Today in Biofuels Opinion: “No matter what techniques are developed to expand biofuel feedstock, some basic physical and physiological limitations will apply.”
Ritu Kesarwani, Renewables & Environment Professional: “A lot has been talked and discussed about n-butanol as a potential gasoline blend fuel and its advantages but very less has been talked and researched about butanol as a DIESEL-blend fuel. I have been working on “butanol as a fuel” for more than two years, I have studied, researched and analyzed n-butanol’s properties as a gasoline blend fuel as well as a diesel blend fuel. More I went into depth more I started liking to see this fuel as a full blown fuel in either way, the simple reason is blending of butanol improves the various shortcomings of the diesel like lubricity, oxidative properties, shelf life, cold flow properties and cold flow performance.”
Thomas Sinclair, American Scientist: “No matter what techniques are developed to expand biofuel feedstock, some basic physical and physiological limitations will apply. Plants cannot be grown without three crucial resource inputs: light, water and nitrogen. Each of those inputs will be needed in substantial quantities, yet their availability in the field is limited. As important, so far plants make use of those resources only at established rates. In fact, the close relationship between the available amounts of these resources and the amount of plant mass they can produce—not human demand—will determine how much biofuel the world can produce.”
Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter
Subscribe FREE to the world's most-widely read biofuels daily. Enter your email in the box below,
Related Stories
Hot Topics
The Hottest 50 Companies in Bioenergy
Latest algae-to-energy news
Latest jatropha news
Latest Waste-to-energy news
Entry Information
Filed Under: Opinion
Comments: 1 | Post a Comment | Trackback URL
Post a Comment | Trackback URL
You must be logged in to post a comment.
femtobeam | Aug 20, 2009 | Reply
The concept of limiting factors originated at the turn of the century around 1800 and included 4 factors, not 3. These were nutrients, water, light and heat. The concept is that plant growth is limited by the most limiting of the 4 factors. This explains why the North Sea does not produce algae in mid summer. The still currents keep the nutrients from surfacing. Likewise, there is no algae growth during the winter due to light availability at the North Pole. Science has proven now that some carotinoids can grow in near total darkness and differences in altitude will create a faster evaporation rate in near vaccume conditions, not related to heat. High heat from the sun will cause stoma to close to prevent evaporation of moisture in higher order plants. Too much of the wrong light causes a shutdown in growth due to light saturation. Ocean floor life utilizes deep UV light.