Swedes turn smuggled alcohol into alternative fuel

STOCKHOLM: Smugglers trying to sneak alcohol into Seden are unwittingly helping fuel the country's public transport system and reducing its greenhouse emissions.

Almost all of the 700,00 litres of smuggled alcohol seized by the customs service last year was turned into alternative fuel and used to power buses, trucks and a biogas train, officials said today.

"We used to just pour it down the drain, but because of the increased volmes we had to look around for new solutions," customs spokeswoman Ingrid Jerlebrink said.

The beer, wine and liquor is taken to a plant in Linoping, 200 kilometres southwest of Stockholm, were it is heated and converted into biogas.
   
Biogas is used in Sweden to power some 1,000 trucks and buses and one train said Carl Lilliehook, head of Svensk Biogas AB, which handles most of the confiscated alcohol.

Lilliehook said one litre of pure alcohol is enough to make about half a litre of biogas. And it is good business, because the material to make it is free.

Jerlebrink said the customs service was happy to get rid of the smuggled alcohol, which was taking up a lot of space before the biogas programme was started a few 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.

The project also helps the country's efforts to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels blamed for global warming.

In 2003, about one-quarter of the energy consumed in the small Nordic country came from renewable sources - more than four times as much as the European Union average of six per cent, according to EU statistics. In Stockholm, one-quarter of city buses run on ethanol or biogas.