environment
GBL develops advanced and renewable fermentation technologies for conversion of biomass to higher value chemicals and biofuels, solving problems in both existing and emerging markets for fuel and bulk chemical manufacture as well as environmental waste treatment.
Biofuels are particularly good for the environment since the fermentation process can utilise organic waste streams resulting from agricultural processes, forestry, food and paper manufacture, and even municipal solid waste as fermentation feedstocks. Biofuels also support farming on marginal land not suitable for edible food crops. Fast growing high yielding energy crops are good feedstocks and can be grown in a sustainable way that has little environmental impact.
Production of biofuels via fermentation is cleaner than a conventional petrochemical refinery. Use of biofuels also reduces our dependence on finite fossil fuels. Extraction of new reserves is getting more difficult and both extraction and transportation of oil have a huge environmental impact.
Use of biofuels significantly reduces CO2 emissions, the major cause of global warming (the transportation sector produces approximately 25% of the worlds annual carbon emissions). Therefore, the potential contribution to CO2 abatement is huge.
Biofuels also burn cleaner and help reduce air pollution from vehicle emissions. Biofuels such as ethanol are also environmentally friendly oxygenates for gasoline and are widely used in the US to replace methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), which is carcinogenic and tends to contaminate ground water.
Biofuels are renewable and do not contribute to global warming