Biofuels and Synfuels Topic

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RegGuheert said:
EU Scraps Biofuel Targets:
EU laws requiring member states to use “at least 10%” renewable energy in transport will be scrapped after 2020, the European Commission confirmed, hoping to set aside a protracted controversy surrounding the environmental damage caused by biofuels.
Glad to see a pushback against food/feed-crop biofuels. On a more sustainable note, via GCC:
DOE to award up to $90M for integrated biorefinery projects
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/05/20160507-doeibr.html

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will award up to $90 million in project funding focused on designing, constructing and operating integrated biorefinery facilities. (DE-FOA-0001232) . . . .

The FOA will include three topic areas:

  • Pilot scale production of biofuels from high impact cellulosic, algal, or biogas feedstocks. Minimum feedstock throughput must be 1 dry metric ton (DMT) per day or equivalent throughput of algal biomass or biogas. Bioproducts and biopower are only allowed as co-products from the facility.

    Demonstration scale production of Biofuels from high impact cellulosic, algal, or biogas feedstocks. Minimum feedstock throughput must be 50 DMT per day or equivalent of algal biomass or biogas. Bioproducts and biopower are only allowed as co-products from the facility.

    Production of either biopower or biofuels from biosolids and other allowable Wet Waste Feedstock streams. Bioproducts are also allowed as co-products from the facility. Minimum feedstock throughput must be 1 DMT per day.

No plant based material that is generally intended for use as food or animal feed may be employed as a feedstock. The determining factor will be the typical use of the material in commerce. . . .
 
Via GCC:
Consortium for Algal Biofuel Commercialization releases final report on 6-year project
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/05/20160511-cabcomm.html

. . . CAB-Comm was established in 2010 through a competitive award from the Energy Department’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) to conduct research to enable commercial viability of algae-based biofuels. (Earlier post.) CAB-Comm focused on three key aspects of algal biofuels production: development of genetic tools, crop protection, and nutrient utilization and recycling.

One of the most significant of CAB-Comm’s achievements was developing a full suite of genetic tools for cyanobacteria, green algae, and diatoms. CAB-Comm has since made these tools publicly available through the Life Technologies catalog, where more than 150 algae products are now listed and available for world-wide distribution. . . .

In addition to accomplishments in basic research, CAB-Comm engaged the commercial sector to develop and demonstrate the production of high-value, sustainable fossil fuel replacement products. . . .
A quick skim indicates heavy on basic research, basically nothing at the commercialization stage (but have fun with the surfboard made of algae-based polyurethane :lol: ).
 
Via GCC:
Air Canada and Biojet Supply Chain Initiative choose Montréal-Trudeau Airport for aviation biofuel project
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/05/20160512-aircanada.html

Air Canada announced that Canada’s Biojet Supply Chain Initiative (CBSCI) will be held at Montréal-Trudeau Airport. It is a three-year collaborative project with 14 stakeholder organizations to introduce 400,000 liters of sustainable aviation biofuel (biojet) into a shared fuel system.

Previous Air Canada biofuel flights used biojet that was segregated from regular jet fuel and loaded separately into an aircraft via tanker truck. By contrast, CBSCI’s objective is to start developing a more efficient operational framework that will introduce biojet into a multi-user, co-mingled airport fuel supply system. . . .
 
Via GCC:
IH2 technology licensed to India-based SunLight Fuels; liquid hydrocarbon fuels from bagasse
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/05/20160524-ih2.html

Sunlight Fuels Private Limited (Sunlight Fuels), headquartered in New Delhi, India, has entered into a second-stage Front End Loading (FEL-2) license agreement for IH2 (Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hydroconversion) technology with a Singapore-based affiliate of CRI Catalyst Company LP (CRI), a global catalyst technology company of the Shell Group. IH2 technology is a continuous catalytic thermo-chemical process which produces fungible hydrocarbon transportation fuels from agricultural, forest and sorted municipal residues. (Earlier post.)

The Sunlight Fuels agreement is the first IH2 FEL-2 license granted in India for a commercial-scale plant. The plant will be designed with the potential to convert 500 tonnes/day of dry bagasse into approximately 150 tonnes/day of liquid hydrocarbon transportation fuel. Bagasse is the fibrous residue remaining after the extraction of juice from the crushed stalks of sugarcane. Because only the inedible residue is used in the IH2 process, there is no direct competition between food and fuel. The plant is being engineered to sit adjacent to an operating sugar mill, with only the residual bagasse entering the new IH2 process facility. . . .
 
