ARID ZONE JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING, TECHNOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT
AZOJETE, September 2019. Vol. 15(3):554-559

Published by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Print ISSN: 1596-2490, Electronic ISSN: 2545-5818

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554

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

THE POTENTIAL OF BIOETHANOL AS A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO FOSSIL FUELS

K. O. Rabiu*, L. K. Abidoye and A. T. Oriaje
(Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Environmental Sciences

Osun State University, Osogbo, Nigeria)
* Corresponding author’s email address: kazeem.rabiu@uniosun.edu.ng

ARTICLE INFORMATION

Submitted 20 November, 2018
Revised 4 February, 2019
Accepted 4 February, 2019

Keywords:
Bioethanol
Biofuel
fossil fuel
clean energy
climate change
food production

ABSTRACT
Environmental challenges from fossil fuel emission have global issues
and have contributed immensely to climate change. Bioethanol has
experienced unprecedented level of attention due to its value as
substitute to fossil fuel. Besides being a renewable and sustainable
source of energy, it is also efficient, available and environmentally
friendly. Global production of bioethanol continues to increase and will
probably continue to dominate the alternative fuels market in the next
decade. It is important to emphasize that for bioethanol to be a viable
alternative, it must have ecological benefits, be economically
competitive and its production must be in commercial scales without
affecting the food production. This paper explains the problems and
possible solutions in the production of bioethanol; since biofuel
produces clean energy which can reduce the emission of CO2 into the
atmosphere.

© 2019 Faculty of Engineering, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. All rights reserved.

1.0 Introduction
Environmental problems arising from fossil fuel emission have become global issues, for instance,
greenhouse effect. According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), fossil fuel
contributes to approximately 75 percent increase in carbon-dioxide (CO2) emission (Metz et al.,
2005; Olajire, 2010). Over the last decades the world has begun to realize the significance of
finding clean, sustainable and renewable forms of energy. One of these is first generation biofuel
(bioethanol and biodiesel); bioethanol is obtained from the fermentation process of crops such
as corn, cassava, rice, sugarcane, soya-beans, wheat, barley, and potato while biodiesel is
produced by oil crops (rapeseed, soybeans, sunflower, palm, coconut) and animal fats. Second
generation biofuels include bioethanol and biodiesel produced from the residual, non-food
parts of crops, and from other forms of lignocellulosic biomass such as grasses, wood, and
municipal solid wastes (Inderwildi and King, 2009; Gibbons and Hughes, 2011). Third generation
biofuels include algae-derived fuels such as biodiesel from microalgae oil, bioethanol from
microalgae and seaweeds, and hydrogen from green microalgae and microbes (Aylott, 2010;
Dragone et al., 2010; Gibbons and Hughes, 2011). Also, fourth generation biofuels uses
genetically modified (GM) algae to enhance biofuel production
Bioethanol is a good replacement to fossil fuel because it does not have the impurities such as
sulphur oxides that are commonly found in petroleum products. Sulfur dioxide, emitting from
fossil fuel is one of the important air pollutants leading to climate changes, acid precipitations,

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Arid Zone Journal of Engineering, Technology and Environment, September, 2019; Vol. 15(3):554-559. ISSN 1596-2490;
e-ISSN 2545-5818; www.azojete.com.ng

Corresponding author’s e-mail address: kazeem.rabiu@uniosun.edu.ng

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and health problems. Sulpfur dioxide can cause a serious health related problems such as
asthma and chronic bronchitis. Besides, it can cause both acute and chronic injury to plants and
affect their growth and production.
This review explains the problems and possible solutions in the production of bioethanol since
biofuel produces clean energy which can reduce the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. Licht
(2005) claimed that global production of bioethanol has increased rapidly since 1970 when there
was oil crisis; its sales rose sharply from 1975 to 2006. The biofuels supply has increased globally
by a factor of 8% from 2000 to 2010 (Figure 1). Goldemberg and Guardabassi (2009) explored
that the present use of bioethanol as a fuel is around 86.4 million litres, accounting for 0.7% of
the global oil production and 2% of the fossil fuel consumption, while utilizing less than 1% of
the world’s cultivating land. In 2006, about 45 billion litres of bioethanol were produced globally
and more than half of this was generated in Brazil and the United States (Goldemberg and
Guardabassi, 2009; Dufey, 2006). It is estimated that significant amount of bioethanol was
produced globally to replace roughly 2 per cent of total gasoline consumption. Table 1 shows
the main bioethanol producing countries.

