Second generation biofuels
Biofuels are created out of biomass, which consumes CO2 during the growth of the plants that comprise it. The use of second generation biofuels allows us to reduce the levels of CO2 that is emitted without interfacing with food needs.
Did you know?
- Transportation is 95% dependent on oil.
- Transportation is the cause of 23% of global CO2 emissions.
There are two types of biofuels.
Those of the first generation biofuels are extracted from agricultural products: beets, canola, etc.
Second generation biofuels are produced from the non-edible portion of plants (straw, wood, other plant matter). They can help to reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 90% compared with conventional fuels and, unlike first generation biofuels, they do not compete with the use of these commodities for nutritional purposes.
Air Liquide is developing Bioliq®, a three-step process that produces second generation biofuels. Straw, the raw material of the process, is first transformed into a synthetic crude called Bioliq® SynCrude. This crude is gasified at a very high temperature to produce a blend of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which reacts to form methanol. This methanol can then be used to produce high-quality diesel.
The Bioliq® process enables the production of 1 liter of diesel from 7 kg of straw.
Present across the biofuel production chain, Air Liquide – via its subsidiary Lurgi – is the world leader in building and producing biodiesel units (nearly a hundred units are in operation, under construction or on order). For the Bioliq® project, Lurgi is in charge of engineering, building and rolling out the gasification unit as of the fall of 2011.
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