TRANSMAG 2013: WHAT ARE BIOFUELS?

Gasoline or diesel with added alcohol (ethanol) produced from crops such as corn appear more and more promising as solutions to the problems posed by the eventual exhaustion of the Earth's petroleum reserves, as well as the high cost of fossil fuels on the global market.

However, this type of energy presents new challenges. One item of environmental concern is the possibility that massive exploitation of biofuels could lead to the replacement of jungles and woodlands with single-crop plantations meant only for the production of raw plant materials.

Ethanol
This is the alcohol in the medicine cabinets of our homes. It can be used in its pure form as a fuel or combined with gasoline in different proportions. The greater its purity, the greater are the engine modifications required to burn the fuel. Two common mixtures are E10 and E85, which have 10 percent and 85 percent ethanol, respectively.

Prepared by: Hassan Aljabiri