ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF BIOFUELS Edited by Marco Aurélio dos Santos Bernardes Environmental Impact of Biofuels Edited by Marco Aurélio dos Santos Bernardes Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2011 InTech All chapters are Open Access articles distributed under the Creative Commons Non Commercial Share Alike Attribution 3.0 license, which permits to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work in any medium, so long as the original work is properly cited. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published articles. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Petra Zobić Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer Jan Hyrat Image Copyright Henry Nowick, 2010. Used under license from Shutterstock.com First published August, 2011 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechweb.org Environmental Impact of Biofuels, Edited by Marco Aurélio dos Santos Bernardes p. cm. ISBN 978-953-307-479-5 Contents Preface IX Chapter 1 Environmental Impacts of Production of Biodiesel and Its Use in Transportation Sector 1 Sippy K. Chauhan and Anuradha Shukla Chapter 2 The Impact of Oil Palm Expansion on Environmental Change: Putting Conservation Research in Context 19 Edgar C. Turner, Jake L. Snaddon, Robert M. Ewers, Tom M. Fayle and William A. Foster Chapter 3 Allergens and Toxins from Oleaginous Plants: Problems and Solutions 41 Natália Deus de Oliveira and Olga Lima Tavares Machado Chapter 4 Emissions of Diesel - Vegetable Oils Mixtures 67 Charalampos Arapatsakos Chapter 5 Biofuels and Ecosystem Carbon Balance Under Global Change 87 Christina Schädel and Yiqi Luo Chapter 6 Biofuel Combustion Emissions - Chemical and Physical Smoke Properties 101 Chuen-Yu Chan, Guenter Engling, Xuefang Sang and Ting Zhang Chapter 7 Groundwater and Health Implications of Biofuels Production 123 Rosane C.M. Nobre and Manoel M.M. Nobre Chapter 8 Biobased Economy – Sustainable Use of Agricultural Resources 137 S. Kulshreshtha, B. G. McConkey, T. T. Liu, J. A. Dyer, X. P. C. Vergé and R. L. Desjardins VI Contents Chapter 9 Implications of Biofuel Feedstock Crops for the Livestock Feed Industry in Canada 161 J. A. Dyer, X. P. C. Vergé, R. L. Desjardins and B. G. McConkey Chapter 10 Uncertainty Analysis of the Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Energy Renewability of Biofuels 179 João Malça and Fausto Freire Chapter 11 Biofuel Programs in East Asia: Developments, Perspectives, and Sustainability 207 Tatsuji Koizumi Chapter 12 Air Quality and Biofuels 227 S. Prasad and M.S. Dhanya Chapter 13 Identification of Work Tasks Causing High Occupational Exposure to Bioaerosols at Biofuel Plants Converting Straw or Wood Chips 251 Anne Mette Madsen Preface Over the past twenty years, there has been a substantial increase in research and development in the area of biofuels. Many researchers around the world have dealt with environmental, economic, policy and technical aspects relating to these studies. In a way, this book aspires to be a comprehensive summary of current biofuels issues and thereby contribute to the understanding of this important topic. Chapters include digests on the development efforts on biofuels, their implications for the food industry, current and future biofuels crops, the successful Brazilian ethanol program, insights of the first, second, third and fourth biofuel generations, advanced biofuel production techniques, related waste treatment, emissions and environmental impacts, water consumption, produced allergens and toxins. Relating theoretical and experimental analyses with many important applied purposes of current relevance will make this book extremely useful for researchers, scientists, engineers and graduate students, who can make use of the experimental and theoretical investigations, assessment and enhancement techniques described in this multidisciplinary field. Additionally, the biofuel policy discussion is expected to be continuing in the foreseeable future, and the reading of the biofuel features dealt with in this book, are recommended for anyone interested in understanding this diverse and developing theme. Marco Aurélio dos Santos Bernardes Researcher Energy & Environment and LCA, CRP Henri Tudor, CRTE Luxembourg [...]