All GCC:
Increased demand for renewable natural gas from refuse sector
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/02/20190221-rng.htmlClean Energy Fuels Corp. announced an increased demand for renewable natural gas (RNG) from the refuse sector, particularly in California, where refuse trucks can be fueled by the very solid waste they haul.
The City of Fresno signed a two-year agreement with Clean Energy for renewable liquified natural gas (RLNG) to power approximately 140 refuse trucks with its Redeem brand RNG for an anticipated annual total of 1.6 million LNG gallons, the equivalent of just over one million GGEs.
Redeem is the first commercially available RNG vehicle fuel. It is derived from capturing biogenic methane that is naturally sourced by the decomposition of dairy and landfill waste. Redeem enables at least 70 percent reduction in carbon emissions when displacing diesel or gasoline, according to California Air Resources Board (CARB) estimates.
The City of Long Beach has entered into a new two-year contract to fuel 77 vehicles with an expected 225,000 GGEs of Redeem, including its 35 LNG refuse trucks.
NASA Services in Montebello has opted to power its growing CNG refuse fleet of 50 vehicles with an approximate 400,000 GGEs of Redeem, while neighboring Arrow Services in La Puente will fuel 30 trucks with an anticipated 250,000 GGEs.
Burrtec in Riverside County has inked a deal to fuel its transfer truck fleet with an anticipated 350,000 GGEs of Redeem from a public access station that Clean Energy operates in Riverside.
Outside of California, the City of Spokane, Wash. has renewed a second option for operations and maintenance, along with an expected 250,000 GGEs of Redeem annually to power 40 waste trucks.
Eni and RenOils to boost collection of used cooking oil for biofuel production
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/02/20190221-eni.htmlEni currently makes use of approximately 50% of the used cooking oil available in Italy and, in part thanks to RenOils-member regeneration companies, will extend its capacity to produce high-quality biofuel from this waste in the company’s bio-refinery in Venice, at Porto Marghera, and soon also in Gela.
The goal is to increase collection and proper disposal, since used oils from households are currently wasted almost entirely. Around 75,000 tonnes of waste food oil were collected in 2018, almost exclusively from the food service and industrial sectors, which represent just 25% of oil produced in Italy, which in turn totals around 280,000 tonnes per year.
The majority comes from homes, and goes down the drain for the most part, since most people don’t know that using the sewage network to dispose of cooking oil can have serious consequences for the environment.
As well as clogging domestic drains and the network as a whole, increasing maintenance costs, disposal through the sewage network impairs the correct operation of the purification systems and increases those costs too.
One liter of oil generates up to four kilograms of sewage sludge which then needs to be treated as waste, can arrive at aquifers and make the water undrinkable and pollute surface water, harming the ecosystem, flora and fauna. If it ends up in water, it forms a film that prevents the passage of sunlight, causing huge damage to the environment. . . .
QUT, Mercurius Australia partner on pilot plant to convert sugarcane waste to jet and diesel fuel; REACH
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/02/20190221-qut.htmlIn Australia, QUT researchers and Mercurius Australia are partnering on a pilot plant to prove the economic viability of turning sugarcane waste into either jet and diesel fuel or chemicals that could be used to make plastic soft drink and beer bottles. . . .
REACH (Renewable Acid-hydrolysis Condensation Hydrotreating) technology:
Efficiently converts biomass into biofuels and green chemicals without producing CO2 byproduct like fermentation and gasification processes.
Uses two widely deployed and well understood industrial processing techniques— one from the pulp and paper industry and the other from petroleum refining.
Creates an intermediate bio-crude product through the use of catalytic hydrolysis (similar to the pulp and paper industry).
Produces diesel and jet fuel hydrocarbons through a solid-bed-catalytic process analogous to the way the petroleum industry converts crude oil into the various petroleum products on the market today.
Does not use enzymes or microbes therefore it is not sensitive to feedstock impurities. . . .
Support and funding for this project was provided by the Queensland Government’s A$150-million Jobs and Regional Growth Fund, which helps to facilitate private sector projects that create employment and economic growth opportunities in regional areas. . . .
While the initial focus of the pilot plant is investigating the conversion of biomass into fuel, the technology has the potential to create chemicals that could be used to make polyethylene furanoate (PEF), a completely bio-based polyester used to make bottles, films and fibers as an alternative to Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic produced from fossil fuels. . . .
