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Ineos: Waste could fuel cars by 2011

Household waste could fuel cars in just two years, claims Ineos.

Cars fuelled from household waste could be available within two years, according to Ineos.

The world's third-largest chemical firm which is supporting the technology said it planned to produce commercial quantities of bioethanol fuel from biodegradable municipal waste by 2011.

Ineos claims it can produce about 400 litres of ethanol from one tonne of dry waste.

Ethanol is produced by mixing a biological catalyst with carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are produced by burning biodegradable waste.

The innovation is backed by the National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC) the UK's national centre for renewable fuels, materials and technologies.

However, Kenneth Richter, biofuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "Instead of gambling on second-generation biofuels, we must urgently invest in real green transport solutions like more fuel efficient cars, better public transport and safer routes for cycling and walking."

It is estimated the European Union creates about 65 million tonnes of organic municipal waste a year, a quantity sufficient to produce about 12 million tonnes of ethanol.

The EU aims to derive ten per cent of its road transport fuel from renewable sources such as biofuels by 2020.