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Second-generation biofuels are thought to increase environmental sustainability since the non-food part of plants is being used to produce second-generation biofuels instead of being disposed of. [105] But the use of second-generation biofuels increases the competition for lignocellulosic biomass, increasing the cost of these biofuels. [106]
Any fuel produced from agricultural produce or organic waste is a biofuel. Humans have used biofuels since time immemorial — for example, burning wood and manure for cooking, heating and light. ...
An enzymatic biofuel cell is a specific type of fuel cell that uses enzymes as a catalyst to oxidize its fuel, rather than precious metals. Enzymatic biofuel cells, while currently confined to research facilities, are widely prized for the promise they hold in terms of their relatively inexpensive components and fuels, as well as a potential power source for bionic implants.
Biofuel can be produced from any carbon source that can be replenished rapidly e.g. plants. Many different plants and plant-derived materials are used for biofuel manufacture. Perhaps the earliest fuel employed by humans is wood. Evidence shows controlled fire was used up to 1.5 million years ago at Swartkrans, South Africa.
Since biomass can also be used as a fuel directly (e.g. wood logs), the terms biomass and biofuel have sometimes been used interchangeably. However, the term biomass usually denotes the biological raw material the fuel is made of. The terms biofuel or biogas are generally reserved for liquid or gaseous fuels respectively. [8]
A biofuel cell uses living organisms to produce electricity. It may refer to: Microbial fuel cell, a bio-electrochemical system that drives a current by using bacteria and mimicking bacterial interactions found in nature; Enzymatic biofuel cell, a type of fuel cell that uses enzymes rather than precious metals as a catalyst to oxidize its fuel
Biofuel development and use is a complex issue because there are many biofuel options which are available. Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, are currently produced from the products of conventional food crops such as the starch, sugar and oil feedstocks from crops that include wheat, maize, sugar cane, palm oil and oilseed rape.
Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, [1] and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how biomass is defined, e.g., only from plants, [ 2 ] from plants and algae, [ 3 ] from plants and ...