Bio-fuel for cars
Bio-fuel for cars
The current vehicles are facing a challenge of shifting from depleting and highly polluting fossil fuel to the renewable and greener fuels like Bio-fuels which are less polluting and can be mixed with fossil fuels or used separately. We will discuss about a few of these bio-fuels.
1. Ethanol: Generally known as grain alcohol produced from plant source like corn or sugarcane by fermentation. Ethanol has high Octane rating which produces high efficiency of engines. Globally ethanol is gaining popularity and many car manufacturers are developing Flexi-Fuel Vehicles (FFV). The Flexi-fuel vehicles use a blend of gasoline and ethanol at a ratio of ethanol being as high as 85% with 15% gasoline. These FFV have an option of varied percentage of ethanol and gasoline. Now companies are investing in making this as more efficient and less polluting fuels. Bio-ethanol is carbon-neutral and has a very low carbon-dioxide emission during use of fuel and also during production.
2. LPG Auto-gas: This is a fossil fuel which has very low pollutants like carbon-dioxide and nitrogen oxides compared to gasoline and diesel. A slight modification in the internal combustion engine would make it ready to use LPG as the fuel. LPG has a special property of turning to liquid under atmospheric pressure and can be conveniently stored as liquid.
3. Compressed Natural Gas: Like LPG, CNG is a fossil fuel and has a very low Carbon-dioxide emission levels compared to Gasoline or diesel. Like LPG, vehicles have to undergo a conversion before it is ready to use CNG as fuel. The CNG cannot be stored in liquid form and is stored as compressed gas in cylinders like the LPG. CNG has high octane rating hence is fuel efficient.
4. Bio-Diesel: Produced from plant source like rapeseed, sunflower and soyabean oil. Bio-diesel is green and is carbon-neutral as it has very low carbon-dioxide emission during usage and production. Bio-diesel can replace diesel in many instances but vehicle manufacturers are cautious and recommend 5% to 30% bio-diesel blended with diesel initially to study wear and tear. Modern engines are capable of using 100% bio-fuel.
5. Fuel Cell: Still in research stages may be the cutting edge solution. Fuel Cells are Electro-chemical energy conversion device that convert energy from electro chemical reaction. Electricity can be continuously produced as long as reactants are supplied. At the moment this technology is very expensive and is still in research.
Another feature of bio-fuel in debate is the fact that they will increase pressure on food-grain production as some of these Bio-fuels are of plant origin. Mass production might either lead to reduction in the land area available for food grain production or there will be a massive deforestation. Though there is an urgent need for us to shift from fossil fuel to greener fuel there is also a definite need for quantifying the impact on food-grain production and deforestation.
Sunil Krishna has been associated with used automotive industry for 2 years and with a good knowledge on used engines, used transmissions and used auto parts.
Article from articlesbase.com
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