Via GCC:
Renewable diesel: 90 percent lower carbon emissions than regular diesel, Neste claims
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1103998_renewable-diesel-90-percent-lower-carbon-emissions-than-regular-diesel-neste-claims

The lifecycle carbon emissions of renewable diesel fuel are significantly lower than those of conventional diesel, says a new study from a company that sells the renewable version.
Consider the source applies.

Neste's diesel fuel can be used in both cars and heavy-duty trucks. Today, it sells the renewable diesel in parts of Northern California. The company recently analyzed the overall carbon footprint of its fuels and others.
It looked at the "well-to-wheels" carbon emissions, including those related to its manufacturing process.

Neste found that the overall carbon-dioxide emissions for its renewable diesel averaged 10 grams per kilometer, compared to 100g per km for conventional diesel. . . .
 
Via GCC:
USDA awarding $8.8M to 108 companies to support the production of advanced biofuel
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/05/20160528-usda.html

. . . Payments are made to biofuels producers based on the amount of advanced biofuels produced from renewable biomass, other than corn kernel starch. Examples of eligible feedstocks include crop residue, food and yard waste, vegetable oil, and animal fat. . . .
 
Via GCC:
Harvard “bionic leaf 2.0” exceeds efficiency of photosynthesis in nature; hydrogen and liquid fuels
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/06/20160603-harvard.html

Via GCC:
RIT and Synergy Biogas partner on algae for wastewater cleanup and biofuel production
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/06/20160603-rit.html
 
Via GCC:
Global companies form below50 to scale up low-carbon sustainable fuels; Audi in from automotive sector
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/06/20160606-below50.html

Global companies are partnering with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Roundtable for Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) in a new global initiative called below50, to promote the best-of-breed of sustainable fuels that can achieve significant carbon reductions, and to scale-up their development and use.

A key outcome of the Low Carbon Technology Partnerships initiative (LCTPi), below50 is intended to grow a global corporate market for sustainable low-carbon transport fuels (LCTFs). Any company which produces, uses and/or invests in fuels that are at least 50% less carbon intensive than conventional fossil fuels can join below50.

Companies must publicly commit to the campaign, show evidence that supports their claim, and disclose their progress towards achieving this goal. . . .
 
Follow-on from earlier post, via GCC:
EPIC Fuels supports Alaska Airlines and Gevo commercial aviation flights with alcohol-to-jet fuel
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/06/20160608-epic.html

EPIC Fuels, a fuel supplier to the general and commercial aviation industries, provided expertise in fuel blending as well as technical and logistical support to Alaska and Gevo, Inc., a next generation biofuels company, to enable the first commercial flights using a blend of petroleum based fuel and Gevo’s alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ). . . .

After blending traditional jet fuel with Gevo’s patented ATJ, the 20% fuel mix was tested at an ASTM-approved laboratory. EPIC also worked with Swissport Refueling at Sea-Tac to ensure all requirements were met for both ASTM testing and on airport operations for this fuel.

The results met the required specifications for ASTM 1655 jet fuel and were cleared for use on two Boeing 737s in Alaska’s fleet. The two flights were Alaska Airlines flight 2 from Seattle (SEA) to Washington DC (IAD) and flight 388 from Seattle to San Francisco (SFO), both on 7 June . . . .
 
Via GCC:
New report suggests bioenergy crops are not a risk to food production
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/06/20160615-bioenergy.html

In a new report, researchers have challenged the belief that growing crops for bioenergy will cut food production, a concern they say is stalling new schemes. The report also identifies five ways that countries as diverse as the United States and Brazil can achieve their targets to increase energy security, foster rural economic development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Experts contributed from ten institutions across Africa, Europe and America, including the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the World Bank and Imperial College London in the UK. . . .
I'll have to find time to read the report, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcbb.12366/full

as the knowledge I've acquired to date indicates the opposite.
 
