BioFuel

The Cheaper Petrol Party strongly supports the use of BioFuels such as bio-diesel and ethanol.

What is BioFuel?

BioFuels are fuels made from once living organic materials.

In its strictest sense, all fossil fuels could be regarded as such.
However fossil fuels take millions of years, and extreme pressure and heat from the Earth, to be formed.
BioFuels are commonly known as liquid fuels and blending components produced from biomass (plants) feedstocks, used primarily for transportation.
In other words, those fuels that can be manufactured from organic materials and produce fuels such as bio-diesel and ethanol.

When crude oil is refined, it gets separated into LPG, petrol, diesel, kerosene, bitumen etc. These all contain molecules made up of Carbon (C) and Hydrogen (H).

Crude oil distillation

The heavier the oil, the longer the molecule - More Carbon and Hydrogen atoms, more energy.

When the petrol or diesel are burnt, the carbon atoms combine with Oxygen (O₂) to form Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
(which adds to global warming and greenhouse effect) and the hydrogen combines with Oxygen to form water (H₂O).
Both these processes produce energy, which is the bit that makes the car, truck or plane go.

The problem with crude oil is that it takes millions of years to form, (hardly renewable) and so, once it's gone, that's it.
Australia has deposits of oil, but it takes a fair bit of effort to get it out of the ground and so we have to import a lot of it every year.

BioFuels on the other hand, are made from by-products of farming.
In the case of ethanol; by using Australian produced sugarcane waste, wheat or corn.
Or from (waste) vegetable oil, in the case of bio-diesel.
Both of these products can be grown and made in Australia, thereby reducing the reliance on imported crude oil.

Benefits of BioFuel:

Increased demand for domestic agricultural products.
It is a green fuel, does not contribute to the carbon dioxide (CO₂) burden and produces drastically reduced engine emissions.
BioFuel tends to be non-toxic or at least less toxic and biodegradable.
BioDiesel is a much better lubricant than petroleum diesel and its use can prolong engine life.
Renewable - BioDiesel is derived from vegetable oil which is essentially home-grown by Australian farmers.
It is a sustainable resource that will not run out.
When we need more, we grow more.
Petroleum diesel is derived from crude oil, which is finite and will eventually run out.
Carbon Neutral - BioDiesel use does not lead to any overall change in the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere.
The vegetables, from which the oil has been extracted, remove CO₂ from the atmosphere to grow.
When Bio-diesel is burned the CO₂ is released back into atmosphere, only to be taken up again when we grow more.
Less noxious, non-toxic - Bio-diesel lacks the unpleasant odour of petroleum diesel and exhaust emissions smell like a barbecue.
Users can expect a near 100% reduction in Sulphur dioxide (SO2), 40-60% reduction in soot & particulates, 10-50% reduction in Carbon monoxide (CO), and a reduction in all Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons PAHs - Phenanthren -97%, Benzofluoroanthen -56%, Benzapyren -71%, Aldehydes & Aromatics -13%.
Unlike petroleum diesel, it is biodegradable.

A spill of crude oil in the ocean or on land can be an environmental disaster.
And it happens a lot more often then most people know.
Between 1974 and 2004 there have been 9,266 reported incidences of spills^[1].
Nearly 1500 of these were larger then 7 tonnes (about 8,158 litres).
340 of them were larger then 700 tonnes totaling more then 5.5 million tonnes (6.4 billion litres) of spilled oil.

To put this into some perspective, the Exxon Valdez spill, in 1989, was only 37,000 tonnes (about 43 million litres), and we all know what a disaster that was.
The oil spill fouled more than 1300 miles (2100 km) of Alaskan coastline and 11,000 square miles (28,000 km2) of ocean.

Despite the extensive cleanup attempts, less than ten percent of the oil was recovered and a study conducted by NOAA
determined that as of early 2007 more than 26,000 U.S. gallons ( 98,000 L) of oil remain in the sandy soil of the contaminated shoreline,
declining at a rate of less than 4% per year.
Thousands of animals died immediately; the best estimates include 100,000 to as many as 250,000 seabirds,
at least 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 247 bald eagles and 22 orcas, as well as the destruction of billions of salmon and herring eggs.

