Biofuels International July-August 2016

July/August 2016 Issue 4 • Volume 10

international

Liquid gold Corn oil extraction aids on trial

Flexing the productive muscles New technology to maximise plant production

RegionalRegional focus: biofuels in southeasxxxxxralasia focus: biofuels in Africa

THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO GO FURTHER. WAY FURTHER.

Operations Development Director A world-class mission in Hungary

Our Hungarian plant is one of Europe’s largest and best performing first-generation bioethanol facilities. But we know it can achieve more – that’s why we want to push our performance to world-class levels and beyond. And to do it, we need to learn from the best.

We’re looking for an experienced bioethanol professional from the US to join us on a challenging 12 month+ mission. Bringing extensive expertise to our Hungarian plant, you’ll enable our 150-strong team to deliver exceptional performance by upgrading competence levels and supporting improvement projects. We’re not looking for a consultant to come and go – you’ll be an important member of our dynamic team.

This is a truly exceptional opportunity: as well as the chance to share your knowledge and shape our future, you’ll enjoy an industryleading expat package in the heart of Europe.

Go further. Become part of Pannonia Ethanol’s remarkable journey by visiting www.ropella.com/pannonia

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international Issue 4

Volume 10

July/August 2016 Woodcote Media Limited Marshall House 124 Middleton Road, Morden, Surrey SM4 6RW, UK www.biofuels-news.com MANAGING DIRECTOR Peter Patterson Tel: +44 (0)208 648 7082 peter@woodcotemedia.com EDITOR Liz Gyekye Tel: +44 (0)208 687 4183 liz@woodcotemedia.com DEPUTY EDITOR Ilari Kauppila Tel: +44 (0)208 687 4126 ilari@woodcotemedia.com INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER Matthew Clifton +44 (0)203 551 5751 matthew@biofuels-news.com US SALES MANAGER Matt Weidner +1 610 486 6525 mtw@weidcom.com PRODUCTION Alison Balmer Tel: +44 (0)1673 876143 alisonbalmer@btconnect.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES A one-year, 6-issue subscription costs £150/€210/$275 Contact: Lisa Lee Tel: +44 (0)208 687 4160 Fax: +44 (0)208 687 4130 marketing@woodcotemedia.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in any form by any mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or other means without the prior written consent of the publisher. Whilst the information and articles in Biofuels International are published in good faith and every effort is made to check accuracy, readers should verify facts and statements direct with official sources before acting on them as the publisher can accept no responsibility in this respect. Any opinions expressed in this magazine should not be construed as those of the publisher.

ISSN 1754-2170

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c ntents 2 Comment 3 News 12 People on the move 13 Plant update 15 Current price index 16 Market analysis

In the US, the Renewable Fuel Standard is driving a surge in biodiesel production

18 Regulations

The US EPA is planning to set the biofuel volume obligations for 2017 and the controversy and arguments surrounding the ruling seem awfully familiar 20 Comment

A US ethanol association is working to establish itself, and the new executive director is enthusiastic for the future 22 Big Interview

An innovative advanced biofuels producer in the UK is pushing forward with its growth strategy 24 Ethanol in Africa

Small-scale bioethanol production can provide a sustainable energy solution for Africa 26 Out of Africa

The East African country of Uganda is rapidly developing its biofuels industry 33 Surface-to-air

A new technology is unlocking new opportunities for advanced biofuels in aviation markets 35 Catching the wind

On the tails of a recent biofuel-powered flight, the airline industry is looking to the future of renewable fuels and what they have to offer 36 Biocide solution

The consequences of and possible solutions to microbiological contamination in biodiesel 38 Good fuel husbandry lowers operational costs

A risk-managed approach to the management of microbial infection in fuel storage tanks 42 A second chance

Revival of climate targets and increased scientific knowledge may reignite global interest in jatropha 44 Corn oil extraction aids on trial

A six-step process to evaluating a potential return on investment

international

July/August 2016 Issue 4 • Volume 10

Liquid gold Corn oil extraction aids on trial

Flexing the productive muscles New technology to maximise plant production

46 Becoming independent

Biodiesel production can help farmers achieve energy independence, in addition to energy cost savings 48 Flexing the productive muscles

A new technology allows sugar cane plants to fully integrate corn into plant production to maximise production year-round and produce higher yields

RegionalRegional focus: biofuels in southeasxxxxxralasia focus: biofuels in Africa

Front cover image: © landio. Image from bigstockphoto.com FC_Biofuels_July/August_2016.indd 1

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biofuels comment

Queen for a day

Liz Gyekye Editor

“P

ower tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said John-Dalberg Acton, the 19th Century historian. However, if I had absolute power for just 24 hours and became in charge of biofuels legislation I would make several changes.

Although I would be US president on this one, I would make sure that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stuck to its 2017 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requirements. It should adhere to the 15bn gallons renewable volume obligation target, which Congress originally set in 2007.

This would end the controversy over whether the EPA should raise or lower its annual RFS volume requirements for blending ethanol and biodiesel into the nation’s transportation fuel supply.

I would ensure a requirement for petrol stations to take higher blends of ethanol for their pumps. I would also make sure governments

made mandatory biofuel targets and stuck to them.

I would make sure that well-meaning politicians, bureaucrats and nongovernmental organisations follow facts and science in relation to the food versus fuel debate. I would also run biofuel workshops for environmental journalists who work on mainstream media titles to increase their knowledge on the subject.

I would also ask global biofuels companies to fund PR campaigns espousing the benefits of biofuels, especially its role in combating climate change and its contribution to the low-carbon economy.

In this issue, Biofuels International catches up with UK-based Vivergo Fuels, one of Europe’s biggest bioethanol producers, to find out how it is promoting the product to the world. Managing director Mark Chesworth has his own views on how the UK government can help the industry.

Separately, a successful bioethanol project in the city of Ogbomosho, Nigeria, is analysed in this edition.

Sorry, I digress. Elsewhere, by royal decree I would make sure that everyone pays a visit to our 9th Biofuels International Expo and Conference, which will be held in Ghent, Belgium.

The event will kick-off on 20 September with a plant tour of Bio Base Europe Training Centre in Terneuzen, the Netherlands. The conference will then take place on 21 and 22 September, with the first day’s proceedings being bought to a close with a stunning networking dinner cruise along the river Scheldt. There are top speakers participating, making presentations on everything from ‘how the global biofuels market is coping with falling oil prices’ to pricing and trading trends.

For more information about exhibiting, or to register as a delegate, visit www.biofuels-news.com/ conference. Don’t miss out.

Best wishes, Liz

Follow us on Twitter: @BiofuelsMag

2 july/august 2016 biofuels international

bioethanol news FEW 16: Ethanol plants seek to diversify to boost growth US ethanol plant owners are seeking to diversify their operations to boost growth, according to Jack Rogers, global marketing manager at Denmarkbased biotechnology company Novozymes.

Speaking to Biofuels International at this year’s Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) Conference in Milwaukee, US, about the US ethanol market, Rogers said: “Corn and ethanol prices have gone down in recent years but there has been an increasing demand for ethanol.

“There is still a lot of overcapacity in the industry.

This has pushed down margins for producers, so they need to look at efficiency and optimisation to be successful and look for other revenue streams in addition to the ethanol itself. The market is still moving along but the profits are not what they were a year or two years ago.

“Primarily, you have oversupply so the price of ethanol is following your primary feedstock.

There is enough margin to encourage producers to keep

on producing but it is not encouraging higher margins.”

According to the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the US ethanol industry makes an enormous contribution to the global animal feed supply. One-third of every bushel of grain that enters the ethanol process is enhanced and returned to

Ethanol prices have gone down in recent years but there has been an increasing demand for ethanol the feed market, most often in the form of distillers grains (DDGS), corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal.

Corn oil Rogers said that Novozymes was now seeing ethanol plants seeking to diversify and gain revenue from by-products from the ethanol-making process, such as corn oil which is used in the feed sector or biodiesel market.

“Pricing for corn oil has been

This year’s FEW conference took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US

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good. This has been really strong,” Rogers explained.

“Corn oil has been a good source of additional revenue for ethanol producers. Underlying demand for corn oil is very strong. A good amount of this corn oil is going to the biodiesel market and this market is not subject to saturation.”

However, Rogers said

that DDGS demand in China has been weak, which has had a negative impact on price for DDGS. Elsewhere, Rogers said that Novozymes was pushing ahead with its Bioenergy University – an industryspecific online training platform for all learning styles and knowledge backgrounds.

It was launched last year and is intended to be a knowledge and learning platform for both the new entrants as well as the more experienced professionals well-versed in the intricacies of bio-based fuel production.

Separately, speaking to Biofuels International at the FEW conference, RFA senior VP, Geoff Cooper, said: “The ethanol industry is in a decent place today in terms of margins and demand and market structure.

“We are seeing record demand for ethanol today. We are seeing record blending demand domestically. We are also seeing strong export demand for ethanol.

So, in terms of the demand picture, the industry is in

great shape. Demand levels are unprecedented.

“In relation to this, we are seeing what we think is going to be record production this year. We are expecting 14.8 billion gallons to 15 billion gallons of production this year.

Stocks are at pretty healthy levels. In terms of the supply and demand balance, things are in pretty good shape. Our feedstock costs are down and corn prices are down compared to levels we saw two-to-three years ago. Our input costs are also down.

“The lower price of oil is putting pressure on ethanol prices. We are seeing lower ethanol values than what we saw in the last four-to-five years. However, production margins are decent and they are positive. Yet, they are not at the outstanding margins that we saw two years ago in 2014 – where we had record profitability in the industry.”

Elsewhere, Cooper said that around 99% of the ethanol that is used domestically in the US is blended as E10 (10% ethanol and 90% gasoline blend).

He added: “We see a little bit of ethanol being consumed in higher level blends. We are exporting close to a 1 billion gallons this year. It is being used in those markets the same way. Primarily for use in E10 ethanol blends. Sometimes for lower level blends.

“We are hoping to see growth in two areas. The first area is in use in higher level blends – E85 and E15.

“Eventually, we like to see this used in the E20 and E35 ranges. We see a tremendous growth opportunity for export volumes.”

He added that the industry saw the export market as an immediate-term opportunity for growth. l

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bioethanol news Nissan to develop world first ethanolpowered electric car motor Japanese car giant Nissan Motor Co. is researching and developing what it calls a solid oxide fuel-cell (SOFC)-powered system that runs on bioethanol electric power.

The new system – a world first for automotive use – features an e-Bio Fuel-Cell with an SOFC power generator.

The e-Bio Fuel Cell generates electricity through the SOFC (power generator) using bioethanol stored in the vehicle.

It utilises hydrogen transformed from fuel via a reformer and atmospheric oxygen, with the subsequent electrochemical reaction producing electricity to power the vehicle.

Unlike conventional systems, e-Bio Fuel-Cell

Nissan announces development of the world’s first SOFC-powered vehicle system that runs on bioethanol electric power

features SOFC as its power source, affording greater power efficiency to give the vehicle cruising ranges similar to petrol-powered cars (more than 600km).

Fuel-cell systems use chemicals that react with oxygen, generating power without release of harmful by-products.

Bioethanol fuels, including those sourced from sugarcane and corn, are widely available

in countries in North and South America and Asia.

The e-Bio Fuel-Cell, using bioethanol, can offer eco-friendly transportation and create opportunities in regional energy production, while supporting existing infrastructure, Nissan said in a statement.

When power is generated in a fuel-cell system, CO2 is usually emitted, but with the bioethanol system CO2

emissions are neutralised from the growing process of sugarcane making up the biofuel, allowing it to have a carbon neutral lifecycle with nearly no CO2 increase whatsoever, Nissan said.

In the future, the company aims to make the e-Bio Fuel-Cell even more userfriendly by making use of ethanol-blended water, which is easier and safer to handle than most other fuels. l

Japanese firms set to provide membranes for ethanol industry Japanese companies Mitsui Zosen Machinery & Service (MZM) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC) have formed a partnership to produce and sell zeolite membranes, which are used in bioethanol production.

Under the agreement, MCC will purchase MZM’s entire output of zeolite membranes and hold the sole sales rights in the US and other global markets.

The companies will also offer ethanol producers a dehydration system that

combines MZM’s A-type zeolite membranes and MCC’s CHA-type zeolite membranes.

The duo says the new system will allow ethanol makers to reduce energy costs and to increase production by up to 15% compared to the process currently used in many ethanol plants.

The firms see strong market fundamentals for the tie-up as they say bioethanol is now widely used as fuel, especially in the US and Brazil.

They note that the US currently has more than 210 bioethanol plants in operation and many will need zeolite bed refurbishment in the next several years. l

Japanese firms Mitsubishi Chemical and Mitsui Zosen Machinery & Service will link up to sell zeolite membranes for bioethanol production

4 july/august 2016 biofuels international

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july/august 2016 5

bioethanol news EC unveils low-emission mobility report The European Commission (EC) has published its ‘Communication on a European Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility’ report that explores policy options to decarbonise transport beyond 2020.

The 13-page report mentions the word ‘biofuels’ eight times.

As part of its revision to the current legislation related to fuels and renewable energy, the EC is examining how to provide a strong incentive to innovate in energies needed for long-term decarbonisation.

The EC said that this could be done by ensuring that fuel suppliers provide a certain share of advanced biofuels through a blending mandate, for example.

Phase out The Commission has already indicated that food-based biofuels have a limited role in decarbonising the transport sector and should not receive public support after 2020.

In the context of the ongoing analytical work to support the revision of the current legislation on fuels and renewable energy, the Commission is focusing on their gradual phase out and replacement by more advanced biofuels. The impacts will be assessed carefully including the investment needs for advanced biofuels and the fact that without support, at this stage, they will not be able to compete with fossil fuels or food-based biofuels.

In the medium-term, advanced biofuels will be particularly important for aviation, as well as for lorries and coaches, the report stated.

Although European renewable ethanol association ePURE

welcomed the report, it called on the EC to examine the implications of its proposed policy orientations through a proper and fully objective impact assessment, based on the latest available science and its correct reading.

Under the EC’s better regulation agenda, such an impact assessment should objectively consider all lowcarbon fuel options available to decarbonise transport, not first define a policy objective and then develop an impact assessment around it, as was the case in 2012 with the proposed revision of the Renewable Energy Directive.

“A science-led approach to the impact assessment will show that renewable ethanol is an essential part of Europe’s low-carbon mobility toolkit - its phasing out would work against the EU’s overall climate ambitions,” said Robert Wright, secretary-general of the European renewable ethanol association (ePURE).

