§ Lord Palmerasked Her Majesty's Government:
What technologies, if any, are currently available to convert woody biomass into bioethanol; and what is the estimated cost per tonne of such fuels.
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61WA
§ Lord WhittyAt present, there are no commercially viable technologies for producing bioethanol from woody material. Significant advances are currently being made in developing ways to use this feedstock. The technologies can be broadly characterised as: ligno-cellulosic technologies—the enzyme-based hydrolysis of cellulose-rich biomass; dilute acid hydrolysis—the use of acids to break down cellulose into fermentable sugars; and gasification and reformation—the application of heat and pressure to break down biomass into syn-gas which is then reformed into ethanol, or other road fuels.
Large scale commercialisation of these technologies is unlikely for some years and firm costs are not yet available. Current research gives estimated production costs of 50 to 56 pence per litre from ligno-cellulosic enzyme hydrolysis and 30 to 40 pence per litre from gasification.