Berlin, 16th March 2007 – The French vehicle manufacturers have reacted with an offensive in favour of biodiesel to the current climate conservation debate and an obligation to reduction of CO2 emission in road transport. Peugeot and Renault have already issued approval for the addition of up to 30 percent of biodiesel to diesel fuel for numerous car models. Further so-called B30 models have been announced by Renault at the motor show in Geneva.
Whereas German manufacturers normally employ self-regenerating particle filters which operate with a so-called post-injection in the engine, the post-injection in new vehicles from Renault occurs in the exhaust line directly before the particle filter. This makes the higher proportion of biodiesel in the diesel fuel technically viable. The French car manufacturer thereby indicates the technical means of making the proportion of biodiesel in diesel fuel possible from the current maximum of 5 percent to 10 or higher. The potential saving in CO2 of this concept is substantial. On average, the CO2 emissions with B30 fuel can be reduced by 40 to 45 grammes per driven kilometre and thereby the CO2 obligations of the car manufacturer can be fulfilled. The "Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e. V." (UFOP) holds the opinion that the time schedule laid down by the EU to fulfil the CO2 reduction obligations can be fulfilled on time with a higher proportion of biodiesel in diesel fuel.
The UFOP expects that German car manufacturers will also follow this example and demands that the limit to additions of biodiesel should be raised to 10 percent throughout Europe in an initial step. A European strategy for the market launch of biodiesel by admixture is necessary as a prerequisite for international fuel trading. With an overall market launch of B10, it will also be possible to relieve substantial pressures on the biodiesel market in Germany, and also in the European Union, resulting from the existing and emerging biodiesel capacities.
The UFOP is pleased that, in the Nuremberg Declaration, the objectives of the German EU Council Presidency were that the minimum proportion of biofuels of 5.75 was to be achieved by 2010 in the member states and the mandatory proportion was to be raised to at least 10 percent in the year 2020, and the corresponding fuel quality standards must be adapted to increase the proportion of biodiesel and ethanol to 10 percent each. It is now the turn of the automotive industry to support this process with appropriate technical solutions. The French manufacturers have shown that this is technically viable.