Category Archives: Biodiesel

NAABB’s Algal-Based Biodiesel Meets NAABB Standards

November 18, 2010   Karl

NAABB’s Algal-Based Biodiesel Meets ASTM Standards

According to the National Alliance for Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB), a considerable breakthrough has been made with the production of biodiesel using oil extracted from algae. The consortium’s algal biodiesel is meeting fuel specifications set by the American Society for Testing and Materials(ASTM).

The algal oil was provided by Eldorado Biofuels, and the oil was converted to biodiesel by Catilin, Inc., using their commercially available T300 solid catalyst. Whereas conventional conversion methods use highly caustic materials such as sodium hydroxide, Catilin’s technology produced the algal biodiesel that both meets ASTM standards more efficiently and economically while at the same time produced a highly purified glycerin. Glycerin is a highly valuable byproduct that is used by the food and pharmaceutical industries.

“We are very pleased to have demonstrated that our catalytic process is effective for algal oil feedstocks. Not only are the conversion costs reduced relative to the conventional process but the quality byproducts produced in the process will open additional markets,” said David Sams, vice president, business development for Catilin.

Eldorado Biofuels CEO Paul Laur noted that his company is happy they could provide the algal oil to help move the algae biofuels industry forward, and Jose Olivares, NAABB’s executive director said, “This step represents a major success and illustrates the high level of interaction between members which is a good sign that we are starting to reap the benefits of the consortium concept.”

The consortium’s next step is to distribute samples of the ASTM algae based biodiesel among members for the follow-up analyses necessary for engine emissions testing.

Source http://domesticfuel.com

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Neste Oil starts up its new renewable diesel plant in Singapore

November 18, 2010   Karl
Neste Oil renewable diesel plant

Neste Oil starts up its new renewable diesel plant in Singapore

Neste Oil has started up the world’s largest renewable diesel plant in Singapore. Production of NExBTL renewable diesel will be ramped up on a phased basis. The plant was completed on-schedule and on-budget and marks a major step forward in Neste Oil’s clean traffic fuel strategy.

“We are very proud of the new plant and the NExBTL technology behind it, which is based on our in-house R&D. NExBTL represents a major Finnish innovation in the field of renewable fuels and we believe that it has excellent potential in the global marketplace,” according to President & CEO Matti Lievonen.

Neste Oil’s NExBTL renewable diesel is a premium fuel that is compatible with all diesel engines and existing fuel distribution systems. It offers excellent performance at low temperatures and can be used either blended with fossil diesel or as such. NExBTL enables a 40-80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to be achieved compared to fossil diesel. Its lower tailpipe emissions also make a valuable contribution to enhancing overall air quality.

“The benefits of NExBTL renewable diesel have been confirmed in numerous trials and everyday use, and the feedback that we have received from users has been excellent,” says Lievonen.

The Singapore plant has a capacity of 800,000 t/a and cost around EUR550 million to build. The plant has approximately 120 employees. Neste Oil has a similar-sized facility under construction in Rotterdam, which is due to be commissioned in the first half of 2011. The company already operates two renewable diesel plants that came on stream at Porvoo in Finland in 2007 and 2009 with a combined capacity of 380,000 t/a. The main markets for NExBTL diesel are Europe and North America.

Source nesteoil.com

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Amtrak’s biodiesel locomotive makes TIME’s ‘best invention of 2010′ list

November 17, 2010   Karl

Amtrak's biodiesel train

In April, Amtrak and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation launched a one-year test of a biodiesel-fueled locomotive on the Heartland Flyer route, which operates between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, Texas. The GE Transportation P32-8 locomotive uses a biodiesel blend known as B20, which contains 20 percent biofuel and 80 percent diesel. In previously conducted stationary locomotive testing, the fuel reduced hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions by 10 percent each, particulate emissions by 15 percent and sulfate emissions by 20 percent.

At the end of the test period, Amtrak will take detailed measurements on the locomotive to determine the impact of the biodiesel on valves and gaskets. The railroad also will collect locomotive emissions data for analysis in accordance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s federal test protocols.


The test is being funded through a $274,000 Federal Railroad Administration grant.

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Stagecoach scoops top environmental award with biofuel “bio-bus scheme”

November 09, 2010   Karl
Stagecoach bus

Stagecoach scoops top environmental award

Stagecoach Group has won a top honour at the 2010 Green Business Awards.

The Perth-based transport group scooped the Travel and Transport Award at a ceremony held in London on 2 November.

Stagecoach won the award for its innovative Bio-bus scheme in Kilmarnock, which was the first project in the UK to run a fleet of buses on 100% biofuel made from used cooking oil and other food industry by-products, all of which are from sustainable sources.

The judges noted that Stagecoach “has demonstrated that public transport can make a significant contribution to reducing the country’s carbon dioxide emissions”.

