Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will commission a study into the potential merits of the use of E10 petrol.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The revised industry fuel standard for petrol (EN228), agreed and published by the British Standards Institution in 2013, allows up to ten per cent bioethanol content (known as ‘E10’). However, E10 is not yet on general sale in the UK and whether to supply it is a commercial decision for suppliers.
The Transport Energy Task Force, made up of experts from industry and environmental NGOs, reported its findings to the Department for Transport in March 2015. The report, which included recommendations relating to E10, is available on the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership’s website at:
http://www.lowcvp.org.uk/projects/transport-energy-task-force.htm
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the viability of the use of E10 fuel in older vehicles and motorcycles.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The content of road transport fuel is governed by a combination of legislation and industry fuel standards, specifically the Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations and a European industry standard, in the case of petrol this is EN228. The EN specification incorporates the statutory requirements. The standards, and their maintenance, are industry agreed and informed by industry testing.
Petrol currently sold in the UK may contain up to 5% ethanol (known as ‘E5’). A revised industry fuel standard for petrol (EN228) was agreed and published by the British Standards Institution in 2013. This allows up to 10% bioethanol content (known as ‘E10’). This means that fuel suppliers are free to supply petrol containing anything from 0-10% bioethanol.Most petrol sold in the UK is E5 and therefore contains up to 5% bioethanol. E10 is not yet on sale in the UK.
Any decision to supply E10 is a commercial decision for fuel suppliers and we are not aware of any with immediate plans to introduce E10 into the UK. The Governmentrecognises the concerns of owners of some older vehicles and motorcycles that may not be compatible with E10, and the Department for Transport is in regular contact with fuel suppliers who in turn have been asked to write to us to give at least three months’ notice of plans to introduce this fuel. As yet no suppliers have indicated they have any immediate plans to introduce E10.
The Department is also in regular contact with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) who provide advice and data concerning the compatibility of UK petrol vehicles with E10 - which we are carefully monitoring.
The Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations 1999 were amended in 2010 to comply with EU Directive 2009/30/EC which requires the UK Government to ensure that petrol with a maximum ethanol content of 5% remained available until the end of 2013. This mechanism was extended in 2013 in the UK to ensure that E5 continues to be available until the end of 2016.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the amount of British-grown wheat used in bio-fuel production.
Answered by George Eustice
There is no specific published data on the amount of wheat grown in the UK that is used for bioethanol. However it is possible to provide an estimate. Defra's statistics on ‘The Area of Crops Grown For Bioenergy in England and the UK: 2008 – 2012' published in December 2013 include data reported under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) on the volume of bioethanol supplied to the UK road transport market with information on the feedstock and the country of origin of the feedstock. By applying appropriate conversion factors, it is possible to derive an estimate of the equivalent tonnage and crop area of wheat grown and used to produce bioethanol. These figures are outlined in the table below.
UK wheat areas used to produce bioethanol supplied to the UK road transport market 2008/9 - 2012/13 Wheat (RTFO Year: 15 April n-1 to 14 April n) |
Volume of bioethanol (million litres)(b) |
Tonnage of crop implied ('000 tonnes)(c) |
wheat yield (t/ha)(d)(e) |
Area implied (thousand ha) and % of UK total wheat area(e) |
Year 1: 15 April 2008 - 14 April 2009 | 0.0 | 0 | 8.3 | 0 |
Year 2: 15 April 2009 - 14 April 2010 | 0.9 | 3 | 7.9 | 0.3 (0%) |
Year 3: 15 April 2010 - 14 April 2011(a) | 211.9 | 581 | 7.7 | 75.4 (4%) |
Year 4: 15 April 2011 - 14 April 2012 | 17.9 | 49 | 7.7 | 6.3 (0%) |
Year 5: 15 April 2012 - 14 April 2013 (provisional)(f) | 48.2 | 132 | 6.7 | 19.6 (1%) |
(a) This includes an estimated 92 million tonnes of bioethanol produced from wheat used for markets other than for UK Road Transport.
(b) All wheat volumes above were grown on previously cropped land.
(c) Conversion: 365 litres bioethanol = 1 tonne wheat grain (at 15% moisture). Source: Department for Transport commissioned research.
(d) Source: Defra annual Cereal and Oilseed Rape Production Survey (In 2012 the Cereal Production Survey and Oilseed Rape Production Survey were brought together to reduce costs Cereal Production Survey) UK yield at year n-1. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/structure-of-the-agricultural-industry
(e) Source: Defra June Survey of Agriculture. UK area at year n-1. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/structure-of-the-agricultural-industry
(e) Figures for 2012-13 (Year 5) are as of 15 September 2013 and are not final.
The RTFO data exclude UK biofuel production from UK grown wheat which may be subsequently exported, although the 2010/11 figure also includes an estimate of bioethanol produced from wheat and used for other markets or exported. Similarly, data is not available on wheat grown in the UK which is exported for possible biofuel production outside the UK.