Biofuel applications

Biofuels and Aviation

Relatively, the use of biofuels in the aviation sector worldwide is really taking off. As airlines come under increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, biofuels are an obvious solution. Leading airlines are making strategic alliances with researchers and fuel producers in order to secure their future supplies. More here.

Marine use of biofuels

Drop-in biofuels

Drop-in biofuels have the exact molecular structure as mineral vehicle fuels and so can be generally be used as direct replacements for mineral fuels.  Renewable diesel is a drop-in biofuel and can be used as a 100% replacement fuel.

Bio-based lubricants

Bio-Based lubricants or Bio-Lubes are becoming of increasing interest to both major producers of conventional lubricants, but also to the consumers and purchasers of the finished products. Their greater bio-degradability, lesser toxicity, non-bio-accumulative nature and good physical properties (e.g., high flash point, low volatility, good lubricity (due to molecular polarity), high viscosity index (VI)) are all creating a market pull for bio-based base oils.

Until recently, only a few bio-based base oils have been available (e.g., polyacetal glycerols [PAGs], esters, etc.), and these were generally only Group IV base oils - which only have about a 1 percent market share of the approximately 40 million ton global market. Now, bio-lubes are becoming more available and are able to meet standards of Group III oils and above opening up a much larger market potential. Additionally, selected bio-lubes are already commercially available in some cases, leading to a lower perception of risk.