To meet the energy challenges of the future, Total has defined two priority aims—promoting energy efficiency and diversifying energy supply, with an emphasis on optimized fossil fuel management and developing renewable and alternative energy sources. Against this backdrop, using biomass to supplement fossil resources is a promising, perhaps even inevitable option, even if its contribution is still limited.

Total’s aim is to increase the share of renewable carbon sources in our products, in synergy with our industrial activities. Given the myriad options for producing energy from biomass, we are not seeking to identify any single specific process or technology as “the best,” but rather to select the most appropriate options in synergy with our activities and the local environment. We are consolidating our partnerships with bioresource producers, technology providers, industry, academic researchers and other contributors.

Accomplishments to date

Total has been actively involved in developing biofuels since 1992. In 2006, we strengthened our position as a key oil company player in Europe’s biofuel industry by producing 500,000 metric tons of ETBE and blending more than 420,000 metric tons of FAME into diesel fuel.

ETBE unit in the Normandy refinery

In 2007, Total began marketing super ethanol through some of its retail outlets. Flexfuel vehicles can run on traditional gasoline, on the new high-ethanol (up to 85%) motor fuel, or on any blend of the two.  Further strengthening its commitment, Total also signed a charter for the development of super ethanol in France. This document spells out each participant’s role in ensuring the availability of competitively-priced E85. At least 200 of the Group’s retail outlets should be equipped to sell this product by the end of 2007.

Also in 2007, Total announced the launch in France of a biofuel for captive fleets, marketed under the name of Ecolium 30. It is a blend containing 70% of diesel fuel and 30% FAME.

What next?

Meanwhile, Total is working to develop second-generation biofuels to supplement the current offering, expand the range of bioresources used, and improve the overall environmental balance of the products.

Having identified various processes and technologies that could generate worthwhile synergies with our activities, we are conducting research, usually in partnership, to confirm their potential and develop them where appropriate.

Four families of technology hold promise:

• Hydrotreating of vegetable oil and animal fat to produce a high-performance biodiesel.
• Biomass gasification, with synthesis of biohydrocarbons; products include Fischer-Tropsch diesel, methanol and di-methyl ether (DME).
• Production of biocrude or bio-oil through pyrolysis (anaerobic thermal degradation), followed by refining into automotive fuels and energy products.
• Biological conversion of biomass into fermentable components and alcohol production.
  
  The first option is being tested on an industrial scale, while the other three require further R&D and an industrial demonstration.
  

In 2006, we continued our partnership research and initiatives on various innovative bioenergy and biofuel processes and technologies, focusing in particular on:

• Assessing new motor fuel bases derived from renewable resources and formulating motor fuels that incorporate ever-higher proportions of biofuel,
• Assessing the potential and prerequisites for using bioresources, such as energy crops and farming, forest and industrial coproducts and waste,
• Assessing the technical, economic and industrial feasibility of biomass gasification processes,
• Producing and upgrading biocrude (pyrolysis),
• Producing and upgrading alcohol (biological process).
  

	BTL and Biomass Gasification Viewed as a possible technology to manufacture second-generation biofuels, the Biomass To Liquid (BTL) process consists of gasifying biomass to produce a synthesis gas that is purified, treated and further converted to yield an automotive fuel. This involves a complex sequence of steps and technologies, along with substantial investment and huge amounts of raw materials. A biomass gasification unit could conceivably be integrated into a refinery, which could help reduce capital and operating costs and pave the way for a future crude oil and biomass “biorefinery.”

A strong believer in more R&D programs involving everyone with a stake in the new biomass processes, we participate in various initiatives to fund, support and direct bioenergy research. They include:

• Enerbio, a French fund created in June 2006 for exploratory and forecasting research on new biomass applications, in partnership with Axens, Renault and Sofiprotéol.
• The European Biofuels Technology Platform, initiated by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research.
• France’s National Bioenergy Research Program (PNRB), run by the French National Research Agency (ANR).