Heating the headlines

The process - known as pyrolysis - is being developed for mass-scale biofuel production by a consortium of British businesses led by Axion Energy.

The Carbon Trust, which has invested £7m into the effort, claims a process that uses existing organic waste, rather than plant crops, overcomes many of the sustainability issues associated with some current biofuels.

This also has significant potential to reduce emissions because the waste would otherwise go to landfill, where it would rot and produce methane.

The basic principles behind pyrolysis have been studied for almost 30 years, but the process must be made more ’elegant’ if it is to produce useable fuels, explained David Penfold, research and development manager at the Carbon Trust.

He said: ’Basically, pyrolysis is the heating of a material in the absence of oxygen at temperatures of approximately 500oF. What happens then is you get a thermal decomposition.

’In the case of this project, it is a biomass that will be degraded to a bio-oil, which is more or less charcoal and a mixture of non-condensable gasses.’