Wood biomass, source of biofuel and chemical

The project run by the Aalto University is part of the Tekes BioRefineprogram. TEKES is the Finnish Agency for technology and innovation funding. The Biorefine program is developing new competencies based on the strengths of national and the refinement of the biomass-related.


The overall objective of the project is to increase the value of refining of forest residues that can not be used in, for example, the process of the paper pulp. The investigation has been developed by Aadrian van Heiningen and Granström Tom teachers and researchers of Aalto University.

It Butanol is particularly suitable as a fuel for transport because it is not soluble in water and has higher energy content than ethanol. The raw materials most commonly used in the production of butanol have so far been starch and sugar cane.

In contrast to this, the starting point in the study of Aalto University was used only lignocelulosa (also called wood biomass), which does not compete with food production.
Wood biomass It is made up of three main substances: hemicelulosas, cellulose and lignin. Of these three, the cellulose and the hemicellulose can be used as a source of nutrition for microbes in bioprocesses.
During the process that is currently used in the manufacture of cellulose pulp is produced a substance with aspect of black liquor, which can be used as a source of energy. However, this substance is not conducive to microbes.

In the study we present, the pulp manufacturing process altered succeeding - in addition to cellulose- other sugars also remain unharmed. Making so it can be used as raw material to work with microbes.
Wood biomass It is boiled in a mixture of water, alcohol and sulfur dioxide, all parts of the wood - cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin - are separated into clean fractions.

The pulp can be used then to make paper, nanocelulosa or other products. While the hemicellulose is a very efficient raw material for the use of microbes with various applications in the production of chemicals. The big advantage of this new process is that there is no parts of the wood are wasted sugar.

According to the EUrequirements, all fuel must contain 10 percent of biofuels by 2020.
A clear benefit of butanol is that a significantly large percentage - more than 20 percent of butanol - can be added to the fuel to improve it, and without having to make any change in existing combustion engines.

Emissions of nitrogen and carbon from a mixture of fuel with more than 20 per cent butanol are significantly less than fossil fuels.

What’s Next: Aircrafts powered by biofuel

Biofuel airplaneBiofuel will aid in significant reduction in carbon emissions without any major changes or modifications of the engines and their functioning
As we know it
In hope for a zero emission world, various alternative fuel options are developed and tested by the scientists. It will be exciting for you to know that the attempts to fly planes powered by biofuels are successfully in progress. Now you can see several commercial flights doing regular services powered by either pure biofuel or a mixture of biofuel and conventional aviation oil in many parts of the world. The exploration is on steady progress and the efforts to develop completely reliable biofuels are getting huge success. The ultimate result will be that you will be travelling across the continents with no carbon emission at all in near future. Of course, this is what the aviation industry is looking for to fulfill in next nine years, because there is a stipulated deadline of 2020 for carbon neutral growth in the industry.
Need for change
Biofuel is priced high these days. According to industry experts, biofuels cost four times higher than the fossil fuels as of now. It is mainly because production of biofuel is moving sluggish. There should be more diversified methods and plants to produce biofuels on a regular basis. It will bring down the prices, making usage of biofuel profitable for most of airliners. As of today airliners across the world are keenly looking to meet the carbon emission bound set by the industry itself in the next nine years. The industry that is responsible for two percent of total carbon emissions has set a deadline to bring it down.
Most of aircrafts can fly on biofuels. There needs no modification in the engine of most of aircrafts to burn biofuels in them. It makes the efforts quite feasible to fly the aircrafts with biofuels. However, the major challenge is that there are not improved biofuel production units and technologies. In fact, the very production of biofuel is in its nascent stage for the time being. Scientists have not yet spotted suitable stuffs for biofuel production. Biofuel derivation from food crops has hovered huge controversy, and because of that, the researchers are now looking for other alternatives like biodegradable waste and others.
What’s next?
Here are three possible future biofuel-based flight projects. The technology world has even started of thinking traveling spaceship-carrying rockets powered by biofuels.
1. Virgin Galactic spaceships

 SpaceshipsVirgin Fuels is working on biofuels to power the Mothership Eve--the craft that will launch the spaceship into the atmosphere.
Space travel is also getting ready to go green with biofuels. Virgin Galactic, the space travel arm of the Virgin Group is working to develop biofuels to power the Mothership Eve to launch spaceships into the space. Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn some years back made sure that within a few years its spaceship carriers would fly powered by biofuels. Virgin Fuels is leading the research to produce the fuel for the purpose. Carbon emission of Virgin Galactic flights will go significantly down making it a sanctified attempt to reduce the carbon footprint of the aviation industry.
2. Biofuel powered supersonic rocket plane

 Supersonic rocketIt will use engines fueled by biofuel made from sea-weed to take-off and will switch over to its rocket engines at high altitudes.
It is a well-appreciated biofuel effort from EADS, the European Aerospace giant. The project is meant to fly commercial planes on biofuel in speed of better than the sound. However, it is slated to take place in 2050 only. Then, you will be able to travel from Paris to Tokyo in just 2.5 hours on biofuel powered supersonic rocket planes. The flight can cover the air distance of over 12,000 miles or 19,500 km in a rocking speed of 5000 km/hour.
3. Air New Zealand 747

 Air New ZealandAir New Zealand is all set to let one of its Boeing 747 be powered by fuel that is derived from a common weed called ‘Jatropha’.

The Air New Zealand (ANZ) is working to fly its Boeing 747 powered by biofuel generated from an ordinary weed called Jatropha. You can see this weed growing aplenty in India and Africa.

ANZ is to fill biofuel in one of its Boeing 747’s four engines and the other engines with the conventional aviation fuel for test flying. Once succeeded, the airline will completely move on biofuels making a huge cut in its carbon footprint. As the biofuel is made from weed and not from food crops, the attempt gets more attention.


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