All Via GCC:
Boeing, South African Airways and Mango celebrate Africa’s 1st commercial flights with sustainable aviation biofuel from tobacco
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/07/20160715-boeing.html

DOE awarding $15M to 3 algae-based biofuel and bioproducts projects
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/07/20160714-doe.html

Governments of Canada & Québec award $76.5M to AE Côte-Nord Canada Bioenergy for renewable fuel oil from forest residues w/ Ensyn RTP
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/07/20160714-ensyn.html
 
GRA said:
Via GCC:
New report suggests bioenergy crops are not a risk to food production
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/06/20160615-bioenergy.html

In a new report, researchers have challenged the belief that growing crops for bioenergy will cut food production, a concern they say is stalling new schemes. The report also identifies five ways that countries as diverse as the United States and Brazil can achieve their targets to increase energy security, foster rural economic development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Experts contributed from ten institutions across Africa, Europe and America, including the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the World Bank and Imperial College London in the UK. . . .
I'll have to find time to read the report, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcbb.12366/full

as the knowledge I've acquired to date indicates the opposite.

Nice Report. I appreciate this statement I pulled from the Abstract,

"Simplistic global analyses, headlines, and cartoons that blame biofuels for food insecurity may reflect good intentions but mislead the public and policymakers because they obscure the main drivers of local food insecurity and ignore opportunities for bioenergy to contribute to solutions. "
 
GRA said:
All Via GCC:
Boeing, South African Airways and Mango celebrate Africa’s 1st commercial flights with sustainable aviation biofuel from tobacco
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/07/20160715-boeing.html

Interesting, tobacco without nicotine but excess production of seed. Nice diagram explaining use of the Solaris Tobacco for various products/uses.

Not sure how to post the image. Here is the link:

http://bioage.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c4fbe53ef01b7c87bd666970b-800wi
 
Via GCC:
Lux: biojet fuel to account for 56% of targeted 2050 CO2 emissions reductions in aviation
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/07/20160719-lux.html

Biojet fuels will be key to achieving the aviation industry’s pledge to cut CO2 emissions to 0.2 billion tons (GT) in 2050—half the 2005 figure—as opposed to the staggering 2.1 GT projected by current growth rates, according to a new report from Lux Research, “Biojet Fuel Technology Roadmap.”

Lux forecasts that biojet fuel innovations, led globally by Honeywell UOP and Boeing, will account for 56% of the targeted CO2 emissions reductions, while a third of the requisite cuts will come from new aircraft technology, and optimization of operations and infrastructure. . . .
 
All via GCC:
US releases Federal alternative jet fuels R&D strategy
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/07/20160729-fajfs.html

. . . The strategy provides a prioritized list of R&D goals and objectives addressing specific scientific, technical, analytical, and logistics challenges that hinder the development, production, and wide-scale economic deployment of AJFs. In releasing the FAJFS, the federal government hopes to accelerate the development of the AJF industry by minimizing technical uncertainty to encourage further private sector interest, facilitate the development and approval of new AJF pathways, and reduce the cost of AJF production in the United States. . . .

Going forward it will lead implementation of the strategy, analyze ongoing federal efforts, and collaborate with federal and non-federal stakeholders, including the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), in advancing four thematic areas of the strategy:

  • feedstock development, production, and logistics;
    fuel conversion and scale-up;
    fuel testing and evaluation; and
    integrated challenges such as sustainability. . . .

Forge Hydrocarbons awarded $500K from Alberta toward lipids-to-hydrocarbons pre-commercial plant
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/07/20160728-forge.html

. . . Bressler’s process starts with “ugly” feedstock such as animal fat, beef tallow, crop seed oil and even restaurant grease, and emerges at the other with pure gas or diesel fuel. . . .


Alberta approves nearly $13M for 61 biomass-based projects
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/07/20160728-alberta.html

. . . The grants are for the development of new industrial bioproducts or technologies using Alberta agriculture and forestry byproducts or other biomass. . . .
 
Via GCC:
DOE awarding up to $11.3M to 3 projects under MEGA-BIO for biomass-to-hydrocarbon fuels, products
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160803-megabio.html

. . . Producing high-value bioproducts alongside cost-competitive biofuels has the potential to support a positive return on investment for a biorefinery. This funding is intended to develop new strategies for biorefineries to diversify revenue streams, including chemicals and products manufacturing, resulting in long-term economic benefits to the United States. . . .
 
Via GCC:
US Navy completes sea trial with ARA’s 100% drop-in renewable diesel fuel
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160809-ara.html

. . . ReadiDiesel was developed by Applied Research Associates (ARA) and Chevron Lummus Global, as a drop-in replacement for petroleum F-76 marine diesel. ReadiDiesel is a 100% renewable biofuel. (Earlier post.)

