Biofuels thread

[GRA]

We don't seem to have a dedicated thread for this yet, so I'm making one. If there is one, mods please move this. This thread is to discuss all types of biofuels, but primarily sustainable ones, i.e. those that don't involve taking land out of food production, or which have low EROEIs and which require large fossil-fuel input upstream. It's primarily for announcements of commercial products/usage, but there may be occasional updates of recent lab results.

[GRA]

Via GCC:

Government of Alberta awarding $10M to SBI Bioenergy for production

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/03 ... 0-sbi.html

Using revenue from the price Alberta’s large emitters pay for releasing greenhouse gases, the Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) has earmarked a $10-million contribution for Alberta-based SBI BioEnergy to support a $20-million facility for the demonstration-scale production of drop-in, renewable diesel, jet and gasoline fuels from plant oils and waste fats.

With this investment, SBI will be able to produce 10 million liters (2.6 million gallons US) of renewable diesel fuel annually. . . .

[GetOffYourGas]

Thanks for starting this thread. As much as I love BEVs, I don't see how we could transition 100% of our transportation needs to them in the near future. Some sort of liquid (or gaseous, in the case of compressed hydrogen) fuel will be needed. I've always thought that if we can figure out how to get bio fuels without clearing more forests for farm land, that they would make an ideal fuel for a range extender or heavy transport.

[RegGuheert]

Thanks for starting a thread on biofuels, GRA.

I've written previously about the insanity of leveling forests in America to fuel electricity stations in Europe. Here are several articles with strong arguments against buring wood for electricity generation:

Stop the biomass blackout: Say no to the UK's destructive biofuel policies:

At the heart of the issue is land; a word now unfortunately synonymous with -rights and -grab. Land grabs are associated with human rights abuses. In August 2011 the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) warned, 'If left unchecked, the growing pressure on land access could undermine livelihoods and food security in some of the world's poorest countries...Biomass plantations may also compete for the best lands with food crops (and with biofuel feedstocks), adversely affecting local food security and further marginalizing smallholder farming'.

Large-scale bioenergy must be excluded from the EU's renewable energy definition:

We, the signatories of this declaration, are calling on the European Union (EU) to exclude bioenergy from its next Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and thereby stop direct and indirect subsidies for renewable energy from biofuels and wood-burning.

Wood-pellet fuel emits more carbon than coal’: U.S. watchdog to probe shock claims on power giant Drax’s ‘green’ supplier:

Britain’s biggest power station has been plunged into crisis by a bombshell complaint to America’s financial regulator over its biggest supplier of ‘green’ fuel.

The complaint alleges that the supplier to the Drax plant in North Yorkshire, US group Enviva, used a loophole in EU and UK law to falsely claim to American investors that its wood-pellet fuel emits far less carbon dioxide than coal.

It also attacks Enviva’s claims that its operations are ‘certified’ for ‘sustainability’. In fact, the UK body responsible for such certification – chaired by Dorothy Thompson, who is also chief executive of Drax – is still auditing Enviva.

[GRA]

Via GCC:

NREL updates Survey of Advanced Biofuel Producers in the United States

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/03/my-entry.html

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) updated its annual survey of US non-starch ethanol and renewable hydrocarbon biofuels producers. The 2015 Survey of Non-Starch Ethanol and Renewable Hydrocarbon Biofuels Producers provides an inventory of the domestic advanced biofuels production industry as of the end of calendar year 2015, documenting important changes (e.g., biorefinery development, production capacity, feedstock use, and technology pathways) that have occurred since the publication of the original 2013 survey. . . .

Direct link to the survey here: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy16osti/65519.pdf

[GRA]

Via GCC:

Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia partner to investigate options for locally produced aviation biofuel

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/03 ... asman.html

. . . Both airlines are committed to ensuring that aviation biofuel delivers environmental, social and economic benefits, and respondents to the RFI are encouraged to address these principles. Interested parties have until 30 May 2016 to express their interest.

