Implementing second generation bioethanol in the EU

2nd May, 2008

Before second generation ethanol can be produced and used on a large scale, certain first generation issues need to be addressed

An increasingly growing number of countries have shown interest in climate change and the upcoming increase of worldwide energy consumption over the past few years. This has led the EU to invest, develop and implement more sustainable, environmentally friendly and locally managed energy resources.

A key tool of the European Community to reduce its carbon footprint and the dependence on imported oil and oil products is to enhance the amount of bioethanol and biodiesel used in the road transport sector. Present, or first, generation bioethanol secures future mobility and can, if produced in a sustainable manner, contribute to mitigating climate change.

Further growth of the bioethanol industry can be enhanced by development and implementation of an advanced, or second, generation bioethanol. Second generation bioethanol could be defined as bioethanol that is made from a nonfood feedstock using a novel innovative technology and provides an increased greenhouse gas (GHG) saving.1 The development and implementation of advanced biofuels will contribute to the achievement of the European Commission’s Energy Policy core objectives2 and as a result these are very high on the EU’s political agenda:

• One of the mandatory targets set in the draft European Renewable Energy Directive is to replace a minimum 10% of transport fuels with energy from renewable sources by the year 2020. This binding character of the biofuel target is subject to second generation biofuels becoming commercially available.3
• Also, in the Impact Assessment Renewable Energy Roadmap (March 2007), the European Commission assumes a share of 30% of biofuels stemming from second generation.4
• Finally, the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) mentions that one of the key technology challenges for the next 10 years is to make second generation biofuels competitive alternatives to fossil fuels, while respecting the sustainability of their production.5

Second generation bioethanol has a great potential to be sustainable in regards to GHG savings (90% on average)6 and agricultural land requirement. Increased GHG savings is a guaranteed result of using second generation feedstocks that are cultivated with less agricultural-intensive methods and the use of more efficient conversion technologies.

The competition for agricultural land can be alleviated through:

a) using parts of the present raw materials that are now considered waste and therefore not processed;
b) an improved energy yield per hectare of existing land used in agriculture and
c) the possibility to cultivate second generation feedstock on less fertile, often nonagricultural or degraded and contaminated land. This article will highlight the measures that need to be taken at European level to develop and implement second generation bioethanol production.

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