A Vision for Integrated Road Transport Research - EARPA

Powering Road Transport
A new generation of Biofuels
Biofuels will play a significant role in the transition to sustainable
transport. In the recent past, the key issue has been that “first
generation” biofuels have used food crops and energy-intensive
production processes, meaning that their greenhouse gas
performance and land-use efficiency have been questioned, and their
uptake has been linked to increases in food prices. However, a second
generation, based on specific energy crops, residues and other
wastes, or use of organisms such as algae, offers substantially better
performance with far less negative social impact [11]. Furthermore, if
correctly formulated they can be back-substituted into the existing
vehicle parc. The consequence of this is that medium term impact
can be large: The new ERTRAC SRA [6] states an objective that 25%
of the road vehicle energy pool will be Biofuel by 2030 – in practise
it may be that this penetration can be applied as blended fuel to the
entire in-use vehicle parc, enabling second generation fuels (with an
average 67% well-to-wheel greenhouse gas benefit over fossil fuels)
to deliver an overall reduction in road transport CO 2 of 16%. The same
document indicates a 5% substitution of fossil fuel by Electricity in the
same timeframe (which, since it can only be applied to new vehicles,
requires 10-15% of new vehicles to be electric). If these EVs have
around half the well-to-wheel carbon footprint of a contemporary
liquid fuelled hybrid vehicle [12], their contribution to overall road
transport CO 2 reduction is circa 3% - or one-fifth of the contribution
of Biofuels – unless substantial increases in carbon-free electricity
generation can improve the benefit. Although the balance could shift
in favour of Electricity and Hydrogen in later years, Biofuels – and the
internal combustion engines that use them – remain vital topics for
research over the coming decade.
Biofuels will also become sought-after energy vectors for the air,
marine, and non-electrified rail sectors, as onboard storage of
Hydrogen or electricity is likely to remain infeasible here. Linking the
strategic visions of these sectors in terms of their demand for Biofuel
or biomass is therefore vital, and an action of this type needs to be
undertaken at least at European level.
EARPA’s position on Biofuels
• Biofuels with good environmental and social credentials will play a
major role in de-carbonising road transport, because they are highly
compatible with incumbent IC engine technology, and can be applied
to the whole fleet, not just new vehicles
• Robust, standardised methods are required to establish the life-cycle
environmental credentials of biofuel production processes
• Further research is needed to develop second generation production
processes to the point of large scale commercial maturity; a pipeline
of innovative processes should be established
• The optimisation of engine technologies to match the properties of
these new fuels requires ongoing research, embracing sensing, smart
adaptation and new combustion / after-treatment processes
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell research
Roads2HyCom’s research priorities [10]
• Cost-effective, low-carbon or renewable Hydrogen
production
• Low cost, energy dense Hydrogen storage in vehicle
• Realisation of Fuel Cell production processes
• Fuel Cell durability and impurity tolerance
• Thrifting of precious metals and other system cost reductions
• Maintenance and Diagnostics for H2/FC systems
• Standardisation and development of standards
• Identification and support of technologies for early markets
Roads2HyCom was a project under the sixth framework program,
delivered by a team including seven EARPA members
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