Welcome to the future

Welcome to the Future

                      This year India witnessed one more drama unfolding in Lok Sabha Assembly when finance minister was presenting annual financial statement of the nation. Yes, I am precisely talking of the walk-out staged by the opposition who were upset by proposed fuel price hike in the budget. You & I can argue & discuss on how should be the behavior of opposition parties, how better they can play the role of responsible opposition, & so on. But, that’s not the point I am trying to arrive at. I want to draw your attention to the vulnerability of our nation- or any nation, for that matter- to the impact of fuel prices. Indian economy could have well withered the worst financial crisis of the century but, no one-absolutely no one- is safe from the impact of fuel prices. Any rise in the fuel price by the OPEC, oil companies rush to the government for the subsidies, government has to spend money for arriving at the common good for all, other prices hike subjected to the laws of economics & you & I just sit wondering about what the heck is wrong with the market prices.

                         If this is the picture no matter in which country you are in, I think we are running out of time to find replacements- partial or total- to the conventional fossil fuels. There are various replacements available in the lab & in the market as well. I’ve specifically chosen this opportunity to discuss two major things with you. I believe that these 2 issues have potential to fuel our economies in the near future. There are lots of such replacements available under the title called NON CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES. Amongst them, these 2 sources will form a part of your futuristic life-style in the future not too far. They are-

1. Biofuel
2. Hydrogen Economy

                   I’ll be dealing with pros & cons of these things, their availability, efficiency & cost effectiveness. In the meanwhile, I’ll also teach you how to make a biodiesel at home. So, let’s proceed with biofuels.

• Biofuel-

                   For the love of science, I’ll give the definition first- biofuels are those fuels, which are derived from the biological origin. One thing to be understood very clearly is that, you can’t just fill you fuel tanks with biodiesel directly. Chemically, this diesel is made up of fats, which can accumulate into the bore of the engine & clog it off totally. So, you mix it with conventional diesel. Optimum performance (also known as sweet-point) is obtained if you mix it with conventional diesel in 80-20 ratio i.e. in 1 liter diesel, 800ml normal diesel & 200ml biodiesel. How many liter of biodiesel will be obtained is dependent upon what is the source to obtaining biodiesel, method of extraction, & scale of production. You can extract biofuel mostly from plants & from algae (commonly known as Shaival, in Marathi or Hindi) also. There are different generations of biofuels based on their source & type. From here on, unless specified, biofuels will be regarded as biodiesel. These are as follows-

1. 1^st Generation biofuels-

• These are the most primitive - so to say- forms of biofuel.
• This biofuels is prepared from the edible seeds of. E.g. Peanut.
• The oil produced from these plants is referred to as the Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO)
• Method of production of biodiesel is mentioned in the attachment.
• Apart from biodiesel it gives us glycerin & soap.
• As far as the cost efficiency is concerned, this biofuel is inefficient if you are only after producing biodiesel. But if glycerin & soap are sold to the cosmetic industry, business becomes profitable.
• One interesting case study, I would like to submit here, that is Kokan Krishi Vidyapeeth has successfully produced biodiesel at the cost of Rs. 7/ liter.
• Problem with this kind of biodiesel is that, practicing production of this biodiesel would give rise to some socio-economic tussle as to what to use the available cultivable land for- whether you want to cultivate peanuts so that your people can feed on it or whether those peanuts are to be produce to obtain diesel & some cosmetic raw material stuff.

2. 2^nd Generation biofuels-

• To overcome the socioeconomic problem, scientists have come out with another type of biofuels.
• This biofuel is prepared from seeds of non-edible plants e.g. Jatropha.
• Such plants can grow on barren lands with minimum water requirement.
• Method of production is similar to that of 1^st generation of biofuels.
• Disadvantage of both these types of biofuels is for the cultivation of the plants, we need huge amount of land to be under cultivation. Now, we have limited piece of landmass which can be brought under cultivation. Therefore, new kind of biodiesel source was proposed.

3. 3^rd Generation Biofuels-

• This category of biofuel is generated from algae.
• Every living cell has got lipid vessels into them which are finished product of fats/ fatty acids after digestion process. Tiny algae are no exception to it.
• These algae are abundant in nature. You must have noticed a green colored slimy layer near the water body. There you are that’s what the algae are.
• These can grow in variety of habitats ranging from fresh water body to marine/ oceanic habitats.
• These algae are collected, dried, & then their structure is literally broken down by applying a physical force or using ultrasonic sound to rupture the cell structure.
• There are lot of processes need to be done to reach to the final product.
• Lot of R & D is going on to reduce the cost of production of this type of biofuel & to evolve some cheaper though efficient methods of production.
• Now, one more scientific perspective that needs to be high lightened is any plant (even algae) consumes atmospheric CO₂ when it is growing, we are making biodiesel out of it &burning it into our engines which spits out smoke essentially consisting of CO₂. Thus, we aren’t going GREEN!! That’s what the root cause to lots of problems this world is facing. So, there is one more generation produced to overcome this problem.

4. 4^th Generation Biofuels-

• In this category, algae are genetically modified in such a way that their diesel, (when burned) produces less amount of CO₂ than the amount which the algae consume in its lifetime.
• To make it simpler, assume that an alga -genetically modified-is consuming say 10 units of CO₂ in its lifetime. Then, when we obtain diesel & burn it out, it release say 6 units of CO₂. Remaining 4 units are utilized for the metabolic processes of alga.
• Therefore, this biodiesel is “CARBON NEGATIVE”
• This kind of biodiesel is in a research mode as of now but when it would make its appearance on the commercial scale, it would totally revolutionize the concept of DIESEL.

• HYDROGEN ECONOMY-

                         This is one more energy-efficient & clean concept in which role of Hydrogen is envisaged as a fuel which can run your cars, lighten up your electricity appliances, & so on. In short, Hydrogen is considered to run the entire economy, by replacing conventional fuel sources.

                         Hydrogen can be obtained from electrolysis of water. In this process, water (H₂O) is split up into Hydrogen & Oxygen. This hydrogen can then be stored with proper care & can be utilized as a fuel as & when required. Mercedize has already introduced their car & bus powered by Hydrogen. What are the emissions? Nothing else than tiny water droplets.

                       Only odd thing with Hydrogen is that, for the electrolysis (i.e. Electrical splitting of water) we need energy & this would again come from conventional DIRTY energy sources. Nonetheless, we still eliminate factor pollution from the combustion engines, so this is still a good concept.