[GRA]

Via GCC:

Aemetis acquires license from LanzaTech with California exclusive rights for advanced ethanol from biomass including forest and ag wastes

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/03 ... metis.html

Aemetis, Inc. has acquired exclusive rights to LanzaTech’s patented technology for the conversion of agricultural waste, forest waste, dairy waste and construction and demolition waste (CDW) to ethanol in California. . . .

The first phase . . . will be an eight million gallon per year processing unit related to the Keyes plant, which . . . is planned to be built by the end of 2017.

The agreement provides for an expansion to 32 million gallon per year process unit, as well as licenses for units that would be installed at other existing ethanol plants. The current price of advanced ethanol in California including federal, state and tax credit incentives is approximately $4.60 per gallon, compared to corn ethanol at about $1.60 per gallon. . . .

[GRA]

Via GCC:

USDA to award $11M loan guarantee to Oregon biorefinery

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/03/20160328-.html

. . . The Novus plant will process agricultural waste into fuel, natural gas, organic fertilizer and other bio-based products.

Novus will use waste from onion and potato processing plants, dairy manure, seasonal plant by-products and other waste supplied by local growers and processors as the primary feedstock. . . .

[GRA]

Via GCC:

US$12M advanced biofuel pilot plant for Queensland, Australia

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/03 ... qland.html

The Queensland, Australia government announced that a[n] . . . advanced biofuels pilot plant will be built at Southern Oil Refining’s Yarwun plant at Gladstone. If successful, the pilot plant will be expanded to a large commercial-scale refinery costing $150 million and producing 200 million liters (53 million gallons US) of advanced biofuel annually, suitable for military, marine and aviation use. . . .

The pilot plant is expected to be operational by later this year and within the next three years aims to have produced one million liters (264,000 gallons US) of fuel for use in field trials by the US Navy as part of its Great Green Fleet initiative, and also by the Australian Navy. . . .

The plant will use biomass material such as sugarcane bagasse and possibly prickly acacia as feedstock for the production of bio crude oil, which will then be distilled into salable kerosene and diesel products.

Also GCC:

ASTM ballot greenlights approval of ATJ-SPK biojet from alcohol; Gevo 1st commercial test flight with Alaska Airlines

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/03 ... tjspk.html


EIA paper published Oct. 2015:

The Flight Paths for Biojet Fuel

http://www.eia.gov/workingpapers/pdf/fl ... tffuel.pdf

Jet fuel is a 22-billion-gallon per year market in the United States and about 80 billion gallons per year
worldwide.1
Biofuels have made inroads into gasoline and diesel fuel supplies, but are only beginning to
enter the jet fuel market. “Biojet” is a term that describes fuel made from renewable, biologically derived
raw materials and, once blended with petroleum jet fuel, is suitable for use in an unmodified jet
engine. “Alternative jet fuel” is a more general term that describes jet fuel blending components made
from biogenic and fossil (e.g. coal, natural gas, industrial waste gases, or the non-biogenic portion of
municipal solid waste) feedstocks. There are several reasons for interest in biojet. Airlines and the U.S.
Department of Defense are looking to biojet to diversify fuel supplies and lower fuel costs in the long
run. As with other transportation modes, greenhouse gases are a concern for aviation. The
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations body that sets standards and
recommended practices for international aviation, has set a goal for international aviation to achieve
carbon-neutral growth from 2020.2 . . . .

15 pages plus appendices, goes into detail about the current state of the art producing biojet (including the method used by GEVO above), usage, growth pathways, issues etc.

[GRA]

Via GCC:

KLM launches new series of biofuel flights from Oslo to Amsterdam

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/04 ... 1-klm.html

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has launched a series of around 80 biofuel flights from Oslo to Amsterdam operated with an Embraer 190. The remaining flights will be operated over the forthcoming period of five to six weeks. Embraer will be conducting measurements during these flights to gauge the efficiency of biofuel in comparison with kerosene. . . .

The biofuel for this series of flights is produced from 100% RSB (Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials) certified camelina oil and in full compliance with the EU RED standard. . . .