Biofuels of the Future

Hutchinson is strongly involved in the development of products for biofuels, within the framework of reducing polluting emissions and reducing our energy dependence. Consider the public position taken by our parent company Total on this subject (the “Responsibility towards Society and the Environment” part of the Intranet site):

Total supports development of biofuels that have to satisfy quality and performance requirements expected by clients, and to respect competition and free circulation rules for goods within the European Union. Public financial support for the production of biofuels must be based on “cost-efficiency” analyses and it must be harmonized across Europe.
”Second generation” biofuels require a sustained development and research effort.

The research and development effort has been started. A work group has been built up composed of Total’s Refining, Marketing and Strategy experts and Hutchinson’s Materials specialists in several activities, and the Research Center, and it has already defined a program designed to develop materials that will come into contact with biofuels of the future. Investments have been made in special equipment for technical tests.

Hutchinson is already supplying products (pipes, seals, various parts) adapted to biofuels that already exist. Therefore, their design must take account of these various aspects in order to guarantee correct operation of our vehicles, in the same way as today’s fuels. New materials must be adapted to future biofuels. If not, they may be damaged or they may pollute the biofuels.