... technology [7] The term biofuel is referred to as solid, liquid or gaseous fuels that are predominantly produced from biorenewable or combustible renewable feedstocks [8] Liquid biofuels are important for the future because they replace petroleum fuels Biofuels are generally 2 Environmental Impact of Biofuels considered as offering many priorities, including sustainability, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,... technologies offer the potential for environmental improvements This chapter elaborates the main environmental impacts associated with bio fuels processing, transport and use In order to provide comparison, it first describes some of the environmental costs resulting from processing and the use of petroleum transport fuels 2 Environmental costs of petroleum refining and use While the use of oil has brought... in most of the countries, but is still used as an octane enhancer Particulate matter Formed from SOx, NOx and hydrocarbons, particulates contribute to ozone formation and affect visibility and hence global warming Table 3 Environmental and health impacts of emissions from petroleum combustion 6 Environmental impacts of biofuel Same as like petroleum fuels, bio fuels can have environmental impacts at... or, in Brazil, via pipelines The environmental impacts associated with transport include the air emission and other pollutants associated with the life cycle of the fuel used – in most cases, petroleum diesel As demand of bio fuel increases and as consumption exceeds, production in some countries, it is likely that a 8 Environmental Impact of Biofuels raising amount of feed stocks and bio fuel will... is a likely carcinogen [20] 5 Combustion of petroleum fuels Compared to bio fuels, petroleum contains a much wider variety of chemical molecules, including far more sulphur Most of these have been sequestered in the earth for ten and even hundred years of millions years The burning of gasoline and diesel fuels releases host Environmental Impacts of Production of Biodiesel and Its Use in Transportation... classification of renewable biofuels based on their production technologies [10] Generation Feedstock Example First Generation biofuels Sugar, Starch, vegetable oils, or animal fats Bioalcohols, vegetable oil, biodiesel, biogas Second Generation biofuels Non food crops, wheat straw, corn, wood, solid waste, energy crops Bioalcohols, bio – oil, bio – DMF, wood diesel Third Generation biofuels Algae Vegetable... water per tonne of oil produced [24] For each tonne of soybeans that go into the refining process, 170 kg come out 6 Environmental Impact of Biofuels as crude de – gummed soybeans oil, 760 kg are soy meal and remaining 70 kg include air and solid and liquid waste [24] The primary contaminant in wastewater is soybean oil [24] Production of ethanol, in particular, requires a tremendous amount of water for... generation lies in biomass integration gasification / gas turbine technology, which offers high energy conversion efficiencies First generation biofuels refers to biofuels made from starch, sugar, vegetable oils or animal fats using conventional technology The basic feedstocks for the production of first generation biofuels are often seeds or grains such as wheat, which yields starch that is fermented into... emissions of most pollutants relative to diesel, including significantly lower emission of particulates, sulphur, hydrocarbons, CO, toxins [57] Emissions vary with engine design, condition of vehicles and quality of fuel In biodiesel- diesel blends, potential reductions of most pollutants increase almost linearly as the share of biodiesel increases, with the exception of NOx emission [47] Environmental Impacts... (2009) Biofuels, Green Energy & Technology [11] Kim, S., Dale, B E (2005) Life cycle assessment of various cropping systems utilized for producing biofuels: Bioethanol and biodiesel, Biomass Bioenergy 29:426 – 439 [12] Demiras, M F, Balat M, (2006) Recent advances on the production and utilization trends of biofuels: A global perspective, Energy Convers Mgmt 47:2371 – 2381 [13] Puppan, D., 2002, Environmental . ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF BIOFUELS Edited by Marco Aurélio dos Santos Bernardes Environmental Impact of Biofuels Edited by Marco Aurélio. replace petroleum fuels. Biofuels are generally Environmental Impact of Biofuels 2 considered as offering many priorities, including sustainability, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,. Table 3. Environmental and health impacts of emissions from petroleum combustion 6. Environmental impacts of biofuel Same as like petroleum fuels, bio fuels can have environmental impacts at