Asia Biofuels Conference and Expo V 11-13 December 2007, Singapore

Fifth Annual Asia Biofuels Conference, this prestigious International Conference will host leading international speakers on the economics and policies to expand biofuels investments and market commercialization in the global marketplace.

Asia Biofuels Conference & Expo V will be held December 11 - 13, 2007 at Raffles The Plaza Singapore. If you are interested in sponsoring, exhibiting or advertising, please email amber.haugen@biofuelsconferences.com

Key Note Speakers

Mr. Ricardo de Gusmão Dornelles-Director-Brazil Minister of Energy

Honourable S. Iswaran - Singapore Minister of Energy

India to replace 10% transport fuels with biofuels by 2017

India will replace 10% of its transport fuels with biofuels in the next 10 years to cut carbon emissions, petroleum secretary M. S. Srinivasan has announced.

India is mixing ethanol extracted from sugarcane in petrol and experimenting with doping diesel with non-edible oils such as jathropha, targeting a 5% ethanol blend. The country consumed 9.3 million tonnes of petrol and 42.8 million tonnes of diesel in 2006-07.

The quantity of ethanol in petrol will be raised to 10% and biodiesel will be tested on a pilot basis.

Certain cautions have been suggested, such as mainland cultivable area should not be sacrificed for growing plants like jatropha as it may impact the country's food security. The success of the biofuels programme will also depend on feedstock prices.

Second generation biofuels, produced from agriculture residue and household waste, will be the next area of research in India.

FCL Biofuels and Prio to launch biodiesel in the UK

UK-based supplier FCL Biofuels has collaborated with European sustainable fuel company, Prio SA, to launch the Portuguese consumer fuel PrioBio in the UK.

The biodiesel will be available from 1 November 2007, assisting forecourt fuel retailers to meet the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO).

By the end of 2007 the partnership's two biodiesel refineries in Romania and Portugal will have a total capacity of 200,000 tonnes, which will reach 400,000 tonnes by the end of 2010.

'The RTFO is the minimum our governments need to be doing to move us into a more sustainable future,' says Colin Walker, MD of FCL Biofuels. 'We see ourselves as the ideal biofuels partner because we control the whole supply chain from plant to pump. We plant the seed, grow it, harvest it, and refine it in one of two, specialist, European-based biodiesel refineries. We then deliver it through our in-house logistics and it's all backed up with our sales and marketing.'

The majority of the company's feedstock is grown in Europe. The crops grown are mostly indigenous: sunflowers in Portugal and rapeseed in Romania.

The RTFO is a requirement on transport fuel suppliers to ensure 5% of all road vehicle fuel supplied to the UK composed of sustainable renewable sources by 2010.

Prio SA is the biofuels division of Martifer Group. The group has earmarked an investment of about €320 million, comprising over 22 thousand hectares of land under cultivation for biofuel feedstock, two biodiesel refineries and its own storage and distribution networks.

Biofuels could dry up water reserves in China and India

India and China's plans to increase biofuel production will deplete their water reserves and seriously impact their ability to meet food demands, a study conducted by the International Water Management Institute says.

China and India, which are expected to account for nearly 70% of global oil demand between now and 2030, are using cheaper biofuels derived from crops to help power their economies, the Institute comments.

'To grow biofuel crops you need to use more water and land,' Charlotte de Fraiture, a scientist at the institute and lead author of the biofuels study, says.

As global crude oil prices excel $80 (€56) a barrel, countries are increasingly relying on biofuels, which produce energy by using organic waste, wood, dung and residues from crops like sugarcane and grains.

China aims to increase biofuel production four-fold from a 2002 level of 3.6 billion litres of bioethanol to around 15 billion litres by 2020, or 9% of the country's projected petrol demand.

To meet their biofuel targets India needs to produce 16% more sugarcane and China 26% extra maize.

'Crop production for biofuels in China and India would likely jeopardise sustainable water use and affect irrigated production of food crops, including cereals and vegetables, which would then need to be imported in larger quantities,' de Fraiture says.

In both countries, biofuels will add pressure on water resources that already are heavily exploited or over-exploited. The report suggests authorities develop dry land rain-fed crops such as sweet sorghum for ethanol and species such as jatropha and pongamia for biodiesel. Such a strategy could help reduce competition for scarce water between the food, feed and fuel uses of crops like maize and sugarcane grown on irrigated land.

BP biofuels head eyes jatropha, butanol

BP Plc is focusing on developing jatropha and butanol for sustainable biofuel output, its head of biofuels said on Tuesday, as the industry faces mounting pressure for its environmental and social impact.

Philip New, president of BP's Global Biofuels division, said that although the firm were major users of ethanol, there was now scope to use supplements such as butanol which is similar to gasoline but can be made from biomass.

"Butanol appears to have the best balance of attributes: more energy efficiency, easier to blend and easier to transport," New told in an interview.

He said the firm was counting on the oilseed plant jatropha, a woody plant that can grow on barren, marginal land, as it seeks to develop more distinctive and sustainable technologies.

"Jatropha plays into that because it's not a food source. It's delinked from fuel prices and we're excited about its ability to be grown on marginal land," New said.

"When I see jatropha being intercropped with cabbages and other foodstuffs, it does feel like it is something that can be grown sustainably in lots of developing world environments."

But experts and industry officials have warned that jatropha does not offer an easy answer to biofuel's problems, because it can be toxic and yields can be unreliable.

New said more traditional forms of biofuels, such as bioethanol from sugar cane, were likely to remain the main sources in the short to medium term.

"ABSOLUTELY VALID"

"It feels as though biofuels made from sugar cane will be an important part of the mix for the foreseeable future."

New defended the biofuels industry against recent criticism that it had raised food prices and could also harm the environment.

"Biofuels done well are absolutely valid green fuels," he said.

"Bioethanol made from rain-irrigated Brazilian cane can generate greenhouse gas savings of 85 percent. There are also examples of biofuels done badly. But this is a complicated world, and it's a shame to categorise it all as one."

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food recently described it as a "crime against humanity" to convert food crops to fuel and called for a five-year moratorium on biofuels.

But New said he was optimistic that the biofuels industry could be developed in such a way that it was able to live side by side with the food industry.

He said the firm was looking at a range of technologies aside from jatropha and butanol, including algae.

"Algae looks like a very promising technology," New said.

Algae converts carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, into a vegetable oil.

It does not need prime farmland, vast quantities of fertiliser, or large harvest vehicles to be grown and harvested, unlike corn, one of the feedstocks for ethanol.