The Pros And Cons Of Biofuel

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A biofuel is a hydrocarbon that is made by or from a living organism that we humans can use to power something. In practical consideration, any hydrocarbon fuel that is produced from organic matter (living or once living material) in a short period of time (days, weeks, or even months) is considered a biofuel. This contrasts with fossil fuels, which take millions of years to form and with other types of fuel which are not based on hydrocarbons (nuclear fission, for instance). Biofuels somehow is tricky to understand that they need not to be made by a living organism, though they can be. Biofuels can also be made through chemical reactions, carried out in a laboratory or industrial setting, that use organic matter (called biomass) to make fuel. The only real requirements for a biofuel are that the starting material must be CO2 that was fixed (turned into another molecule) by a living organism and the final fuel product must be produced quickly and not over millions of years. Sphagnum is a genus of many species of mosses, commonly known as peat moss. Sphagnum can store water, since both living and dead plants can hold large quantities of water inside their cells. The empty cells help retain water in drier conditions. Therefore,…show more content…
Also they added that, the process through which the glycerin is separated from the biodiesel is known as transesterification. This process also uses lye as a catalyst in the whole process. Some of the chemicals which are used in the manufacturing of biofuels are ethanol or methanol which brings into use methyl esters. Methanol is derived from fossil fuels while ethanol is derived from plants. Moreover, they enumerated the stages of making biofuel which are the Filtration, Removing of Water, Titration, Preparation of sodium methoxide, Heating and Mixing, lastly the Setting and
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