GM-IM Research Project "Alternative Diesel Fuels Characterization on Fam. B Engine" Deliverable N°1: Survey Report on Alternative Fuels - Part A

The present report describes the current status on BioDiesel production, consumption, public incentives on the use and future perspectives of the main automotive market continents: USA, Europe and Asia. The analysis carried out in the report take into account both 1° BioDiesel generation and 2° BioDiesel generation. The report also analyses the main benefits and critical issues of BioDiesel use on automotive engine performance in terms of maximum torque/power characteristics, emissions and durability. The report does not describe in detail the chemical nature of BioDiesel, the details of its industrial production neither for 1° (FAME) nor for 2° generation (BTL), as it is assumed here these are already known topics. In the analysis of current status of production, use and relative public incentives only the 1° generation BioDiesel is considered, while in terms of perspectives on production and use, as the effect of BioDiesel on engine performance, also the 2° generation is taken into account. The first part of the report describes the current status of production and use of BioDiesel in the three considered Continents, the future perspectives in terms of supply chain potentiality and relative ecological issues, government policy and public incentives as well as economical aspects. In the second part the focus is on the main effects of BioDiesel use in diesel engine of current technology, both as blend with petrol diesel fuel and as pure fuel. Finally in the third part the summary results on the Well-To-Wheel analysis are reported in terms of costs and CO2 emission reduction by the use of BioDiesel, 1° and 2° generation, compared to petroleum derived fuel. It must be pointed out that the present report is not meant to give a comprehensive analysis of the BioDiesel production, use and historical evolution; since a huge quantity of data, reports, papers, and so on have been published. On the contrary, the scope is to carry out a forecast of worldwide BioDiesel industry for the next years, starting from the current status. Moreover, the potential in GHG emission reduction, together with the benefits and contraindications of BioDiesel use, are summarized.