Hot topics discussed at this year’s Biofuels International Conference and Bioenergy Insight Conference

Co-hosted with the extremely popular and well-established Biofuels International event, in its 10th year, the Bioenergy Insight Conference & Expo 2017 was a must-attend meeting for anyone wishing to engage in the bioenergy and biofuels markets. 

The conference took place in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 4-5th October.

Some hot topics were discussed including the future of bioethanol, advanced biofuel developments, and an uncertain policy landscape.

UK’s Renewable Fuel Transport Obligation

The first topic was introduced by Rob Wakely, head of low carbon fuels division, energy technology and international directorate, at the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT). Wakely discussed the UK’s Renewable Fuel Transport Obligation (RFTO).

He went into detail about the government’s plans to introduce a cap on crop-based biofuels in order to meet the UK’s renewable fuel obligations. The maximum level for the use of fuels made from agricultural crops will begin at 4% in 2018 and reduce linearly year on year from 2021 to reach 3% in 2026 and 2% in 2032.

Wakely said “advanced low carbon fuels offer a compelling economic and environmental opportunity that the UK is well positioned to capture.” He also said advanced low-carbon fuels can tackle plane and truck emissions. Produced from wastes, they offer more than 95% carbon savings, but the fuels “we need most are still largely pre-commercial”, Wakely maintained.

Cellulosic ethanol

Andrew Murfin, Shell’s general manager for advanced biofuels, focused on how Shell was one of the world’s largest blenders and distributors of biofuels.

Shell produces one of the lowest-CO2 biofuels available today through its joint venture Raízen, which makes ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil (around 2.2bn litres of low-ethanol per year).

He finally defined Advanced Biofuels Success Criteria: Right policies and financial support from governments, Achievement of improved efficiencies by the industry (technologies, feedstocks) and Developments in infrastructure (vehicle compatibility).

Policy uncertainty

Grant Ensus, commercial manager at Ensus, debated over UK policy uncertainty. Pearson posed some questions:

• What will the size of the market be as we move through the 2020’s?
• Will fuel companies introduce E10?
• If they do introduce E10 when will it happen?
• Will the crop cap really not impact bioethanol demand potential until late into the 2020s?

He said “policy certainty is always difficult but legislators need to work hard to ensure that the policies that they put in place are as closely aligned with their desired outcomes.”

Discussing about the future of bioethanol, Pearson said “bioethanol made from grain already contributes significantly to decarbonising transport”. He also said “the industry needs to continue to demonstrate to legislators and the public of its current and future potential to further contribute in a sustainable way.”

Holmes said that first-generation producers can and should be a route to developing novel fuels.

Bioenergy

Bioenergy in Scotland

Chris Stark, director of energy and climate change for the Scottish government, presented a whole system view of bioenergy and discussed Scotland’s final climate plan.

Global wood pellet supply

William Strauss, founder and president of consultancy Future Metrics, named one of the most influential leaders in the biomass sector in 2016 and 2017, talked about the recent trends and forecasts in global wood pellet market.

He said “wood pellet market had experienced growth rates over the last few years of around 10% annually: from around 19.5 million tonnes in 2012 to around 28.6 million tonnes in 2016.”

Sustainability issues

Strauss also talked about sustainability issues. He said the “foundation of carbon emissions mitigation from the use of wood pellets happens because the net carbon added to the atmosphere from the combustion of wood pellets is zero. As long as the growth rate equals or exceeds the harvest rate, the net stock of carbon held in the forest landscape is held constant or is increasing.”

Enviva’s Daniel Davidson also discussed sustainability issues. He said that the company’s “Track & Trace’ system follows every tonne of primary wood back to its origin in the forest or sawmill.”

Chris Holmes, head of waste and bioenergy at the Green Investment Group, also addressed the topic of sustainability. He said “woody biomass continues to be challenged by lobby groups and think tanks and that the main consistent accusation levelled against biomass is that pellet demand causes felling of trees.” 

He mentioned: “Concerns with woody biomass were recently set out in two papers published by Chatham House –the REA provided a rebuttal to various points.” Publication by UK Government of Ricardo’s study on counterfactuals has allayed many fears of high carbon-emitting outcomes, Holmes explained. But he said that the conclusions and implications of the report continue to be debated.

According to Holmes, the biomass industry should aim to be fully transparent about the sourcing of its feedstocks.

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Sources

• Bioenergy Insight: Biofuels International conference and Bioenergy Insight conference cover range of issues This story was written by Liz Gyekye, editor of Biofuels International and Bioenergy Insight.