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Biofuels are as dangerous to the environment as gasoline
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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The industry of producing biofuels from corn residues has been actively developing in the last few years, since this type of fuel was considered less dangerous to the environment than gasoline. However, recent studies have shown that biofuels pose no less of a threat to the environment. First of all, biofuels reduce the amount of carbon in the soil and produce more greenhouse gases, compared to gasoline. Such conclusions were made by several independent research groups.
The Department of Energy has funded the development of biofuel production, particularly from corn residues, for which more than a billion dollars have been allocated. At one of the American universities, researchers consider it impractical to produce biofuel from corn residues after harvest.
A team of researchers led by Adam Liska used a state-of-the-art computer to create a model of the effect of removing crop waste from all corn fields in the United States.
According to the mathematical model, removing residues from fields results in the emission of about 60 g of carbon dioxide additionally. As statistics show, about 100 g/MJ of carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere annually. This figure is 7% higher than that observed when using gasoline.
The research group also found that the amount of carbon dioxide does not change and does not depend on the quality of waste processing. Adam Liska emphasized that the reduction of carbon in the soil slows down when less plant residue is removed from the fields, but the amount of finished biofuel at the output in this case is significantly smaller.
Scientists suggest that in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and carbon losses in the soil, it is necessary to process only cover varieties, which will also provide some advantages to producers (for example, the ability to process wood waste or perennial plants into biofuel). Scientists also believe that it is necessary to introduce new cars with lower fuel consumption. Adam Liska also noted that during the study, scientists were unable to find flaws and refute the study they conducted. The head of the research group also emphasized that similar conclusions were made by several other groups of scientists.
The conclusions made by the experts will be confirmed by farmers, who have repeatedly said that preserving plant waste in the fields is extremely important, since it represents a kind of protection from destruction and preserves the quality of the soil. However, scientists have not been able to establish the exact amount of carbon that the soil loses after removing waste from the fields, nor to reveal the impact of this process on the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Adam Liska and his team used the latest data on soil carbon changes from 2001 to 2010 to validate their model. They also used data from 36 studies from Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America.
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