In Ukraine sugar beets will be used in the production of biofuel

The Ministry of Agricultural Policy of Ukraine announced that it intends to allocate 40 million tons of sugar beet for the production of biofuel. It will reduce the volume of imports of fuel and, in addition, biofuel is environmentally safe for the environment.

Biofuel contains benzene and 10-30 percent alcohol. Alcohol is known to gain moisture that’s why such biofuel cannot be stored in tanks.

However, some experts believe that such plans are just a way to get distilleries working, more than half of which are almost not functioning at the moment. In addition, there are many other options for biofuel feedstocks: corn, crops, timber.

The profitability of sugar beet as a raw material has not yet been calculated, also the mechanism of all links in the chain of production of biofuel is not elaborated.

The experts say that within 5 years the production capacity will increase by 16 times and Ukraine will surpass Europe. Meanwhile, biofuel is produced at the level of individual businesses which negotiate with gas stations and sell their products there.

There is also a network of manufacturing fuel mixtures which contain gas and about 30% of alcohol. Excise duty on such fuel is 1.5 times less than the one on conventional fuels. The average price is about 8.40 UAH/ liter.

Car owners also perceive the policy of the Ministry with doubts. First of all, many are unsure whether focused on traditional fuels automobile mechanisms can run on biofuel. Others are ready to use biofuels because they save about 1.6 UAH on every liter.