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Biomass-to-Liquids (BTL)
[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
BioBoost project targets conversion of biomass into intermediate energy carriers for subsequent conversion into fuels, chemicals, power and heat
December 16, 2011
Six research institutions and seven industrial partners from Europe will participate in the new BioBoost project, aimed at converting residual biomass into energy carriers for the production of high-quality and engine-compatible fuels and chemicals as well as for the generation of electricity and heat. The project, coordinated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), will start in early 2012.
The BioBoost project concentrates on dry and wet residual biomass and wastes as feedstock for de-centralized conversion by fast pyrolysis, catalytic pyrolysis and hydrothermal carbonization to the intermediate energy carriers oil, coal or slurry. Based on straw, the energy density increases from 2 to 20-31 GJ/m3, enabling central GW-scale gasification plants for biofuel production. The catalytic pyrolysis reduces oxygenates in the oil to 13% enabling power and refinery applications.
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Scientists recommend fundamental research into separations technology to support large-scale thermochemical production of biofuels
September 18, 2011
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| Technological barriers and research needs. Click to enlarge. |
Separations play a critical role in biofuel production and that fundamental research in the are, including the identification of transformative approaches, is needed to generate separation technologies that will enable larger-scale production, according to a report on a workshop convened earlier this year by the National Science Foundation.
The report, “Developing New Paradigms for Biofuel Separations to Enable an Alternative Fuels Future”, was released recently and is intended to serve as a research roadmap that will help address the current issues associated with the thermochemical conversion of biomass.
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UC Riverside researchers receive two grants to advance steam hydrogasification reaction for waste-to-fuels
September 15, 2011
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| The steam hydrogasification reaction is one component of a three-step process for the production of fuels. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside’s Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CERT) at the Bourns College of Engineering have received two grants to further explore a steam hydrogasification process they developed to convert waste into fuels. (Earlier post.)
A $650,000 grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) extends its commitment to $2 million to CERT for the patented steam hydrogasification reaction (SHR), which can turn any carbonaceous material into transportation fuels or natural gas. The CEC grant will allow for the completion of a process demonstration unit at CERT that will provide data needed before a proposed pilot plant is built at the city of Riverside’s waste water treatment facility.
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USDA adds four more Biomass Crop Assistance Program project areas
July 26, 2011
The US Department of Agriculture has created four additional Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) project areas (earlier post) in six states to expand the availability of non-food crops to be used in the manufacturing of liquid biofuels. The four project areas set aside acres in California, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington for the production of renewable energy crops. According to industry estimates, these projects will provide the feedstocks to produce more than 2 million gallons of biofuels annually when full production levels are achieved.
Two of the new BCAP project areas, targeted for California, Montana, Washington and Oregon, will grow camelina at a significant scale. Camelina, an oilseed, is a rotation crop for wheat that can be established on marginally productive land. Biofuel from camelina is an ideal jet fuel substitute, and the announcement of these projects coincides with the first anniversary of a joint announcement by USDA, the Boeing Corporation and the Air Transportation Association on an initiative to bring sustainable and renewable aviation fuels to the marketplace.
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Virginia Tech professor proposes simple biomass-to-wheel efficiency analysis to inform decisions on biomass/biofuel/powertrain combinations; the advantage of sugar fuel cell vehicles
July 15, 2011
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| Comparison of biomass-to-wheel (BTW) efficiency for different biomass utilization scenarios. Sugar Fuel Cell Vehicles and BEVs charged with electricity from a fuel cell (green bars) were the most efficient. Huang and Zhang. Click to enlarge. |
The potential role of biomass-derived fuels as a substitute for petroleum has engendered a great deal of research into different fuel pathways and possible powertrain combinations. Numerous life cycle analyses (LCAs) have attempted—and continue to—gauge the potential sustainability and impacts of these possible pairings.
However, notes Virginia Tech Prof. Y-H Percival Zhang in an open access paper published in the journal PLoS ONE, such analyses rely heavily on numerous assumptions, uncertain inputs (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides, farm machinery), energy conversion coefficients among different energy forms and sources, system boundaries, and so on. As a result, conflicting conclusions have been made even for well-known corn ethanol biorefineries, he points out. Zhang proposes using a simple biomass-to-wheel (BTW) energy efficiency analysis to help make a more informed decision for how to utilize (limited) biomass resources more efficiently.