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) also welcomed the report. ACEA Secretary General, Erik Jonnaert said: “The automobile industry is fully committed to continue reducing CO2 emissions across all business segments, from passenger cars to trucks.”

However, the ACEA said that the EC’s strategy puts all the emphasis on road transport and called for a more balanced approach, addressing all modes of transport – including air, maritime and rail.

Jonnaert said: “All vehicle manufacturers will continue investing in both internal combustion engines as well as the full range of alternative powertrains that meet the demands of both private and business customers.” l

CropEnergies resumes production at bioethanol plant in Wilton Germany-headquarted bioethanol producer CropEnergies has announced that it has restarted operations at its bioethanol plant in Wilton, UK. The Ensus facility, based in the north east of England, has been mothballed since February 2015. Work was halted after bioethanol prices dropped amid sluggish European markets and low oil prices.

Since this pause in production, numerous technical modifications have been carried out to improve the plant’s reliability and energy efficiency. These improvements, following their completion, need to be fully tested in a trial run, the company said in a statement.

The company also said: “Possible effects this might have on revenues and earnings – depending on duration and results – are not yet included in the current outlook.”

It added: “In the medium term, CropEnergies expects the resolutions passed at the climate summit in Paris and the EU resolutions for the increase of the share of renewable energies also in the transport sector to result in market growth.

“As a leading producer in Europe, CropEnergies is well prepared for the subsequent increase in demand. To reach the goals, however, it is important to define mandatory targets for the use of renewable energies and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector for the time beyond 2020.

“In the foreseeable future, biofuels are the only alternative to fossil fuels which are cost-efficient and available on a large scale. They make an essential contribution to climate protection in the transport sector.”

The company made the announcement as it unveiled its first quarter results for the 2016/17 financial year.

Revenues decreased by 15% to €168 million, compared to €198 million the previous year, due to lower proceeds for bioethanol and — following the temporary standstill of the production plant in Wilton, UK, — lower trading volumes.

The earnings situation, however, improved significantly thanks to lower raw material prices and lower energy and maintenance costs, the company said. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increased to €28 million, compared to €22 million the previous year. The company reported that operating profit rose 42% to €19 million year-on-year.

Bioethanol production in the first quarter of the financial year 2016/17 was slightly below the previous year’s level of 205,000m3. It dropped to 203,000m3. The production of food and animal feed products, however, increased due to a change in the raw material mix The news of CropEnergies’ financial report comes as Germany’s bioethanol trade association BDBe reported that the European country had increased its production of bioethanol by 1.8% to 739,821 tonnes in 2015 compared to the year before.

The report from the BDBe showed that 264,665 tonnes of bioethanol was produced from industrial beet in 2005, an increase of 9% from the previous year. l

6 july/august 2016 biofuels international

bioethanol news Global Bioenergies signs new renewable isooctane deal Renewable chemicals producer Global Bioenergies said it will start deliveries of renewable isooctane to Swedish fuel supplier Aspen.

The product will come from Global Bioenergies’ demonstration-scale plant in Leuna, Germany.

Supplies will also come from its joint-venture Francebased isobutene plant IBN One, which is currently under construction.

Aspen is part of the Swedish Lantmännen group, an agricultural cooperative and bioenergy specialist.

Claes Alin, CEO at

Lantmännen Aspen, said: “We are pleased to secure future access to renewable isooctane, a petrol component with excellent fuel properties appropriate for specialty

“Renewable isooctane can easily be derived from bio-isobutene” Bernard Chaud, CEO at IBN-One

fuels. As the original and the key player on the alkylate petrol market we take our responsibility in striving towards enhanced use of forefront renewables among specialty fuel users.”

www.lesaffreadvancedfermentations.com

Graphic design i marierio.fr

Bernard Chaud, CEO at IBN-One, added: “IBNOne, the first bio-isobutene commercial plant project, is moving forward. We recently announced the completion

of the conceptual design phase and are now moving to detailed engineering.

“Renewable isooctane can easily be derived from bio-isobutene. We are also presently building the business

reliability

ecosystem. Receiving an off-take intention from an established player in a highvalue market segment clearly adds a stone to the building.”

Thomas Buhl, head of business development at Global Bioenergies, said: “A significant part of the isobutene to be produced in our Leuna demo-plant will be converted into isooctane, allowing us to provide batches to Lantmännen Aspen before start of the commercial size plant IBN-One. “We are proud to have a major Swedish actor on board of our biofuel story, since Sweden is known to be among the pioneering countries regarding biofuels.” l

performance

yield

When you’ll head to cellulosic ethanol you’ll want to de-risk your fermentation process. CelluXTM is Leaf’s bioengineered yeast with proven results in operating second generation ethanol plants. Pioneers chose CelluX™ in their fermentation operations, so should you. Because when it comes to reliability, performance and yield, CelluX™ makes the difference.

biofuels international

july/august 2016 7

biodiesel news New Zealand-based dairy firm to use biodiesel from Z Energy Fonterra, a New Zealandbased dairy cooperative, will be using biodiesel from Wellington-based fuel distributor Z Energy for its tankers.

Z Energy is currently commissioning its NZ$21 million (€13m) Wiri plant and production is expected to start in midJuly. The plant can produce 20 million litres of biodiesel annually and that can be doubled if the energy company spends another $4 million on the plant.

Fonterra chief operating officer global operations, Robert Spurway, said the shift to biodiesel is part of a move towards greater efficiency and sustainability across all operations, and helping Z Energy make cleaner-burning biofuel available in New Zealand.

Spurway said: “With more than 550 tankers, our fleet can travel hundreds of thousands kilometres every day on New Zealand’s roads. Our commitment as foundation partners for Z Energy’s biodiesel project means the product will not only be available for our fleet, it also means Z Energy can

Left to right: Z Energy general manager for Supply and Distribution David Binnie, Minister of Energy and Resources Hon. Simon Bridges, Fonterra chief operating officer for Global Operations Robert Spurway and Whakatane Mayor Tony Bonne

bring this innovative fuel to the pump for New Zealanders.”

Spurway said the move to biodiesel has the potential to reduce emissions for the tankers using it by up to 4% each year, and the partnership is an important milestone for Fonterra.

“Our sustainability strategy addresses key efficiency and

sustainability improvements, and sourcing clean energy alternatives is a big part of that. We also want to show our support for this kind of innovation so other New Zealanders can make good energy choices,” Spurway said.

He added: “Fuel burned for transport contributes up to 20% of New Zealand’s total

greenhouse gas emissions, so given our scale, it’s important we play our part to help the environment. Moving to biofuel is one of the many projects we’re engaged in, like our planting, water quality projects, and energy efficiency programmes — which all focus on environmental sustainability.” l

Biox-World Energy JV acquires $20m Texas biodiesel plant Biox Corp. and Boston-based biodiesel company World Energy have entered into a 50/50 joint venture (JV) to acquire and operate a 90 million gallon (341 million litre) biodiesel production facility.

The facility, formerly known as Green Earth Fuels, is located within the Kinder Morgan Liquids terminal on

the Houston Ship Channel in Texas and is the third largest biodiesel production facility in North America.

Each company has committed $10 million (€9m) to the JV with the aim to commission and start up the plant over the third quarter of the year.

Alan Rickard, CEO at Biox, hopes that the acquisition gives Biox “an opportunity to significantly expand and diversify” its production capacity.

“It is a large-scale asset that is

well positioned to supply biodiesel for compliance with the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard in the US market,” he added. “As we see the distribution of our products from our facilities in Ontario shifting from the US market to fulfill the mandates under Ontario’s Greener Diesel initiative, this acquisition provides us with a strategically positioned production facility from which we can address the US market.” l

8 july/august 2016 biofuels international

biodiesel news US officials settle environmental enforcement case with Newport Biodiesel The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Department of Justice (DOJ) have settled an environmental enforcement case with Newport Biodiesel, resulting in reduced air emissions and improved safety controls at the company’s biodiesel manufacturing plant in Newport, Rhode Island.

In a statement, the EPA and DOJ said that Newport Biodiesel violated various Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements for hazardous air pollutants and chemical accident prevention, and also violated oil spill planning and chemical reporting requirements.

Newport Biodiesel has corrected these violations and installed new air pollution control and safety equipment at its manufacturing facility.

Under the settlement consent decree, which was lodged in the federal district court, the company will also pay a $396,000 (€359,000) fine.

Commercial biodiesel manufacturing uses large amounts of methanol, which can be a toxic and highly flammable liquid.

Methanol requires special firefighting attention because it burns with little visible flame and stays flammable even when mixed with large quantities of water. Methanol is also listed as a hazardous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Consequently, the EPA said that it was vital that biodiesel manufacturers fully comply with CAA emission and chemical safety requirements.

Methanol emissions When EPA began this

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enforcement action in 2013, the Newport Biodiesel facility had no control system for its methanol emissions. In 2014, EPA and Newport Biodiesel signed an administrative order on consent (AOC) in which the company agreed to comply with CAA hazardous air pollution standards and control its methanol emissions.

Under the AOC, Newport Biodiesel designed and installed a new emissions control system that began operating in December 2015. These controls will reduce the facility’s methanol emissions by about 15 tonnes per year. Under today’s judicial settlement, Newport Biodiesel will conduct performance testing to confirm the proper operation of these controls.

During this enforcement action, Newport Biodiesel also installed a new fire suppression system to comply with the CAA’s chemical accident prevention provisions, which include a general duty clause requiring that facilities be designed to prevent and mitigate chemical accidents.

Previously, there was no automatic fire suppression in the company’s main manufacturing building. Newport Biodiesel worked with local fire officials to develop an appropriate fire suppression system for the facility. The new system was installed and began operating in December 2015.

throughout the case has resulted in improved safety at the company’s facility and cleaner air for the surrounding Newport community.

“Apart from the CAA violations, Newport Biodiesel also violated Emergency Planning and Right to Know Act reporting requirements by failing to file certain chemical inventory forms with emergency response authorities, and violated Clean Water Act regulations by failing to prepare and implement an oil spill prevention and control plan. These violations were corrected in 2013-14.”

“All issues have been addressed to the government’s satisfaction,” Blake Banky, president of Newport Biodiesel

told Biodiesel Magazine. “In order to put this issue to rest and move on with our efforts to produce a clean, renewable fuel, Newport Biodiesel has also agreed, without admission of wrongdoing, to pay a civil penalty to the agency to resolve the alleged past environmental violations.”

Banky said while Newport Biodiesel has been working with EPA to ensure compliance, the company’s production of biodiesel has continued to grow and, during this period, its fuel reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 13,400 tonnes per year.

Banky said that his firm remained committed to making sustainable biodiesel. l

‘A first’ The settlement concludes the first civil judicial action against a biodiesel manufacturer for violations of CAA hazardous air pollutant regulations and chemical accident prevention standards, the EPA said.

In a statement, the organisations said: “EPA and DOJ’s enforcement action and Newport Biodiesel’s cooperation

july/august 2016 9

technology news Greenyug to build ethanol-based biochemical plant in Nebraska US technology company Greenyug intends to build an industrial scale ethyl acetate manufacturing facility and has formed a subsidiary, Prairie Catalytic, that will own and operate the plant.

The chemical plant is to be located adjacent to Archer Daniels Midland Co.’s (ADM) wet mill corn processing facilities in Columbus, Nebraska.

Prairie Catalytic has executed a Conditional Commitment with the US Department of Agriculture

(USDA) Rural Development for a loan guarantee under its Business & Industry Loan Guarantee programme.

The agreement will position the new Nebraska facility as a renewable supplier of ethyl acetate, with ADM’s mill supplying the project with bioethanol feedstock and other services.

Construction of the facility is anticipated to start in late 2016 with production set to begin about a year later.

Sagar B. Gadewar, president and CEO at Greenyung, said she sees bioethanol as an “excellent feedstock” for producing value-added bio-based chemicals.

“Securing a reliable and efficient source of quality raw materials is one of the final

steps in scaling Greenyug’s patented ethyl acetate technology. We look forward to the Prairie Catalytic plant satisfying market demand for renewable specialty chemicals manufactured in a sustainable, environmentally sound, and costcompetitive manner,” Gadewar added.

Greenyug developed its patented technology at its Santa Barbara, California, research facility and continued the scale-up at its fully integrated demonstration plant in India.

The company has developed a proprietary platform to add value to bioethanol by upgrading it into a variety of bio-based chemicals with broad market appeal. l

Bionic leaf aids biofuels production A new clean technology to turn sunlight into liquid fuel could drastically shrink the need for large plantations to grow crops for biofuels, while combating climate change, according to Harvard University researchers.

That could help protect food supplies and local people’s land rights, they suggested.

Dubbed “bionic leaf 2.0”, the technology uses solar panels to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen, the scientists said in a study published in the journal Science.

Once separated, hydrogen is moved into a chamber where it is consumed by bacteria, and with help from a special metal catalyst and carbon dioxide, the process generates liquid fuel.

The method is an artificial version of the photosynthesis process plants

use to make energy from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, scientists said.

If it becomes economically viable, the technology could replace oil wells or plantations where food crops are grown for fuel, the study’s lead author said.

“This [new energy source] is not competing with food for agricultural land,” Harvard University Professor of Energy Daniel Nocera told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Crops such as corn and sugarcane have been increasingly cultivated to produce biofuels. About 4% of the world’s farmland is used to grow crops for fuel rather than food, according to a University of Virginia study published in March.

Tens of thousands of small-scale farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America have been displaced by plantations growing crops to make biofuels, according to GRAIN, a Barcelonabased land rights group.

The new technology

A new “bionic leaf” system uses solar energy to produce liquid fuel

could help protect their land rights while also reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, Nocera said.

“The [land] footprint these solar panels need is about one tenth the size of what you would need for sugarcane,” he explained.

Nocera said that if governments put a price on carbon dioxide emissions, the “bionic leaf” would appeal to

investors as a cost-effective alternative energy source.

Today, however, it remains cheaper to grow biofuel crops or extract fossil fuels than to produce renewable energy, Nocera said.

A carbon tax boosting US gas prices to European levels – although not yet on the cards – would likely be enough to spur investment in the new technology, he said. l

10 july/august 2016 biofuels international

technology news New fermentation technology to beef up ethanol production US-based biotechnology company White Dog Labs has unveiled a new process that eliminates the emission of CO2 during fermentation and instead shifts the carbon to added ethanol production, boosting fermentation yields by around 50%.

