Greenhouse Gas BenefitsGreenhouse Gas Benefits
BioForest
The She-oak biomass will be harvested and used to produce renewable energy. The biomass is carbon neutral when used as an alternative fuel or energy source to replace traditional fossil fuels, particularly in the generation of electricity. This effectively reduces the greenhouse gas emissions of the electricity generator.
Ethanol Technologies
Ethtec's ethanol production technology features strong environmental benefits not found in most other transport fuel options.
The greenhouse gas impacts of lignocellulosic ethanol production and use are very low, based on lifecycle analyses undertaken by the US EPA. These analysis show lignocellulosic ethanol generates 91% less greenhouse gases than fossil-based petrol or diesel in transport applications, compared with just 22% for corn-based ethanol. Figure 1 demonstrates the comparative greenhouse gas benefits of this ethanol source compared with alternative fuels, on an equivalent energy basis1.
Importantly, the processes for producing ethanol from grain starch, sugar juice and lignocellulosic materials evaluated by the US EPA in these studies does not include the additional energy-saving and recycling benefits of the Ethtec process. Therefore Ethtec believes its greenhouse gas performance will be even better than these US EPA data suggest.
.jpg)
Figure 1 - GHG emissions from transport fuels compared to fossil-based petrol/diesel (set at 0%).
1. Data from US EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality - May 2007