Bad news for biodiesel

A new study suggests that biodiesel could increase rather than reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to petrol diesel.

EU legislation which promotes the adoption of biodiesel will not make a difference to global warming, according to a new study reported in the Chemistry & Industry magazine.
In fact, it says, the uptake of the alternative fuel could potentially result in greater emissions of greenhouse gases than from conventional petroleum-derived diesel.

Analysts at the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), who conducted the research, compared the emissions of greenhouse gases by the two fuels across their overall life cycles from production to combustion in cars.

The results show that biodiesel derived from rapeseed grown on dedicated farmland emits nearly the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions (defined as CO2 equivalents) per kilometre driven as conventional diesel does.

However, if the land used to grow rapeseed was instead used to grow trees, petroleum diesel would emit only a third of the CO2 equivalent emissions as biodiesel.

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