BRUSSELS, Belgium – There is an assumption that today’s biofuel technology that uses canola or other farm products as a primary feedstock is merely a transition phase.
Will the agricultural benefits of increased biofuel demand for crops last just a few years before a better feedstock takes its place?
Throughout Canada, farm groups and their supporting politicians pressure governments for a biofuel policy on the assumption it means long-term markets for farm crops and benefits for farmers.
It is a debate in full swing in Europe.
Read Also
First annual Ag in Motion Junior Cattle Show kicks off with a bang
Ag in Motion 2025 had its first annual junior cattle show on July 15. The show hosted more than 20…
“There is no doubt that for this technology to advance, processes have to be refined, costs have to be reduced,” said a senior European Commission energy research official during a background discussion.
“Work on that has already started. I believe it will accelerate and the second generation will be much more prominent.”
It is an argument often used by the skeptic, said Luc Werring, principal adviser to the European Commission directorate-general for energy and transport.
“The opponents complain that we have moved too early to embrace and encourage the industry, that we should have waited for the second generation which will be more efficient and less costly,” he said.
“My argument is that you have to get in somewhere. My analogy is that if you determine to buy a computer once they are at their cheapest point, you may never have a computer.”
In a study prepared for the German agriculture ministry by the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, the issue is raised directly.
“Use of the ‘next generation’ cellulosic biomass feedstock has the potential to dramatically expand the resource base for producing biofuel in the future,” it advised in a mid-2006 report.
“Over the next 10-15 years, lower cost sources of cellulosic biomass such as the organic fraction of municipal waste and the residues from biomass processing, crops and forestry are expected to provide the initial influx of next generation feedstock.”
Dedicated fast-growing sources such as switchgrass and poplar trees will follow.
Cellulose-based biofuel is not a new idea and Ottawa-based Iogen Corp., well known in Europe, is a leader in research on the technology.
In Europe, research also is under way and some experiments are using gasification of these cellulose-based feedstocks to produce a form of cleaner “synthetic” biodiesel.
But the second generation concept also has its critics.
The European Biodiesel Board recently sent a set of proposals to the European Commission that included a request that “second generation” be removed from the vocabulary.
“A new generation usually implies that the old one is tired and ready to retire,” board secretary-general Raffaello Garofalo said. “That is not the case. The new technologies are not yet proven and besides, agricultural energy crops always will have a place in the industry.”
Werring from the EC said with the growing demand, it is likely the industry will use every feedstock available to keep expanding.
“Honestly, I think the second generation will complement the first generation and while processing technologies will be improved, there will remain a market for agricultural crops in the biofuels industry.”
