Acceptable biofuel composition 'favours smaller firms'

The most environment-friendly biofuel composition is easier to achieve for smaller firms, according to a report from the Renewable Fuels Agency.

According to the industry assessment body, larger companies face difficulty in achieving the most eco-friendly biofuel composition, which can incorporate byproducts like leftover cooking oil and tallow.

With the supply of such ingredients relatively tight, larger organisations with greater output of fuel can face problems in finding enough to meet their obligations, the agency says.

As a result, they are less able to capitalise on the most favourably rated biofuel compositions under the current assessment criteria.

This is compounded by the ramping up of targets on the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, which set out an aim of reaching 3.25 per cent use of renewable energy sources on the UK's roads in 2009-10.

In an update on the third year of the obligation, the Renewable Fuels Agency notes that no companies at all met all three of their sustainability targets in the first quarter - the first three-month period in which this has been the case since the scheme began.