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It’s in Our Nature Innovative and efficient centrifugal technology from GEA for the utilization of renewable resources

• • • • • •

Algae Animal and vegetable proteins Biofuels By-products from fish and meat Fermentation products (e.g. yeast) Oils and fats (refining and recovery processes) • Starch and starch derivatives • Sugar mud, vinasse, molasses

GEA-RR-01-002

The technology is known as MixoFerm. The company said its fermentation technology platform promises to increase output of practically any biochemical by 50-100% when compared to conventional fermentation, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Speaking to Biofuels International, CEO Bryan Tracy said that the process essentially takes sugar feedstock and gases, which could be waste gases from landfill, for example, and turns them into “fancy bacteria”. Waste gases can also be taken from the petrochemical process.

Subsequently, the bacteria is then used in the fermentation process to help produce ethanol or biochemicals.

He added: “Our approach increases ethanol plant output by 50% for a given carbohydrate feedstock (corn or cellulosic) – a potential game-changer for the global bioenergy industry.

“It is accomplished by synergising carbohydrate with gaseous feedstock (bio or fossil) to improve output, reduce CO2 emissions, and improve carbon foot print. Furthermore, the technology allows a degree of hedging against volatility in one type of feedstock or the other.

“While we are seeking a partner to apply the technology to ethanol production, the initial implementation of the technology will be for the production of bio-acetone and isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol). We have already designed a stateof-the-art $150 million (€135m) plant to support our production plans, and applied for a US Department of Energy (DOE) loan to help fund the effort.”

Tracy said that this new system integrates the best of both the chemicals industry and the biofuels industry.

The company first pursued acetone butanol ethanol (ABE) technology when it was founded in 2012. ABE was invented in the UK during WWI to provide acetone for gunpowder manufacturing.

White Dog Labs chairman, Sass Somekh, said: “The plummeting oil prices forced us back to the lab to invent a new technology. MixoFerm technology is so efficient that it can withstand economic scenarios such as the 2009 global recession, the 2012 drought and 2015 oil price crash.” l

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biofuels business brief

People on the move National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe leaves position National Biodiesel Board’s CEO Joe Jobe has left the organisation to pursue other interests after nearly 20 years of service.

Jobe started at the NBB in 1997 and became the CEO just two years later in 1999.

Between then and his date of leaving, Jobe helped grow the US biodiesel industry from producing 200,000 gallons annually to the 2 billion gallons projected for 2016.

“I want to thank the National Biodiesel Board for giving me the opportunity to work in an industry that is helping to change the world,” Jobe said.

“I love this industry, the hardworking people, the visionary leaders, and the product that I

that it will immediately begin to search for a successor to step in the undoubtedly large shoes Jobe has left behind.

NBB CEO Joe Jobe has left the organisation after nearly two decades

will continue to use every day. Now is a good time for me to pursue a different path.

Biodiesel is positioned to lead the carbon reduction goals of the nation and I can’t wait to see what biodiesel does next.”

The NBB board of directors thanked Jobe for his years of service and announced

World’s largest biofuels consulting group promotes Gerald Kutney and Kapil Lokare to management Lee Enterprises Consulting, the world’s largest bioenergy and biofuels consulting group, has appointed Gerald Kutney as executive VP and Kapil Lokare as director of European operations.

The consulting group has over 75 experts in its biodiesel, ethanol, emerging technologies, biomass power, and business and finance sections.

Kutney has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Toronto and over 15 years of executive management experience with global corporations in technology development and commercialisation, biomass economics and procurement, biorefining, bioenergy, and bioproducts.

He is a founding member of the Canadian Biochar Initiative and was an adjunct professor and instructor in the environmental science programme at the University of Northern British Columbia.

He led the biorefining business of a major forest products company, which included the largest cellulosic ethanol business in North America, a biomass-to-energy CHP facility, and an international bioproducts business.

Lokare received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Michigan State University in the US and he has held positions at various globally recognised institutions in the US, Netherlands, Australia, and Germany.

He has published scientific papers, book chapters, and

patents and written extensively on matters such as methaneto-methanol conversion, butanol biosynthesis, conversion of ethanol to higher hydrocarbons/higher value products, and selective deconstruction of biomass.

He holds a patent for the alkylation of phenolic compounds and has helped launch new biobased startups.

Kapil Lokare will direct Lee Enterprises Consulting’s European operations

The Andersons ethanol group changes leadership Diversified agriculture company The Andersons’ ethanol group president Neill C. McKinstray has retired and Michael S. Irmen, VP and general manager of the ethanol group, has assumed leadership as President.

McKinstray began his career with The Andersons in 1976 as a grain buyer in Champaign, Illinois.

He worked in a variety of management, merchandising, sales, and marketing positions before being named manager of grain transportation and market development in 1997.

Instrumental in leading The Andersons into the ethanol business, McKinstray was named VP of the ethanol division in 2005 and president of the ethanol group in 2012. l

12 july/august 2016 biofuels international

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Plant update: Africa Caltech Ventures Location Hodzo, Ghana End product Ethanol Feedstock Cassava Construction / expansion / Caltech has begun producing ethanol acquisition from cassava at a Hodzo distillery Project start date March 2016 Comment The Caltech project is the first to produce ethanol in Ghana on an industrial scale

Kakira Sugar Works Location Uganda End product Ethanol Feedstock Molasses Capacity 20 million l/year Construction / expansion / Kakira Sugar Works intends start acquisition commercial output at its ethanol plant Designer/builder Praj Industries Completion date Projected for end of July 2016 Investment $37 million (€34m)

Nigerian Cassava Growers’ Association Location Nigeria End product Ethanol Feedstock Cassava Construction / expansion / NCGA has partnered with the acquisition Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund to set up a bioethanol plant Comment The project is being spearheaded by the E-Debit Corp. to facilitate developmental programmes and connect financial institutions to manufacturers and farmers

biofuels international

Tapera Industries Location Zambia Construction / expansion / Biofuels producer Tapera Industries is acquisition seeking capital funding to expand its operations Investment ZMW5 million (appr. €454,000)

Numbitrax Location South Africa End product Ethanol Construction / expansion / Numbitrax has bought Blume acquisition Distillation’s first African bioethanol plant Designer/builder Blume Distillation Completion date July 2015 Investment “Several million euros”

Sunbird Bioenergy Africa Location Zambia and Zimbabwe End product Ethanol Feedstock Cassava, molasses Capacity 120 million l/year Construction / expansion / Sunbird has entered into a contract acquisition with China New Energy to build a bioethanol facility in both Zambia and Zimbabwe Designer/builder China New Energy Project start date Estimated 2016 Completion date Estimated 2017 Investment $50 million (€46.2m) in each plant

*This list is based on information made available to Biofuels International at the time of printing. If you would like to update the list with any additional plant information for future issues, please email liz@woodcotemedia.com

july/august 2016 13

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biofuels incident report A summary of the recent explosions, fires and leaks in the biofuels industry Date

Location

Company

Incident information

7/7/2016

Nebraska, US

Green Plains

A power outage at Green Plains’ Wood River ethanol plant sparked a fire that caused “considerable damage” to the plant’s dryer.

The fire reignited after being put out for the first time, but fortunately personal injuries were avoided.

27/6/2016

Washington, D.C, US

N/A

Two men have pleaded guilty to a multi-state plot to sell forged biodiesel credits and claim fraudulent tax credits.

Floridians Thomas Davanzo and Robert Fedyna used shell companies (a non-trading company used as a vehicle for various financial manoeuvres) to run a scheme where they brought biofuel credits and sold them back to the original sellers disguised as feedstock.

The duo received “at least” $42 million (€37.9m) from selling nonexistent biofuel and an addition $4.3 million in falsely claimed tax credits.

3/6/2016

Missouri, US

KiOR

A minor fire broke out at KiOR’s biofuel facility in Columbus, but was quickly extinguished by the local fire service.

No injuries were reported in the blaze, which started when workers were disassembling a large machine and sparks fell into a dustgathering hopper.

1/6/2016

Rhode Island, US

Newport Biodiesel

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Newport Biodiesel have settled an environmental enforcement case against the fuel company.

The settlement is over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act regarding methanol emissions and accident prevention, in addition to violations of oil spill planning and chemical reporting requirements.

EPA stated that Newport Biodiesel has satisfactorily corrected the violations by installing new air pollution control and safety equipment at its facility, and the company will also pay a fine of $396,000 under the settlement consent decree.

The settlement concludes the first civil judicial action against a biodiesel manufacturer for violations of CAA hazardous air pollutant regulations and chemical accident prevention standards.

25/5/2016

Lacq, France

Abengoa Bioenergy

Abengoa has temporarily stopped production at its Lacq ethanol plant after an “incident” in one of the fermenters.

The nature of the incident was not disclosed, but no injuries have been reported and Abengoa is looking into the causes.

Abengoa did not specify what the “incident’” was.

6/5/2016

South Dakota, US

Poet Biorefining

US federal workplace safety officials are investigating a fire at Poet’s South Dakota ethanol plant, which left a man dead and injured another.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration says the worker who died after being flown to a hospital was welding inside a tank at the time.

14 july/august 2016 biofuels international

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SCB Commodity Brokers global biofuels prices Prices quoted: 15/07/2016 Product

Mid price

URL: www.starcb.com

Product

Mid price

EU biodiesel RED ($/mt)

US biodiesel B100 ($/gal)

FOB ARA RME

835.50

Houston SME

2.956

FOB ARA SME

833.00

Houston TME

2.886

FOB ARA PME

818.00

NY Harbour SME

2.956

FOB ARA FAME 0

833.00

NY Harbour TME

2.916

FOB ARA FAME -10

835.50

Mid West SME

2.936

EU biodiesel Non RED ($/mt)

US ethanol ($/gal)

FOB ARA RME

820.50

NY Harbour Barges

1.59

FOB ARA SME

818.00

Argo ITT Illinois

1.55

FOB ARA PME

803.00

FOB USGC

1.61

FOB ARA FAME 0

818.00

Rule 11 TWS (Railcar)

1.54

FOB ARA FAME -10

820.50

Rule 11 NWS (Railcar)

1.54

EU ethanol (€/m3)

RINs ($/RIN)

T2 FOB Rotterdam

2016 Ethanol (D6)

530.00

0.940

US ethanol ($/m ) 2016 Biodiesel (D4)

1.008

FOB US ANP

437.20

2016 Advanced (D5)

0.988

FOB Santos

575.00

Emission credits ($/mt)

3

LCFS Credits

67.50

Current price index

E

uropean biodiesel trade remains healthy as we move into the peak summer blending season. The one disappointment remains Germany, where weak demand, a lack of import opportunities, and a move by end users to forward contracts means that the spot market is almost non-existent. UK refineries continue to buy double counting cargoes and take advantage of the less restrictive summer specifications, but the continued backwardation in the Fame 0c curve means forward contracts remain non-competitive and as a result buyers continue to look at the spot market.

With the end of the Spanish quota and palm-based Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) pricing itself out of the market, Spanish refineries have come back to the Fame

biofuels international

market and trading companies have taken advantage of this, selling at levels consistent with the Fob ARA benchmark.

South American and Asian producers have focused most of their attention on the US market as the blenders tax credit, low-carbon fuel standard in California, and the strength of the renewable identification numbers (RINs) market has led to a lucrative market for certified producers.

More than 600,000mt has been imported from Argentina alone so far this year, and Californian buyers have been able to out-compete Europe for waste grades from East Asia. As RIN values rally and imports continue, the domestic US market is now close to saturation point and due to the logistical hurdles, the blend wall and the upcoming winter season discounts to heating oil are increasing day by day.

The European ethanol markets saw a significant price rebound in Q2, with spot levels rising from €450/ m3 at the end of March to high €570s towards the end of May. The T2 prices crossed the €500 territory in early May on mounting concerns over European supplies after the closure of the largest European ethanol plant of Abengoa in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Moreover, the news of the production halt at Abengoa’s ethanol plant in Lacq, France, due to some technical issues saw ethanol market skyrocket further, with June paper gaining €30, while every month out until October also saw a €20 bounce on a day, and the spot price reaching €577 on 27 May, SCB data showed.

The biggest part of June continued to maintain the €570 levels, seeing more supply disruption news in the fuel

sector as operations in French refineries, halted due to labour strike, led to fuel shortages and overall disruptions in the market. The end of the month, however, saw the news emerge that Alcodis had purchased the Abengoa plant in Rotterdam, which, in combination with the expectations of fresh volumes from the Cropenergies’ Ensus plant in the UK later this year, echoed in the sentiment, seeing the prices ease along the curve.

In recent days, ethanol continues to retain its spot levels around the €530 mark, and could still boast decent production margins, especially at the front of the curve. The curve structure continued to remain in backwardation, with July/August recently widening more and the front further distancing itself from deferred positions, seeing Q4 and Q1 values around €470 and €440, respectively. l

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biofuels market analysis In the US, the Renewable Fuel Standard is driving a surge in biodiesel production

The leading standard

Brian Milne, product manager, Schneider Electric

U

S biodiesel production surged during the first five months of 2016 compared to a year ago, with a climbing output rate driven by an increasing federal mandate to blend renewables into petroleum-based transportation fuels. Biomassbased diesel fuel production in the US, primarily biodiesel but also renewable diesel, has averaged more than 30% higher during the first five months of 2016 compared to what is was year-on-year, based on data from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The higher level of supply availability coincides with clearer forward visibility for US biodiesel producers following the extension of a $1 gallon blender’s credit through this year and better clarity on blending targets under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Higher biodiesel output comes despite weak producer margins that were negative from December 2015 through early May. The weakness in the return has more to do with price pressure for New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) ULSD futures than with soybean oil prices, although Chicago Board of Trade soybeans futures rallied to a 10-month high in April before sliding to a nearly six-month low in early July on favourable growing conditions.

NYMEX ULSD futures also

rallied in May alongside NYMEX West Texas Intermediate crude futures on supply disruptions for oil sands in Canada, amid widespread wildfires in Alberta and militant attacks targeting oil and gas infrastructure in Nigeria, with the North African nation a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. NYMEX oil futures also benefited in the latter part of the second quarter from strong petrol demand in the US, China, and India.

Freight demand in the US remains lacklustre, with freight primarily moved by trucks.

Freight movement did increase for two consecutive months in the second quarter, up in April and May, according to the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. US industrial production also improved late in the second quarter, with output climbing to a four-month high in June after mixed readings from March through May, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows. Nonetheless, US industrial production is holding well below the output rate experienced in 2015, weighing on diesel demand.

Market analysis industrial production

ULSD/soyabean oil spread

EPA qualified biomass-based diesel production

Low diesel demand In the US, diesel demand is primarily consumed in commercial and industrial operations, and the soggy growth in these sectors of the economy has slowed consumption. US Energy Information Administration data shows distillate fuel supplied to market down 5.9% during the first six months of 2016 against the comparable year-on-year period, and 1.6% lower than the five-year average. A weak 2015-2016 heating season compounded the declines.