Since its launch, the Bio-bus project has reduced CO2 emissions from the vehicles by 80%, saving 2450 tonnes of carbon. Around 2million passengers have used the Bio-buses since the project was introduced and more than 70tonnes of used cooking oil has been recycled at East Ayrshire Council’s recycling plant since the start of the project – a significant increase on the volume usually recycled at the facility.

Stagecoach UK Bus Regional Director Scotland Sam Greer said: “The Bio-bus project has delivered clear and measurable environmental results and has proved to be one of our most successful green initiatives. We are delighted that our efforts have been recognised with this high-profile award.

“We are continuing to introduce further measures to ensure we can become an even more sustainable business while also attracting more people on to our greener, smarter bus services.”

Stagecoach Group has launched a new sustainability strategy and is investing £11million in a range of measures to meet its environmental targets. The Group is targeting an overall reduction of 8% in buildings CO2 emissions and a cut of 3% in annual fleet transport CO2e emissions. It follows a reduction in the carbon intensity of its UK businesses of 5.7% in the three years to 30 April 2009.

It is estimated the new five-year programme, from 2009-10 to 2013-14, will save a total of nearly 150,000 tonnes of CO2e, with the Group’s annual emissions reduced by around 40,000 tonnes CO2e by April 2014.

Earlier this year, Stagecoach Group was awarded the prestigious Carbon Trust Standard after taking action on climate change by measuring and reducing its carbon emissions. Stagecoach is the first Scottish-based transport group – and one of only two listed UK public transport operators – to have achieved the stretching carbon reduction benchmark. It covers all of the Group’s bus and rail operations in the UK.

The Bio-bus scheme was launched in October 2007 and has attracted interest from across the world. The interest generated has raised awareness of the significance of waste-energy bio-fuels and the environmental benefits they offer. The Bio-bus project has also engaged the local community and encourages increased use of public transport by offering discounted bus fares to those passengers who supply used cooking oil to be recycled as part of the project.

Stagecoach recently spent £1.1million upgrading its original Bio-buses with even newer, greener vehicles and the company has also now introduced a fleet of 23 Bio-buses in Cambridgeshire.

The Bio-bus project is no stranger to awards, having been named Best Green PR Campaign at the 2009 Scottish Green Awards as well as Best Process at the 2009 VIBES (Vision in Business for the Environment) of Scotland Awards.

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Green energy and biofuels company REG Bio-Power meets UK demand with new processing plant

November 08, 2010   Karl
biofuel sticker

REG Bio-Power meets UK demand with new processing plant

Green energy and biofuels company REG Bio-Power has launched a new processing facility – the first of its kind in the UK – after an investment of almost one million pounds.

REG Bio-Power, part of AIM-listed Renewable Energy Generation Group, opened the new facility – which forms the hub for its national operations – after demand for its services rocketed over the last 18 months.

The company, under the name Living Fuels, collects waste vegetable oil from almost 300 local authority recycling centres as well as commercial sites and bulk aggregators.  This raw product is then processed into a green biofuel called LF100 (not a biodiesel) which is completely free from chemicals, additives and reagents.

LF100 is utilised by REG Bio-Power, under the name Living Power, to service a portfolio of dedicated combined heat and power (CHP) generators across the UK – including a 4.8 mW renewable energy plant in Suffolk.  To date, the Living Power engines have clocked up over 40,000 operating hours using LF100.

Ian Collins, managing director of REG Bio-Power, explains:

“This processing facility represents a real step change.  The last four years has seen us process almost a million litres of waste vegetable oil.  With this new facility, along with an 18,000 litre tanker for collecting the oil, we can process 20 million litres per annum – which, as LF100, could produce enough energy for 20,000 average homes per year.”

In the UK, it is estimated that over ¼ million tonnes of waste vegetable oil is produced every year – half of which has historically gone to landfill or down the drains.  Water companies spend more than £15 million per year in direct clean up of fats, oils and greases in sewers.

“However,” says Collins, “that pool of waste vegetable oil could provide enough energy for up to ¼ million average homes each year.  Waste vegetable oil will not solve the energy crisis alone, but it will make a significant impact.”

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EU biofuels policy could create “major environmental pressure”

November 08, 2010   Karl
EU Flag

EU biofuels policy could create “major environmental pressure”

EU biofuels policy does not adequately protect the environment against negative consequences, according to a study reviewing the indirect land use change (ILUC) impact of the EU’s planned increase in biofuels use up to 2020.

Based on newly released national plans, ILUC could lead to substantial land conversion and, as a consequence, additional greenhouse gas emissions beyond those that would arise from the continued fossil fuel use, the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) report says.

David Baldock, Executive Director IEEP, says: “Promoting the use of biofuels with no consideration of indirect land use change (ILUC) has the potential actually to increase the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. It is vital that this situation is rectified and ILUC impacts are urgently addressed within EU law. It is essential to remember that the renewable energy Directive, which is driving EU biofuel use, was adopted to help combat climate change.”

Under EU law all Member States are required to derive 10% of their transport fuels from renewable sources by 2020.

