Chemical engineering design project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Chemical engineering design project - Essay Example There is an increase in agricultural subsidies offered to farmers under the Single Payment Scheme (SPS). Table 1shows estimates of costs incurred in the SPS for 2008/2009 and 2009/2010. It is evident there is an increase in figures for the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 SPS(6.3M and 9.3M) and still further subsequent increase in 2010/2011. Biofuel producers also accrue tax exemptions. HMRC 2011 places tax per litre for biofuels, diesel and petrol to be equal. However, it is also perceived that exemptions are likely to affect government revenue earnings. Another factor that significantly influences the use of biofuels is caloric requirements required in comparison to pure petroleum. Biofuels have low caloric values and therefore a greater amount of biofuels are required to meet the energy output of petroleum products. Table 2 shows the amount of blended biofuel needed to meet the energy value of pure petroleum product (Chris and Wooders 24). Since the tax per litre is equal for both petroleum products and biofuels, then the cost for biofuels will be much higher compared to petroleum products. In consideration of petroleum being an input in the biofuel production, this has significant implications on costs of other inputs i.e. feedstock’s and transport services, therefore, affecting production costs. Table 3 projects that in 2020 bioethanol will be 16-35 pence per litre more expensive. On the other hand, biodiesel will be 29-42 pence per litre more expensive than the petroleum product they are intended to replace (Chris and Wooders 29). It is a requirement that biofuels comply with the sustainability criteria. This is an added cost to the producers (Chris and Wooders 32). GHG saving is set at 35% and from 2017 is expected to be at 50%. The introduction of sustainability criteria increases cost, and it is estimated to be at GBT 256milion. Therefore, it is likely that the