Perception vs Reality: The 8 Most Common Biofuels Myths

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...Attacks from the usual opponents are generally in the form of statements that sound vaguely scientific, or fact-based. Often with a scientist in tow. Beware. Not every person in the business of meat or breakfast cereal production has your (consumer) interests at heart.

Now, that doesn’t mean that every biofuels technology or “wonder feedstock” that comes down the pikeway is a winner. There’s hype and distortion on both sides of the equation – as we looked at in articles like “Jatropha, the Blunder Crop”, or the debacle at Range Fuels.

But today, let’s look at the myths you’ll be hearing a lot more about over the next 12 months from forces wishing to dismantle the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Myth #1. Meeting biofuels mandates would cause the US to radically lower food production, causing worldwide price increases as well as food riots around the world.

Reality. The Billion Ton Study from the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been issued twice now, (most recently, in the Son of Billion Ton update, here) and conclusively has demonstrated that the US can produce as much as three times the biofuels targets set under the Renewable Fuel Standard, without disturbing current food production. ...

Myth #2. Biofuels cause higher carbon emissions, instead of lowering them.

Reality: According the EPA, corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent, compared to the use of fossil fuels, and every other biofuel in use in the United States (which required qualifying for the advanced, or non-corn, pool) results in, at least, a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels. Does this include both direct land-use change, and even a component for the controversial indirect land-use change? You bet it does. ...

Myth #3. Biofuels use more energy in their production than they provide as a transport fuel.

Reality. Generally, the consensus energy return for corn ethanol is 1.3 to 1, sugarcane ethanol (primarily from Brazil) is at 8:1, biodiesel is at the 2.5:1 mark, and the range for cellulosic biofuels runs from 2:1 to 36:1. ...

Myth #4. All biofuels have lower fuel economy than comparable fossil fuels.

Reality. On mileage. Bio-based gasoline and renewable diesel, as identical fuel molecules, have exactly the same fuel economy as their counterparts. Due to the way that particulates found in fossil fuels behave in jet engines, bio-based aviation fuels generate 2-7 percent better fuel economy than their counterparts. Ethanol is generally in the 70 percent range in terms of mileage per gallon, compared to gasoline – the energy density is a little lower than that, but the impact is mitigated by some other favorable properties of ethanol, including higher octane levels. ...

Myth #5. Cellulosic biofuels will be five years away, forever.

Reality: The first commercial-scale cellulosic biofuels planet are opening this year in the US and Europe...

Myth #6. President Obama wants everyone to use algae-based biofuels that cost $26 per gallon.

Reality. Well, it may be little known, but the commencement of envelopment of algal biofuels is an initiative of the Reagan Administration, continued under first Bush Administration, cancelled under the Clinton Administration due to extremely low oil prices prevalent in the 1990s, and revived under George W. Bush. It is decidedly a Republican renewable fuels program, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Basically, if there’s a President Algae, it’s conservative icon Ronald Reagan – more power to him. If there’s a party that should get credit on algal fuels, it’s the GOP.

The $26 per gallon figure was circulated after the Navy paid that amount for testing and certification quantities of algal-based biofuels. However, the Navy is on record saying that they are intent on deploying such fuels only after they reach commercial scale, and comparable cost with conventional jet fuel. ...

Myth #7. Biofuels require massive subsidies.

Reality. Well, no. Biofuels producers point out that subsidies will accelerate the commercialization of their industry, and if that is a policy benefit to the country offering subsidies, that can be a win-win. But they are not at all requiring them. In fact, both Brazilian cane ethanol and US corn ethanol have successfully transitioned off subsidies. ...

Myth #8. Natural gas is a renewable fuel, too, and should receive the same advantages as biofuels.

Reality. “Gas has been reclassified as a green source of power by Horizon 2020, an €80bn European Union programme unveiled last year, which could have serious repercussions for the renewable energy industry,” reports The Guardian.

Is gas green? Well, it certainly is greener than coal, as a source of electric power. But the definition of “renewable” turns on the time lines. It’s true that if you take a ton of biomass and bury it for 60 million years that, under the right conditions, it will become natural gas or oil. But “renewable”, when it comes to biomass, generally applies to perennial or annual crops, or quickly growing wood. READ MORE

Perception vs Reality: The 8 Most Common Biofuels Myths

Myth #1. Meeting biofuels mandates would cause the US to radically lower food production, causing worldwide price increases as well as food riots around the world.

Myth #2. Biofuels cause higher carbon emissions, instead of lowering them.

Myth #3. Biofuels use more energy in their production than they provide as a transport fuel.

Myth #4. All biofuels have lower fuel economy than comparable fossil fuels.

Myth #5. Cellulosic biofuels will be five years away, forever.

Myth #6. President Obama wants everyone to use algae-based biofuels that cost $26 per gallon.

Myth #7. Biofuels require massive subsidies.

Myth #8. Natural gas is a renewable fuel, too, and should receive the same advantages as biofuels.

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