Oil and gas giants accelerate the layout of pellet fuel

On November 28, local time, Shell issued a statement saying that it would acquire Europe's largest biogas producer, Nature Energy, at a price of nearly US$2 billion to accelerate the transition to new energy sources. As early as February this year, Chevron announced that it would spend $3.15 billion to acquire US biodiesel producer Renewable Energy Group (REG). In October this year, British Petroleum (bp) announced that it will acquire Archaea Energy, one of the largest renewable natural gas companies in the United States, for US$4.1 billion, which has become the world's largest acquisition of a renewable fuel company.

Since the 1970s, with the rise of traditional energy prices and the impact of global climate change, biofuels have gradually been valued by countries all over the world. According to estimates, the carbon dioxide emissions of biofuels are 50% of that of fossil fuels. It is one of the effective carbon reduction paths in aviation, shipping, transportation and other fields. It can be used as an important supplement to fossil energy and contribute to the reduction of pollutant emissions. , Protecting the atmospheric environment is of great significance. Some organizations predict that the global biofuel market will reach 650 million yuan in 2022.

In recent years, oil and gas giants have made efforts to use biofuels represented by biodiesel and biogas as one of the key growth engines for the company's energy transformation. The layout and research and development of new biofuel technologies are also being strengthened. French energy giant Total Energies is stepping up research and development of third-generation biofuels based on microalgae; a new study in the United States shows that by replacing traditional jet fuel with sustainably produced biofuels, commercial There may be a path to fully decarbonizing the fuel used in aviation.

But demand for biofuel crops is controversial at a time of global food shortages and rising inflation. Some experts say that if the use of plant-based fuels is reduced, more crops in the world will be available for food, while others believe that this problem can be solved by increasing food production. Cargill Inc. CEO David MacLennan has said it's not a question of having to choose between food and fuel because of regenerative farming practices, better yields and new Technology means that production can increase enough to meet the needs of both industries. At present, based on considerations of food security and environmental protection, the European Union is actively promoting the transformation of its raw materials to non-grain raw materials such as waste cooking oil, and countries such as Belgium and Germany are considering reducing the mix of biofuels and fossil fuels to cope with global food prices rise. Only by accelerating the innovation of biofuel feedstock and processing technology can we solve the dual problems of survival and climate crisis.