Advanced BioFuels USA » EU

BRISK Accepting Proposals for Biofuels Research

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 23:18:47 +0000

by Kevin Billinghurst (KTH) The KTH-led, 26-member consortium BRISK has begun accepting proposals from researchers studying improved production methods for biofuels and thermal biomass conversion. Financed by €11 million in EU research funds, the project emphasises international mobility, inviting students and professors to conduct experiments at dozens of specialised testing facilities across Europe.

…BRISK (Biofuels Research Infrastructure for Sharing Knowledge) is rooted in the recognition that engineering new production processes for fossil fuel alternatives is among the most promising technological fixes for reducing carbon emissions. A European network of 26 leading universities, hosted by KTH, the BRISK programme is designed to cross-fertilise experimentation in thermochemical biomass conversion by funding the movement of researchers among at least 60 test facilities and pilot plants stretching from Turkey and Greece in the south to Scandinavia and the UK in the north.

Established last autumn, BRISK began accepting proposals for trans-European research projects in April.

…BRISK aims to give researchers the tools to answer fundamental questions about every step in conversion of biomass to fuels: preparing the feedstock, reaction processes such as pyrolysis or gasification, treatment of the resulting products, and catalytic processing. READ MORE

Green Dragon: 20 Signs that 2012 is the Year of China

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:34:43 +0000

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …It doesn’t take a casual observer very long to see the China’s activity in industrial biotechnology accelerating, as more and more technologies develop there, or transfer there via JVs or licenses. What does a win in the grand scale-up of industrial and agricultural biotechnology offer China, or any other country?

OK, let’s see. A dominating position in the future of manufacturing, a structural advantage in the cost of energy, enough food security and energy security to pursue an expansionist foreign policy.

Eventually, dominance in finance when all the capital has drained out of the EU and the US and sits in mountains of cash back in China, as it did before the Age of Navigation and the Industrial Revolution eroded China’s 2000-year dominance of world trade.

Let’s look at the 20 signs.

Next generation technologies deploying in China

Lemna. …build-out of ten commercial-scale units of approximately 5,000 hectares will be implemented step by step at locations to be determined around the world. …

Cassava stalk. …ethanol for less than two dollars per gallon… commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol and butanol distillery that will produce 50,000 metric tons annually. …

Corncobs. … corncob residues from furfural production into fermentable sugars and then into ethanol…

Pulp mill black liquor. …black liquor gasification technology – a route to 2nd generation biofuels or green power. …

Potato starch residue. …ethanol for fuel use and DDG to verify the profitability for commercialization. …

Algae. … 250-module algae biofuels facility …

Integrated biorefineries …

Demand for food crops, oils on rise, affecting world prices …

Aviation biofuels …

New ventures planned …

R&D …

Feedstocks …

Renewable chemicals and Materials …

Expansion to Africa … READ MORE

“Biofuels Fuelling Europe’s Economic Recovery”, Echoes ePURE

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:48:52 +0000

(Renewable Energy Magazine) The European renewable ethanol industry is contributing substantially to the European economy according to ePURE, the European Renewable Ethanol Association, in response to a new report published today.

The report “Contribution of Biofuels to the Global Economy”, published by the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, reveals that in 2010 the global biofuels industry contributed 213 billion euro(1) to the global economy, increased global GDP by 0.4% and supported 1.4 million jobs in all sectors.

“This report shows that the biofuels industry is contributing substantially to the global public good. As global biofuels production increases, the economic benefits of biofuels are being further maximised”, said Mr. Rob Vierhout, Secretary-General of ePURE.

The report highlights that ethanol production sustained nearly 70,000 jobs in Europe in 2010, and this could rise to about 190,000 jobs in 2020. Currently in 2012, with more ethanol production plants having been constructed in Europe during the past 2 years, the sector supports 100,000 direct and indirect jobs(2), mainly in the agricultural sector. READ MORE Download Study

National Farmers Union Attacks Government Biofuel Policy

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:24:45 +0000

(FarmingUK.com) Latest government figures reveal that the vast majority of biofuels supplied in the UK are made from imported feedstock, with almost nine out of every 10 litres of foreign origin.

