Читать книгу Encyclopedia of Renewable Energy - James Speight G., James G. Speight - Страница 180

Second-generation biofuel production processes can use a variety of non-food crops. These include waste biomass, the stalks of wheat, corn, wood, and special-energy-or-biomass crops (e.g., Miscanthus). Second-generation biofuels use biomass-to-liquid technology, including cellulosic biofuels from non-food crops. Second-generation biofuels include biohydrogen, biomethanol, Fischer-Tropsch diesel, mixed alcohols, and wood diesel.

Second-generation biofuels (also called advanced biofuels) made from nonfood sources hold significant promise as a low-carbon, renewable transportation fuel that can complement traditional crude oil-based fuels in meeting the future energy needs of the world. Technologies that can convert cellulosic biomass, often regarded as a waste material, into transportation fuels are becoming popular. Examples of cellulosic biomass include: (i) agricultural wastes, such as corn stalks and husks, (ii) forestry wastes, such as wood chips and tree trimmings, (iii) fast-growing trees and grasses grown as energy crops, (iv) waste paper, and (v) food processing wastes

Although using cellulosic biomass as a source of new transportation fuels has obvious advantages, these materials have different chemical structural bonds than food-based crops and are difficult to break down, especially on a large scale. These second-generation fuels may play an important role in diversifying the energy sources of the world and curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Cellulosic ethanol production uses non-food crops or inedible waste products and does not divert food away from the animal or human food chain. Lignocellulose is the woody structural material of plants. This feedstock is abundant and diverse, and in some cases represents a significant disposal problem. The discovery of the fungus Gliocladium roseum points toward the production of so-called myco-diesel from cellulose. This organism was recently discovered in the rainforests of northern Patagonia and has the unique capability of converting cellulose into medium length hydrocarbon derivatives typically found in diesel fuel.

See also: Biofuels – First Generation, Biofuels – Third Generation.