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ISSUES

Agrofuels

Three types of agrofuel
Agrofuels (also called biofuels) are agriculture-based fuels. There are three main types: alcohol-based agrofuels which are used in petrol engines; oil-based agrofuels which are used in diesel engines; and agrofuels made of gas.
Alcohol-based agrofuels are produced from plants rich in sugar such as sugarcane or sugar beet, or from plants rich in starch, such as wheat. These agrofuels include bioethanol and its derivative ETBE (Ethyl tert-butyl ether).
The oils are extracted from oleaginous plants such as rapeseed, palm, sunflower or soybean. They can be pure vegetable oils, referred to as "raw oils" (these are sometimes cooking oils), or processed products. In the latter case, one speaks of diester, biodiesel or VOME (vegetable oil methyl esters). Both are made from 90% oil and 10% methanol, a petroleum derivative.
The gases are produced by fermenting organic matter. The r...  

NEWS

13/04/2012

Australia's Qantas makes first commercial biofuel flight

23/03/2012

Airplane rivals launch joint biofuel project

19/03/2012

Obama urges end to US reliance on foreign energy


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DEBATES

Biofuels for transportation: Global Potential and Implications for Sustainable Agriculture and Energy in the 21st Century.

Worldwatch Institute

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  Biofuels: is Jatropha a counter-example?

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  Woodstock revisited: Could new techniques for producing ethanol make old-fashioned trees the biofuel of the future?

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FOCUS
Biofuels

Increasing the use of biofuel could save 5000 million tons of CO2 a year. Indeed, the CO2 that is emitted as they burn was already circulating in the atmosphere beforehand: it had been transitorily absorbed by...  

VIDEOS

12/04/2011
John Moavenzadeh, Senior Director and Head of Mobility Industries, reveals...
17/08/2010
A video about biofuel in Brazil.

GREEN TIPS

Agroecology

Since the 1980s, the engineer Pierre Rabhi has been developing agroecology in very poor rural areas in...



INDICATORS

Arable land
 Carbon dioxide emissions
 Renewable energy in the energy mix

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