Table 1: Global bioethanol production (Dufey, 2006)
Country Production (ML) Feedstock
Brazil 15,098 Sugarcane
US 12,907 Corn and sorghum
Canada 231 Wheat and straw
Colombia 900 Sugarcane
Germany 269 Rye, wheat
France 829 Wheat, beet
Italy 151 Wheat
Spain 299 Barley, wheat, wine
Sweden 98 Wheat, Forestry
UK 401 Beet
China 3,649 Corn, cassava, sugarcane
India 1,749 Sugarcane
Thailand 280 Sugarcane, cassava
Indonesia 167 Sugarcane
Pakistan 26 Sugarcane
Philippine 83 Sugarcane
South Africa 416 Sugarcane
Malawi 6 Sugarcane
Ghana 6 Sugarcane
Zimbabwe 6 Sugarcane
Kenya 3 Sugarcane
Australia 33 Sugarcane

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Rabiu, et al.: The potential of bioethanol as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. AZOJETE, 15(3):554-559. ISSN 1596-2490;
e-ISSN 2545-5818, www.azojete.com.ng

Corresponding author’s e-mail address: kazeem.rabiu@uniosun.edu.ng 556

Figure 1: Worldwide biofuel production (Araujo et al., 2017)

2. Bio-ethanol and their challenges
2.1 The Food-Fuel Debate
One aspect of the challenges of bioethanol that has received much attention is the possible link
between bioethanol production and food shortage (Figure 2). Increased bioethanol production
will increase the cost of crops which are the major feed-stocks, and this will result to the rise in
the price of food commodities. Fargione et al., (2008) claims that recent policy decisions to
produce advanced biofuels on high standard farming land contributed to the food shortage.
However, the problem of food shortage can be solved through improved farming techniques
such as efficient use of fertilizers and pesticides that will boost crop yields.

Figure 2: Food price index and key elements (The Food Price Index reflects the commodity group
price indices (Araujo et al., 2017)

2.2 Technological Issues
Another problem that is affecting the bioethanol production is technological issues for example,
conversion technology and biotechnology. Bioethanol production from cellulosic materials is
having challenges of technology (Goldemberg and Guardabassi, 2009). Bothast (2005) says that
about ten percent of corn crop generated 3.4 billion gallons of bioethanol fuel in 2004 and its
demand was expected to be more than double in the next ten years. So, to meet this demand,
new technologies must be moved from the research stage to profit-oriented level (Damirbas and
Balat, 2006).

Therefore, global scale production of bioethanol requires high-technology (advanced
technological development) and techniques such as modelling, simulation and optimization. This
should perhaps be applied to some processes such as fermentation, distillation, cogeneration,

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Arid Zone Journal of Engineering, Technology and Environment, September, 2019; Vol. 15(3):554-559. ISSN 1596-2490;
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557

residue treatment, recycling, instrumentation and automatic control systems and this will
contribute to the vast growth of bioethanol production. For instance, sugar production through
technological advancement contributed to significant increase in the production (Costa et al.,
2010). Cardona and Sanchez (2007) suggested the usage of both ultrafiltration and
microfiltration for the collection of the cellulose from the enzymatic hydrolysis reactor during the
production of bioethanol from metropolis refuse. Cardona and Sanchez (2004, 2006) used Aspen
Plus (software) to simulate several technological configurations that will improve the yield of
bioethanol from biomass and certain processes and integration possibilities are to be taken into
consideration (Cardona and Sanchez, 2007). A trial plant was constructed for the conversion of
lignocelluloses biomass into bioethanol, operated for the purpose of research and development
among associate industries that deal with biomass bioethanol technology (Cardona and Sanchea,
2007). Bai et al. (2008); Zhao and Bai (2009) noted that constructions of pilot and large factories
have been built in China for the continuous bioethanol production using flocculent yeast strain
for instance, bioethanol accumulation and recycling for many batches (Mussatto et al., 2010).
Hence, advanced technology development could provide the means to develop economical
technologies for the production of fuel bioethanol and consequently increase its production for
global scale.

