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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Growing Biofuels

New production methods could transform the niche technology.

By Peter Fairley
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Biofuels produced from plant and animal feedstocks are growing by 10 percent per year. Nevertheless, if biofuels are ever to supply more than a small percentage of transportation fuels, the technology will need new, more efficient production methods. The most recent sign of such investment in new methods of production is Royal Dutch Shell's partnership with German biodiesel innovator Choren Industries.

Choren's technology addresses a key limitation with today's biofuels: most start as feedstocks such as corn syrup or vegetable oil, which are already in demand as foods. So competition for these feedstocks props up the price of conventional biofuels and, ultimately, even limits their production volumes. A study commissioned recently by the Canadian government, for example, concluded that diverting half of that country's hefty exports of canola to domestic biodiesel production would yield only enough biodiesel to meet 2.7 percent of current diesel demand in Canada.

Choren and other biofuel innovators such as Canadian ethanol developer Iogen (also partnered with Shell) work instead with biomass -- organic leftovers such as sawdust -- which are as abundant as they are cheap. The same Canadian study, for instance, revealed that the biodiesel produced from just 10 percent of the country's agricultural wastes would satisfy 16.7 percent of its appetite for diesel.

Choren breaks down biomass into a gaseous mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, then uses catalysts to reassemble this synthesis gas, or "syngas," into diesel fuel. Historically, Nazi Germany developed this so-called Fischer-Tropsch process to produce synthetic fuels from coal. Shell uses it to produce diesel from natural gas.

Compared with coal and natural gas, however, biomass makes a troublesome feedstock. That's because it contains lots of large, complex molecules, and the same equipment that easily breaks down the mineralized carbon in coal chokes on the tar-like hydrocarbons in biomass.

According to Matthias Rudloff, head of business development for Choren, the result is an impure synthesis gas that is unsuitable for processing. The tar "sticks everywhere, on every heat exchanger. Tubes become clogged in just a few hours," says Rudloff.

But Choren founder Bodo Wolf turned the tar into an advantage. Wolf comes from former East Germany's combustion research institute, where he helped develop equipment to turn coal into chemicals, motor fuels, and electricity. He found that the type of high-temperature processes favored in East Germany were suited to tackling biomass. His key innovation, though, was to add a processing step at the front end.

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Comments

  • Algea
    Guest (Steve Guenther) on 11/23/2005 at 9:47 AM
    Posts:
    1
    A Penn professor was working on an algea that would
    yield a high percentage of oil.
    Here in Tampa we have phosphate runnoff that is
    producing an over growth of all sorts of algea.
    It would be great if our problem could provide
    some opportunities for this technology.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Headlines Id like to see
      Guest (Jim) on 11/23/2005 at 2:05 PM
      Posts:
      1
      Heres some headlines that would convince me that progress is being made:
      Landfills to vehicle fuel: taming the garbage.
      GM restructures yet again, cancels all giant SUVs.
      Jack Daniels cheaper at the pump than gas.
      Dick Cheneys ranch in Montana strip-mined for coal-to-gasoline pilot plant.
      Gusher on Bushs ranch.
      All are equally possible - if you get the idea.
      Rate this comment: 12345
    • Headlines Id like to see
      Guest (Jim) on 11/23/2005 at 2:05 PM
      Posts:
      1
      Heres some headlines that would convince me that progress is being made:
      Landfills to vehicle fuel: taming the garbage.
      GM restructures yet again, cancels all giant SUVs.
      Jack Daniels cheaper at the pump than gas.
      Dick Cheneys ranch in Montana strip-mined for coal-to-gasoline pilot plant.
      Gusher on Bushs ranch.
      All are equally possible - if you get the idea.
      Rate this comment: 12345
    • Algae
      Guest (Jonathan Shine) on 12/01/2005 at 6:42 AM
      Posts:
      1
      Please can you tell me more about your Algae,

      Jonathan Shine
      jonathan.shine@drivelectric.com
      011 44 796 111 6732
      Rate this comment: 12345
      • Re: Algae
        Guest (Bobby Emory) on 01/23/2006 at 12:00 AM
        Posts:
        1
        There are several c andidate algae that produce about 50% lipids.  The rest of the algae may be usable for alcohol production.