Spot market trades for physical biodiesel remain limited, occurring in heated bouts of

Market analysis spot prices

16 july/august 2016 biofuels international

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activity before again slowing to a crawl. Spot B100 values remain indexed against the NYMEX ULSD futures contract, and vary based on feedstock, location, delivery method, and whether a D4 renewable identification number (RIN) is attached to the biodiesel. Biomass-based diesel D4 RINs are credits submitted to the EPA by parties obligated under the RFS – oil refiners, blenders, and importers – to show compliance with the federal mandate. This year, the RFS carve-out for biomassbased diesel has been proposed at 1.9 billion gallons, climbing to 2.0 billion gallons for 2017.

RINs, which are generated when a qualified renewable is produced or imported, can be separated from the renewable and sold in the open market, allowing obligated parties to purchase compliance credits.

The RFS programme also offers obligated parties flexibility in meeting their renewable volume obligation (RVO) by carrying over a maximum 20% of their required RINs into the following year.

Biomass-based diesel D4 RINs topped $1 in early July for the first time since January 2015 as demand for the credits heats up, with expectations for RIN values to continue to appreciate.

The outlook calls for a tightening RIN market going forward as annual RFS demand mandates increase. Total mandated RFS volume for this year is proposed by the EPA at 18.11 billion gallons, increasing to 18.8 billion gallons for 2017. Conventional biofuels are expected to satisfy 99% of this year’s mandate.

The other fuels Biomass-based diesel is one of the five nested fuel categories under the RFS, with the largest category, renewable fuel, satisfied overwhelmingly by corn-based ethanol. Cellulosic biofuel and diesel and advanced biofuel are the other three nested categories, with renewables required to account for 10.1% of transportation fuels in 2016.

biofuels international

This 10.1% RVO is above the ethanol blend wall, referring to the 10% maximum ethanol blend in gasoline allowed universally in US vehicles.

The EIA projects record petrol demand in the US this year at 9.29 million bpd, with a 10.1% blend ratio implying ethanol demand at 14.384 billion gallons in 2016, short the 14.5 billion gallons of conventional biofuels proposed by the EPA. Renewable fuel D6 RINs also briefly cracked above $1 in early July, trading at roughly a nickel discount to a D4 RIN, which is remarkable when considering a D4 RIN is equal to two D6 RINs. The expected difficulty in reconciling the climbing mandate and the limited ability to blend at higher ethanol ratios is seen maintaining strong price support for D6 RINs that, in turn, underpin D4 RIN values.

Biodiesel is expected by some in the industry to compensate for the shortfall in ethanol blending volumes, with biodiesel also considered an advanced biofuel. Yet, the EIA also projects a 90,000 bpd decline to 3.88 million bpd in distillate fuel demand this year that likely limits biodiesel blending. EIA expects US distillate demand to increase by 80,000 bpd in 2017 to 3.96 million bpd.

Demand in California for biomass-based diesel fuel is expected to continue its sharp upward trajectory as the state advances on environmental goals, with California demand for biomass-based diesel surging from 14 million gallons in 2011 to 291 million gallons in 2015, according to the National Biodiesel Board. The trade group forecasts California’s demand for biomass-based diesel fuel at 371 million gallons this year, up 27.5% from 2015, with state demand forecast at 785 million gallons by 2023. l For more information: This article was written by Brian Milne, who manages the refined fuel’s editorial content, spot price discovery activity and cask market analysis for Schneider Electric.

Milne has nearly 20 years’ experience in the energy industry as an analyst, journalist and editor. Tel: +1 952 851 7216

www.dsengineers.com

Biomass Biodiesel Bioethanol Cogeneration From Basic Engineering to Full Turnkey Project Single Point Responsibility through EPC or EPCM+© with guaranteed: ✔ Process Performances ✔ Time Schedule ✔ Budget

Engineers & Contractors Brussels • Belgium Tel.: +32 (0)2 634 25 00 Fax: +32 (0)2 634 25 25 E-mail: info@dsengineers.com

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biofuels regulations

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The US EPA is planning to set the biofuel volume obligations for 2017 and the controversy and arguments surrounding the ruling seem awfully familiar

Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?

by Ilari Kauppila

I

t seems we are indeed doomed to repeat history.

Everybody in the biofuel industry surely remembers the controversy a year ago when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was preparing to retroactively set the renewable volume obligations (RVO) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for biofuels. Emotions flared on both pro- and antiRFS sides, with arguments that the RVOs were set either too high or low. Finally, in November the EPA finalised the levels, and the issue was put to bed for a while.

Now, the same debate has reared its head once again. The EPA is preparing to finalise the 2017 RVOs for biofuels, together with the 2018 obligation for biomass-based biodiesel.

Announced in May, the proposed biofuel levels would see the production of cellulosic biofuel increased to 312 million gallons from the 230 in 2016. The amount of biomass-based diesel would be ramped up to 2.1 billion gallons in 2018, reaching 2 billion in 2017 (currently set at 1.9 billion gallons). Advanced biofuel, or fuels that must achieve a 50% reduction in CO2 – emissions compared to the petrol baseline, will see a boost from 3.61 to 4 billion gallons in 2017. Overall, the EPA is planning to pump the share of renewable fuels in the US fuel supply from 18.11 to 18.8 billion gallons.

Renewable fuel volume requirements for 2014-2018

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Cellulosic biofuel (million gallons)

33

123

230

312*

n/a

Biomass-based diesel (billion gallons) 1.63 1.73

1.9

2.0

2.1*

Advanced biofuel (billion gallons)

2.67 2.88 3.61

4.0*

n/a

Renewable fuel (billion gallons)

16.28 16.93 18.11 18.8*

n/a

*Proposed volume requirements

Proposed 2017 percentage standards Cellulosic biofuel

0.173%

Biomass-based diesel

1.67%

Advanced biofuel

2.22%

Renewable fuel

10.44%

If implemented as planned, the obligations would see a total of 10.44% of US fuel supply consist of renewable fuels. Advanced biofuels would make up 2.22%, while biomass diesel and cellulosic biofuel would respectively fill 1.67% and 0.173% of the supply.

“The RFS programme is a success story that has driven biofuel production and use in the US to levels higher than any other nation,” says Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “This administration is committed to keeping the RFS programme on track, spurring continued growth in biofuel production and use, and achieving the climate and energy independence benefits that Congress envisioned from this programme.”

Yet, despite the EPA’s

insistence of being actively spurring the RFS forward, the proposed volumes lag significantly behind of what the US Congress envisioned when it enacted the standard.

Under the RFS statute, Congress set the 2017 RVOs at 5.5 billion gallons for cellulosic biofuels, 9 billion gallons for advanced biofuel, and 24 billion gallons for total renewable fuel. So far the only goal reached is biomass-based diesel, for which the Congress-set level in 2017 was “more than or equal to 1 billion gallons”. The environmental agency cites “real-world constraints” as hindering biofuel implementation.

“Despite significant increases in renewable fuel use in the US, real-world constraints, such as the slower than expected development of the cellulosic biofuel industry and constraints in the marketplace needed to supply certain biofuels to consumers, have made the timeline laid out by Congress impossible to achieve. These challenges remain, even as we recognise the success of the RFS programme over the past

decade in boosting renewable fuel use, and the recent signs of progress towards development of increasing volumes of advanced, low GHG-emitting fuels, including cellulosic biofuels,” the EPA said in the proposed ruling.

Industry for increase Just like a year ago, the RVO proposal has drawn comments both for and against. The official comment period given for the ruling closed on 11 July, and just a few days before its closure over 6,000 comments had been filed.

The US biofuels industry is – unsurprisingly – repeating its calls from a year ago to give the RFS a significant boost to reach the Congressdetermined levels. The Renewable Fuel Association (RFA), ethanol industry’s trade association in the US, was called to testify to Congress about the benefits of the RFS. RFA’s CEO and president Bob Dinneen called the programme an “unmitigated success” and said that repealing or “dramatically reforming” it would reverse the gains made to reduce petroleum dependency in the US. He also claimed the oil industry is attempting to reduce the RVOs due to its disappearing market share.

“The incumbent industry has already lost 10% of the market. If the RFS is implemented consistent with the statute, the market will

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make the final push to see cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels to fruition, resulting in the loss of 30% of the market,” Dinneen said.

“It is important to note that Congress did an excellent job of crafting the RFS, building in a great deal of administrative and market flexibility to deal with issues as they arise. You wrote a good law in 2005. Don’t be bullied by the hyperbole and scaremongering by the incumbent industry that fundamentally disagrees with the need for alternative, low-carbon options for consumers.”

Similarly, Anne Steckel, VP of federal affairs at the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), gave testimony to the Congress and called for the EPA to increase the share given to biodiesel, arguing that the industry is already poised to exceed the 2.1 billion gallons given in the ruling.

“Biodiesel and renewable diesel are the unsung heroes of the RFS advanced biofuel programme. There remains significant untapped production capacity on the ground today, and biodiesel producers across the country will tell you they stand ready to invest and expand and hire with strong, stable policy. However, we continue to believe the agency is underestimating the volume of biodiesel that can be delivered,” Steckel said in her testimony.

Squabbling politicians On the opposing side, arguing against increasing the RFS are the oil industry and some motor manufacturers, among others. The American Petroleum Institute (API), for example, is opposed to the E15 ethanol the EPA is planning to release, increasing the ethanol content in petrol by 5% from the current 10%. Frank Macchiarola, downstream director at API, claimed during a House of

biofuels international

Representatives hearing that Congress is not listening to consumers who “don’t want higher ethanol blends” and that the lawmakers need to fix the “outdated and broken” RFS. “Consumers’ interest should come ahead of ethanol interests. Higher ethanol blends, such as E15, can damage engines and fuel systems, potentially forcing drivers to pay for costly repairs, according to extensive testing by the auto and oil industries.

“The RFS could also impact prices at the pump.

indeed his association – was to “keep boaters safe”.

“By increasing the share of fuels in the marketplace that are unsafe for marine engines, the federal government’s RFS is putting boaters at risk. Research shows the costly price of accidentally misfuelling a boat with E15 can include stalling, corrosion, fuel leaks, damaged valves, and complete engine failure — each of which could put boaters and their safety in jeopardy. Now more than ever, with E15 on the rise, the threat of misfuelling is real,” Dammrich says.

The Congressional Budget Office found that consumer gas prices could rise by 26 cents per gallon unless EPA lowers RFS mandates. We need Congress to repeal or significantly reform the RFS. Members on both sides of the aisle agree this programme is a failure, and we are stepping up our call for Congress to act,” Macchiarola said.

This sentiment is echoed by the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), which has released a warning to boaters in the US about the possible dangers of E15. Thom Dammrich, president at NMMA, says the purpose of the warning – and

Joining the quest against the ethanol percentage increase are 45 Representatives of the House, who in midJune sent an open letter to the EPA administrator Gina McCarthy, questioning the agency on how it aims to inform consumers of the risks of higher ethanol blends.

“While consumers remain unaware of the high cost of inappropriate use of E15, misfuelling can lead to significant problems,” the letter reads. “Uninformed consumers will make fuelling mistakes, resulting in costly and dangerous malfunctions.”

The letter quotes a study carried out by Harris Poll by

saying only 5% of consumers are “currently aware that E15 is prohibited for use in certain engines”, and 60% of consumers assuming all petrol sold at pump stations is safe for their engines.

But, again demonstrating the political split on biofuels, 39 Senators also wrote a letter to McCarthy, urging her to “take the opportunity to get the programme back on track” and implement the blending targets originally set by the Congress.

“As a result of the [EPA’s] consideration of redistribution infrastructure when setting the RVO for 2014, 2015, and 2016, contrary to the clearly defined waiver authority provided by Congress, biofuel investment has fallen and projects are moving overseas.

We cannot afford to cede our leadership in the world,” the letter reads, finishing by stating that a strong RFS and more biofuels will make the US “more secure”.

Jim Talent, a former US Senator for Missouri and president of Americans for Energy Security and Innovation, also voiced his support for increasing the RFS, particularly on the part of corn ethanol. “[The EPA] announced a number that’s 200 million gallons short in corn ethanol from the statutory target, which is bad both in the short term and as a precedent from the longer term. We are producing that ethanol and we can distribute it as well. In fact, it’s about the only energy policy Washington has had in the last 30 years that’s actually worked,” states Talent.

Completing the circle of repeated history, the EPA is likely to release the finalised RVO in November, a full year after the last time such numbers were set in stone. As Biofuels International reported in our January 2016 issue, last year’s volumes pleased few and changed little. We will see in a few months whether the same will stand this time around as well. l

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biofuels comment A US ethanol association is working to establish itself, and the new executive director is enthusiastic for the future

Nebraska rising

Mark Palmer, executive director, the Association of Nebraska Ethanol Producers

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fter nearly 20 years of policy work on Capitol Hill, at USDA, and the association world, I moved the family to Lincoln, Nebraska, to become the executive director of the Association of Nebraska Ethanol Producers (ANEEP).

The move from Washington, DC, to Lincoln will enable me to apply my biofuels background directly to running a state-based biofuels association.

Currently, Nebraska is the second largest ethanol producing state in the US, producing more than two billion gallons annually. Since its inception in 2008, ANEEP has seen industry growth and out of this expansion, the organisation’s next step includes building an organisational apparatus.

As such, ANEEP is in the process of establishing its own association infrastructure. For example, it has entered into a service agreement with another Lincoln-based trade association, which means ANEEP officially has an office just steps away from the Nebraska State Capitol. With this arrangement, it also means ANEEP has its first ever established accounting and book keeping system. Even more in the weeds

than establishing a home, ANEEP is in the process of better establishing and outlining its corporate apparatus in recrafting bylaws and developing a corporate governance covenant.

These issues are meant to establish the identity of the trade association.

Prior to taking these steps, ANEEP put into place its government affairs team. Making sure ANEEP had the right advocacy and lobbying team in place for state government relations was critical, not just because of the policies that might impact the ethanol industry in Nebraska, but also because of how the Nebraska legislature functions.

The Nebraska state legislature is one of the most unique state legislative bodies in the US, because it is a unicameral legislature (or one body) that is term limited and considered nonpartisan.

And yet, they have a Speaker, and the

Nebraska is the second largest ethanol producing state in the US single chamber consists of a total of 49 Senators. In this climate anything can happen, and I mean anything.

Upon arriving on the scene in Lincoln, ANEEP immediately needed to identify the right team with the legislative session being around the corner.

ANEEP is also poised to better engage the Nebraska Congressional Delegation in Washington, DC. Since Nebraska is a national ethanol producing powerhouse, we need to do a better job of engaging our three Members of the US House of Representatives and two US Senators.

