Woodchips to fuel European cars
A NEW road fuel made from woodchips and straw will be launched in Europe later this year from a pilot plant developed by Shell and Choren Industries, the German biofuel company.
The synthetic diesel, made using a novel biomass-to-liquids (BTL) process, will eradicate many of the current concerns about the biodiesel industry by using waste plant material instead of valuable food crops. The pilot plant, near Freiberg in eastern Germany, will produce 15,000 tonnes a year of synthetic diesel, dubbed Sunfuel.
Most first-generation biofuels, such as ethanol, are made from food crops such as sugar, rapeseed and palm oil. Growing concern about global warming and the consequent rising interest in alternative fuels have caused the cost of food crops to soar.
It is the second major investment in biofuels for Shell in as many weeks after it secured a $US80 million ($102 million) grant from the US Government to build a plant in Idaho, which will produce cellulosic ethanol from plant waste and straw.
Construction of a much bigger plant in Schleswig-Holstein, costing E500 million ($839 million) and capable of producing 200,000 tonnes of BTL, will begin next year in an effort to quickly bring the product up to commercial scale.
Energy companies are under huge, and increasing, political and regulatory pressure to find low-carbon alternatives to conventional road fuels.
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The synthetic diesel, made using a novel biomass-to-liquids (BTL) process, will eradicate many of the current concerns about the biodiesel industry by using waste plant material instead of valuable food crops. The pilot plant, near Freiberg in eastern Germany, will produce 15,000 tonnes a year of synthetic diesel, dubbed Sunfuel.
Most first-generation biofuels, such as ethanol, are made from food crops such as sugar, rapeseed and palm oil. Growing concern about global warming and the consequent rising interest in alternative fuels have caused the cost of food crops to soar.
It is the second major investment in biofuels for Shell in as many weeks after it secured a $US80 million ($102 million) grant from the US Government to build a plant in Idaho, which will produce cellulosic ethanol from plant waste and straw.
Construction of a much bigger plant in Schleswig-Holstein, costing E500 million ($839 million) and capable of producing 200,000 tonnes of BTL, will begin next year in an effort to quickly bring the product up to commercial scale.
Energy companies are under huge, and increasing, political and regulatory pressure to find low-carbon alternatives to conventional road fuels.
posted by anthony m, at Friday, March 02, 2007
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