Biofuels - a blessing or a curse?

By Reino Gevers Sep 26, 2007, 10:31 GMT

world premiere of the D-Segment Concept Kizashi at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA). The 4.65 meters long Concept car gives an outlook on the future flagship model of the Japanese car manufacturer.ÊIts idealsÊare summed up by the attributes of a great athlete: dedication to sporting challenges; physical strength that comes from hard daily training; a honed physique with no superfluous weight; and the presence and dignity of a champion. The D-segment initiative represents the beginning of the third phase of Suzuki\'s world strategy.\'The main objective of this phase is \'status\'. EPA/Suzuki International Europe GmbH EPA

Frankfurt - Several car makers at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) presented vehicles capable of running on both petrol and ethanol, fuelling a debate on whether biofuels are a blessing or a curse.

At the same time the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued a report calling for the global scrapping of subsidies for biofuels, saying the global rush toward biodiesel and ethanol was pushing food prices up and destroying the environment.

'The current push to expand the use of biofuels is creating unsustainable tensions that will disrupt markets without generating significant environmental benefits,' the OECD said in a study on the impact of biofuels.

The report pointed out that the overall environmental impact of ethanol and biodiesel exceeded those of petrol and diesel when acidification, fertiliser use, biodiversity loss and toxicity of agricultural pesticides are taken into account.

While Mercedes is planning to launch in 2009 the B-Class model with a fuel cell engine and zero carbon dioxide emissions and Toyota has announced massive expansion of hybrid-powered models, Ford, Volvo and Saab presented in Frankfurt cars running on E85 - a mixture of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol.

In a debate at the Frankfurt Show, the Ford CEO for Germany, Bernhard Mattes, conceded that the first generation of biofuels did have its problems and caused food prices to rise, but that in about five years the second generation of synthetic and sustainable biofuels would be on the market.

He pointed out that in Sweden most biofuels were already being produced from wood chips and that the Scandinavian country had a dense network of E85 filling stations, making ethanol a viable alternative fuel.

In Germany, the Union for Promoting Oil and Proteinplants (UFOP) described the OECD report as biased as it did not take the varying conditions in Europe into consideration. Many agricultural machines on the continent used for producting plants for biofuels were already running on biodiesel and there was still enough unused arable land available to grow corn and rapeseed for ethanol production.

Most experts agree however that Europe will have to import biofuels to meet the growing demand. This would require a certification system to protect the environment in developing countries.

'Already millions of hectares of tropical forest have been cleared to make way for plantations of palm oil, soy and sugar - all major sources of biofuels - leading to huge biodiversity losses,' the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a statement.

Currently most ethanol is produced from energy rich plants such as sugar cane and corn. Synthetic fuels, described also as the second generation of biofuels, use a chemical process to produce liquid fuels from biomass (Biomass to Liquids - BTL).

The Alliance for Synthetic Fuels in Europe (ASFE), grouping several car makers and synthetic fuel producers, says that once the fuels are commercially available they could contribute to a reduction in carbon dioxide of up to 90 per cent compared to crude oil derived fuels.