The delegation may hear about the benefits of ethanol and the federal policies from a national perspective, but ANEEP’s role will be to apply those federal issues, i.e. Renewable Fuels

Standard, tax policy, and higher level blends (E15, E85), to the Nebraska-based industry. By giving a better Nebraska face to these national issues, members and staff will all be able to better relate and apply the federal policies to a Nebraska “home” perspective.

Furthermore, ANEEP is in the beginning stages of a strategic planning exercise, which will identify priorities for the short-term and the long-term.

It is the long-term issues, such as preparing key legislative issues to move in the unicameral legislature, that will expand the existing ethanol industry in Nebraska. In that process, we are asking ourselves: how can we continue developing and expanding the ethanol industry in Nebraska, and make ethanol an even bigger contributor to the state economy, while growing our industry at a steady pace?

In our strategic planning process, ANEEP will also boost its industry relations through developing stronger collaborative partnerships and coalition development, including ANEEP membership development and expansion. ANEEP sees potential in diversely growing its membership base in Nebraska to reflect the changing ethanol industry. Going forward, ANEEP will also coordinate its communications among its members, state elected officials, and the Nebraska Congressional Delegation.

In order to achieve our goals, ANEEP will also be entertaining a rebranding phase down the road, which will include website development, upgrading to modern marketing and promotion materials, and utilising social media engagement, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. ANEEP is in a transformational and transitional phase where the potential is infinite but then, so too is the excitement. l

For more information: This article was written by Mark Palmer, executive director at the Association of Nebraska Ethanol Producers. Visit: www.aneep.org

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BIOPARK TERNEUZEN

Sustainable growth, in the context of good stewardship of the environment and its resources, is one of the biggest ongoing challenges facing politicians and (industrial) leaders.

With Biopark Terneuzen, Zeeland Seaports has identified a route that provides a uniquely innovative solution. Biopark Terneuzen represents a new way of thinking in the creation of agro-industrial sustainability. Under the 'Smart Link' heading, Biopark Terneuzen promotes and facilitates the exploitation of key synergies between businesses located in the same geographic area. Specifically, it helps to maximise the potential of the exchange and use of each other's by-products and waste products, which then become feedstock, energy or utility supplements for their own production processes. www.bioparkterneuzen.com

GHENT BIO-ECONOMY VALLEY (GBEV)

GBEV is a leading European initiative for the development of the biobased economy of the future. As a non-profit and network organization, GBEV supports the development of sustainable biobased activities and resulting economic growth in the Ghent region (Belgium). This is done through participation in research projects, the creation of public awareness and the realization of industrial integration, synergy and cluster formation. A nice example of integration is the Rodenhuizedok biorefinery cluster in the port of Ghent, which can be considered Europe’s largest integrated bio-energy production complex, with its production of bio-ethanol, biodiesel and bio-electricity all in one single site. www.gbev.org

www.portofghent.be biofuels international

www.zeelandseaports.com

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biofuels big interview An innovative advanced biofuels producer in the UK is pushing forward with its growth strategy

Big interview

Vivergo Fuels’ MD Mark Chesworth

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t the heart of Hull, in the northeast of England, lies one of Europe’s biggest producers of bioethanol. Liz Gyekye caught up with Vivergo Fuels’ managing director, Mark Chesworth to find out more.

What are your current environmental concerns?

Tackling climate change and air quality issues are two of the biggest challenges we face globally. Opportunities to reduce our impact on the environment are being missed right now. Carbon emissions from transport are 23% of total UK emissions.

This is only 2.5% lower than 1990 and 1.3% higher than 2013! Air quality targets are a major concern across the UK – London breached annual pollution limits just one week into 2016.

A range of innovations can play a role in decarbonising transport, but hybrid and electric vehicles alone cannot have a serious impact on emissions. They are not yet available at scale, face obstacles in their development, and require

mass vehicle replacement in a short space of time.

What is more, there is limited infrastructure in place and they are still heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Currently

(RED), including consulting on the crop cap for firstgeneration biofuels and lifting the blending obligation between 2017 and 2020 to meet the 10% renewables target in transport. It is also consulting on the framework for legislation post 2020, the so-called RED II. Vivergo’s immediate focus is very much on this consultation and working with stakeholders in order to ensure that we have the right policy in place to meet the renewable targets.

RED II is also being drafted this year to cover the period 2020-2030. If we are to meet this – let alone the UK’s own targets under the UK Climate Change Act and deliver the ambitious COP21 agreement – Europe’s future renewable policy has to promote the

We want to see the government increase the blending level in the RTFO as quickly as possible electric cars only make up a small percentage of the new cars sold in the UK. By contrast, ethanol can play a role immediately and at scale. UK petrol already contains up to 5% ethanol, and almost all cars built since 2000 can use ethanol without any changes to the vehicle.

What plans does Vivergo have for the rest of the year?

This summer, the UK government is preparing to launch a consultation around how it will meet the Renewable Energy Directive

use of low carbon, renewable fuels. However, we believe that without decarbonisation targets for transport fuels, which fuel suppliers must be obliged to meet, the take-up of renewable fuels will remain static or even decline. Most of our effort will be focused on this. We’re calling for the swift and coordinated roll out of E10 fuel in the UK by 2017.

What are you calling on the UK government to do?

The industry has been on hold since 2012 with blending levels capped through

the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) at 4.75%. We want to see the government increase the blending level in the RTFO as quickly as possible. It would also be great if the government could do this to give E10 the best possible chance of high penetration in the petrol market to maximise our ability to meet the RED targets and reduce carbon emissions as rapidly as possible. In general, we need to embrace the benefits that bioethanol will bring.

What is E10?

E10, a greener fuel that contains 10% ethanol, will help to reduce global emission levels, mitigate the rapid rate of climate change, and improve air quality. We want the government to increase the current blend of ethanol in UK petrol from 5% to 10% through the swift, coordinated rollout of E10 by 2017 as E10 represents the most cost-effective and straightforward channel for the UK to meet targets.

By replacing just 10% of petrol with ethanol, a switch to E10 from existing blends would be equivalent to taking 700,000 cars off the road in the UK, assuming cars on the road emit 1.5tCO2 per year (9000 km per year driven and 166g CO2/km).

While much of Europe and the rest of the world has been quick to embrace greener fuels, particularly E10, the UK is languishing behind the rest of Europe.

Other member states like France and Germany have moved forward with E10.

Unlike electric vehicles, no behaviour change is required from consumers. E10 can

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be used in most cars built after 2000. Additionally, all new cars built from March 2016 onwards are actually optimised for E10, meaning drivers will only be able to realise the full potential of any new vehicle through using this greener fuel. E10 also releases less nitrous oxide and harmful particulate matter than diesel.

What is your opinion about the Globiom report?

Globiom is the latest response to model indirect land use change (ILUC). Like all models it has limitations and uncertainties. There is a danger of people misinterpreting or misusing the findings from this report. It is based on economic modelling and within any economic model there exists uncertainty.

The study estimates, within predefined model scenarios, the area and emissions of the 2020 biofuels policy above a 2008 baseline, when the Renewable Energy and revised Fuel Quality directives were adopted. However, the report does not assess the impact of the actual volumes of biofuels used in the EU market at that time. The specific results in relation to feedstocks are an estimate of what would happen if there was an additional five billion litres demand of biofuel produced from this specific feedstock, which is not representative of real scenarios.

Are low oil prices impacting on the industry?

The market in the EU is a mandated market, so the low oil price does not affect it that greatly. However, it does impact the market where you have non-mandated markets, but this is not a huge issue for the EU industry at this stage. Nobody expects the oil price to sit at the $40 mark for long, if you look at economic projections.

At this moment, the ethanol price is slightly

biofuels international

Vivergo sources locally grown animal feed grade wheat – not used in food production – and uses this to create up to 420 million litres of bioethanol every year – enough to meet around half of the UK’s current demand

more expensive than petrol.

However, it is cheaper than petrol at 2014 levels. I am sure it will become cheaper again.

Are there any plans of going down the second-generation ethanol route?

The plant can be adapted to include 2G in the future.

We are always exploring opportunities but our main focus is on helping first-generation ethanol fulfil its potential first.

We are not there yet but blending changes and the

introduction of E10 will help.

The food vs. fuel debate keeps ticking along. What is your opinion on this?

This has been disproved.

If you look at food prices at the moment they are at extreme lows, at a time when bioethanol production is at an all-time high.

Crops used for EU bioethanol production are not food crops and production uses only 2% of the grain supply, too small a volume to significantly alter food prices.

Vivergo Fuels, based in Hull, is one of Europe’s biggest producers of bioethanol

Vivergo’s own bioethanol and animal feed production uses animal-feed grade wheat rather than the milling wheat commonly used in the human food chain, and delivers a higher quality animal feed than the wheat it consumes. Feeding cows Vivergo animal feed significantly increases their milk yield, which helps with global shortage of milk and food security issues Vivergo is creating a new market for feed grade wheat, directly supporting local farmers and creating agricultural jobs in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and the Humber.

We are at the heart of the UK’s wheat belt – all of our wheat can be sourced from local farms within a 50-mile radius. In the region, the soil and weather conditions, coupled with the agricultural expertise, are well suited to growing feed grade wheat. In most cases the land/farms would not easily be able to switch to growing either milling wheat or other crops for a number of different reasons – agriculturally, economically and environmentally. l

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biofuels regional focus Badmos Soliu analysing the quality of ethanol production

Small scale, big benefits Small-scale bioethanol production can provide a sustainable energy solution for Africa

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ack of access to reliable and clean energy is a worldwide problem – particularly for people living in developing countries. In Africa, the challenges are even greater.

More than 630 million people today lack access to electricity and an even greater number suffer the burden of respiratory diseases caused by burning polluting fuels for cooking.

But Africa is not only a myriad of challenges. It also offers great opportunities for implementing innovative solutions. According to Francis X. Johnson, specialist researcher on the subject, the continent “represents a key testing ground for the future bio-economy”. Africa’s great potential for bioenergy development, if well exploited, could bring significant socioeconomic benefits to rural areas where investment is desperately needed, while also promoting more

climate-friendly development pathways, explains Johnson in his book Bioenergy for Sustainable Development and International competitiveness: The role of sugarcane in Africa.

In this sense, it is important to consider what role biofuels production plays in African countries. For most economies that are highly

dependent on expensive fossil fuels and non-reliable electricity supply, local biofuels production could strengthen their energy security and autonomy. A growing model with potential to sustainably address this challenge is the decentralised installation of ethanol microdistilleries (EMDs) in rural

communities. As smallscale projects adapted to local needs of African communities, EMDs can produce ethanol using multiple varieties of crops as source materials. Implementing an EMD contributes to local development by generating employment, creating a constant demand for agricultural products and adding value to the production chain.

The local experience

The problem of indoor air pollution from cooking with polluting fuels (copyright – Project Gaia)

Following this model of business, a successful EMD project was implemented last October in the city of Ogbomosho, Nigeria. In a ground-breaking initiative of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), the EMD has the capacity to produce 1,000 litres per day of bioethanol from locally-grown cassava.

According to Badmos Soliu,

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Woman and girl collecting firewood for cooking (copyright – Project Gaia)

NABDA’s representative and manager of the EMD, the project is a cornerstone in the much awaited Nigeria’s rural renewable energy revolution.

Amongst the social and economic benefits of the project, Soliu mentions that around 2,500 people will be free of indoor air pollution.

The project also received support from the Nigerian government and from Project Gaia, an international nongovernmental organisation that promotes adoption of clean cooking stoves fuelled by ethanol.

The EMD’s technology was designed by a Brazilian enterprise called Green Social Bioethanol (GSB), with the main goal of making the process for ethanol production more efficient, standardised, and sustainable. In regular distilleries, starch-to-ethanol conversion is constrained by the high temperatures the process requires.

In the process implemented

by GSB, “no-cook” enzymes can break the starch with great efficiency at lower levels in a simultaneous process of saccharification and fermentation. “With this process we could bring access to clean fuels for anywhere in Africa,” explains engineer Eduardo Mallmann, GSB’s founder.

Nigerian worker washing cassava to use in the EMD

replicable. Similar projects can be installed even in remote communities without access to electrical grid due the presence of an ethanol power generator, which supplies enough electricity to keep all machinery at work and also provide extra power to the surrounding community.

Green Social Bioethanol staff working in the production of distillation columns

The generator is fuelled with only a small portion of the ethanol produced in the EMD. This is a very important asset to be considered for projects in Africa, where the lack of a reliable supply of electrical energy still hampers the implementation of many industries. Moreover,

Ethanol micro-distillery implemented in Ogbomosho, Nigeria for producing 1,000 liters of ethanol per day from cassava

by-products of ethanol production from cassava can be used as crop fertilisers and extra feedstock supply, contributing to improvements in agricultural productivity.

“This is a win-win situation for all of us,” says former senator Ayo Adeseun, director of Premium Ranch, a Nigerian private company that also joined the establishment of the project. “Nigeria today imports ethanol for all sorts of uses.

If we can produce ethanol from cassava, this will propel our country’s economy.”

The case in Nigeria is illustrative of many other realities across the African continent, where economies still rely on highly priced imported fuels, especially oil and gas. They also rely heavily on traditional biomass, which leads to health problems and ecological damage.

Substituting bioethanol in the household energy sector offers even more socioeconomic and environmental benefits than its use in the transport sector. In this scenario, local production of bioethanol, when established in an efficient and sustainable manner that respects the environment and empowers local people, can contribute to Africa’s rural development and also to a worldwide transition towards cleaner fuels. l

Reaping the benefits The EMD installed in Ogbomosho has other features that make the model attractive and widely

biofuels international

Bioethanol being produced in the EMD

For more information: This article was written by Luciana Brandão, communications officer at Green Social Bioethanol. Visit: www.green-social.com

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biofuels biofuels in Africa The East African country of Uganda is rapidly developing its biofuels industry

Out of Africa

by Diana Taremwa Karakire

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gandan local sugar companies are racing against time to diversify into commercial ethanol production as they look to tap into the country’s increasingly lucrative energy sector. Leading the pack is the country’s largest producer, Madhavani Group’s Kakira Sugar Works, which is set to start ethanol production at its $35 million (€31.6m) distillery plant in September this year.

Once complete, the sugar firm hopes to produce 32 million litres of ethanol fuel using the 74,000 tonnes of molasses that it produces annually. Last year, Kakira contracted India-based Praj Pune Industries to build the distillery. According to Madhavani Group publicist Angella Kintu, the initiative will help the firm save 500,000 Ugandan shillings per tonne that it loses in the sale of raw black treacle to local dealers.

