefits.

Biofuels can replace diminishing fossil fuels while building a local, indigenous, and cleaner fuel supply. Maine entrepreneurs and fuel suppliers are building the biofuels industry in communities across the state.

Biofuels - What are they?

Biofuels are liquid fuels produced from biomass (renewable organic matter ), which are often blended with or used to replace petroleum. Biofuels include biodiesel, ethanol, and second-generation biofuels.

• Biodiesel

  Biodiesel is a distillate fuel similar to diesel or number 2 heating oil. It can be made from several different animal or vegetable oils (e.g., canola, soy), or from recycled restaurant grease. A 5% biodiesel blended with diesel or heating oil is known as B5; a 20% blend is B20. When biodiesel is blended with heating oil and used for heat, it is often called bioheat.
  
  Biodiesel is a domestic fuel and kinder to the environment than diesel. Pure biodiesel (100%) is less toxic than table salt and dissolves more easily than sugar.
  
  Tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are roughly the same whether an engine uses biodiesel or petroleum diesel. However, biodiesel is plant-based, and plants take CO₂ out of the atmosphere as they grow. Depending on how the fuel is grown and processed throughout its lifecycle, pure biodiesel can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 67.7% compared to diesel. Replacing regular diesel with a biodiesel blend also benefits air quality - it cuts the release of toxics, sulfur, and lead.

• Ethanol

  Ethanol is made from fermenting grains or sugars, a process similar to brewing alcohol. It is commonly made from sugar cane (Brazil) and corn (U.S.). All gasoline-powered vehicles can run on a blend of 10% ethanol, 90% gasoline (E10). Only "flex-fuel" (flexible fuel) vehicles (FFVs) can run on a blend of 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline (E85).
  
  Ethanol can be made in the U.S. It can have both air quality and greenhouse gas benefits. Blends may reduce smog-forming emissions by 25% and carbon monoxide by 10-30%. Ethanol also reduces air toxics. Lifecycle greenhouse gas benefits vary depending on the feedstock (what type of crop is used in production), how it is grown and how it is processed. For example, when compared to gasoline, ethanol made from sugar cane can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 60% throughout its lifecycle. Ethanol made from corn reduces emissions by about 22%.

• Second Generation Biofuels

  Emerging technology promises to broaden the variety of biofuels and biomass sources that can be converted to fuel. Potential new fuels include cellulosic ethanol and renewable diesel or bio-oil. Cellulosic ethanol is produced from "woody" feedstocks such as corn stover, switchgrass or willow. Renewable diesel or bio-oil can be produced from woody feedstocks or most organic wastes. New feedstocks also include algae. These plants can be grown with waste nutrients in the sewage system or in the clean-up operations for coal emissions.
  
  Second generation biofuels may yield greater benefits than traditional biofuels. They can be made from waste and cellulosic crops, which use however, before they are produced cost-effectively on a large scale.

Biofuels Supplier List Table

Compiled by the Maine Energy Investment Corporation in partnership with Efficiency Maine.

For More Information

Please contact Efficiency Maine.