The Rise of Biofuels in the UK

Project background and objectives

Instances of biofuels being used in the UK are increasing faster than ever. This is because the government has set challenging targets for the department of transport, demanding that 5% of all motor fuel come from renewable sources by the year 2010.

The ‘recipe’ for making fuel from biomass has been in existence for over two hundred years. It is thought that the transesterification of vegetable oil was originally to gather glycerine for the production of soaps; however, another two products are made. Methyl and ethyl are the products of creating glycerine and biofuel uses methanol and ethanol in the production of biofuels.

The extent of biofuels nowadays is the mixing of petrol with a small amount of bioethanol, typically 5% which any car can run on without any damage to the mechanics. However, E85 is a fuel which uses 85% biofuel and 15% petrol. This fuel can be used by all cars however some rubber parts in the engine and surrounding parts need to be swapped to a different material that is resistant to the dissolving effects of the mixture. However the history of biofuel dates back to the creation of the first diesel engine by Mr Rudolph Diesel in the late 1800’s. The roots of our dependence on oil today can be traced back to these times when the petroleum companies were competing with other fuel companies selling bio based fuels. However the petroleum companies were selling their product at incredibly low prices and by the 1940’s they had practically blown the opposition out of the market. The main producer of biodiesel was a factory opened by Henry Ford. This was a factory refining extracts from the hemp plant into biodiesel however the petroleum companies used connections with the news papers to hurt the image of hemp and in the early 1940’s the government passed a marijuana tax act and shortly afterwards Ford closed his plant and ever since we have depended on foreign oil.

The main objective of the British government in the near future is for 5% of all motor fuels to come from renewable sources by the year 2010. Today, petrol is mixed in with 5% bioethanol from most pumps on the high street as standard and so contributes a small amount to this goal. However, for the country to comply with this target we need establishments producing bioethanol and only one such factory even has planning permission and figures show that the country would need 10 such plants to achieve the goal. These plants will gather its raw materials of corn from the crops that the farmers could not sell and dedicated farmers who solely provide for a specific plant.

Alternatives and Issues

Ever since the discovery that petrol and diesel exhaust was damaging to the environment, vast sums of money have been used to create an affordable and economic alternative to petrol which is less harmful to the environment.

Some cars have been made using both a petrol ands electrical motor. Many car companies have made their own hybrid models providing the consumer with a large choice of economically friendly cars. When the car is in motion, powered by its petrol engine, the motion of the front axel generates electricity allowing the car to switch power to its electrical motor thus using a lot less petrol than a regular car. However, these cars are more expensive than regular cars and performance is lost when using the electrical motor.

Cars have been made using hydrogen as a fuel either by burning it by the use of an internal combustion engine using liquid hydrogen or by fuel cells containing hydrogen gas and oxygen powering an electrical motor. The technology associated with this fuel is still in its infancy and so both ways produce problems, for example; the cost of both hydrogen engines is high when compared to a regular petrol engine and so immediately the number of consumers who are both willing and able to buy a hydrogen car has decreased dramatically. Also the fuel is a massive issue. Firstly, the fuel used by the internal combustion engine (ICE) is in a liquid form and needs to kept in a sealed, specially made container and kept at its temperature of -273 degrees Celsius or it will evaporate. All this is hassle that the consumers do not want and will make them overlook its environmental benefits. Secondly, the fuel cells used to power the electrical motor are stored at incredibly high pressures causing a very real health hazard again not giving the consumer an incentive to spend large sums of money on a hydrogen car when there easy, low maintenance petrol cars available.

Financial Effects

The plants opening in the south of England will create thousands of rural jobs which will lower unemployment in the south of the country leading to a positive effect on the country’s economy with the influx of jobs. Every year, farmers produce 3.5 million tonnes of grain which they cannot sell. These plants give farmers the opportunity to sell all of their grain at a price which is more than the cost of production giving them more disposable income. This opportunity is not limited to farmers that grow wheat bioethanol can be produced by many other crops including corn, rapeseed, switch grass etc.

The introduction of biofuels as a mainstream product will not be cheap. Most petrol stations are owned by petrol companies, Esso and Shell for example. These companies will not allow the building of a pump serving fuel made by another company whilst taking up valuable space on their forecourt without incentives. For example, biofuel companies have installed the pumps on the forecourt without charge to the petrol company, paying rent on the forecourt and paying rent on the underground storage tanker. In short, an expensive way of halting global warming.

Global Effects

Bio diesel is made from food products and so if demand for these products increase then the price will certainly follow suit. Countries including China rely heavily on foreign imported crops and so if these prices increase then China and countries like it will face serious problems. It is a very good question to ask that should we risk a rise in staple foods when some people even now are starving?

If England was to become a nation completely run on biofuel, then we would not have the ability to grow enough crops on such a small island. We would therefore have to import foreign crops, landing us in the situation that we are currently in with the nations of the Middle East and OPEC. However, oil is an unlucky situation in that a vast majority of the oil reserves on the planet is situated around countries with which we are currently at war. Crops on the other hand can be grown on any arable land anywhere on the planet. This could be an opportunity to inject more money into the economies of countries where agriculture is their main export.

Biofuels can obviously have positive effects on the planet. Tests show that the amount of carbon dioxide created during the production of ethanol is roughly equal to the amount of carbon dioxide that the corn itself absorbs during the growth of the plant. The production is also quite efficient as one single hectare of wheat produces about 29,000 miles of motoring, enough to take a car around the equator and still have 4,000 miles of fuel left. With these statistics, it is easy to see why biofuels are said to be the next realistic substitute for petrol power.

References
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4603272.stm
http://www.ybiofuels.org/bio_fuels/history_biofuels.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4498934.stm