Biofuels: Putting Pressure on Petrol

RenewableEnergyWorld.com
May/June 2010 - Volume 13 Issue 3
by Mark Bünger
Published: June 2, 2010

Can biofuels find the path to petroleum parity?

While the technical and cost potential of bio-products to compete with petroleum grows, can they match its giant scale? Mark Bünger explains why massively ramping up output will be the biggest challenge for bioenergy.

Petroleum-based products such as fuels and plastics are vilified for their economic and environmental drawbacks. Businesses, scientists and governments are urgently seeking a reliable supply of affordable fuels and industrial materials, and a reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere, and are looking to bio-based products to deliver them.

However, even as they seek to mitigate its drawbacks, they want to match oil's primary benefit – the availability of a large quantity of versatile, valuable material.

To date, most biofuels and biomaterials developers have focused on lab- and demo-scale studies to improve performance and reduce cost so they can compete with petroleum products, and those goals are coming within sight.

Read more