1st ed. 2019 Edition
by Armen B. Avagyan (Author), Bhaskar Singh (Author)
Air pollution policy is closely connected with climate change, public
health, energy, transport, trade, and agriculture, and generally
speaking, the Earth has been pushed to the brink and the damage is
becoming increasingly obvious. The transport sector remains a foremost
source of air pollutants – a fact that has stimulated the production of
biofuels. This book focuses on the biodiesel industry, and proposes a
modification of the entire manufacturing chain that would pave the way
for further improvements.
Oil derived from oilseed
plantations/crops is the most commonly used feedstock for the production
of biodiesel. At the same time, the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering
and 178 scientists in the Netherlands have determined that some
biofuels, such as diesel produced from food crops, have led to more
emissions than those produced by fossil fuels. Accordingly, this book
re-evaluates the full cycle of biodiesel production in order to help
find optimal solutions. It confirms that the production and use of
fertilizers for the cultivation of crop feedstocks generate considerably
more GHG emissions compared to the mitigation achieved by using
biodiesel. To address this fertilization challenge, projecting future
biofuel development requires a scenario in which producers shift to an
organic agriculture approach that includes the use of microalgae.
Among
advanced biofuels, algae’s advantages as a feedstock include the
highest conversion of solar energy, and the ability to absorb CO2 and
pollutants; as such, it is the better choice for future fuels. With
regard to the question of why algae’s benefits have not been capitalized
on for biofuel production, our analyses indicate that the sole main
barrier to realizing algae’s biofuel potential is ineffective
international and governmental policies, which create difficulties in
reconciling the goals of economic development and environmental
protection.