The NFU have said that UK biofuel growers have been subject to poor policy making by the Department of Transport, despite the growers making rapid progress with sustainability standards.

This collapse in biofuel production from British raw materials is worse than last year’s figures from the UK Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO), which showed that less than a quarter (22 per cent) originated from British feedstocks in 2010-11.

NFU chief arable adviser Guy Gagen said: “The efforts of British farmers and certification bodies to meet EU sustainability criteria under the Renewable Energy Directive and the UK RTFO are being ignored.

“These figures show the damaging impact of UK government dithering over the past year, with British production capacity lying idle and British-grown and processed biofuel feedstocks progressively replaced by imports. A combination of policy delay, inaction and extending timescales for renewable transport fuel targets has hit UK use of home-produced biofuels hard. READ MORE

EU Biodiesel Makers Expect to Boost Sales in Spain

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:47:24 +0000

by Martin Roberts (Reuters) …European biodiesel makers will be able to sell an additional one million tonnes a year in Spain after new measures which effectively shut out Argentine and Indonesian imports, an industry spokesman said.

Spain decreed on April 20 that only biodiesel produced in the European Union could be used to comply with a legal minimum of 7 percent which has to be blended with mineral diesel used in motor fuel.

…The government decree was passed days after Argentina seized Spanish-owned oil firm YPF (YPFD.BA), but had been drafted months earlier to help Spain’s biodiesel industry, which was working at just 14 percent of its 4.5 million tonnes per year capacity.

… “One of the great shortfalls in policy to promote biofuels is that we have not managed to develop home-produced raw materials,” (APPA Biocarburantes President Manuel) Bustos said. “An extra effort is needed as well as developing energy crops like rapeseed.” READ MORE

EU Biofuels’ Indirect Carbon Emissions Debate To Move Forward

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:32:21 +0000

(Wall Street Journal/Governors Biofuels Coalition) Top European Union policy makers will next week be faced with one of Europe’s most controversial climate policies, as they consider whether biofuels do more harm than good when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.

The 27 European commissioners will for the first time discuss the issue all together at a regular meeting Wednesday, after diverging views among some members of the college put the EU in a deadlock and delayed action for months.

Brussels has been debating whether biofuels are better for the climate than conventional fuels, with some environmentalists calling for a radical rethink of EU.

…The energy department is still supporting the current EU policy and favors the use of biofuels, not only because it sees them as a good way to reduce CO2 emissions of the transport sector, but also as a way to reduce the bloc’s dependence on fuel imports.

The climate change department instead is more skeptical about their viability as it stresses climate change as the main objective and wants to account also for so-called “indirect” emissions caused by biofuels before continuing to allow their use in the EU. READ MORE and MORE (Greenpeace) and MORE (EurActiv) and MORE (Business Green) and MORE (Triple Pundit)

EU Report Questions Conventional Biofuels’ Sustainability

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:41:21 +0000

(EurActiv) Conventional biofuels like biodiesel increase carbon dioxide emissions and are too expensive to consider as a long-term alternative fuel, a draft EU report says.

The study ‘EU Transport GHG [greenhouse gases]: Routes to 2050’ estimates that before indirect effects are counted, the abatement cost of reducing Europe’s emissions with biofuels is between €100-€300 per tonne of carbon.

At current market prices, this would make their CO2 reduction potential up to 49 times more expensive than buying carbon credits on the open market at €6.14 a tonne.

But the EU’s authors conclude that it “it is not possible (and useful) to determine cost effectiveness figures for [conventional] biofuels” because their indirect effect – measured in cleared forests and grasslands (‘ILUC’) – make it a CO2-emitting technology.

The latest report will feed a growing unease about the reasons for the EU’s original biofuels policy – justified in environmental terms – and the way it has developed since.

“The truth is that policy makers inside and outside Europe are doing biofuels for other reasons than environmental ones,” said David Laborde, a leading agricultural scientist and author of key biofuels reports for the European Commission.

