Seized Alcohol in Sweden Turns into Biogas
According to the Associated Press, around 185,000 gallons of alcohol smuggled into the country was seized by customs last year. The alcohol was later turned into an alternative fuel which was then used to fuel buses, trucks, and a biogas train.
Ingrid Jerlebrink is a customs spokeswoman. she said that, "We used to just pour it down the drain, but because of the increased volumes we had to look around for new solutions."
Among the seized alcohol is beer, wine, and hard liquor. The alcohol is taken to a plant in Linkoping, a city that is about 125 miles southwest of Stockholm. It is then heated and converted into biogas.
Svensk Biogas AB handles most of the alcohol that is seized and confiscated. Carl Lilliehook is the head of the company, and says that biogas is used in Sweden to power about 1,000 trucks and buses. Also powered by the biogas is one train.
It takes a quart of pure alcohol to make about a tenth of a gallon of biogas, according to Lilliehook. He also says its a good business since the material to make the biogas is coming to them for free.
Jerlebrink claims that the customs service is very glad to be rid of the alcohol that is smuggled into the country. The alcohol was sitting and taking up space before the program to make it into biogas was started years ago.
"We pump it into a big tank that we jokingly call 'the giant cocktail' and then a truck just comes and picks it up," she said, according to the Associated Press.
The country puts effort into reducing their dependency on fossil fuels, which are blamed for global warming. The alcohol-into-biogas program helps that effort.
In this small Nordic country in 2003, about one-quarter of energy that was used came from sources that were renewable. Thats compared to the average 6 percent for the entire European Union, which is according to EU statistics. One-quarter of all city buses in Stockholm run on either biogas or ethanol, according to The Associated Press.
originally reported by The Asoociated Press and LOUISE NORDSTROM, "Smuggled alcohol used as fuel in Sweden"
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/weird_news/17435653.htm
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