Biofuel: the process answer
27 Mar 2007
Last month saw demonstrations in Mexico City in response to a four-fold rise in bread prices, which have skyrocketed on the back of massive demand for corn in the US biofuel industry.
The anger in South America highlighted how one country's drive to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels can have unexpected and damaging consequences elsewhere. Such issues, it seems, will persist and exacerbate as governments in developed countries sponsor alternative sources of energy in the face of rising prices for crude oil.
In the US, about 20% of the 2006 corn harvest has already been converted to bioethanol. The country has over 100 major plants for the conversion of corn to ethanol already in operation and another 50 planned to come on stream.
"Clearly there is terrific demand on corn right now as a result of the bioethanol industry," admitted Thomas Dorr, the US under secretary of agriculture and rural development, speaking at the Euromoney Clean Fuels Finance Forum in London on 29 March.
"There is no question that the next couple of years are going to be difficult transition years," said Dorr, who went on to highlight US efforts to develop new crop-growing and biofuel-production technologies.
"It is pretty clear that we will have to migrate to cellulosic ethanol and cellulosic ethanol sustainable processes," said Dorr. The US department of energy, he added, "is aggressively looking" at other types of ethanol products, including spending $600-700 million to develop new fuel technologies.
In Europe, meanwhile, rapeseed cultivation for biodiesel production is being greatly extended. The demand for diesel fuel throughout Europe is estimated at about 170 million tonnes per year and by 2010, this quantity will have to contain a blending component of 5.75% biodiesel, which is produced by transesterification of rapeseed oil with methanol.
Ten million tonnes of rapeseed methylester means a growing area of about eight million hectares is needed to comply with this EU Directive, noted Dr. Stefan Marcinowski, research director of BASF AG, addressing a recent technology conference at the group's Ludwigshafen, Germany, headquarters.
Another three million hectares, said Marcinowski, are required for vegetable oils for food use. So far, however, instead of 11 million hectares, currently only 5 million are under cultivation.
By 2030, some 30% of the globally available hectarages would have to be used to satisfy only 10% of the demand for oil with agriculturally produced fuels, Marcinowski continued. "As this land use would be competing with the cultivation of food, new processes for utilising biomass are needed."
Reviewing the prospects for the biofuels industry, Marcinowski said: "Renewable resources will become more economically attractive for selected compounds when improved conversion technologies are developed."
Among the most promising technologies, the biomass-to-liquid (BTL) process can turn a wide range of agricultural materials into biofuels and boost the yield of a rapeseed field for biofuel uses.
Estimates suggest that about 20% of future diesel production will be covered by BTL fuels.
"The biomass-to-liquid process transforms plants and plant residues, wood or other agricultural wastes into high-quality synthetic fuels. The yield is high: for example, this technology can triple the yield of a rapeseed field in the production of synthetic diesel," said BASF's research leader.
Existing first generation biofuels, such as biodiesel or bio-ethanol, represent a useful and necessary first step towards a regenerative fuel economy, said Dr. Stefan Keppeler of DaimlerChrysler AG's Fuels Services Research Body & Powertrain unit. However, their CO2 reduction potential and substitution potential for fossil fuels are limited.
DC is participating in the development of second generation fuels, which allow total crop utilisation.
As well as broadening the raw material base, these fuels offer a considerably higher CO2 reduction potential of up to 90%, Keppeler said at the BASF conference.
These include SunDiesel, a BTL (biomass-to-liquid) fuel, which is produced via the Fischer-Tropsch process. SunDiesel can theoretically be produced from any biomass, and at present it is obtained mainly from wood, said Keppeler.
DC is cooperating with Choren Industries and Volkswagen in developing SunDiesel. In 2005, Shell, acquired shares in Choren and is now developing the manufacturing process for SunDiesel in cooperation with the medium-sized company from Saxony.
SunDiesel is a high-purity product and can be used without problems both neat and as a blending component, said Keppeler. Its combustion produces an extremely low level of emissions, he claims.
Choren and Shell have built a pilot plant for the manufacture of SunDiesel in Freiberg, Germany. The next step is to build the first production scale plant which is currently scheduled for 2009. DC is operating several test vehicles with SunDiesel. "Experience with these vehicles has been consistently positive," said Keppeler.
"BTL fuels are the most promising option for the future because of their high CO2 reduction potential and large quantity potential.
