Entitled ‘Sustainability of liquid biofuels’, the report notes that fuel suppliers are already blending biofuels into petrol and diesel up to a level of 4.75%. However, the Academy recommends increasing the level of biofuels required under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) to help meet climate change targets.
First-generation biofuels – from crops, notably corn – have seen widespread adoption but have proved controversial, says the report, due to the risk of deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
So the report calls on government to incentivise the development of second-generation biofuels in the UK, in the first instance those derived from wastes and agricultural, forest and sawmill residues. These could include converting waste cooking oil, municipal solid waste, the dregs from whisky manufacture or even ‘fatbergs’ – the bane of sewer management companies – into useful fuel.
The report was commissioned by the Department for Transport and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (now the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) to provide advice on the UK’s future strategy for the development of biofuels.
Professor Adisa Azapagic FREng, Chair of the Academy’s working group on biofuels, says: “Second-generation biofuels offer real prospects for the UK to make progress in reducing emissions from transport, particularly in sectors like aviation where liquid fuels are really the only option for the foreseeable future.
“Our report shows that, with the right safeguards and monitoring, biofuels from waste in particular are well worth pursuing from a sustainability point of view and also provide business opportunities for development.”
Click the link below for a copy of the report.