“These molasses are usually sold off to local gin producers and farmers at low prices,” says Kintu. “With our own distillery, we have a double-edged sword.”

The plant is designed to switch between the production of fuel-grade bioethanol and premiumgrade extra neutral alcohol.

“It is expected to be complete by September this year. This will pave way for ethanol either being blended with petrol to run vehicles or being sold as neutral alcohol for making other products including sanitisers,” Kintu continues.

The timing appears to be right, with Uganda preparing to build a $4 billion oil refinery along its western border

with Congo. The refinery will start with 30,000 barrels-aday of refined fuel products.

With refined petroleum consumption in the East African nation growing at 15% annually, the potential is enormous. The petroleum refinery can then blend petrol with ethanol, the Energy and Minerals Ministry says.

Sugar Corp. of Uganda (SCOUL) is the third largest sugar producer in the country. It is also installing a state-of-the-art distillery with a production capacity

Baanabe, Uganda’s commissioner of the Efficiency and Conservation Department at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, biofuels provide cleaner and environmentally-friendly fuel for industrial purposes, cooking, transport, and power generation.

“Biofuels, especially ethanol, are good for powering vehicles. They do not produce toxic gasses when used,” he says.

The Ugandan government hopes to fast track biofuels

In the energy-hungry East African region, Uganda is the only surplus sugar producer of 35,000 litres per day of premium grade extra neutral alcohol. Currently producing 60,000 million tonnes of sugar annually, the company has embarked upon expanding its distillery and alcohol production plant to an annual 9 million litres by 2017 with products such as ethanol and extra neutral alcohol.

Governmental support In the energy-hungry East African region, Uganda is the only surplus sugar producer and the chances of tapping into the biofuel sector will give the producers an added edge. The government of Uganda has expressed that biofuels production can solve the energy needs of the country, reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels, and encourage economic growth.

According to James

development to secure a stable energy supply and diversify the energy sector for long-term economic development by 2040. It has demonstrated commitment to biofuels production by putting in place legislation, the Biofuels Bill 2015, which is still awaiting parliamentary approval and enactment.

The bill will create incentives like tax rebates, which will encourage investors to develop biofuels. It is also meant to help project developers acquire a secure market in the sector.

The bill complements the Renewable Energy Policy for Uganda 2007, which provides for compulsory blending of biofuels with fossil fuels in regulated proportions to 20% of the former component.

Kintu says that the bill could reduce the country’s cost of importing petroleum

products and set terms of producing ethanol for domestic use and for export.

She adds that the legislation will enable developers to access long-term finance for project development in the biofuels industry.

The benefits of biofuels Over the past decade, Madhvani has invested $75 million in cane-crushing facilities and in a power plant using bagasse, a cane fibre. At the moment, the sugar firm uses 20MW of the 52MW it produces, selling the remainder to the national grid. With the discovery of abundant fossil fuel reserves, coupled with the promotion of investments and research in biofuels, Uganda is on its way to fuel self-reliance.

Uganda is set to begin pumping its first commercial oil in 2020 after substantial reserves were discovered near the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006. Only 40% of the country’s potential has been explored so far and there is hope of further finds.

A consortium of companies, led by UK-based Tullow Oil, Total, and China National Offshore Oil Corp. hope to produce up to 60,000 barrels per day, which could increase to 120,000. These oil companies will be obliged by law to blend fossil oil with bioethanol, up to the E20 standard. Banaabe says that blending petroleum products with biofuels will enhance the life of the Uganda’s oil fields through partial substitution.

This also provides lucrative market for bioethanol.

Uganda meets more than

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Kakira ethanol plant

93% of its energy demand with biomass in the form of charcoal and firewood, 6% with fossil fuel combustion, and only 1% with electricity from hydropower, according to Ministry of Energy statistics. Only about 15% of the population has access to electricity, and in rural areas percentage sinks as low as 7%. This has resulted in the depletion of the country’s forests and woodlands. The loss of these fragile ecosystems not only has serious implications on Uganda’s biodiversity, but also compromises the nation’s ability to cope with climate change.

According to the Ministry of Energy, it is hoped that bioenergy will increase the renewable energy mix from 4% to 61% of total energy consumption by 2017. Uganda also has a national strategy for bioenergy development, including growing biofuel crops to contribute to the country’s energy balance.

Investors have already shown interest in developing biofuel

biofuels international

projects in Uganda. Last year an ethanol extraction factory was established in Lira District in northern Uganda. The $1.8 million Kamtech Logistics plant is located at Barlwala in Adekokwok sub-county.

Farmers are no longer worried about a market for their cassava, as they sell it to the plant for ethanol production.

Opposing opinions A few companies have also already established massive biodiesel feedstock farms in different parts of the country.

Among these companies are Nexus Biodiesel, a US-based biodiesel company, and African Power Initiative (API).

Nexus has planted more than 400 hectares of jatropha in Isimba, Masindi, which is three hours north of Kampala.

API has planted about 4,000 acres of castor oil and jatropha in Namalu, Karamoja region. The companies are already producing diesel.

Kakira’s entry into biofuels comes at a time when the price of crude oil is averaging

at $50 a barrel, massively down from $100 barely a year ago, which is hurting the global biofuels industry.

However, even as crude prices have been volatile, the biofuel industry remains lucrative as countries seek cleaner energy in the face of global warming. Blending also reduces over-reliance on the volatile global crude markets.

Biofuels production brings many benefits for Uganda by providing access to clean energy services. Production of ethanol from sugarcane and maize grain is likely to increase grain and cane prices, which in turn will benefit smallscale farmers that work as growers for larger companies.

This will also increase maize and cane grain output.

But environmentalists and food rights activists worry that although curbing modern energy shortages is crucial for Uganda’s development, the biofuel industry may have negative consequences especially on food security.

They thus continue to oppose to the development

of biofuels, which they say creates a shift from growing crops for food to growing crops for profits. Another argument is that biofuel crops demand large chunks of land and thus compete with food crops further.

“Biofuel production is not sustainable as it does not lead to poverty alleviation or an improvement in livelihoods,” says Kabongo Isaac, the director at Ecological Christian Foundation, a local Ugandan non-governmental organisation. Farmers involved in growing feedstocks for biodiesel projects are already facing food shortages because they have neglected to grow food crops to sustain their families by committing all their farm lands and labour to growing jatropha and other feedstocks as their mainstay, Isaac argues.

“The proceeds they earn from the sale of biofuel feedstocks are spent on buying food and other necessities from the markets.

It will most likely worsen food shortages,” he adds. l

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biofuels torrefaction Oxidation catalyst brings major benefits to torrefaction

Letting the cat out of the bag

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lthough the advantages of torrefaction are tremendous, wellrecognised, and enumerated in publication after publication, the process of safely and efficiently producing torrefied biomass has proven difficult.

As companies began to scale up from bench-scale through demonstration to commercial scale, problems appeared.

Torrefaction technology developers came to recognise the challenges associated with the technology, especially the difficulty of handling the volatile gases generated from the torrefaction process.

Failure to properly handle these gases can lead to a myriad of problems, including an increased possibility of fires and explosions and a decrease in process efficiency.

Advanced Torrefaction Systems (ATS) has developed a solution to the problems associated with handling these dangerous gases by destroying them immediately upon creation using an oxidation catalyst. The technology carries with it the added benefit that in the

destruction of these gases, large volumes of safe inert gases are produced that can be used to purge the whole torrefaction system.

This technology is called ATS TorreCat technology.

Highly volatile gases, mainly carbon monoxide (CO) and a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are produced during the torrefaction process. These gases are not only dangerous, but they contain significant energy that is wasted if not beneficially utilised. ATS TorreCat uses an oxidation catalyst to safely combust these volatile gases and convert them into a hightemperature, low-residualoxygen (200-400ppm) inert gas stream of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and steam.

This inert gas stream, a by-product of the catalytic process, is subsequently utilised as the heat source for both torrefaction and pre-drying of the biomass feedstock. In addition, the inert gas stream, when cooled, can be used in downstream processes such as product cooling, fine grinding, and

Advantages of ATS TorreCat technology • Destruction of the torrefaction gases from all system components results in a much safer process • Heat for the process comes from the hot inert flue gases generated by catalytic oxidation • No VOC-laden recycle loop is needed in direct-contact reactors • The inert catalyst flue gases can be used as a VOC stripping gas in indirect-contact reactors • The inert catalyst flue gases can be cooled and used for safe product cooling, fine grinding, and densification • Catalytic oxidation results in higher efficiencies and lower cost operations • Catalytic oxidation can destroy VOCs at an efficiency rate of 99+% • Low temperature catalytic oxidation results in the generation of essentially no NOx or CO • A torrefaction system with catalytic oxidation requires less supplemental fuel, the supplemental burner is smaller and less expensive, and materials of construction for heat exchangers and duct piping for handling inert gas are much less expensive than for highly volatile torrefaction gases.

© INL.

densification. Implementation of the catalytic process results in significant improvement in operational safety and higher energy efficiency, and the entire process benefits from an internally generated inert purge gas, thereby eliminating the expense associated with purchasing or generating these needed gases.

Case study

Oxidation catalyst in INL torrefaction system

In February, 2016, ATS worked with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to design and install an oxidation catalyst in the INL’s torrefaction system in Idaho Falls, Idaho, US. Two rounds of tests were performed at different temperature levels. Tyler Westover, an INL engineer who oversaw the experiment, states that the tests were successful and

the catalyst destroyed CO and VOCs below detection levels. In addition, the inert gas stream from the catalyst was successfully used directly in the reactor as a heat source.

Catalytic oxidation brings many benefits to the torrefaction process, and ATS TorreCat Technology can be incorporated into almost any existing torrefaction technology.

The company is pleased with the results of the INL tests. ATS believes that use of an oxidation catalyst is absolutely necessary to provide the safest, most efficient torrefaction process possible. l For more information: This article was written by Dan Herren, president at Advanced Torrefaction Systems. Visit: www.advancedtorrefactionsystems.com

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Piero Ercoli, VP Biofuels Trading, Eni Trading & Shipping

Khurram Gaba, Policy Planning Executive, ExxonMobil

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Dr Mark P. Elless, Technology Manager, Bioenergy Technologies Office US Department of Energy

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biofuels fractionation In the midst of industry-wide issues and uncertainty, first-generation ethanol plants must diversify their output or face a possible downfall

The theory of ethanol evolution

E

arlier this year a Fortune Magazine article (4 February, 2016) announced that “ethanol’s days are numbered”. According to the magazine’s theory, the outlook for ethanol is bleak due to several reasons, including oil prices being as low as they have been in years, thin crush margins, an oversupply of oil and fuel, and lingering questions about ethanol’s environmental impact.

There is no doubt that the ethanol industry faces challenges, perhaps even more now than past cycles.

Archer Daniels Midland is considering divesting its three dry mill plants and its Brazilian sugarcane ethanol plant.

Other ethanol companies are experiencing financial stress.

Bashing ethanol in the public and political domain seems fashionable, but the fact remains the same – ethanol is the cheapest and safest

CPT’S Frac model

and new ways of thinking.

Simply put, winners generally think “outside the box” and those that do not adapt usually do not win. The US ethanol industry is no exception. Pressure to

Ethanol is the cheapest and safest way to raise the octane level in petrol way to raise the octane level in gasoline. Obviously the industry needs to find new opportunities for the first generation facilities that, despite having to endure these challenges, have been a tremendous success story in US energy.

Every industry experiences downturns and significant events that force changes

change is mounting and some companies are going to thrive.

Politicians and some industry advocates say that cellulosic ethanol is the answer. Others say reducing the carbon intensity, diversifying into bio-based chemicals, or focusing on safer food or feed products is the answer.

What if the answer is all of the above? Now

might be the time to make radical changes instead of incremental adjustments.

Diversification with fractionation Corn fractionation is a mechanical dry milling technology that separates whole corn into its primary components – endosperm, germ, and bran. State-of-theart corn dry milling systems employ highly efficient and economical processes to provide endosperm, a concentrated starch stream, to the ethanol plant. Components of the kernel that do not easily convert into ethanol (i.e. are low in starch, high in oil, and high in fibre) are removed before the ethanol process, making the ethanol plant more efficient, which saves both

energy and water usage.

The removal of these nonfermentable components also allows the plant to increase capacity and create new value-added co-products, such as corn oil, for human consumption. Up until recently, edible corn oil was predominantly produced at large wet corn mills. Corn oil from the dry fractionation process is about 25% more valuable than distiller’s corn oil and more than a pound of oil per bushel of corn can be extracted. Removing oil from the germ does not negate the use of backend oil separation, since there is some oil that carries through with the endosperm.

Another characteristic that makes fractionation attractive is the ability to create a bran stream containing a

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Corn bran produced in the fractionation process

high amount of cellulose, hemicellulose, and is low in lignin that can be combusted in a biomass boiler or converted into cellulosic ethanol to generate D3 RINs. When bran is removed via fractionation, the dried distillers grains (DDGs) are less prone to mycotoxin issues since the mycotoxins typically reside in the bran. Not only are the DDGs safer, but they also contain over 40% protein, which gives them a value closer to soyabean meal.

In utilising corn dry fractionation, the goal is to capture the highest level of available starch in the endosperm stream and to keep “non-fermentables” out of the ethanol plant. By doing so, the delivery of concentrated starch into the ethanol plant is consistent and leads to better fermentation predictability and efficiency.

The starch-dense endosperm stream (14% higher than whole corn) also creates a slurry which is far less viscous than that from ground whole corn, resulting in less abrasion. The ethanol plant will replace the germ and bran with more of this starch-dense endosperm, creating a compound increase in ethanol yield of up to 20% with essentially the same ethanol asset.

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Fractionation systems are constructed in modular form and capable of processing up to 800 bushels of corn per hour per module. Bolted-on modules contain all of the necessary equipment to make the milling separation and have common whole corn delivery systems and coproduct collection systems.

Simply aligned in sequence or parallel, they can easily be sized to fit ethanol biorefineries of all capacities and layouts of varying complexity.

From the time the whole kernel enters the fractionation plant to the time its separated streams are delivered takes less than four minutes.

One of the most unique ways to fractionate corn is to remove the germ in the first step of the process without grinding the corn kernel. This method yields a very high germ stream that contains 21% or more oil content, which is slightly more oil than a soyabean, plus the germ is not degraded or damaged in the process. In terms of diversification, a 100 million gpy ethanol plant could generate up to 43.5 million pounds of corn oil worth $15.5 million (€13.7m) at the current crude corn oil price. The plant would still generate $2.0 - $3.0 million in distillers corn oil revenue.

