Biodiesel to fill methanol demand gap left by MTBE
17 May 2006 05:13 [Source: ICIS news]
SINGAPORE (ICIS News)--The growing use of methanol in the biodiesel sector could help fill the gap left by the phasing out of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in the gasoline industry, a consultant said on Wednesday.
Nearly 1.5m tonne of methanol demand is expected to be lost due to the phase-out of MTBE as a gasoline oxygenate in the
The total biodiesel production is just under 5m tonne/year, using 500,000 tonne/year of methanol, he said at the 9th IMPCA Asian Methanol Conference.
This could grow by up to six times over the next five years, with
Current biodiesel production is limited mainly to Europe and to some extent, the
Biodiesel is also renewable, non-toxic and is suitable for most diesel equipment and works with existing distribution infrastructure.
High crude prices and the motivation to spend energy dollars domestically while supporting local farmers are driving the biodiesel projects, he said.
The key concern, however, is the economic feasibility of biodiesel – rough estimates suggest that bio-diesel becomes feasible only when crude oil prices are over $60/bbl.
However, improvements in technology and farm sector subsidies are still likely to push the sector forward, said Williams.
By: Anu Agarwal
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