Could Sweden be self-sufficient on biofuels?

A biofuel facility in Eskilstuna, Sweden. (Åsa Westerlund / PRB / Radio Sweden)
A biofuel facility in Eskilstuna, Sweden. (Åsa Westerlund / PRB / Radio Sweden)

In the future, cars may be able to run on methanol and dimethyl ether (DME), instead of gasoline, and Sweden’s extensive forests may be able to make the country self-sufficient in terms of biofuel, reports Swedish news agency TT.

In a report from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, researchers point the way towards a future with biofuel. Several have already been fully tested.

The advantage of these biofuels is that burning them results in low carbon dioxide and particle emissions.

“I’m convinced that in ten years, we’ll see automobiles that run on bio-DME on a large scale on our roads,” Patrik Löwnertz, head of marketing at Chemrec, a company developing new biofuels, tells news agency TT.

“There are no technical obstacles today; the difficulties are mainly political. One facility costs anywhere from SEK 3 billion and up to build. So, there needs to be security for investors that there won’t be political decisions that change the value of biofuel with short notice,” he says.

Radio Sweden

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