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Cars fuelled from household waste could be available within
two years, according to Ineos.
Ineos
- the world's third-largest chemical firm which is supporting
the technology - said it planned to produce commercial quantities
of bioethanol fuel from biodegradable municipal waste by 2011.
The company claims it can produce about 400 litres of ethanol
from one tonne of dry waste.
Ethanol is produced by mixing a biological catalyst with
carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are produced by burning
biodegradable waste.
The innovation is backed by the National Non-Food Crops Centre
(NNFCC) - the UK's national centre for renewable fuels, materials
and technologies.
However, Kenneth Richter, biofuels campaigner at Friends
of the Earth, said - "Instead of gambling on second-generation
biofuels, we must urgently invest in real green transport
solutions - like more fuel-efficient cars, better public transport
and safer routes for cycling and walking."
It is estimated that the European Union creates about 65
million tonnes of organic municipal waste a year - a quantity
sufficient to produce about 12 million tonnes of ethanol.
The EU aims to derive ten per cent of its road transport
fuel from renewable sources such as biofuels by 2020.
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