Biofuels

ISSUES

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

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INDIA - Waste tea leaves could be a cheap source of biofuel that does not compromise food security, according to Pakistani...

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - WASHINGTON - Des ingénieurs américains ont mis au point un procédé très efficace et sans impact environnemental pour...

INDONESIA - NUSA DUA - Identifié à la déforestation et à l'extinction des orang-outans, l'huile de palme souffre d'une piètre...

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DEBATES

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

Worldwatch Institute

Biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel can significantly reduce global dependence on oil, according to a new report by the...

Biofuels: is Jatropha a counter-example?

[…] The issue of biofuels can generate disturbances as...

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

Why use trees, rather than maize or sugar cane, as a...

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

27/10/2009	A Sumatra, la forêt est coupée pour laisser place à de grandes...	09/01/2009	La Suède fait figure de bonne élève dans les énergies renouvelables et...
27/11/2008	"Vers un crash alimentaire" diffusé sur arte le 2 décembre 2008...	01/09/2008	L'accroissement de la demande mondiale en huile de palme, utilisée...

GREEN TIPS

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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