Biofuels

The shortage in the availability of fossil fuels and its adverse effects on atmosphere has led to the search for alternate energy crops as a source of biofuels. Biofuels are expected to play a key role in the development of a sustainable, economical and environmentally safe source of energy. In this book, we mainly focused on biofuel production from Euphorbia caducifolia Haines. The anatomical studies show the presence of xeromorphic characters which provided an insight about its capacity to grow on arid and semi-arid regions with very little rainfall. Histochemical tests were performed which revealed the presence of laticifers, could be used as chemical biofuels feedstock. Biocrude was extracted from phylloclades using cyclohexane- and hexane-methanol solvents. Further, the fuel properties, engine performance and emission characteristics were carried out for the biodiesel blends and compared with that of diesel. The present study has been considered to be significant due to only very few studies reported on biocrude and bioethanol production from E. caducifolia, is an integrated approach suitable for reducing cost of production of biofuels.