Biofuels International 2016: Industry experts outline 2030 EU biofuels vision

Industry experts have outlined their 2030 biofuels vision at the 9^th Biofuels International Conference.

By 2020, the EU aims to have 10% of the transport fuel of every EU country come from renewable sources such as biofuels. However, many industry heavyweights have criticised the EU for not coming up with a post-2020 plan.

Speaking to Biofuels International at the sidelines of the Biofuels International 2016 conference in Ghent, Belgium, Raf Verdonck, consultant at TOTCO, said: “Nobody knows what the 2030 landscape will look like. It is difficult to predict. What you could hope for is that we will develop really good second-generation biofuels and technologies which are not really established today. There might be support to help their development. Currently, you have double-counting incentive support for used cooking oil and fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). There could be similar incentives for new technologies.”

Verdonck also said that he believed that crop-based biofuels would still be present in 2030 because “they are part of what Europe needs to support a good agricultural policy”.

‘Plateaued at around 5%’

He explained: “20-30 years ago, subsidies were spent to encourage farmers not to produce anything. That sounds crazy to me. Why not spend money to have them produce something which lowers our energy bills and contributes to a better environment. I guess we will have the traditional biofuels around in 2030 and I hope we have a lot of new products coming from new technologies. I also hope we will reach our 10% target by then.

“Today, collectively in Europe we are around 5%. So, 10% is a long way to go. We (Europe) have been working on biofuels for around 10 years now and we are still short of our 10% target. We have plateaued at around 5% for a number of years now. In order to get further than this there needs to be political will otherwise we are going to stay where we are. 2030 is 14 years away. We are not going to change the world in 14 years, but we can go a lot further than 10%.”

‘Shift from biofuels to biochemicals’

Brecht Vanlerberghe, R&D manager at Bio Base Europe, concurred with Verdonck and said that there was still no clarity on a 2030 biofuels world. However, he said that compressed natural gas (CNG) could be part of a green future.

He explained: “Today, CNG is fossil-fuel based but there is no reason why it shouldn’t be bio-based. The technology is being developed to convert biogas into biomethane. CNG is widely used in Italy.

“Ideally we can shift from biofuels to higher added value chemicals to generate more value from the biomass, but biofuels are key to make this happen. 

“Biofuel applications are very important to get over a lot of hurdles blocking the development of the bioeconomy. These challenges include organising the supply chain and commoditising feedstocks, reaching economical scale of operation, co-product valorisation, and standardisation of sustainability criteria.”

Methanol used in fuel cells

Bo Gleerup, co-founder of biomethanol specialist Nordic Green, said that after 2030 there will be a focus on developing electrofuels.

He said methanol used in combination with fuel cells (a battery used in electric vehicles) will be more prominent as electric vehicles become more popular with the consumer.

He said that fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen, but hydrogen “is a nightmare to transport”.

Gleerup explained: “Hydrogen is easy to handle in a fuel cell. It is also easy to store and transport. People will fill their cars up with methanol if they need a top up. The fuel cell will change that into electricity, so that drivers can continue to drive. Therefore, you will not have the ‘long charging hours’ issue that you have with Telsa. That will be the 2030 future.”

Gleerup also said that Nordic countries such as Sweden and Finland have pushed ahead with vast tax incentives to make biofuels more affordable to producers. “The countries that have come the furthest are the ones who have had governments that push the furthest,” he concluded.

This story was written by Liz Gyekye, editor at Biofuels International.