        My favorite algae is CCMP647
        Rate this comment: 12345
    • Algae
      Guest (Jonathan Shine) on 12/01/2005 at 6:42 AM
      Posts:
      1
      Please can you tell me more about your Algae,

      Jonathan Shine
      jonathan.shine@drivelectric.com
      011 44 796 111 6732
      Rate this comment: 12345
  • Algea
    Guest (Steve Guenther) on 11/23/2005 at 9:47 AM
    Posts:
    1
    A Penn professor was working on an algea that would
    yield a high percentage of oil.
    Here in Tampa we have phosphate runnoff that is
    producing an over growth of all sorts of algea.
    It would be great if our problem could provide
    some opportunities for this technology.
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • biodiesel: a noble trend
    Guest (Em) on 11/23/2005 at 9:47 AM
    Posts:
    1
    &quotCanadian study, for example, found that the biodiesel produced from just 10 percent of Canadas agricultural wastes would satisfy 16.7 percent of its appetite for diesel&quot
    Hopefully the Canadian gov. will smarten up and do something useful with the bio waste. If the numbers in your article are accurate, Canada could be using 100% biodiesel and export 67% more to others.
    I ride the bicycle to work year-round and resent the Edmonton city busses that smoke my lungs every day, both ways.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Diesel from Domestic & Commercial Bio-waste
      Guest (Harold Wicks) on 11/23/2005 at 2:10 PM
      Posts:
      1
      High temperature calorifiers similar to those used by Chloren &amp others for sythesizing diesel from bio-mass are likely to be able to use the millions of tons household and commercial non-hazardous (non-radioactive) waste and sludge from sewage treatment works for producing the syngas used for diesel synthesis. 
      Setting up such facilities, ensuring zero emissions to the atmosphere, should turn waste disposal into a lucrative activity rather than the costly problem that it is now.
      Rate this comment: 12345
    • Diesel from Domestic & Commercial Bio-waste
      Guest (Harold Wicks) on 11/23/2005 at 2:10 PM
      Posts:
      1
      High temperature calorifiers similar to those used by Chloren &amp others for sythesizing diesel from bio-mass are likely to be able to use the millions of tons household and commercial non-hazardous (non-radioactive) waste and sludge from sewage treatment works for producing the syngas used for diesel synthesis. 
      Setting up such facilities, ensuring zero emissions to the atmosphere, should turn waste disposal into a lucrative activity rather than the costly problem that it is now.
      Rate this comment: 12345
    • Diesel from Domestic & Commercial Bio-waste
      Guest (Harold Wicks) on 11/23/2005 at 2:14 PM
      Posts:
      1
      High temperature calorifiers similar to those used by Chloren &amp others for sythesizing diesel from bio-mass are likely to be able to use the millions of tons household and commercial non-hazardous (non-radioactive) waste and sludge from sewage treatment works for producing the syngas used for diesel synthesis. 
      Setting up such facilities, ensuring zero emissions to the atmosphere, should turn waste disposal into a lucrative activity rather than the costly problem that it is now.
      Rate this comment: 12345
  • biodiesel: a noble trend
    Guest (Em) on 11/23/2005 at 9:47 AM
    Posts:
    1
    &quotCanadian study, for example, found that the biodiesel produced from just 10 percent of Canadas agricultural wastes would satisfy 16.7 percent of its appetite for diesel&quot
    Hopefully the Canadian gov. will smarten up and do something useful with the bio waste. If the numbers in your article are accurate, Canada could be using 100% biodiesel and export 67% more to others.
    I ride the bicycle to work year-round and resent the Edmonton city busses that smoke my lungs every day, both ways.
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Diesel from Domestic & Commercial Waste
    Guest (Harold Wicks) on 11/23/2005 at 2:27 PM
    Posts:
    1
    High temperature calorifiers similar to those used by Chloren &amp others for sythesizing diesel from bio-mass are likely to be able to use the millions of tons household and commercial non-hazardous (non-radioactive) waste and sludge from sewage treatment works for producing the syngas used for diesel synthesis. 
    Setting up such facilities, ensuring zero emissions in to the atmosphere, should turn waste disposal into a lucrative activity rather than the costly problem that it is now.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • The CON-AGRA 4 stage repolymerizer
      Guest (Erik Karl Sorgatz) on 11/23/2005 at 4:37 PM
      Posts:
      1
      The simple fact is that at a cost of about $7US/bbl virtually all human effluents along with coal, cellulose, rubber and plastic waste products can be converted into C18 using the Con-Agra process. C18 can be catalytically cracked and reformed into whatever organic oil or methyl ester youd like. You could even use the C18 as feedstock for gasoline production! Why there is no effort to do this on a huge scale defies all logic. Instead, we spend money on waste treatment plants that were designed and built in the 1940s-1960s..and they are constantly in need of repairs. Meanwhile the piles of used tires grows ever larger. Its my understanding that the DoE has blocked Con-Agra from licensing the technology for this purpose, gee I wonder why? )
      have a look: http://www.changingworldtech.com/
      Rate this comment: 12345
      • RE: Diesel from Domestic & Commercial Waste
        Guest (Harold Wicks) on 11/23/2005 at 8:52 PM
        Posts:
        1
        In my previous post I should have referred to pyrolysers and not calorifiers.  My apologies.

