Supermajor Royal Dutch Shell has announced that one of its service stations will become the first in the world to sell gasoline containing advanced biofuel made from wheat straw.
The month-long trial started yesterday and will see the regular gasoline purchased at a Shell service station in Ottawa, Canada contain 10% cellulosic ethanol. The biofuel is produced locally from non-food raw materials at Iogen Energy Corporation’s demonstration plant, using advanced conversion processes. Iogen and Shell are partners in the plant, which now produces 40,000 litres of fuel per month.
Cellulosic ethanol, as an end fuel, is identical to ethanol but it can offer up to 90% less lifecycle CO2 emissions than gasoline. It is a key part of Shell’s strategic investment and development programme in sustainable biofuels.
“I am excited we are leading the pack in cellulosic ethanol production technology and, with this event, showing what is possible in the future,” said Dr. Graeme Sweeney, Shell executive vice president Future Fuels and CO2. “While it will be some time before general customers can buy this product at local service stations, we are working with governments to make large-scale production economic.”