“It’s a new and easy way to give subsidies to farmers, and it’s also linked to industrial lobbies that produce these biodiesels, and also what they will call energy security,” he told EurActiv.

…Claude Turmes, the European Parliament’s rapporteur responsible for steering the Renewable Energy Directive into law, said that business lobbies had influenced his negotiations with the then-French Presidency of the European Council.

“There were two lobbies, the sugar farmers lobby and the German car industry who tried to prevent the EU’s CO2 and cars legislation,” Turmes (Greens/Luxembourg) told EurActiv. READ MORE

UK Climate Advisers Recommend International Aviation Emissions Be Included in National Carbon Budgets

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:37:49 +0000

(GreenAir Online) The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which advises the UK government on national carbon targets, has recommended international aviation and shipping emissions be included in carbon budgets and the UK’s 2050 overall target to reduce emissions 80 per cent below 1990 levels. International emissions from the two sectors had previously been excluded because of the complexities involved but the introduction of aviation into the EU ETS has now made it possible to calculate aviation’s UK share and provide a mechanism to cap its emissions growth. Current UK policy is to return aviation emissions to 2005 levels by 2050. The full inclusion of aviation emissions into the legally binding carbon budgets would put pressure on the UK aviation industry to deliver on its own reduction goals. However, the CCC said the UK should not set unilateral emissions targets but should work within longer-term global or EU agreements.

…“People in the UK fly more than anyone else in the world, so it is right that the UK takes a leading role in tackling aviation emissions growth,” it said. “The Committee’s recommendations would give aviation considerable leeway compared with other sectors but would ensure that aviation in future participates transparently in the UK’s efforts to bring our economy within sustainable limits.” READ MORE

Biofuels Lobbying Could Pay off This Harvest

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:03:50 +0000

(NFU Online) The updated Red Tractor farm assurance scheme for crops and sugar beet is on the verge of being officially accepted across the EU in time for this year’s harvest, the NFU said today.

The move is designed to help give crops and sugar beet producers a head start in the biofuels market while keeping the burden of new EU regulations to a minimum. It will mean that Red Tractor farm assurance will become the route for farmers to demonstrate they meet the new sustainability requirements for biofuel crops under the Renewable Energy Directive.

The Red Tractor Crops and Sugar Beet Scheme submission to the EU Commission for recognised voluntary status has now entered the final stages of approval, following months of hard work by the NFU and Red Tractor Assurance. READ MORE

EU Requires Sustainable Biofuels: How U.S. Ethanol Producers Can Become Certified

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:59:58 +0000

by Antje Grzesik (Ethanol Producer Magazine/ISCC System GmbH) …The EU Renewable Energy Directive (Directive 2009/28/EC) establishes a common framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources in the European Union. In the area of biofuels and liquid biomass for electricity and heat production, the EU set sustainability requirements for renewable fuels to qualify as meeting the mandatory renewable energy targets. With the RED in effect since Dec. 5, 2010, member states must transpose the directive into national legislation. Last July, the EU Commission approved seven certification schemes that companies can use to verify sustainability claims. The national legislation in Germany is based on certification by voluntary certification schemes.

The directive requires the use of sustainable biomass seeking to prevent companies from converting forest, peatlands or biodiverse grassland for the production of biomass for the use in biofuels for the EU market. Carbon-rich areas or areas with a high degree of biodiversity are not allowed to be used for the production of biomass for biofuels or liquid biomass for heat and power generation. If the land use has been changed after January 2008, biomass from this area cannot be certified as sustainable.

Furthermore, an RED requirement states that biofuels must achieve a reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) of at least 35 percent in comparison to fossil fuels. Beginning in 2017, the GHG emission savings target rises to at least 50 percent, and in 2018 the target is at least 60 percent for biofuels and bioliquids produced in installations in which production started on or after Jan. 1, 2017.

U.S. ethanol producers exporting into the EU can show that they fulfill these sustainability criteria by being certified under the framework of one of the certification schemes for sustainability and GHG emissions approved by the EU Commission. The EU recognized schemes can be used in all 27 member countries. READ MORE