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Insufficient ethanol to meet RTFO

24th April, 2008

Fuel suppliers are worried there will not be enough ethanol to meet the UK's renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO), which was introduced on 15 April.

This requires a 2.5% ethanol or biodiesel blend in all fuel sold in UK forecourts. This will rise to 5% in 2010.

In order for ethanol to be introduced, current terminal and pipeline infrastructure must be upgraded to cope with ethanol's high affinity to water.

Some suppliers are predicting they will only be able to offer enough bioethanol at the beginning of 2009.

This issue and many others relating to the storage and handling of biofuels are among the topics to be discussed at Biofuels International expo and conference, to be held in Rotterdam on 4-5 June.

The latest speaker to be announced for the event, which is set to be one of Europe's largest, is Richard Lundström, sales manager at terminal operator Nordic Storage.

Lundström, as well as Mike Beviss from terminal operator Odjfell and Gary Lacy from UK biofuels storage specialist Simon Storage, will all lead discussions on converting petrol tanks to store biofuels, blending, automation, stock control and new shipping requirements.

This promises to be one of the largest, dedicated panel discussions on how the introduction of biofuels will affect exisiting infrastructure, producers and the supply chain.

For more information on this session and others at the conference, or to register, please visit: www.biofuelsinternationalexpo.com