Biofuels: what’s next? by Tom Hughes on 06.02.09 Loading ...
The idea of biofuels is now well-established. And it’s a good idea in theory - cleaner fuel produced from renewable resources.
But it’s time to take stock.
What developments have there been lately, and where do they stand us in the search for the true replacement to fossil fuels?
They are now being trialled for commercial jet use, and there are hopes that biofuels could be used to exclusively power jets in the near future.
But with first generation biofuels - mostly grown from agricultural crops such as rapeseed, sugar beet or soy beans - currently showing limitations in terms of the amount of fertile land they take to grow, what recent developments have there been?
With advances in the so-called second generation biofuels and beyond, it’s time to ask the question once again: are biofuels any closer to becoming the saviour of the planet, or are they at present simply a small-scale alternative?
Here we take a look at recent developments, including using waste products to provide fuel to heat houses and to power vehicles.
End products: the answer lies within?
In ancient stories man is often told to look within himself to solve grave problems. This is generally not interpreted literally.
But in the case of our current energy dilemma, perhaps it should be. Because some of the more interesting developments in biofuel are potentially being solved by that most natural of products - human waste.
Research which has just been released by the National Grid claims that, by 2020, up to half of the UK’s homes could be heated using gas made from waste food or sewage.
The report claims that biodegradeable waste - that’s food and faeces to you and me - could be used to make biomethane. This would then be pumped to houses, something which is already happening extensively on continental Europe, including Sweden, Switzerland and Germany.
At the moment a small quantity of biogas produced by landfill and sewage plants is used to make electricity, such as at a Biogas Nord site which opened in Dorset in November last year, using cattle manure, along with corn and grass silage to generate a 370kW capacity.
Another, with a planned 1MW - enough to provide the power for several villages - is set to be finished by the company in West Sussex in the Spring.
However, the idea of pumping the gas direct to homes would make it more cost-efficient, putting prices on a similar level to other renewable sources. And more than this, because of the UK’s extensive gas grid the infrastructure to deliver the product to people’s homes is already in place.
And, of course, it could ease the problem of dwindling landfill capacity on our small and overcrowded island.
Backside to the future?
Looking ahead just a few months, the forward-thinking residents of Oslo will soon be using bowel power to provide the gas - literally - for their public transport system.
From September this year, up to 200 buses in the Norwegian capital are set to run on the biomethane released by treated sewage, while a similar system is also being used in Sweden.
Apparently the Oslo buses, which currently run on diesel, would not need a great amount of modification to allow them to use the gas, which would be trapped at sewage plants.
Another plus point to the plan would mean the biomethane would no longer need to be flared off at the plants, causing thousands of tonnes of CO2 to be released into the air each year.
And even by taking into account the carbon footprint used in generating the fuel, Oslo expects that each bus will generate just 18 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, as opposed to 62 tonnes using the existing diesel engines.
English lessons
It is an approach which we could learn a lot from.
Even our modest targets for assimilating biofuels into mainstream fuel supply are not being wholly met.
Despite last year’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, which requires UK car and truck fuels to include at least 2.5% biofuel, the new Renewable Fuels Agency reported last month that biofuels supplied to forecourts are falling below Government targets for sustainability.
Scum - the future of fuel?
Some of the greatest hopes, however, are being pinned on a third generation of biofuels, which could provide a genuine alternative to fossil fuels.
One of these is algae.
A microalgae-based biofuel would not compete with food crops for growing space - something which will become increasingly important as populations grow and the pressure on land intensifies.
It is rich in oils and can be grown quickly on the surface of water, and is reckoned to produce many times more oil per acre than other biofuel alternatives. And with the Carbon Trust backing a competition to commercialise an algae-based biofuel, things are looking up for its future.
But how distant is that future?
One of the reasons for the increase in interest in biofuels has been the high prices of oil - something which has plummeted over recent months.
While the global economic problems have cut funding, people close to the industry say algae-based biofuels are still so much in their infancy that they do not have to worry about customers themselves.
But what this means is that they are still years, rather than mere months away, from being perfected.
Just how long this will take is up for debate, with estimates suggesting oil from algae could be commercially available as soon as 2010, or over the next three or four years.
2009 - big year for biofuels?
After relying on oil for so many applications for decades, the huge diversity of biofuels is confusing in itself. Which one will win out is anybody’s guess, and perhaps a more intelligent, integrated system of different technologies incorporating different renewables will be the answer.
This was something new US president Barack Obama mentioned in his inaugural speech, pointing to a future which has been welcomed by supporters of alternative energy, when he referred harnessing “the sun and the winds and the soil to power our vehicles and our factories”.
How seriously the US, which consumes an estimated 25% of the world’s energy, takes this stirring new mission will be evident in December, when world leaders meet in Copenhagen to discuss a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol.
And pretty soon we will know if we will be holding our noses because of all the delightfully smelly products being used to fuel our lives, or because the policy just plain stinks.
IMAGE by Flickr user jurvetson