Biofuels
Biofuels can be used as transport fuel, to drive engines, or to produce heat and electricity.
Transport
The EU Biofuels Directive (Directive 2003/30/EC) set reference targets for member states to promote biofuels. In the UK, the Department for Transport has recently published a feasibility study on a Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), which considers the potential for 5% of road fuels to come from renewables by 2010.
Biodiesel and bioethanol are being used as a subsitute for fossil fuels for transport. Biodiesel is most commonly produced from rapeseed oil or waste oil. Bioethanol can be produced from woody material, though most bioethanol currently used, for example in Brazil, is produced from sugar.
Most engines can use 5% bioethanol which is available on some forecourts mainly in the south of England - a list of filling stations including Scotland is available at Biodiesel Filling Stations. An 85% blend will soon be available in Somerset under the Somerset Biofuels Project. Car manufacturers such as Saab and Ford are now producing cars designed to run on bioethanol-petrol blends where they are available.
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The FC has 160 vehicles using biodiesel
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The costs of production of biodiesel are, on average, around twice that of conventional diesel. To encourage its use, the Treasury has set fuel duty on biodiesel and bioethanol at 20p/l below standard road fuels. Although biodiesel can also be used in 'off-road' vehicles such as farm and forestry machinery, it cannot be marked like mineral diesel. If you are using biodiesel as a substitute for red diesel it must therefore be duty-paid, although it is possible to reclaim the duty subject to certain conditions - for more information see HM Revenue & Customs Notice 179E.
See more of our experience here
Heat & Electricity
Bio-oil produced from pyrolysis of wood can be used in boilers and gas turbines to produce heat and electricity. Commercial scale trials are in development in the UK.
Gasification plants are at early stages of introduction with a number of plants in operation around the world. Gasifiers are commercially available and there is a lot of interest in developing the technology. Limited data is available so far on the commercial operation of these plants and some technical aspects in the prototypes.
Useful links
HM Revenue & Customs
Department for Transport
EC Biofuels Directive
Biodiesel Filling Stations