Features > A brief history of biofuels
A brief history of biofuels
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PREHISTORY - discovery of fire: solid biofuels used for cooking and heating
1850S - lampfuel widely available, from turpentine (distilled from wood), ethanol (distilled from grain) and camphor oil
1853 - scientists E. Duffy and J. Patrick carry out transesterification of vegetable oil (ie, they make biodiesel)
1893, 10 AUGUST - Rudolf Diesel (left) runs an engine entirely on biodiesel. (10 August is now known as International Biodiesel Day)
1900 - Rudolf Diesel demonstrates an engine that runs on peanut oil at the Exposition Universelle( World Fair) in Paris
1908 - Henry Ford begins production of his Model-T, which is designed to run entirely on ethanol
1912 - Rudolf Diesel presents his latest work on developing vegetable oil as a substitute for diesel to the British Institute of Mechanical Engineers - and makes a prophetic speech on the need for biofuels
1917-18 -World War I triggers demand for industrial ethanol - production reaches 50-60 million gallons per year; tetra-ethyl lead is used as anti-knock additive instead of ethanol
1920s - 18th amendment to the US Constitution (Prohibition) bans manufacture, sale, import and export of intoxicating substances - prohibition police destroy corn stills on farms used for making free fuel alcohol (and other beverages)
1920s - diesel engine manufacturers change engines to run on petrodiesel (fossil fuel)
1925 - France, Germany, Brazil and other countries have a "mandatory blending" law requiring alcohol to be blended with all gasoline sold
1933 - Prohibition repealed
1930s & 1940s - fuel shortages spur research into vegetable oil as a transport fuel; some whisky distilleries are converted to production of industrial ethanol
1936 -William J. Hale popularises "chemurgy" - the use of agricultural products for industrial use
1937 - G. Chavanne of the University of Brussels is granted a patent for the transesterification of vegetable oils with ethanol, producing biodiesel
1937 - leaders of chemurgy movement establish a large-scale ethanol production facility in Kansas, USA but this is short-lived
1947 - Chuck Yeager breaks sound barrier in a plane fueled by alcohol and liquid oxygen
1964 - crash at Indianapolis 500 kills two; gasoline banned in motor racing, switch to methanol fuel
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1970s - Elsbett of Germany show how to convert a car to run on vegetable oil (not biodiesel)
1970s - petrol crisis fuels energy security fears and worries about running out of oil; attention turns to biofuels
1977 - Espedito Parente (Brazil) granted patent for transesterification of vegetable oils with ethanol - first definition of biodiesel
1979 - sunflower oil is transesterified and refined in South Africa
1983 - the process for producing fuel-quality, engine-tested biodiesel is completed and published internationally
1986 - tetra-ethyl lead banned from petrol on health grounds
1987 - first biodiesel pilot plant opened in Austria using South African technology by Austrian company Gaskoks
1989 - opening of first industrial scale biodiesel plant by Gaskoks, with capacity for 30,000 tons of rape seed per annum
1990s - opening of industrial scale plants throughout Europe; France mixes biodiesel to five per cent with diesel and to 30 per cent with transport fuel; Renault and Peugeot certify truck engines for up to that percentage
1998 - Austrian Biofuels Institute identifies 21 countries with biodiesel manufacturing capacity. 100 per cent biodiesel available in Europe
2000s - EU legislates to double the share of the Renewable Energy Sources in inland consumption to 12 per cent by 2010; to increase generation of renewable electricity to 21 per cent by 2010; and to promote biofuels for transport applications by replacing up to 5.75 per cent of diesel and petrol by 2010.
2003 - War in Iraq causes stokes fears about fuel security, combining with concerns about climate change and pollution to encourage an increase in renewable energy and biofuel production 2007 - EU sets target for member states to get 10 per cent of transport fuel from biofuels by 2020 ("subject to production being sustainable").
2008 - high oil prices and energy security issues make biofuel technologies increasingly competitive with those of fossil fuels, and add urgency to their development. But the "rush to biofuels" is accompanied by warnings of deforestation, pollution and, most worryingly, the pushing up of food prices. Following a series of critical reports, the Transport Minister, Ruth Kelly, announces: "I believe it is right to adopt a more cautious approach until the evidence is clearer." Cathy Holding