DC is therefore committed to researching and introducing these fuels. DC has announced that it will be producing its diesel vehicles with a first tank filling of SunDiesel as soon as sufficient fuel is available," Keppeler concluded.
The anger in South America highlighted how one country's drive to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels can have unexpected and damaging consequences elsewhere. Such issues, it seems, will persist and exacerbate as governments in developed countries sponsor alternative sources of energy in the face of rising prices for crude oil.
In the US, about 20% of the 2006 corn harvest has already been converted to bioethanol. The country has over 100 major plants for the conversion of corn to ethanol already in operation and another 50 planned to come on stream.
"Clearly there is terrific demand on corn right now as a result of the bioethanol industry," admitted Thomas Dorr, the US under secretary of agriculture and rural development, speaking at the Euromoney Clean Fuels Finance Forum in London on 29 March.
"There is no question that the next couple of years are going to be difficult transition years," said Dorr, who went on to highlight US efforts to develop new crop-growing and biofuel-production technologies.
"It is pretty clear that we will have to migrate to cellulosic ethanol and cellulosic ethanol sustainable processes," said Dorr. The US department of energy, he added, "is aggressively looking" at other types of ethanol products, including spending $600-700 million to develop new fuel technologies.
In Europe, meanwhile, rapeseed cultivation for biodiesel production is being greatly extended. The demand for diesel fuel throughout Europe is estimated at about 170 million tonnes per year and by 2010, this quantity will have to contain a blending component of 5.75% biodiesel, which is produced by transesterification of rapeseed oil with methanol.
Ten million tonnes of rapeseed methylester means a growing area of about eight million hectares is needed to comply with this EU Directive, noted Dr. Stefan Marcinowski, research director of BASF AG, addressing a recent technology conference at the group's Ludwigshafen, Germany, headquarters.
Another three million hectares, said Marcinowski, are required for vegetable oils for food use. So far, however, instead of 11 million hectares, currently only 5 million are under cultivation.
By 2030, some 30% of the globally available hectarages would have to be used to satisfy only 10% of the demand for oil with agriculturally produced fuels, Marcinowski continued. "As this land use would be competing with the cultivation of food, new processes for utilising biomass are needed."
Reviewing the prospects for the biofuels industry, Marcinowski said: "Renewable resources will become more economically attractive for selected compounds when improved conversion technologies are developed."
Among the most promising technologies, the biomass-to-liquid (BTL) process can turn a wide range of agricultural materials into biofuels and boost the yield of a rapeseed field for biofuel uses.
Estimates suggest that about 20% of future diesel production will be covered by BTL fuels.
"The biomass-to-liquid process transforms plants and plant residues, wood or other agricultural wastes into high-quality synthetic fuels. The yield is high: for example, this technology can triple the yield of a rapeseed field in the production of synthetic diesel," said BASF's research leader.
Existing first generation biofuels, such as biodiesel or bio-ethanol, represent a useful and necessary first step towards a regenerative fuel economy, said Dr. Stefan Keppeler of DaimlerChrysler AG's Fuels Services Research Body & Powertrain unit. However, their CO2 reduction potential and substitution potential for fossil fuels are limited.
DC is participating in the development of second generation fuels, which allow total crop utilisation.
As well as broadening the raw material base, these fuels offer a considerably higher CO2 reduction potential of up to 90%, Keppeler said at the BASF conference.
These include SunDiesel, a BTL (biomass-to-liquid) fuel, which is produced via the Fischer-Tropsch process. SunDiesel can theoretically be produced from any biomass, and at present it is obtained mainly from wood, said Keppeler.
DC is cooperating with Choren Industries and Volkswagen in developing SunDiesel. In 2005, Shell, acquired shares in Choren and is now developing the manufacturing process for SunDiesel in cooperation with the medium-sized company from Saxony.
SunDiesel is a high-purity product and can be used without problems both neat and as a blending component, said Keppeler. Its combustion produces an extremely low level of emissions, he claims.
Choren and Shell have built a pilot plant for the manufacture of SunDiesel in Freiberg, Germany. The next step is to build the first production scale plant which is currently scheduled for 2009. DC is operating several test vehicles with SunDiesel. "Experience with these vehicles has been consistently positive," said Keppeler.
"BTL fuels are the most promising option for the future because of their high CO2 reduction potential and large quantity potential.
DC is therefore committed to researching and introducing these fuels. DC has announced that it will be producing its diesel vehicles with a first tank filling of SunDiesel as soon as sufficient fuel is available," Keppeler concluded.
