Technological Challenges for Alternative Fuels Technologies in the EU. A well-to-Tank Assessment and Scenarios Until 2030 Considering Technology Learning

The initial step of this analysis corresponds to the evaluation of the current state of the art (SoA) for various alternative fuels (AFs) and alternative sustainable automotive technologies (ASATs) across Europe, taking into account their detailed energetic, environmental and economic variables. The method to assess economic and environmental performance of AFs and ASATs corresponds to a well-to-tank (WTT) and tank-towheel (TTW) assessment complemented by scenarios until 2030, with projections of reference and high prices of major input variables of analysis. This analysis determines short and long term economic performance taking into account technology learning. 2 generation biofuels offer potentials for meeting future fuel-energy demand, and are currently supported by main governments and programs. Initial results of this study also indicate that second generation biofuels offer promising solutions in terms of environmental performance but production costs, conversion efficiencies and by-products are major challenges that can influence the overall economic performance considerably. In addition, price volatilities for first generation biofuels feedstock play a major role on the competitiveness and economic performance of these fuels.