Conventional Biofuels Can Help Reduce Greenhouse Emissions
Even more significant reductions could be achieved using advanced biofuels.
London, UK — Biofuels are those that contain components created from biomass. Today's biocomponents are typically made from sugar, wheat, maize or oilseed crops such as soy and rape. They reduce the overall volume of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere because they absorb carbon dioxide as they grow while emitting roughly the same as conventional fuels when they are burned. Owing to the current application of component technologies in vehicle engines in most countries, biocomponents are usually blended into fuel in small proportions such as 5 or 10%, providing useful but limited reductions in net GHG emissions. In the EU and US, legislation has been proposed or introduced that requires suppliers to blend biofuels to specified levels.
We were closely involved in drawing up the Biofuels Assurance Scheme being created by the UK Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership – a group drawn from industry, government, academia and environmental NGOs that aims to accelerate the shift to low-carbon vehicles and fuels. The scheme aims to provide a framework for the assessment of the overall performance of biofuels in cutting GHG emissions – from the farm to the fuel tank. The initiative will also provide a basis on which to assess the sustainability of the production of different biofuels, given their impact on the environment and on wildlife, the change of use of and demand for land, for water and other resources.
During 2005, we also continued to carry out research towards a new generation of advanced biofuels that have the potential for much greater emissions reductions and improved performance than today's conventional biofuels. We believe such new fuels need to be developed if biocomponents are to make a major contribution to the transport fuel pool.
Our work focuses on new technologies for converting large volumes of biomass feedstock into bio-components whose characteristics are such that they can be blended into fuels in higher proportions than today. Because of concerns over using food crops such as wheat for fuel, we are looking particularly at processes that would handle crops such as non edible oils such as jatropha and fast-growing grasses including switchgrass that are grown specifically for fuel and farmed non-intensively to minimize life cycle emissions. We are also exploring processes to convert waste resources such as agricultural or forestry residues into fuels.
SOURCE: BP