Bioethanol in Europe
First generation bioethanol is produced by distillation from crops such as wheat, corn, sugar cane and sugar beet.
Cellulosic ethanol (a second generation biofuel) can be produced from a wider range of feedstocks, including agricultural residues, woody raw materials or energy crops that do not compete directly with food crops for land use.
This requires a more complex production process (cellulose hydrolysis), which is currently at the demonstration stage. However, significant investment in R&D&D in Europe and the United States will lead to production of cellulosic ethanol on the commercial scale within the next decade.
A number of pilot plants are also developing novel routes to create bioethanol from commercial waste and MSW.
© Copyright
British Sugar
Britian's
first bioethanol plant at Wissington sugar factory. The bioethanol
refinery uses local sugar beet to make 75 million litres of bioethanol
a year – equivalent to about 2% of the petrol used by all cars
in the UK. The green fuel delivers 71% savings in CO2 emissions when
compared to petrol.
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at larger size >>
Latest news, reports, expert opinion and data on bioethanol can be found at Ethanol Market, Ethanol Producer Magazine and through the Biofuels Media
Background information on bioethanol is available from www.biofuels-platform.ch and www.refuel.eu