Translated material
Progress from sawdust
Russia will try to keep up with developed countries in biofuel production
Against the backdrop of a sharp decline in prices for the main energy resources - oil and gas, as well as gas wars that constantly arise due to inconsistency in the positions of states, the most developed countries of the world are actively working to create alternative energy sources. It is also important for Russia not to lag behind this process, so as not to find itself on the sidelines of the global economy.Recently, a meeting of representatives of interested organizations on the problems of biotechnology development in the country was held in the State Duma, chaired by the speaker of the chamber Boris Gryzlov. Participants - representatives of relevant committees of the lower house of parliament, ministries and departments, research organizations, enterprises - discussed the problem of legislative support for the use of renewable energy sources, the role of biofuels from non-edible plant raw materials in ensuring food and energy security in Russia, the implementation of the project "Development of biotechnologies in the Russian Federation". Federation". “You won’t get enough of oil and gas,” is how Boris Gryzlov defined Russia’s near-term energy prospects.
In the development of nanotechnologies in Russia, the “first violin” is played by Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who oversees them in the government. The hearings in the lower house were held on the initiative of the Union of Mechanical Engineers, headed by the General Director of the Russian Technologies State Corporation Sergei Chemezov.
For the first time, the need to create a full-fledged biotechnology industry in Russia was announced in April last year at the public forum “Strategy 2020”, organized by United Russia. An important component of this project - the development of biofuel production - is being implemented by the state corporation "Russian Technologies" with the Fuel and Energy Union and with the support of the Union of Mechanical Engineers of Russia, the Public Chamber and the all-Russian public movement "Ecosphere".
The problem of alternative energy sources based on biotechnology is being discussed very actively in the world. The United States plans to reduce oil consumption by a third over ten years. That is, exactly the part that the world's largest economy receives from the Middle East and Venezuela. In the USA, the processing of biomass into competitive bioethanol is one of the national priority projects. New integrated plants have been built to produce biofuels. As primary raw materials, they use millet, cellulose from wheat straw and corn residues, wood processing waste, and city and garden waste. Over the next ten years, the United States intends to invest $150 billion in the field of new renewable types of energy and create 5 million new jobs in this sector. By 2015, there should be at least a million energy-efficient vehicles in the United States.
The UK plans to invest $16 billion by 2020 to stimulate the development of new renewable types of energy. In Germany, within the same time frame, they plan to create 500 thousand jobs in the production of modern types of energy. Back in 2007, Japan adopted the document “Innovation-25”, aimed at the long-term development of the country. It emphasizes the use of green industries as engines of national development. South Korea is trying to overcome the current economic crisis with the help of a "green growth strategy" of the economy - the so-called "three E" system (ecology, energy, economic growth). As a result, investment in the biotech market is growing.
It so happened that Russian government decree number one for 2009 contains a clause: by 2015, 2.5% of the country's energy needs should be met by alternative fuel. They are going to “drive” it mainly from timber. Forests in Russia are used inefficiently - this is an axiom. The country is in first place in terms of forest area, and in the production of paper and cardboard only in sixth place, leaving behind even small Finland. More than 700 wood processing factories in China use Russian raw materials. The Russian government has set the task of reducing the export of unprocessed timber (so-called roundwood) by a quarter, and in the future, stopping such exports completely. Wood processing, which has increased significantly, will produce a significantly larger volume of waste - raw materials for bioenergy.
The development strategy for the timber processing industry assumes R&D expenditures in this area of 12 billion rubles in the near future. - about a billion a year. If this amount seems too large to someone, let us remind you: Finland’s expenses for the same purposes are 15 times more. But Russia may well become a leader in timber processing, Boris Gryzlov is convinced. Among other things, we have 160 million hectares of farmland, of which 20 million are unclaimed. They may well be allocated for forest planting.
According to Sergei Chemezov, it is time to switch to second-generation biofuel - biobutanol. It does not take arable fields out of use or agricultural facilities out of operation. It was Russian scientists who developed the latest technology for the production of such biofuel from non-food, including cellulose-containing sources of raw materials. With this technology, wood processing waste is completely recycled.
Deputy Chairman of the Union of Mechanical Engineers of Russia Vladimir Gutenev believes that the development of the biofuel industry will help create new jobs during the crisis, retrain and retrain displaced workers, and speaks out for the commissioning of new enterprises for the production of biobutanol. Today, the share of renewable energy sources in Russia does not exceed 1%. The development of the biofuel industry is hampered by the lack of a comprehensive state program for the widespread use of biofuel.
“Our obvious lag in this area,” says Peter Kanygin, General Director of Biotechnology Corporation OJSC, “is partly due to insufficient funding for scientific and practical developments in the field of biotechnology, and most importantly, the lack of targeted government support.”
The country's 3 billion tons of non-food waste from the forest industry and agriculture is comparable in its energy value to the hydrocarbon reserves explored today. However, these huge resources are practically not used.
According to Russian experts, the production of bioethanol from food raw materials has little prospects. In addition, for Russia, bioethanol is fraught with an additional huge danger, which is almost not talked about. This danger lies in the fact that ethanol is alcohol. But second-generation fuel, obtained from non-food waste, has every chance of development in Russia. Biobutanol is already widely used in the paint and varnish industry, the production of synthetic rubber and silk, and in the extraction of pharmaceuticals. Therefore, butanol is in constant and high demand on the market of chemical reagents and substances.
Second a type of biofuel that can also be actively developed in Russia is the so-called solid fuel pellets (granules). They can ensure the operation of local boiler houses in small communities. By the beginning of the 2000s, about 30 large plants were operating in Sweden with a total capacity of more than 670 thousand tons per year. Today, the volume of pellet consumption there is more than 1.2 million tons per year.
Of course, biofuels cannot remain the only source of energy of the future. According to scientists, they will most likely become hydrogen and nuclear energy. Biofuel production does not yet constitute significant competition for domestic energy exports. However, we must closely monitor the situation on global energy markets. There is no need to repeat the sad experience with liquefied natural gas, which we were in no hurry to produce, but it has already taken 20% of the EU gas market and is crowding out our pipeline gas.
Many interesting proposals were made at the meeting. In particular, on reducing excise taxes on motor fuels containing additives obtained from renewable raw materials, on introducing amendments to the Forestry Code on establishing standards for the mandatory disposal of logging and wood processing waste, on the use of so-called milled layers of peat, which we have above the roof. It was also proposed to adopt a state program for the development of biotechnology from 2010.
According to experts, the implementation of these measures will make it possible to create about 30 biotechnological enterprises in the country by 2020, which will provide at least 120 thousand jobs, including related industries, and 30 billion rubles. additional revenues to the Russian budget system annually. The fact that, according to the International Energy Agency, by 2030 the world's energy demand will increase by 60% may spur Russians on this path.