The cost of this cleanup alone was about US$ 2.5 billion.

In Australia in 2009 there was an oil spill in Queensland.
On the 11th of March, during Cyclone Hamish, unsecured cargo on the container ship MV Pacific Adventurer damaged other cargo,
causing the spillage.
In the days following, the spill washed ashore along 60 km of coastline including the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Bribie Island and Moreton Island.
A total of 230 tonnes (268,000 litres) was spilled.
In July 2009 the total clean-up bill was estimated to be A$34 million.
Although oil drilling remains prohibited on the Great Barrier Reef, oil spills due to shipping routes are still a threat to the reef system.
Between 1987-2002, there have been a total of 282 oil spills.

To date he world's worst ever oil spill was in 1979 with the explosion of Mexico's Ixtoc offshore oil well.
More than 140 million gallons (530 million litres) of crude poured into the Gulf of Mexico, eventually washing up on beaches in Texas, hundreds of miles away.
It took Mexico's state oil company Pemex PEMX.UL 297 days and the drilling of two special relief wells -- the industry's slow moving but only certain fix for blowouts --
to intersect and cap the raging Ixtoc well, located in 150 feet of water. ^[2]

On April 20, 2010 there was an explosion and fire on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC,.
The blast killed 11 workers.
Since then, oil has been pouring into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well, more than 3 miles below the surface.
Estimates say the blown-out well could have been spewing as much as 2 million gallons of crude a day before a cut-and-cap manoeuvre early in June started capturing some of the flow. ^[3]
BioDiesel is simple to make, and can be produced from waste animal or vegetable oil (cooking oil).
Classed as non-hazardous because it is non-toxic and has a high flash-point.
Burns more efficiently than petroleum diesel.
BioDiesel can be used directly in unmodified diesel engines, either neat, or blended in any ratio with petroleum diesel.
In other words, if BioDiesel is not available, for whatever reason, normal petroleum diesel can be used.

If these are the advantages, what are the disadvantages?

Disadvantages of BioFuel:

As with anything, if there are advantages, there are some disadvantages.

Availability - At the moment few outlets & manufacturers. (In particular for BioDiesel)
Fuel giants have not explored / invested enough in emerging BioFuel technology such as biologically produced fuels.
Poorly made BioFuels (In particular for BioDiesel) of low quality can cause engine problems.
Producing BioFuel, i.e. "home made", without proper equipment and safety precautions can be dangerous.
Bio-diesel has a lower caloric value ( less energy content per litre)(32 MJ/L compared to 36.4 MJ/L for diesel).
Pure biodiesel B100 contains about 8% less energy compared to petroleum diesel.
However this is partially offset by the higher viscosity.
The lower energy content combined with the improved viscosity leads to slightly higher fuel consumption. (B100 5-7%, B20 1.2% and B5 only 0.3%)^[4]
High biodegradability also means that the fuel is less stable, which is disadvantageous with respect to longer-term storage.
This adverse effect can be reduced by using additives or distillation.

Greenhouse effect of BioFuel.

Carbon Neutral -
Carbon-Neutral does not mean using it (burning) does not produce any CO₂.
What it does mean is that BioDiesel use does not lead to any overall change in the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere.
The plants, from which the oil has been extracted, remove CO₂ from the atmosphere to grow.
When BioDiesel is burned the CO₂ is released back into atmosphere, only to be taken up again when we grow more.
In the period 2006-07, 17.5 billion litres of diesel was used in Australia.
This produces 52 Million tonnes of CO₂.
In other words, if every truck in Australia used BioDiesel we would save 52,000,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

1 source: Internet INTERNATIONAL TANKER OWNERS POLLUTION FEDERATION LIMITED statistics.

2 Special Report: Deepwater spills and short attention spans Reuters Special Report

3 Some oil spill events from Sunday, June 13, 2010 - Miami Herald

4 Biodiesel Assessment Regarding Potential Application to SBMTD Bus Fleet January 22, 2007