Component separation via fractionation unlocks the door to exciting new products that can be captured from the isolated germ, bran, and endosperm streams.

New biotech companies are already developing highly valuable products, such as recombinant enzymes from the germ, dextrose from the endosperm, and cellulosic ethanol from the bran. Fuels, bio-based products, and human food products are being made from fractionated corn components – not just in the lab, but in commercial facilities.

The only way to unlock the door to this type of product diversification is by separating the components of the feedstock first – just like every other commodity processing industry. By diversifying the co-product base, ethanol producers who add fractionation can reduce the risk associated with volatile fuel markets and inconsistent implementation of regulations. Fractionation offers the potential to sell to broader markets and shift production portfolios as the market shifts, reducing risk and adding stability for the ethanol producer.

When evaluating fractionation technology, it is important to determine the degree to which the components have been separated, as well as the yield of the components.

Quality and quantity of separation are key. The process itself is quite simple, but technological capabilities vary among fractionation process providers.

The fractionation process steps Dry corn fractionation is a milling process that occurs prior to the ethanol conversion process to separate the corn into the three primary components.

After fractionation, the high starch component, which contains 14% more starch per

pound than whole corn, is fed directly to the ethanol plant.

The other components can then be further processed into higher value products. The short summary that follows describes the process by which corn is milled before conversion into ethanol.

Cleaning and conditioning – When delivered to the fractionation plant, the corn is cleaned of cobs, stalks, tramp metal, and stones.

Starch-rich fines or “thrus” from the cleaning process are collected and spouted directly to the ethanol plant without further processing. After cleaning, the corn is prepared for degermination to remove the whole germ, which contains approximately 85% of the oil in the corn.

Degerming – The corn is conveyed through a tramp metal magnet once more to assure protection of downstream equipment. At this point, the corn is delivered to the degerminator and the germ is removed from the corn without heat or water.

This method of removal assures better storage and handling characteristics as well as better oil quality.

Roller milling – After degermination, a stream divider evenly distributes the degermed corn to a set of roller mills that apply pressure to the particles by counterrotating steel rollers.

This causes endosperm to be ground finer while leaving the germ intact.

Separation and sizing – Corn components are sized and sent through aspirators for bran separation. The bran stream passes through a bran finisher to remove any attached endosperm particles.

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biofuels fractionation Finally, mechanical conveying equipment collects and combines the endosperm, germ, and bran streams from each module. Each step is computer controlled and monitored via a human interface system.

Flow rate throughout the plant is directed by an automated program.

Fractionation – Why now?

The concept and inclusion of dry corn fractionation in the ethanol industry is not new.

The industry has long known that the day would come when ethanol plants would need to adopt new technology to survive, which is why most modern ethanol plants have a “wide spot” in the line to add fractionation technology. The key to the future of ethanol will not be who can make the

A unique degerminator “pops” out the corn germ in whole

most ethanol per bushel of corn, but who can create the most value per bushel. No one could have predicted that the Renewable Fuel Standard might lapse or possibly be repealed. Hopefully rational

thinking will overtake the political arena and everyone will realise that ethanol is a superior fuel oxygenate that reduces our dependence on foreign oils. It is clearly time to consider all of the

diversification strategies very carefully and act quickly. l For more information: This article was written by Pete Moss, president at CPT. Visit: www.cerealprocess.com

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A new technology is unlocking new opportunities for advanced biofuels in aviation markets

Surface-to-air: All eyes on jet fuel

U

S company Vertimass was organised in 2012 to commercialise game-changing technology invented at Tennessee-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for ethanol conversion into jet fuel, as well as petrol and diesel fuel blendstocks and chemicals. The resulting products can profitably expand the impact of renewable transportation fuels and accelerate addressing pressing issues of global climate change, energy security, and domestic employment.

Process simplicity The company’s simple onestep ethanol conversion can open up vast jet fuel markets and greatly expand ethanol use in automotive petrol and diesel fuel. The technology offers numerous advantages, including no addition of hydrogen or other supplements, short reaction times, high product yields, and low-pressure operation.

The result is low capital and operating costs that provide significant competitive advantages for production of renewable hydrocarbon fuels. Renewable identification numbers (RINs) are expected to pass through from the ethanol feedstock to the final fuel product and further enhance economics.

In addition, Vertimass technology offers the flexibility to increase overall profitability through co-production of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene (BTEX).

The huge market size of these products makes expansion of ethanol production via the

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company’s technology virtually insatiable for years to come and can lead to explosive ethanol market growth and profitability. Furthermore, the technology could debottleneck existing processes whose throughput is limited by ethanol recovery capacity and provide significant water use, energy consumption,

facilitate rapid expansion into higher value BTEX markets.

These initial commercial projects can catalyse rapid rollout to more than 200 existing US corn ethanol plants and numerous Brazilian cane sugar ethanol facilities with capacities to annually produce more than 15 and 6 billion gallons of ethanol, respectively, as well as

The company plans to widely license its breakthrough technology to substantially expand use of sustainable transportation fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and greenhouse gas emission benefits for existing and new ethanol production facilities.

Rapid technology roll out Vertimass plans to rapidly commercialise this technology through working with Technip, a major engineering firm with unique pilot facilities near Boston coupled with extensive scale-up successes and engineering experience relevant to the company’s goals. This approach is expected to feed design and construction of first commercial projects within less than two years and initial large-scale operations less than one year later.

Fuel produced during pilot plant operations at Technip will be used to qualify Vertifuel as a petrol and diesel blend stock and support Tier 1 and 2 qualifications for blending with jet fuel. In addition, Technip’s experience in producing and refining petrochemicals will

to other existing and emerging producers around the world.

It can also accelerate commercial growth of converting non-food cellulosic biomass such as switchgrass, poplar wood, and agricultural and forestry residues into ethanol. This offers significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The US Department of Energy acknowledged the importance of the Vertimass technology and strategy by awarding the company $2 million (€1.8m) from an extremely competitive solicitation to further accelerate commercial entry and validated our approach prior to the award through a thorough review by a team of experts.

Implementation and expansion of ethanol markets Once the technology platform has been established, Vertimass plans to widely license its breakthrough

technology to substantially expand use of sustainable transportation fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security and domestic economies. The company recognised the disconnect in the automotive petrol fuel sector between the important increase in renewable fuel consumption goals set by the Environmental Protection Agency through the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the amount of ethanol that can be used in the vast majority of vehicles on the road (mostly 10% ethanol in petrol).

In addition, the more than 200 ethanol plants in the US had a production capacity of about 15 billion gallons per year. The result was a “blend wall” that stymied continued expansion of ethanol production for the transportation fuel market.

This market cap forced several ethanol production facilities to reduce production or shut down and impeded future ethanol plant construction.

In addition, even though ethanol is the least expensive renewable fuel, it is not well suited for heavy-duty vehicles, air travel, or chemical markets.

Consequently, expansion of ethanol production reached a stalemate. However, Vertimass technology can now overcome these barriers by converting ethanol into hydrocarbons that are fungible with existing light duty, heavy duty, and aviation fuel markets while also providing the flexibility to sell chemical feedstocks. l For more information: Charles E. Wyman, president, CEO and founder of Vertimass.

Visit: www.vertimass.com

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biofuels aviation Conversion of lignin, a common waste product, has potential to increase production of US biofuels

Spotlight on lignin

T

he US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates the development of 79 billion litres of second-generation biofuels annually by 2022.

As a result, approximately 56 million tonnes of lignin, an organic polymer that makes plants woody and rigid and a common byproduct of the ethanol production process, will be produced annually as well.

Until the last several years, the product was seen as a waste product, with no definable use. But through research and newly developed patented processes, scientists and engineers have been able to define varied uses for lignin.

“Lignin is an abundant raw material,” says Bin Yang, associate professor of biological systems engineering at Washington State University Tri-Cities (WSU-TC). “It makes up approximately 30% of the weight and 40% of the energy content of biomass utilised in the production of ethanol.”

Yang says the structure of the material also suggests a central role as a chemical feedstock, particularly in the formation of supramolecular materials and aromatic chemicals, which are required in transportation and other fuels. There is potential for lignin in using it as a source of power, liquid transportation fuel, and other products, depending on the biomass source, location, and available technology. Until this point, only heat and power production have been fully demonstrated as a potential use. Yang and his team, however, have figured out a

“Lignin is an abundant raw material” Bin Yang, associate professor of biological systems engineering at WSU-TC

way to successfully convert the common wood by-product into hydrocarbon molecules that could be used as jet fuel and other propellants.

Growing the economy Last year, the ethanol industry added $44 billion (€39.8bn) to the US gross domestic product and contributed $10 billion in taxes. The sector’s economic activity and job creation also helped raise household income by $24 billion. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, corn stover ethanol design base case, plants that have the capacity to produce 57.2 million gallons of ethanol would also have the capability of producing an additional 20 million gallons of lignin-based jet fuel. The effort would further grow the biofuels industry while growing dollars yielded from the additional fuel produced each year.

Yang says that based on current techno-economic analysis results, co-production of jet fuel from waste lignin can dramatically improve the overall economic viability of an integrated process for corn stover ethanol production. His process allows the lignin conversion in one step, utilising a single reactor and appropriate catalysts. The resulting product will then be separated

and purified to obtain the jet fuel hydrocarbons that can be used in turbine engines. The simplicity of the process, he says, could make the lignin-derived future fuel a cheaper option.

Replacing need for petroleum-based fuel Ralph Cavalieri, director of WSU’s Office of Alternative Energy, said molecules derived from biomass currently must be combined with petroleum-based jet fuel to meet the certification requirements for jet fuel.

Yang’s procedure, however, may be able to supply the molecules that are necessary to be certified as a jet fuel.

“With the research being conducted by Yang, it may be possible to develop a more complete suite of molecules required for turbine engine systems using only biomass feedstocks, making the process more economically feasible and efficient,” he says.

Yang’s team is currently working with Boeing to develop and test the hydrocarbons targeted to be jet fuel from his process.

“If we can make jet fuel from the biomass-derived lignin, it addresses the nation’s challenge for the production of clean, domestic biofuels that can help replace crude oil,” Yang says.

In addition to hydrocarbons suitable for jet turbine engines, Yang is using lignin to produce a variety of other chemicals and materials.

Through two recent grants funded by the US Department of Energy, both headed by Texas A&M University, he leads WSU’s effort to produce lipids and bioplastics created from lignin. He also is working with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado on projects to convert lignin into a range of chemicals, including supercapacitors.

Yang and his team’s research is supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency through the US Department of Defense, as well as the US Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Sun Grant from the US Department of Transportation, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Seattle-based Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation. l

For more information: This article was written by Maegan Murray, public relations/ communication coordinator at Washington State University TriCities. Visit: http://tricities.wsu.edu

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On the tails of a recent biofuel-powered flight, the airline industry is looking to the future of renewable fuels and what they have to offer

Catching wind

A

n Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to San Francisco made history as the first commercial flight to use renewable alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) based on isobutanol. This new fuel, recently incorporated into the commercial jet fuel specification by ASTM (an international standards body), gives airlines a new option for reducing and ultimately eliminating fossil resources in their fuel, and hence providing a route for greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions for commercial aviation.

The timing could not be better. A UN mandate and increasing government pressure is causing the entire aviation industry to consider how to be more sustainable.

Worldwide, the airline industry contributes about 2% of the planet’s total GHG emissions, but air travel is expected to boom in coming years with a doubling of passengers and flights predicted by 2030.

The increase will drive growth in jet fuel consumption – as well as in GHG emissions, particulates, and other trace chemical pollutants both from the burning of the fuel during flight and as a result of the production of the fuel in the first place. This growth is making the industry one of the fastest growing polluters with GHG emission increasing by 50% per year.

What needs to be done?

In February, the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) proposed a new set of rules that would regulate GHG emissions from the airline industry.

If approved, the rules will require new aircraft shipping

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by 2028 to be – on average – 4% more fuel-efficient compared to today’s levels.

The airline industry itself, represented by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has agreed to its own sustainability guidelines that are even more aggressive. These guidelines include: • Fuel efficiency improvement of 1.5% per year on average between 2009 and 2020 • Carbon-neutral growth from 2020 • 50% net emissions reduction in 2050 compared to 2005 However, according to the industry’s own data, efficiencies are not sufficient and they need to do something about over-reliance on fossilbased jet fuel. Carbon neutral growth cannot be achieved without the use of renewable resource-based fuels.

While the airline industry recognises the need for GHG mitigation and pollution mitigation, the question is how to achieve it. The leaders recognise that they need to create demand for alternative jet fuels or regulation and increasing taxation will likely be a certainty. Alternative fuels simply cannot be turned on instantly as they take years to develop. The fuels must be proven acceptable for commercial use, and it takes time to build out the capital assets to make significant quantities of fuel.

Where is the industry now?

In April, ASTM International, the world’s largest standard setting body, released a new version of ASTM D7566, the standard that governs jet fuel with synthesised

An Alaska Airlines jet is fuelled with Gevo biofuel

hydrocarbons. The new standard approves the use of alcohol-to-jet synthetic paraffinic kerosene (ATJ-SPK), derived from renewable isobutanol and resulting in three renewable resource-based jet fuel alternatives included in the commercial specification.

The renewable alternatives are: A) Jet fuel made from vegetable oil or tallow through chemical processing. This process (called HEFA) has been proven to be operable and is just entering the commercialisation stage.

B) An additive for jet fuel made from carbohydrates called farnasane via primarily a fermentation process.

C) A jet fuel made from an alcohol called isobutanol by a chemical process. The isobutanol can be made from carbohydrates by a fermentation process. This product is referred to as alcohol-to-jet, or ATJ. Of these three routes, data suggests that the ATJ route is the most effective in terms of operating cost, capital cost, feedstock availability, scalability, and translation across geographies.

One more approved route

to alternative jet fuels is called Fischer Tropsch (FT). This process traditionally uses coal as the feedstock, although companies are putting forth effort to use natural gas or recycled plastics. Of course, these routes depend upon fossil carbon sources. There is potential for FT to be adapted to renewable carbon sources, but this process still needs to be developed and proven to work at a commercial scale. FT generally has the highest capital cost to deploy compared to other alternative jet process routes.

The airline industry has a problem with its GHG emissions, but as the Alaska Airlines flight demonstrates, there are solutions to this challenge that work well. The next step will be building out the full commercial capability to produce alternative jet fuels that have an improved sustainability profile. The leaders in the industry, like Alaska, are already taking steps to make the alternatives reality, understanding that it takes time to build out the commercial asset infrastructure. l For more information: This article was written by Patrick Gruber, CEO of Gevo. Visit: www.gevo.com

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biofuels testing and analysis The consequences of and possible solutions to microbiological contamination in biodiesel

Biocide solution

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icrobiological contamination in biodiesel/ gasoil mixtures represents a major operative and qualitative problem both at a refinery level and along the fuel distribution system.

