Biofuels for transportation in Europe: current status and prospects

摘要

Liquid biofuels, produced from various types of agricultural crops, offer significant environmental advantages, contribute to the reduction of the dependence on mineral fuels imports and provide new opportunities for agriculture. In the light of the recently approved EU Directives, all EU members are making efforts to introduce biofuels in their energy balance and, more specifically, to create the necessary infrastructure, legislation and regulatory framework as well as to invest in research and technical expertise, in order to create the competitive advantages required for the biofuels development. The objective of the present work is to review the present status and assess the future prospects of biofuels implementation in European countries, with an emphasis to the assessment of the critical success factors for the biofuels development. The present status review focuses its attention mainly on the basic parameters for biofuels implementation, such as the raw materials and land availability and suitability, the production facilities, the technical expertise, the R&D progress and the infrastructure development. Future prospects of the biofuels in Europe are included in the work, as a synthesis of the present status, the EU Directives and the critical success factors that have already been identified through extensive market analysis and assessment of the R&D projects.