Biofuel or Agrofuel can be termed as solid, liquid, or gas fuel consisting of, or derived from biomass. We have all been living in this belief that fuel produced from plants is beneficial, keeping in mind that plants help reduce carbon dioxide levles in the environment, not only absorbing CO2 but by releasing the carbon trapped in the ground.
However, producing certain feed-stockes like Canola, Soy and Corn, are posing much threat because the processes used for their production consume more energy to grow and process them. The crops currently used, require huge amounts of nitrogen-based fertilizers. A significant portion of the nitrogen in the fertilizers is actually consumed by bacteria in the ground and then emitted as nitrous oxide. As we move toward cellulosic and algae based feed-stocks, the balance should improve dramatically.
The estimates of nitrogen’s presence in the environment have increased from two percent to three or five percent now. Since nitrous oxide has twice the greenhouse effect of CO2, it can offset much of the benefit of using biofuels in place of fossil fuels.
We must initialize using feed-stocks that do not require huge amounts of fertilizers (much of which is also produced from petroleum) otherwise, it may be counterproductive to mess with most current biofuels.
