A German luxury car maker and a French biotech company have joined forces to solve the two big problems that have been holding back biofuels.
On a windy morning at a track near Paris this month, Audi AG started testing petrol blended with 34 per cent of a biofuel produced from sugar beet waste in one of its classic A4 saloons. Unlike ethanol, which requires special engines when used in large proportions, the new blend can work in any car engine without modification.
As car makers are rushing to develop electric and hybrid vehicles in response to stricter emission rules, biofuel manufacturers are jockeying to find a future in that revolution by touting their crop-based energy as friendlier for the environment than petrol. The big issue is they must prove large-scale biofuel production won’t worsen deforestation, nor use food or animal feeds to avoid criticism that they are jacking up prices and starving the poor.
“We’re using the non-eatable part of the sugar beet,” said Marc Delcourt, chief executive of Global Bioenergies, the French company that made the bio petrol tested by Audi. “No resources must be competing with human food.”
The biofuel that powered the white Audi A4 around the circuit near Paris originated at Global Bioenergies’s demo plant in Leuna, Germany, and was converted by the country’s Fraunhofer Institute into petrol additives. The company has 32 patents to develop bacteria which transforms sugar found in corn, beet, wheat straw and wood chips into isobutene, a hydrocarbon usually derived from oil, which ended up in the Audi engine.
Global Bioenergies is also working with European chemicals makers Clariant and Ineos to extract glucose from wheat straw and convert it into hydrocarbons as it seeks to address the food versus fuel debate that has dogged biofuel makers for years. Clariant’s technology is “mature,” Mr Delcourt said, without giving details of when this petrol mix will be commercially available.
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Car companies including Audi are convinced that electric vehicles won’t be enough to quickly reduce emissions, especially in countries where power will continue to largely be produced by burning fossil fuels. They are therefore doing research on engines powered by alternative fuels such as hydrogen and renewable resources such as agricultural waste.
“If we want to stop climate change, we need renewable fuels,” Hermann Pengg, who oversees Audi’s biofuels research, said at the track near Paris. “Electric vehicles are important to help us cut CO2 emissions, but only if you use green electricity, not if you use coal.”
How clean electric vehicles are depends on where in the world it is being plugged it. A car in China would probably be powered by coal-generated electricity while those in Norway would be greenest since the country uses primarily hydro projects. The US is hooked to natural gas. A 2017 study showed that electric cars overall contribute fewer emissions than a traditional petrol car in much of America.
The advantage biofuels have are tax breaks and regulations. Supported by these, ethanol and others represented almost 7 per cent of the energy used for road transport in the US and France last year, while electricity accounted for less than 0.5 per cent, according to Mr Delcourt, who co-founded Global Bioenergies in 2008. In crop-rich countries like France and the US, biofuels could account for a third of fuels burned by cars and trucks by 2040, with fossil fuels and electricity equally splitting up the rest, he said.
However, biofuels are costly and sustained lower crude oil prices may restrict a desire to blend them into the fuel mix, while electric vehicles may depress demand over the long term, according to James Evans, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Still, biofuels “could be a useful transition fuel to shift towards a lower-carbon transport system”, he said.
Having built the demo plant in Germany last year, Mr Delcourt and French sugar-maker Cristal Union are hoping to convince investors by the end of the year to build a €115 million (Dh522.6m) commercial plant in France. It would produce 50,000 tonnes of isobutene per year from 2021, enough to cover 1 per cent of the country’s petrol consumption.
“Producing a biofuel is always more expensive than making fossil gasoline,” Mr Delcourt said. “Biofuels are less taxed because they don’t have the same polluting effects. Our goal is that consumers don’t pay too much, and that the regulatory environment absorbs a large part of the extra cost.”
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP
Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan
Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs
Engine: 2.5-litre, turbocharged 5-cylinder
Transmission: seven-speed auto
Power: 400hp
Torque: 500Nm
Price: Dh300,000 (estimate)
On sale: 2022
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Racecard
6.35pm: American Business Council – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
7.10pm: British Business Group – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,200m
7.45pm: CCI France UAE – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
8.20pm: Czech Business Council – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,400m
8.55pm: Netherlands Business Council – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m
9.30pm: Indian Business and Professional Council – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,200m
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Ain Issa camp:
- Established in 2016
- Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
- Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
- Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
- 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
- NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
- One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
Key fixtures from January 5-7
Watford v Bristol City
Liverpool v Everton
Brighton v Crystal Palace
Bournemouth v AFC Fylde or Wigan
Coventry v Stoke City
Nottingham Forest v Arsenal
Manchester United v Derby
Forest Green or Exeter v West Brom
Tottenham v AFC Wimbledon
Fleetwood or Hereford v Leicester City
Manchester City v Burnley
Shrewsbury v West Ham United
Wolves v Swansea City
Newcastle United v Luton Town
Fulham v Southampton
Norwich City v Chelsea
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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