Plans from national governments setting out how they will reach this target are now becoming available, and they confirm that conventional biofuels (derived from crops such as wheat, rapeseed and sugar cane) will be the primary technology used in delivery.

Land needed for biofuels crops

The report, Anticipated Indirect Land Use Change Associated with Expanded Use of Biofuels and Bioliquids in the EU – An Analysis of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans, concludes that between 4.1 and 6.9 million hectares of additional land will need to be cropped due to the increasing conventional biofuels demand, set out in national plans.

IEEP estimates that this would lead to additional annual emissions of between 27 and 56 million tonnes of CO2 between 2011 and 2020, associated with land conversion.

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China turning restaurant waste into a commodity

November 08, 2010   Karl
chinese-chef

China turning cooking oil to biofuels

While China reaches ever further overseas to secure energy supplies, some Chinese businesses at home are coming up with increasingly creative ways of tapping into new energy sources. Take the story of one small company in Fujian province that has captured a local niche market: collecting waste oil from restaurants and factories and turning it into biodiesel and chemicals that can be sold at a handsome profit.

The five-year-old biodiesel business of China Clean Energy has got a big boost from the government’s vows to cut carbon emissions. According to its chief financial officer, William Chen, the New York-listed company has seen its revenues quadruple this year compared with 2009.

“Recently there was a government policy that requires power generators to reduce emissions, so some of the power generation plants have started shifting their regular petroleum diesel to biodiesel,” explains Chen.

In the past quarter China Clean Energy has signed up no less than seven new thermal power plants to use its biofuel, each of which has placed orders worth at least Rmb 1m.

These thermal power plants previously used regular diesel to help the coal burn at higher temperatures, but Chen says biodiesel burns much more cleanly.

It’s also cheaper. Biodiesel made from waste oil costs about Rmb 4,000 per tonne, compared with a market price of Rmb 4,648 per tonne, Chen says. Some of their biodiesel is also sold at gas stations at a price per calorie that is on a par with diesel.

The company also uses the oils it collects to make specialty chemical products that go into products like detergent, high-grade glues, printing ink for glossy magazines, and anti-rust coatings on ships. The chemicals part of the business currently generates most of its revenue, but that could change as demand for biodiesel grows.

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BP sees biofuel growth from U.S. grass, Brazil sugar

November 05, 2010   Karl
BP Logo

BP Growth from Biofuels

BP is focusing its biofuel efforts on Brazilian sugar cane and U.S. energy grasses, holding off on investments in the rest of the world for the moment, a senior executive of the global energy group said on Thursday.

James Primrose, head of strategy at BP Biofuels, said government incentives and clear regulations in alternative energy gave the Americas region an advantage in the sector, compared to Europe or Asia where the landscape is murkier.

“Our growth plans are ambitious,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of an ethanol conference in Geneva, a European hub for commodity trading.

“In order to deliver on our plans, we have to focus on those markets first where there is the regulatory clarity and the cost-advantaged feed stocks.”

In July, BP announced a $98 million purchase of technology developed by U.S. partner Verenium, under which it took ownership of cellulosic biofuels technology.

The biofuels unit plans to increase its engagement with Brazil, given the high quality and relatively low cost of its sugar cane, Primrose said, without offering any details.

In the United States, the BP executive said government support for cellulosic biofuels had given a boost to investors. “In that regard, in terms of the clarity of the regulations, the U.S. is favorable to Europe,” he said.

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Leading Advanced Biofuel Groups Meet at The White House

October 27, 2010   Karl
whitehouse

Leading Advanced Biofuel Groups Meet at The White House

Leaders of the advanced biofuel industry personally delivered an important message to the Obama Administration this morning at a White House meeting that included representatives of the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA), the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and Algal Biomass Organization(ABO).  The leaders’ message emphasized the vital role the advanced biofuel industry plays in achieving America’s energy security while strengthening the nation’s economy by creating premium new jobs.

Just last week, the groups representing over 100 advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals and biobased product member companies, delivered a letter to President Obama, thanking him for his “commitment to developing secure, sustainable, domestic alternatives to imported petroleum.”  The joint letter also offered to assist the President as his administration develops and implements an “aggressive, comprehensive national advanced biofuels policy – one that maximizes innovation and drives commercialization of technologies that hold the greatest promise to reduce our dependence on petroleum, create high quality opportunities for American workers, and deliver a sustainable, low-carbon future for transportation and manufacturing in the United States.”

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UK biofuel use hits target early

October 26, 2010   Karl
biofuel sticker

UK hit biofuel targets early

Biofuel use in UK road fuels has met the government’s third-year target ahead of schedule, according to latest Renewable Fuels Agency figures.

In the first three months of the 2010/11 reporting period for the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, some 426m litres of biofuel were supplied, accounting for approximately 3.5% of total road transport fuel – meeting the annual third-year target.

Biodiesel accounted for almost two-thirds (64%) of all biofuel supplied, while bioethanol accounted for 36%.

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