The SDTS took on approximately 18,000 gallons of ReadiDiesel in San Diego, California. The objective of this particular test was twofold: first, to demonstrate that ReadiDiesel is a drop-in replacement for petroleum-sourced F-76 marine diesel, meaning that it requires no blending with petroleum-derived fuels, equipment modifications or operational modifications by the crew; and second, to ensure that this renewable fuel performs equally to, or better than, existing petroleum-derived fuels.

The renewable diesel fuel powered the Self Defense Test Ship’s General Electric LM-2500 gas-turbine engine and a Rolls Royce 501 K-17 gas-turbine generator.

The test period lasted approximately 12 hours along the Southern California Coast, while enroute from San Diego to Port Hueneme. Navy engineers monitored the performance of the gas-turbine engines and generators while running on petroleum F-76 prior to taking on the ReadiDiesel to establish a baseline for comparison. . . .
 
Via GCC:
Argonne team finds significant albedo warming effect for switchgrass ethanol
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160811-albedo.html

One of the key points of contention over the climate benefit of biofuels is the impact of land use change (LUC) associated with biofuel feedstock production. LUC results in biogeochemical (e.g., soil organic carbon) and biogeophysical (e.g., surface albedo, evapotranspiration, and surface roughness) changes. Of the biogeophysical factors, surface albedo has been considered a dominant effect at the global scale.

A team at Argonne National Laboratory has now quantified land use change (LUC)-induced albedo effects for three major biofuels in the US, using satellite data products for albedo and vegetation observations. Published in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science, the analysis indicates that the land use change (LUC)-induced albedo effect is small for corn and miscanthus ethanol, but is significant for switchgrass ethanol, which is driven by the types, locations, and intensities of various land conversions to these biofuel feedstocks. . . .

With the LUC-induced albedo effect included, ethanol from corn, switchgrass, and miscanthus has life-cycle GHG emissions of 56, 29, and -4 g/MJ, respectively. These results translate to a GHG emission reduction of about 39%, 68%, and 104%, respectively, relative to petroleum-derived gasoline, which has a GHG emission intensity of 92 g CO2e/MJ. . . .
 
Via GCC:
U-M study finds crop-based biofuels associated with net increase in GHGs; falsifying the assumption of inherent carbon neutrality
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160825.html

. . . In an open-access paper published in the journal Climatic Change, the researchers conclude that once estimates from the literature for process emissions and displacement effects including land-use change are considered, US biofuel use to date is associated with a net increase rather than a net decrease in CO2 emissions.

The study, based on US Department of Agriculture crop-production data, shows that during the period when US biofuel production rapidly ramped up, the increased carbon dioxide uptake by the crops was only enough to offset 37% of the CO2 emissions due to biofuel combustion over the period 2005-2013. . . .

The researchers applied Annual Basis Carbon accounting to investigate the changes in carbon flows directly associated with a vehicle-fuel system. Unlike LCA or other forms of carbon accounting used for climate policy to date, ABC does not treat biofuels as inherently carbon neutral; it tallies CO2 emissions on the basis of chemistry in the specific locations where they occur.

ABC accounting reflects the stock-and-flow nature of the carbon cycle,— i.e., that changes in the atmospheric stock depend on both inflows and outflows. LCA, on the other hand, focuses only on inflows (GHGs discharged into the atmosphere).

The system in the study was defined to include motor fuel consumption, fuel processing operations and resource inputs, including cropland for biofuel feedstocks. . . .

Some funding for the study was provided by the American Petroleum Institute.

Also GCC:
Technip signs agreement with BTG Bioliquids to design and build pyrolysis plants for biomass-to-oil production
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/08/20160825-technip.html

Technip has signed an exclusive cooperation agreement with BTG BioLiquids B.V. (BTL) to provide EPC (engineering, procurement and construction services) for its modular pyrolysis plants. The plants will be based on BTL’s Fast Pyrolysis Oil (FPO) technology which converts biomass to oil through a rapid pyrolysis process.

The fast pyrolysis technology mixes biomass particles and hot sand in a reactor which transforms the material into pyrolysis oil. This oil can be used as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels for the production of renewable energy and chemicals. . . .
 
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