Butanol Available Before Cellulosic Ethanol?

AMSTERDAM – On the 4th and 5th of October, Amsterdam was host to the next generation biofuels market conference, which discussed the challenges that the biofuels industry faces today. Philip New, President of BP Biofuels, addressed a distinguished audience of managers and CEO’s to share what he believes to be the future of biofuels. Together with DuPont, BP has been co-developing a type of fuel alcohol called butanol. It overcomes some of the drawbacks of ethanol such as limited mileage, water attraction and limited blending in standard vehicles. Ethanol Statistics sat down with Philip New to discuss the status of BP’s plans to enter the biofuels industry.

BP’s strategy
Last month, BP, DuPont and Associated British Foods got the approval of the European Commission to start a joint venture for the construction of a 420 million litres per year ethanol plant in Hull, UK. Considering that BP is one of the largest oil companies in the world, this may seem like a strange move to some, but not according to Philip New. “BP believes that biofuels could represent as much as 30% of the fuels mix in 25 years time. As one of the main players in the industry, we have a choice: Either we do nothing and potentially lose access to a third of the market, or we try to participate in the biofuels value chain.”

Regulations and future growth
“Currently, our first priority as a blender and marketer is to make sure that we comply with regulations. If there is a target that has to be met, than we will do everything we can to make sure that we have a rational, logical and cost effective way of procuring the bio components we need. On the biofuel side, we are able to look through the opposite end of the telescope. In our opinion, this industry can only be developed through partnerships along the value chain. By combining the key strengths of chemical experts such as DuPont and feedstock suppliers such as ABF we are trying to put in place a very selective set of assets that we think can give us access to new technologies and opportunities. This will be our basic platform for future growth.”