        CWT (changingworldtech) and the associated company RES (Renewable Environmental Solutions) appear to be doing something similar but do not seem to be focusing on producing diesel as the german companies seem to be doing.  Most people Most people (including politicians, investors and government officials)can relate to diesel better than they can to oil and other chemical product streams.
        Rate this comment: 12345
      • RE: Diesel from Domestic & Commercial Waste
        Guest (Harold Wicks) on 11/23/2005 at 8:52 PM
        Posts:
        1
        In my previous post I should have referred to pyrolysers and not calorifiers.  My apologies.

        CWT (changingworldtech) and the associated company RES (Renewable Environmental Solutions) appear to be doing something similar but do not seem to be focusing on producing diesel as the german companies seem to be doing.  Most people Most people (including politicians, investors and government officials)can relate to diesel better than they can to oil and other chemical product streams.
        Rate this comment: 12345
    • The CON-AGRA 4 stage repolymerizer
      Guest (Erik Karl Sorgatz) on 11/23/2005 at 4:37 PM
      Posts:
      1
      The simple fact is that at a cost of about $7US/bbl virtually all human effluents along with coal, cellulose, rubber and plastic waste products can be converted into C18 using the Con-Agra process. C18 can be catalytically cracked and reformed into whatever organic oil or methyl ester youd like. You could even use the C18 as feedstock for gasoline production! Why there is no effort to do this on a huge scale defies all logic. Instead, we spend money on waste treatment plants that were designed and built in the 1940s-1960s..and they are constantly in need of repairs. Meanwhile the piles of used tires grows ever larger. Its my understanding that the DoE has blocked Con-Agra from licensing the technology for this purpose, gee I wonder why? )
      have a look: http://www.changingworldtech.com/
      Rate this comment: 12345
  • Diesel from Domestic & Commercial Waste
    Guest (Harold Wicks) on 11/23/2005 at 2:27 PM
    Posts:
    1
    High temperature calorifiers similar to those used by Chloren &amp others for sythesizing diesel from bio-mass are likely to be able to use the millions of tons household and commercial non-hazardous (non-radioactive) waste and sludge from sewage treatment works for producing the syngas used for diesel synthesis. 
    Setting up such facilities, ensuring zero emissions in to the atmosphere, should turn waste disposal into a lucrative activity rather than the costly problem that it is now.
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Biofuels
    Guest (Kris) on 02/06/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts:
    1
    Biofuels are important. Although I'm not a Scientist, it seems to me that Biofuels should be able to be produced for less than $3.10 per Gallon.
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Biodiesel from Algae
    Guest (Ecacofonix) on 06/14/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts:
    1
    Biodiesel from algae appear to be one of the more promising developments in the recent months...while of course a lot more ground needs to be covered to prove its viability for large-scale production, it sounds like an exciting area..because after all the oil we use today originally came from algae and planktons!!

    Some more inputs on biodiesel from algae @ Oilgae.com - http://www.oilgae.com

    Ec @ http://www.eit.in
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: Biodiesel from Algae
      Dan King on 02/26/2008 at 9:02 AM
      Posts:
      1
      Sir I am working for a start up company that is currently looking into algae as a source of Biodiesel. I am looking for published studies. Have you published any such study?
      Rate this comment: 12345
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