Going from lab to mass production
The world is now faced with a lot of imminent conflicts from man made to natural disasters such as terrorism, global climate change and the very imminent return Of Christ that is going to be caught up suddenly when man is engrossed in these problems.
Current studies revealed frightening findings that fossil fuel , our cheap traditional energy has skyrocketed in consumption rate. Just how much fossil fuel is used every one second by all vehicles and machines and per day and per year worlwide 24 hours a day,365 days a year? The numbers go astronomical,with the rising worldwide population ,demand ,industrialization how much is removed from the constant reserve in the earth crust?
The time has come now where, the rising demand cannot meet the declining supply.This ignite what is now call fuel war! Countries make their alliances and redefine their politics to encompass policies.Wars are fought in the name of democracies but the hidden idea is resources, in fact fuel is the number component to drive economies.
The fossil fuel producers know the fact,governments knew this fact that without fuel there is no life,when molecular energy package called Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is blocked in a biological working system,the systems stops and decay sets in. Now that fossil fuel is fast depleting, what can be the price of fuel in 5 years-10 years from now? What will be the economy of Papua New Guinea be like then? Is the system going to experience decay and run back to stone age? However, we have alternative way to encounter fuel problem.
The microbes do their part by digesting the biomass using their working system to extract energy and nutrients are released back for recycling. In the same manner, we can create fuel now called biofuel use it,recycles it and use it again governing the whole cycle at our control.
Biofuel is now the hottest agenda by all governments world over.It is now a take or perish situation. What is the biofuel and what is its importance. First and foremost is that, its renewable and fits very well in the carbon recyle, only energy in the carbon is used, and carbon released into the system and recycled again.There is no increase in carbon dioxide or decrease but transfer energy and returns to get energy rich.But what are the carbon rich energy sources today?
There are now many varied researches and developments from various sources.Oil palm,corn,jatropha,algae,soya bean,cassava ,sweet potato, woods and municipal waste to name a few, all produce energy and these are alternatives.
Since renewable, being bio--meaning living, they all have to be cultivated for mass production ,this means considering the technicality part of efficiency and productivity are two most important factors that governs sustainability.Financially speaking,making a profit is business or to be unable means the reverse otherwise.Whatever the alternative source of energy ,it must bear profit. In the concept of energy balance , emergy is another very vital concept that determines the profit and sustainability of the the project,which further governs the affordability of the final product.
How energy is invested into the system, and how much is gained as output? Energy specialist work all the energy involved from land/preparation,cultivation,harvesting,transporting, processing and transporting the final product before consumption. For instance,Cassava projects for biofuel may look at land preparation,planting,harvesting,transporting,processing then the product which price is directly governed by these factors involved.
Major considerations for efficiencies are total time of maturation,yield and process applications while productivity may look from yield and processing applications angle.
Studies have indicated that a three unit of energy are received for every one unit of energy wasted for algae biofuels especially biodiesel. This means it may be three times less expensive, for instance, if in PNG Kina ,Cassava bioethanol is sold at K3.00 per liter, then algae biodiesel can be sold for K1.00 per or less if subsidised. For such , it is now being accepted that algae Biodiesel is the future next generation alternative green energy source.Montana Synergy of USA, conducted a research worth of millions of dollars using photobioreactos for fuel and concluded that algae is the best option for the world given its very high crude lipid of more than 50% of its body mass , if corn s taken as alternative for fuel, then all corn products and supply , their proces will soar, but only 18 gallons of fuel can be produced from one hactar per year,cassava with its convertable 25% can not reach 13 gallons per hacter per year,oil palm supplies about700-800 gallons per hacter per year while algae supplies 20 000 plus gallons per hacter per year
Professor Lance Schidman of Illinois University with the Agriculture and and Biological engineering said there are more credible reasons to believed algae as potential. The high prolific growth rates and high lipid content, given the Food Vs biofuel issues, choosing algae is the option for mass energy production.
Apart from the corn ethanol,soyabean biodiesel plus others using our prime land ,alage cannot compete but can be grown just about anywhere in a polluted area/pond,bioreactor,ontp of power plants and even be haversted out of the oceans, algae do not neccessary compete with human food.
Current technologies are making the processing of algae from pond/bioreactor feasible. The use of thermo-chemical conversion method is efficiency since the harvested biomass which has a lot of water cannot be dried that may have input of a lot of energy, in this process, it is all converted to the crude lipid which is directly changed to biodiesel.This is making the process cost less, less energy is utilized and it made more viable and affordable, therefore making the product cheaper and more competitive.
Carbon dioxide emission from power plants can be directly pumped into the growing tank of algae which can change the carbon dioxide directly t biomass from which fuel is derived. The other components even toxic such as some sulphur counting compounds released may become nutritive to the algae health.
World over.
In Rome, wood chips,grass,corn stalk and sugar cane bagass is converted to ethanol in a newly built processing plant, producings hundreds of thousand of gallns of fuels .
Report from Reuters by research done by Biotechnology Industry Organisation indicated 80 000 jobs will be created by 2022 with renewable fuels.
The largest enzyme producer,Novoenzyme (Denmark) reported that enzyme produced for digesting of starch for biofuel production will be reduced in price 50% lower, making the final product-biofuel more cheaper and affordable.
Gencor, another specialist company in enzyme engineering and development announced that new enzymes developed are very efficient and faster,cost is highly lowered.
US,Canada and Europe have bended to form the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance which represent more than 60% of the worldwide biofuel production.The alliance will now promote policies both in the developed and developing countries .
Ukraine is even going serious green fuel with 12 distilleries for ethanol fuel.
Malaysia and Indonesia are teaming up for Palm oil control ,which both control about 85% of the oil to accommodate biodiesel produced and to control fuel market and stability in the region.
Even though significant infrastructure development is needed, small countries like Papua New Guinea if developed may reduce the cost of the fossil fuel down by half even more since fuel demand is not so high currently.This will ensure stable economic activities which in turn will persuade foreign investments and local busies to mushroom.n this way, more local s and graduated are employed ,that will control social,law and order,crime and violence and other socio-economic problems.
Green fuel development is urgent matter,since the world is going green. It is now up to the responsible technocrats and government bodies to develop using our own resources or outsiders to use our resources to develop and sell them to us.
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