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7 airlines sign letters of intent to negotiate purchase of biomass-derived jet fuel from Solena Fuels; up to 16M gallons of fuel per year
June 20, 2011
A core group of airlines has signed letters of intent with Solena Fuels, LLC for a future supply of jet fuel derived exclusively from biomass to be produced in northern California. Solena’s “GreenSky California” biomass-to-liquids (BTL) facility in Northern California (Santa Clara County) will utilize post-recycled urban and agricultural wastes to produce up to 16 million gallons of neat jet fuel (as well as 14 million gallon equivalents of other energy products) per year by 2015 to support airline operations at Oakland (OAK), San Francisco (SFO) and/or San Jose (SJC). (Earlier post.)
The project will divert approximately 550,000 metric tons of waste that otherwise would go to a landfill while producing jet fuel with lower emissions of greenhouse gases and local pollutants than petroleum-based fuels.
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Study finds renewable fuels from hydrotreated vegetable oils outperform transesterified lipids and BTL from woody material in environmental lifecycle impacts and costs
June 03, 2011
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| GHG emission comparison between fossil diesel, transesterified lipids, HVO and woody BTL. GD = HVO; RSO = Rapeseed Oil; SBO = Soybean oil; Biodiesel = Transesterified lipids. Sunde et al. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers in Norway reviewing the lifecycle impacts and costs of three renewable fuels—(1) transesterified lipids, (2) hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO), and (3) woody biomass-to-liquid (BTL) Fischer-Tropsch diesel—and feedstocks found that HVO made from wastes or by-products such as tall oil, tallow or used cooking oil outperform transesterified lipids and BTL from woody material in both areas.
However, because those feedstocks are limited, to produce larger volumes of biofuels other raw materials must also be used, Kathrin Sunde from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and her colleagues noted in their open access paper published in the journal Energies. To expand biofuel production and use, they found that the next preferable feedstock is likely residual woody biomass for BTL.
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Study explores energy balance of Fischer-Tropsch diesel via autothermal reforming of pyrolysis oil from biomass residue; spreadsheet offered as tool
May 16, 2011
Researchers from the Stevens Institute of Technology, BASF Catalyst and Golden BioMass Fuels Corporation report on their investigation of an energy balance, in broad outline, for the production of a high-quality synthetic diesel from residual crop biomass via a Fischer-Tropsch route in a paper published in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels.
They incorporated the material and energy balance for the study into an Excel spreadsheet, which they are making available in the hope of providing greater transparency, as well as ease of scenario manipulation than has generally been found in the literature. The particular process explored in the paper consists of:
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BP and Davy select 3 leading EPC contractors for BP/Davy Fischer-Tropsch commercial deployment
May 08, 2011
BP and Davy Process Technology announced collaborations with three EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractors to promote the commercialization of the BP/Davy Fischer-Tropsch (FT) Process. The BP/Davy fixed-bed FT process produces diesel, jet fuel (JP8) and naphtha from natural gas, biomass- or coal-derived syngas.
CB&I Lummus UK Limited, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc and The Shaw Group signed agreements to work individually with BP/Davy to seek deployment opportunities for the proven BP/Davy Fischer Tropsch (FT) process that transforms syngas into liquid hydrocarbons. The EPC contractors were chosen after conducting a competitive bidding and ranking process.
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Lifecycle analysis finds Fischer-Tropsch diesel from coal and biomass with CCS can use less fossil energy than petroleum diesel, with GHG close to or below zero
March 03, 2011
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| WTW total energy and fossil energy use. Credit: ACS, Xie et al. Click to enlarge. |
A new study by Michael Wang and Jeongwoo Han at Argonne National Laboratory and Xiaomin Xie at Shanghai Jiao Tong University assesses the effects of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and cellulosic biomass and coal co-feeding in Fischer-Tropsch (FT) plants on energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of FT diesel (FTD). Their paper appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.
