Four new biofuel plants receive funding in UK

THE UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) has announced funding for four new biofuel plants.

The biofuel plants will produce green fuels from household waste, unused straw from farmland, and old wood.

Two projects are being funded via the £20m (US$26m) Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition (F4C). A share of £6.5m was awarded to Rika Biogas and KEW Projects, which will produce fuel for heavy goods vehicles. KEW Projects also aims to develop low carbon aviation fuel.

The other two projects will be funded from the £25m Advanced Biofuels Demonstration Competition (ABDC). These are Nova Pangaea Technologies, which will produce bio-ethanol from wood waste that can then be blended with petrol, and Advanced Biofuels Solutions (ABS) which expects to produce biomethane from municipal solid waste and forestry waste. Both of these projects are nearing their final stages of development.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “This funding will help encourage innovative technology using today’s waste to power tomorrow’s green transport revolution, helping us reach a cleaner and greener future.”

Future of Transport Minister George Freeman said: “We made a legally-binding commitment to reaching Net Zero. Now we are delivering. The UK is reducing CO₂ emissions faster than any other G20 nation. We are doing it by investing in research and development, supporting the uptake of low emission and electrical vehicles, new inner-city Clean Air Zones and the world’s first comprehensive Transport Decarbonisation Plan.”