2.3 Government Policy
There are policy issues, for example, uncertain governmental policies such as un-supportive
policies, and uncertainty in policies. Government policies that support demand and encourage
the investment and research needed to develop an alternative fuel is paramount for
environmental improvement and energy security. Government can enhance the production of
bioethanol by introducing certain programs such as subsidies, research and development
programs. The advancement of any nation is as a result of high level of research and
development, for example, Sao Paulo in Brazil has made huge investments in genetic research
and sugarcane improvement breeding (Hira and Oliveira, 2009). Balat and Balat (2009) says that
the policy tools in China for bio-fuel promotions are tax, subsidies, cost limit, quotations, and
establish changes by law (Balat and Balat, 2009). Gnansounou et al., (2005) also claims that two
major bio-ethanol fuel programs have been accomplished in China from 2001 with the aim to
enhance renewable energy sources, enhance public energy security and improve national
territory (Balat and Balat, 2009).

Therefore, it is possible for bioethanol production to provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels
on global scale, for example, private companies and public sectors are presently making
progress on developing cellulose bioethanol industry (Keeney, 2009). Indian’s Government gives
40 per cent subsidized loans for sugar factories who are interested in bioethanol manufacturing
(Coyle, 2007). In addition, Thailand which is agricultural based nation is encouraging bioethanol
production that is currently obtained from sugarcane and cassava (Mussatto et al., 2010; Dufey,
2006). Bioethanol production increased worldwide from 17.25 billion litres in 2000 to over 46
billion litres in 2007 and its demand will exceed 125 billion litres by 2020 with the new
governmental programs of America, Europe and Asia (Balat and Balat, 2009). Governments
justify support in order to achieve societal goals, for example, to diversify energy sources, to
enhance energy security and to meet environmental and rural development objectives.

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Rabiu, et al.: The potential of bioethanol as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. AZOJETE, 15(3):554-559. ISSN 1596-2490;
e-ISSN 2545-5818, www.azojete.com.ng

Corresponding author’s e-mail address: kazeem.rabiu@uniosun.edu.ng 558

3. Conclusion
Biothanol has experienced unseen levels of attention due to its value as substitute to fossil fuel
and also mitigation option for climate change; besides being a renewable and sustainable source
of energy, it is also efficient, available and environment friendly. Researches are presently focus
on the development of concepts such as renewable resources and sustainable development.
Hence, global production of bioethanol is increasing, and it will probably continue to dominate
the alternative fuels market in the next decade. Biothanol as a viable alternative to fossil fuel
requires a vital role from agriculture, technology, and government intervention such as research
and development, subsidies and tax reduction. It is also important to emphasize that for
bioethanol to be a viable alternative, it must have ecological benefits, be economically
competitive and its production must be in commercial scales without affecting the food
production. Bioethanol for use as fuel is better produced from biomass to prevent the scarcity of
food supply. Biomasses such as cassava peels, corn cobs, mango peels, sawdust, sorghum straw,
and rice husks which are readily available in Nigeria can serve as an alternative to food usage.
Conversion of these biomasses to bioethanol can create wealth from such wastes.
The research into the sustainability of bioethanol production with respect to food versus fuel
tradeoffs and land use are required. If sustainability and technical challenges are effectively
worked out, these fuels have great potential to proffer solutions to the problem of climate
change. During the process, there must be sustainability of global biofuel development by
placing emphasis on the technical, policy and investment aspects. Researches that could
promote the scale of substitution of biofuels in the global fuel markets are also encouraged in
the future work.

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