Biodiesel agricultural production

Currently, 93% of crude petroleum is used for energy generation, while only 7% is used for chemistry. Similarly, 95% of agricultural products are used for food and feed, with only 5% being used for the chemical industry (Figure 1.4). 45 Mio mto of annual worldwide biodiesel capacity (forecast for 2010 based on published projects a more conservative forecast envisages 32 Mio mto by 2012 ) would already represent 25% of total renewable fats and oils production and would reduce the share of food and feed from 86% to 65% and the... 

Pachauri, N. and He, B. (2006) Valued-added utilisation of crude glycerol from biodiesel production a survey of current research, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual Meeting, Portland, USA. 

Includes energy from wood and wood-derived fuels municipal solid waste from biogenic sources, landfill gas, sludge waste, agricultural byproducts and other biomass (through 2000, also includes non-renewable waste such as municipal solid waste from non-biogenic sources, and tire-derived fuels) and fuel ethanol and biodiesel consumption, plus losses and co-products from the production of fuel ethanol and biodiesel. 

Van Gerpen, J. H. 1996. Cetane Number Testing of Biodiesel. In Cundiff, J. S., Gavett, E. E., Hansen, C., Peterson, C., Sanderson, M. A., Shapouri, H., and Van Dyne, D. L. (Eds.), Proc., Third Liquid Fuel Conference Liquid Fuel and Industrial Products from Renewable Resources (pp. 197-206). St. Joseph MI American Society of Agricultural Engineers. 

The development of biobased products is part of the current initiative to support the sustainable agriculture movement and to replace petrochemical substrates with renewable feedstocks. These activities provide the incentive to convert or incorporate agricultural biomass, co-products, and similar low-value materials into more valuable materials that benefit both growers and consumers. Glycerin obtained from the production of biodiesel presents a versatile substrate for the development of new products, and complements the biobased initiative. 

Chand, P, Reddy, C.V., Verkade, J.G., and Grewell, D. 2008. Enhancing biodiesel production from soybean oil using ultrasonics. American Society of Agricultural and Biological... 

To this list should be added renewable ethanol (i.e. from crops) and biodiesel which are more easily substituted for liquid fuels. These can be used to displace fossil fuels used in the furnace and hence lower the carbon emission. Unfortunately, in the opinion of the author, these fuels often involve major ecological impacts elsewhere such as displacement of food producing agricultural land (ethanol) or destruction of native forests (biodiesel) for the production of a favoured feedstock -palm oil. 

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