Biofuels Research Advisory Council (BIOFRAC)
European Commission, 2006

By 2030, the European Union covers as much as one quarter of its road transport fuel needs by clean and CO2-efficient biofuels. This significantly decreases the EU fossil fuel import dependence. In 2006, the production of liquid biofuels in the EU 25 was about 2 Mtoe, which is less than 1% of the market. The EU has a significant potential for the production of biofuels, it is estimated that between 4 and 18% of the total agricultural land in the EU would be needed to produce the amount of biofuels to reach the level of liquid fossil fuel replacement required for the transport sector in the Directive 2003/30/EC. 

Biofuels are produced using sustainable and innovative technologies; these create opportunities for biomass providers, biofuel producers and the automotive industry. A phased development is envisaged based on short-term improvement of existing feedstock and technologies, RTD&D (research, technology development and demonstration) and commercial production of 2nd generation biofuels (mainly from lignocellulosic biomass), RTD&D and implementation of full-scale integrated biorefineries, and new energy crops.

Advanced conversion technologies are needed to produce ethanol and ethanol derivatives from a wider range of resources, including lignocellulosic biomass. A wide range of lignocellulosic biomass wastes can be considered from agriculture (e.g. straw, corn stover, bagasse), forestry, wood industry, and pulp/paper processes. Cellulose and hemicellulose can be converted into alcohol, by first converting them into sugar, but the process is not yet proven at an industrial scale. Lignin cannot be converted by such a biochemical process but can be via a thermochemical step, as discussed below. 

Today, there is little commercial production of ethanol and ethanol derivatives from cellulosic biomass, but R&D is ongoing in Canada, USA and also in Europe. Further progress is thus required to bring such conversion processes to the market. This includes more efficient biochemical systems (new enzymes, yeasts), innovative fractionation and purification processes and efficient uses of co-products. Additionally, the flexibility of conversion plants has to be improved in order to enable conversion of a broad range of lignocellulosic feedstock

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