Current production of alternative transportation fuels

Today ethanol and biodiesel (FAME) are the most common biofuels. Alternative fuels from fossil energy sources are mainly LPG and CNG. Synthetic gasoline and diesel from coal (CTL) and natural gas (GTL) are produced mainly in South Africa. Electricity used in battery-electric vehicles plays a minor role today. The fuel consumption for road transport in the world today amounts to about 65 700 PJ per year (IEA, 2006a) in total, the share of alternative fuels for transport at the time of writing was about 2.7% (Table 7.24). 

As for biodiesel, more than 90% of global production comes from the EU. Germany alone accounts for about half of global biodiesel production (with about 1500 fuelling stations selling biodiesel). Biodiesel in the EU is mainly produced from rapeseed. 

The share of LPG of today s fuel consumption for road transport is roughly equal to ethanol and amounts to about 1.0%, and the share of CNG to about 0.4%. 

Worldwide, there are more than 10 million LPG vehicles, with the majority in Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and France. Of around seven million CNG vehicles, about two-thirds are found in Argentina, Pakistan and Brazil, while in Bangladesh, Armenia, Pakistan, Iran and Argentina, CNG vehicles account for more than 20% of the total vehicle fleet in Europe, Italy has most CNG vehicles (I ANGV, 2008 NGV, 2008). The South African company Sasol produces about 7.5 million t ( 320 PJ) CTL and GTL (Sasol, 2007), which is about 0.5% of today s consumption of transportation fuel in the world. Sasol produces the major fraction of CTL and GTL worldwide. Adding up, the contribution of all alternative fuels today means that about 97% of the fuel demand for road transport is met by crude-oil-based gasoline and diesel. 

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Table 7.24. Current production of alternative transportation fuels (Bensaid, 2004 Earth Policy Institute, 2006 EC, 2007 IEA, 2006a REN21, 2006)...

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