Alternative Fuel

Alternative Fuel

Recently the price of petroleum is increasing. This phenomenon has became worse as US attacks on the Gulf Countries and the petroleum reserve has became less. People all over the world are looking for alternative fuel to replace the conventional fuel. Alternative fuel is any material or substance other than petroleum which is concumed to provide energy to power an engine. Some of the alternative fuels have been found are like biodiesel, ethanol, butanol, fuel cell, hydrogen, solar cell, natural gas and others.

Let's take a look at biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced from domestic, renewable resources. It contains no petroleum, but can be blended with petroleum. Manufacturers always use biodiesel blended petroleum as B20 meaning that 20% of the mixture is biodiesel and 80% is petroleum. The production of biodiesel is made through the transesterification process, whereby the glycerol of vegetable oil is reacted with methanol in the presence of catalyst such as sodium hydroxide, NaOH. The reaction yields methyl ester (biodiesel) and glycerin as the by-product. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, non-toxic, free of sulphur and aromatics.

Besides that, we also can use fuel cell as another choice over conventional petroleum. Fuel cell is made using hydrogen-rich fuel. Upon working, hydrogen will react with oxygen to create electricity by the mean of electrochemical process. Heat and water will be produced as by-products. A single fuel cell consists of an electrolyte and two catalyst-coated electrodes. Hydrogen as anode and oxygen as cathode (a hydrogen cell). Fuel cell can provide a big load of electricity compare to the normal alkaline cell.

Natural gas also have been used widely to replace petroleum. Natural gas is a combustible gas obtained from fossil fuel. It composed mainly of methane. Other compositions also exist in small amounts such as ethane, propane, butane and pentane. In Malaysia, it is used widely for the taxi. It is because the cost for consumption is low. However the supply is still less. The government need to take some action to promote this type of fueling. Before natural gas can be used on the normal vehicle, the engine must be altered to be suited with the usage of the natural gas.

Some of the alternative fuels have advantage of environmental friendly. That means it will not harm the environment as much as conventional fuel. But it is the consideration of the government to use this type of energy supply and to create awareness among the citizens.