Napier University Launches Biofuel Research Center; Focus on Second-Generation Biofuels
10 December 2007
Napier University (UK) launched a Biofuel Research Centre (BfRC), the first of its kind in the UK, to research and develop second-generation biofuel from a potentially diverse range of non-food crops and waste matter. The BfRC is led by Dr Martin Tangney, an expert in biobutanol.
The UK Road Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) requires five per cent of all UK fuel sold on UK forecourts to come from a renewable source by 2010, while the EU Biofuels Directive sets “reference values” of a 5.75 per cent market share for biofuel.
While the global production of biofuels is doubling every few years, there have been negative impacts on biodiversity, food prices and carbon emissions as land has been inappropriately cleared to plant first-generation crops. There are already innovative projects in Scotland trialling biofuels from more sustainable sources than food crops such as waste material, but of course more research and development needs to be done.
—David Cairns, Minister of State at the Scotland Office
Wholesale prices for gasoline on the futures markets in the U.S. are around $2.25 at the present time. If the taxes for fossil fuels were at the wholesale level, then BTL might be competitive.
Gasoline from fossil fuels might have a $.75 tax at the wholesale level, bringing the wholesale price to $3.00 per gallon. Synthetic biofuels would not have the tax and $3.00 would make it profitable to produce.
Posted by: sjc | 11 December 2007 at 09:43 AM