Bio-Fuel & Food Crisis

Bio-fuel is blamed for driving the cost of food high up out of reach of the worldwide poor, making worse the crisis for food. United kingdom and United States are increasingly using bio-fuel as a measure to decrease the impact of petrol and diesel on environment. The farmland that was once used to grow crops to feed people is now growing feed for vehicles.

In general bio-fuel are not the problem, the problem lies in food base bio-fuels. It has been proven that algae and switchgrass produce many times more oil than corn, soy and any other food base. We lack refineries and infrastructures for these non-food based fuels.

There are many plants that are basing its infrastructure in feedstocks that minimize or completely remove any impact to the food chain. For instance some plants feedstocks will be based on the use of Jatropha Curcas for bio-diesel production which is a non-food crop and grows in arid regions in which food crops do not grow well. In addition, in the future algal oil will be a largely used feedstock which is also a non-food crop.

Thus, prior to blaming all bio-fuel plants for the cause of increasing food price, it should be research what feedstocks that plants are using.

Appearance of Crude oil

Crude oil varies greatly in appearance depending on its composition. It is usually black or dark brown (although it may be yellowish or even greenish). In the reservoir it is usually found in association with natural gas, which being lighter forms a gas cap over the petroleum, and saline water which, being heavier than most forms of crude oil, generally sinks beneath it. Crude oil may also be found in semi-solid form mixed with sand and water, as in the Athabasca oil sands in Canada, where it is usually referred to as crude bitumen. In Canada, bitumen is considered a sticky, tar-like form of crude oil which is so thick and heavy that it must be heated or diluted before it will flow.Venezuela also has large amounts of oil in the Orinoco oil sands, although the hydrocarbons trapped in them are more fluid than in Canada and are usually called extra heavy oil. These oil sands resources are called unconventional oil to distinguish them from oil which can be extracted using traditional oil well methods. Between them, Canada and Venezuela contain an estimated 3.6 trillion barrels (570×10⁹ m³) of bitumen and extra-heavy oil, about twice the volume of the world's reserves of conventional oil.^

Composition of Petroleum

An oil well produces predominantly crude oil, with some natural gas dissolved in it. So in common usage Petroleum includes both crude oil and natural gas. Whether crude oil or natural gas are predominantly a mixture of hydrocarbons. The lighter hydrocarbons methane, ethane, propane and butane, under surface pressure and temperature conditions, occur as gases, while the heavier ones from pentane and up are in the form of liquids or solids. Some of the gas come out of solution and be recovered as associated gas or solution gas, as the pressure is lower at the surface than underground. Some times gas recovered from gas well may contain heavier hydrocarbons such as pentane, hexane, and heptane in the gaseous state because of the higher underground temperature and pressure than that of the surface.

Under surface conditions these will condense out of the gas and form natural gas condensate, often shortened to condensate. Condensate resembles gasoline in appearance and is similar in composition to some volatile light crude oils.

The proportion of hydrocarbons in the petroleum mixture is highly variable between different oil fields and ranges from as much as 97% by weight in the lighter oils to as little as 50% in the heavier oils and bitumens.

The hydrocarbons in crude oil are mostly alkanes, cycloalkanes and various aromatic hydrocarbons while the other organic compounds contain nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur, and trace amounts of metals such as iron, nickel, copper and vanadium. The exact molecular composition varies widely from formation to formation but the proportion of chemical elements vary over fairly narrow limits as follows:

Composition by weight
Element	Percent range
Carbon	83 to 87%
Hydrogen	10 to 14%
Nitrogen	0.1 to 2%
Oxygen	0.1 to 1.5%
Sulfur	0.5 to 6%
Metals	less than 1000 ppm

Four different types of hydrocarbon molecules appear in crude oil. The relative percentage of each varies from oil to oil, determining the properties of each oil.

Composition by weight
Hydrocarbon	Average	Range
Paraffins	30%	15 to 60%
Naphthenes	49%	30 to 60%
Aromatics	15%	3 to 30%
Asphaltics	6%	remainder

Is LPG Safe?

Propane is an odorless, nonpoisonous gas that has the lowest flammability range of all alternative fuels. High concentrations of propane can displace oxygen in the air, though, causing the potential for asphyxiation. This problem is mitigated by the presence of ethylmercaptan, which is an odorant that is added to warn of the presence of gas. While LPG itself does not irritate the skin, the liquefied gas becomes very cold upon escaping from a high-pressure tank, and may therefore cause frostbite, should it contact unprotected skin. As with gasoline, LPG can form explosive mixtures with air. Since the gas is slightly heavier than air, it may form a continuous stream that stretches a considerable distance from a leak or open container, which may lead to a flashback explosion upon contacting a source of ignition.

Spreading of CNG Technology around Oceania

CNG is used in traditional gasoline internal combustion engine cars that have been converted into bi-fuel vehicles (gasoline/CNG). Natural gas vehicles are increasingly used in Europe and South America due to rising gasoline prices.

During the 1970s and 1980s, CNG was commonly used in New Zealand in the wake of the oil crises, but fell into decline after petrol prices receded. At the peak of natural gas use, 10 percent of New Zealand's cars were converted, around 110,000 vehicles.

A Scania L94UB running on CNG operated by ACTION

During the 1970s and 1980s, CNG was commonly used in New Zealand in the wake of the oil crises, but fell into decline after petrol prices receded. At the peak of natural gas use, 10 percent of New Zealand's cars were converted, around 110,000 vehicles.

Brisbane Transport and Transperth in Australia have both adopted a policy of only purchasing CNG buses in future. Transperth is purchasing 451 Mercedes-Benz OC500LE buses and is undertaking trials with articulated CNG buses from Scania, MAN, and Irisbus, while Brisbane Transport has purchased 216 Scania L94UB and 240 MAN 18.310 models as well as 30 MAN NG 313 articulated CNG buses. The State Transit Authority of New South Wales (operating under the name "Sydney Buses") operates 102 Scania L113CRB buses, two Mercedes-Benz O405 buses and 300 Mercedes-Benz O405NH buses and are now taking delivery of 255 Euro 5-compliant Mercedes-Benz OC500LEs.

In the 1990s Benders Busways of Geelong, Victoria trialled CNG buses for the Energy Research and Development Corporation.

Martin Ferguson, Ollie Clark, and Noel Childs featured on ABC 7.30 Report raising the issue of CNG as an overlooked transport fuel option in Australia, highlighting the large volumes of LNG currently being exported from the North West Shelf in light of the cost of importing crude oil to Australia. The opportunity and pathways to industry development are mapped out in summary on the Rosetta Moon news site.