The team expanded and used Argonne’s GREET (Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation) model to demonstrate the influence of the coproduct credit methods on FTD life-cycle analysis (LCA) results, using three allocation methods based on the energy value; the market revenue of different products; and a hybrid method.
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Optimized catalyst for biomass gasification for production of synthetic fuels
February 09, 2011
| Schematic diagram of the biomass-gasification-reforming system. Credit: ACS, Wang et al. Click to enlarge. |
A team from the Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy and Gas Hydrate, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences reports on a pilot-scale biomass-gasification-reforming system with optimized catalyst to produce synthesis gas for liquid fuel synthesis in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels.
Gasification of biomass in a fluidized-bed gasifier produces a raw fuel gas (a mixture of H2, CO, CO2, CH4, C2+, N2, H2O, etc.), accompanied by the formation of tar and fly ash. To fulfill the stoichiometric requirement of synthesis gas for the production of methanol, dimethyl ether, or Fischer-Tropsch diesel, the raw gas—which usually has a low H2/CO ratio—requires reforming of CH4, tar, and other light hydrocarbons and adjustment of the H2/CO ratio.
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Expert group report finds alternative fuels could replace fossil fuels in Europe by 2050
January 31, 2011
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| Fuel and vehicle propulsion strategy. (Source: ERTRAC) Click to enlarge. |
Alternative fuels have the potential gradually to replace fossil energy sources and make transport sustainable by 2050, according to a report presented to the European Commission last week by the stakeholder expert group on future transport fuels. The EU will need an oil-free and largely CO2-free energy supply for transport by 2050 due to the need to reduce its impact on the environment and concerns about the security of energy supply.
Expected demand from all transport modes could be met through a combination of electricity (batteries or hydrogen/fuel cells) and biofuels as main options, synthetic fuels (increasingly from renewable resources) as a bridging option, methane (natural gas and biomethane) as complementary fuel, and LPG as supplement, the report finds.
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RAND study concludes use of alternative fuels by US military would convey no direct military benefit; recommends energy efficiency instead
January 25, 2011
If the US military increases its use of alternative jet and naval fuels that can be produced from coal or various renewable resources, including seed oils, waste oils and algae, there will be no direct benefit to the nation’s armed forces, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Any benefits from investment in alternative fuels by the US Department of Defense will accrue to the nation as a whole rather than to mission-specific needs of the military, the researchers concluded.
The US Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force have all expressed a clear interest in being early users of alternative fuels in their tactical weapon systems, the RAND authors note in their report, “Alternative Fuels for Military Applications”. However, RAND researchers James Bartis and Lawrence Van Bibbe concluded it makes more sense for the military to direct its efforts toward using energy more efficiently. Providing war fighters with more energy-efficient equipment such as aircraft or combat vehicles improves operational effectiveness, saves money and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, they said.
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Oxford Catalysts receives first order for full-scale commercial microchannel reactor for biomass-to-liquids project
December 20, 2010
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| Microchannel reactors enhance heat transfer and mass transfer and enable intrinsic rates. Source: Oxford Catalysts Group. Click to enlarge. |
The Oxford Catalysts Group has received its first order for a full-scale commercial FT microchannel reactor from its partner SGC Energia (SGCE). The FT microchannel reactor, comprising tens of thousands of full-length microchannels, will be used in a 25 barrels/day pilot plant at Güssing to produce liquid fuel from biomass. (Earlier post.)
The pilot plant, designed for the small scale distributed production of biofuels via the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction, will be operated jointly by SGCE and Velocys, Inc., the US-based member of the Oxford Catalysts Group.
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Fuel provisions in the Tax Relief bill
December 18, 2010
US President Barack Obama on Friday signed H.R. 4853, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (“Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010”). The bill, among its other provisions, contains a number of provisions related to energy (Title VII, Subtitle A) and within that, provisions related to fuels.
Ethanol. The bill extends the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) through 2011 at the current rate of $0.45/gallon US. The bill also extends through 2011 the existing $0.54/gallon, secondary tariff on imported ethanol and the related tariff ($0.227/gallon) tariff on ethyl tertiary-butyl ether (ETBE).