Bacterial proliferation can cause the formation of organic deposits in storage tanks and even the growth of a biological film directly on the filling stations’ filter surfaces, increasing refilling time until their complete plugging. In the long term, it can also give rise to corrosion and quality problems with the fuel.

These phenomena are more common during summer when higher temperatures promote bacterial growth, but problems have been widely reported also in the colder months. In the last few years these issues have increased in frequency, firstly due to the reduction of gasoil’s sulphur content as sulphur-containing compounds are toxic to microbes, and secondly due to the introduction of biodiesel. Biodiesel was first considered to be responsible for the problem, as operators believed it was the cause of the bacterial contamination. Indeed, biodiesel does naturally contain microorganisms, but only in a “latent form” and limited concentration.

Bacteria, fungi, and yeast proliferate exponentially only once mineral diesel and biodiesel are blended, because in this fuel mix they find a perfect environment containing all they need: easily biodegradable biodiesel, the essential nutrients/ elements present in the mineral gasoil, and water.

The first places where the microbiological contamination might occur are the storage

and transport tanks where water can accumulate on the bottom. These tanks then become more and more contaminated during continuous fillings.

Microbiological contamination might partially clog the tanks’ filters, leading to filter rupture when fuel is pumped from the tanks. In the latter case, a carryover of sludge might occur and cause issues even to the end-user (e.g. at service stations).

contamination. Contamination is normally considered high when a value above 1,000CFU/l is observed. Other fuel phase or water phase methods are also available on the market for evaluating microbial contamination.

Biocides to the rescue As the contamination problem is now felt all over Europe, most fuel producers and handlers (that is, service

Sludge on a filter of a filling station

The resulting microbial contamination appears as a floating mucilage (biomass) present at the fuel/water boundaries and also attached to the tank walls (biofilm).

Bacteria are normally quantified by the IP385 analysis. This method comprises filtering the gasoil through a sterile membrane and then incubating it for five days on a culture media.

The results, expressed in “colony-forming units” per litre (CFU/l), give the proper indication of the seriousness of the microbiological

station owners) are looking for or applying remedies to counteract these issues and avoid them getting even worse. Many biodiesel producers have also decided to offer biodiesel containing biocide straight from the factory to reassure fuel buyers of the premium quality of their product. Sometimes the presence of a biocide may even be requested by the buyer. The use of biocides is the most widely adopted and easily implemented solution for controlling bacterial contamination.

Biocides aim to eliminate existing and prevent the onset of possible new bacteria.

In the case of a high degree of contamination and a biological film found on the tank walls, biocides provide a superficial action, killing the microorganisms on the outermost layers. These layers will then be naturally removed due to the detachment of dead bacteria, which makes is easy for the fuel to become recontaminated by the still living bacteria present in inner biofilm layers. Further biocide applications will be necessary until all of the biofilm has been removed. This process can take a long time, which sets a limit on the benefits of the chemical treatment.

For this reason, when faced with serious contamination, mechanical tank cleaning is usually recommended before the biocide application.

Biocides should be applied through shock treatment when microbiological contamination is high, and this process might have to be repeated until the level of contamination has significantly decreased. Then a maintenance treatment at much lower dosages is recommended to avoid any further contamination in the tank. When classic biocides are applied through shock treatments on highly contaminated storage tanks, the likelihood of filter clogging might increase due to the removal of a large amount of bacteria attached to the internal walls of the tanks, forcing operators to clean the filters mechanically. Even filters with relatively large meshes can get clogged, although the microorganisms are relatively small individually (<5 microns). This is due to the fact that generally the bacteria are present as aggregates

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Bacterial proliferation can cause the growth of a biological film directly on filling stations’ filter surfaces

of microbes (colonies), reaching sizes significantly greater than 5 microns.

To enhance the efficiency of the treatment and to

prevent possible side effects, a new generation of biocides including both additives with biocide action and innovative biodispersants has been

introduced to the market.

The biocide-biodispersants allow for a faster removal of the biofilm and bacterial contamination, as well

as reducing the need for mechanical cleaning of filters and tanks to a minimum.

Applying these new products help operators avoid the interruption of the fuel supply at service stations due to by removing the need for mechanical cleaning.

When operators are faced with increased filling times, dark deposits on the surface of filters, or analytical evidence indicating the presence of high levels of contamination, biocide treatment should be considered to guarantee the quality of the sold fuel.

Choosing the right additive, as well as the best practice to guarantee successful treatment, should be made with the support of an expert from the chosen supplier. l For more information: This article was written by Stefano Cacciatori, technical engineer at Chimec. Visit: www.chimec.com

BIODIESEL ENERGIZED BY Baynox® extends the shelf life of Biodiesel With Baynox®, safety definitely comes first. Safety from oxidation and the formation of substances which can damage the engine. That‘s why Baynox® has been the reference product for biodiesel stabilisation for over 10 years. More and more producers are turning to Baynox® for efficient and cost-effective protection for biofuels derived from rapeseed, soybeans, sunflower, tallow or used cooking oil. For further information about our comprehensive Baynox® service, go to: www.baynox.com

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biofuels testing and analysis A risk managed approach to the management of microbial infection in fuel storage tanks

Good fuel husbandry lowers operational costs

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icrobial infection can create serious risks to any fuel storage operations.

Microbes occur naturally in the water phase found within fuel supplies. They multiply in the water and at the fuel/water interface feeding off carbon in the fuel. The lead organism is often Hormoconis resinae (H Res), which has a filamentous (long stranded) fungi structure.

This acts as a binding material for other microorganisms to cling to, which results in the formation of a biomass in the fuel. When infected badly enough, a layer of biomass develops at the bottom of the fuel storage tank. This biomass layer generates organic acids that pit corrode tank surfaces wherever the biomass comes into contact with them. Furthermore, if the biomass then becomes disturbed, it floats in the fuel as a suspended material that is sucked into outlet filters creating blockages.

The damage microbial infections cause poses significant risks to machinery and operations. The biomass formed can not only block filters but increase exhaust emissions, reduce fuel efficiency, cause extensive corrosion damage, damage motor injectors, and, if left unchecked, can result in complete engine failure and extensive, costly repairs.

The increased use of biofuels to produce more environmentally-friendly operations increases the risk further as these fuels attract additional water and provide a better environment for the microbes to thrive in.

business assets while lowering risks to maintenance personnel. However, many operations may not realise that testing to protect fuel supplies and operational integrity need not be a huge overhead.

Testing using immunoassay kits

Fuelstat diesel kit

So how big of a problem is microbial infection? This really depends on the application and market perception differs across the globe. The answer lies in an understanding of the impact of an infection and the likelihood of it occurring.

However, how can this be fully understood without test

Example of contaminated fuel

data to support findings and impact? This is why good fuel husbandry, rather than just fuel management, offers the potential for businesses to save a great deal of time and money while enhancing reliability, protecting their reputation, and reducing overall risk to their operations.

Regular testing of fuel tanks provides the necessary data to optimise maintenance costs and avoid unnecessary expenditure. Companies that base their maintenance on time-based strategies may well be wasting money on biocide dosing that is simply not required. Reducing the need for human interaction with fuel storage tanks further reduces the risks to personnel. Equally, not treating an infected tank will result in damage to tanks or machinery and could result in catastrophic failure. Regular testing can provide accurate, reliable data on infection levels so that a more economical maintenance strategy can be implemented that protects

Immunoassay test kits offer a low-cost, easy-to-use test option that gives quick results and requires little investment.

The kits require no special handling or storage and have no onerous disposal requirements beyond the usual procedures for the disposal of fuel. The very nature of how the test works means that there is no risk of cross-contamination, results are accurate and completely reliable.

Immunoassays have long been used in the medical industry to provide quick and accurate testing to detect specific molecules. They use antibodies that bind to a specific antigen to detect its presence and produce a measureable signal in response to this binding that can be used to assess fuel contamination levels. Microbial contamination correlates to the activity of microbial growth in the sample. The amount of antigen produced when microorganisms grow in the fuel is measured for a known sample size. This gives the amount of active microorganisms in the fuel and gives a very accurate indication of contamination levels. Immunoassay test kits offer sites a quick return on investment, work in all

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Dirty fuel

middle distillate fuels, and are ideal for use in biofuel applications. They give immediate results on-site in a form that is easy to interpret.

A growing market awareness Immunoassay test kits can be used wherever fuel is used, stored, or transported.

They offer an inexpensive, robust strategy and are used in commercial and general aviation, upstream, midstream and downstream, oil and gas storage, supply chain applications, road and rail, and marine industries.

Basically, wherever there is a fuel store, whether it is regularly used or not, microbial infection testing can offer benefits. In the oil and gas market, applications include emergency power generation systems, emergency pumping, escape equipment, floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, and service vessels. In other areas, the test kits can assist with managing the risks of contamination to heavy earthmoving equipment, air, land and sea military applications, helicopters, retail fuel sites, and all types of diesel engine-driven heavy plant.

Admitting there is a problem with microbial contamination of fuel is not always a discussion or area people want to enter into but there is growing awareness about the issues and risks it raises. Fuel forecourts,

biofuels international

for example, are becoming more cautious as even small users such as car drivers become aware of issues relating to car breakdowns and they look to protect their reputations. Marine fuel suppliers are also testing not only to protect their assets but to ensure quality and avoid potential user issues.

As the European Committee for Standardisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s EN590 standard now allows for up to 7% biodiesel to be used in diesel supplies, awareness is further increasing in industries covering marine, land and military applications as to the potential risks of fuel contamination.

Using testing to control risks Repeated testing of fuel tanks gives operators better control over risks and overheads. A good fuel husbandry regime should include frequent

Contaminated sludge fuel

draining of water content to reduce the chance of microbial growth. Regular testing then enables any infection to be handled before it becomes corrosive. If required, tank dosing should be carried out with a biocide approved for the particular application.

Testing gives operators the information they need to formulate the correct course of action to protect their assets.

If test results show only little or no infection, operations can continue without the need for biocide dosing.

Moderate infection requires treatment of the fuel with an approved biocide. Heavy infection requires a tank to be emptied and cleaned, which is a time-consuming procedure and can affect a siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to meet production schedules. This costly procedure may be avoided altogether as an unplanned maintenance activity if tanks are tested regularly (immunoassay test kits are generally recommended to be used two times per year). Ultimately, good fuel husbandry incorporating regular testing will save money and could save the reputation of a company.

Summary Both companies and industry standard bodies are becoming more aware of the risks of microbial infections and appreciative of the benefits of

a regular testing strategy. This is reflected in the growing use of the Fuelstat test kit from Conidia. Good fuel husbandry, including regular testing, has been shown to give excellent return on investment.

Immunoassay test kits require no capital investment and not only reduce maintenance overheads by eliminating unnecessary use of biocides, but also mitigate more substantial risks to businesses by giving the data needed to protect assets from potentially catastrophic damage.

Microbial contamination is not particular to one part of the supply chain. Sites spanning from oil platforms, through pipelines, terminals and to storage facilities can benefit from a robust testing regime. Tank farms, airport storage, local distribution storage, petrol forecourts, and even large fuel tanks such as aircraft tanks can also benefit. Retail operations are increasingly adding testing procedures to both fuel pumps and underground storage tanks as part of their day-to-day operations.

Looking to the future, as industries look to reduce their carbon footprints, new fuels may present opportunities, but without care could also increase the risks associated with microbial contamination.

The risk of contamination of aviation biofuel, for example, requires further test data to be fully understood and evaluated. Immunoassay test kits, however, offer an easy solution to mitigate these risks for any middle distillate fuel in a solution that has a lot of benefit with very little cost. l

For more information: This article was written by Dr. Joan Kelley, microbiological consultant at Conidia. Visit: www.conidia.com

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Momentum continues to grow for Tank Storage Asia The best and brightest of the Asian tank storage scene will crowd to The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on 27-28 September. Let our preview help you decide who to see and where to go

T

ank Storage Asia 2016, the leading event for the Asian tank storage industry, returns to The Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, on 27-28 September with an expanded show floor, improved conference programme, and more international suppliers than ever before.

The show brings together the best and brightest from the Asian bulk liquid storage industry, providing a great opportunity for leading manufacturers and suppliers to showcase their innovative products and services to a captive audience of international buyers and decision-makers.

Nick Powell, StocExpo and Tank Storage portfolio event director, comments: “The 2016 show is going to be located in a bigger hall on level 1, which reflects just how fast we have grown.

In fact, since 2013 we have increased visitor numbers by 135% and exhibitors by 60%, which is just incredible for a

specialist show like this. It also proves that a well-run event that listens to its audience can capitalise in such a busy and productive marketplace.

“Last year we welcomed industry professionals from all over the globe, covering 52 different countries, and we expect to exceed this in 2016. The educational content we have on offer is more relevant than ever, with a regional and international mix. We are working very hard to make sure the 2016 event offers something for everyone involved with the tank storage industry, so mark the dates in your diaries and stay tuned.”

Packed exhibition hall More than 65 leading organisations are signed up to exhibit at the 2016 show already, including Colfax Fluid Handling, Emco Wheaton, Scully Systems, Siemens, Verwater, Viscoy, Zheijang, Maide Machine, and Brodie International. Many of these will use the show to launch

new products and services to the tank storage market.

For instance, Loadtec Engineered Systems will be presenting the Loadtec Service, its new servicing company aimed at providing quality lifetime servicing and support for road, sea, and marine loading and access equipment.

Fort Vale will be using Tank Storage Asia to launch its Safeload loading arm, the latest addition to its range of products for the petroleum transfer industry. Its unique safety and design features include an integral earth system that ensures electrical continuity without separate wiring, a device to prevent over-rotation, and a threeseal dual needle/dual ball race bearing combination for maximum axial and radial strength and performance.

Its stainless steel and aluminium construction, fitted with specialist highpressure low-friction seals, also ensures high corrosion resistance, rugged durability,

and enhanced performance.

BIOex will be launching its new formula, Ecopol F3 HC. It is the first fluorine-free 3% foam concentrate, suitable for use on hydrocarbon fires.

It performs better than any AFFFs, is biodegradable, and is exceptionally fast acting.

If it is valves you are after, head to the Zwick stand. The company will be displaying its full product ranges, including its metal-seated triple offset butterfly valves, check valves, Tri-Block series, and its double-block-andbleed (DBB) design. The DBB features a unique design of the linkage between the two shafts. This means the user can actuate both shafts with only one actuator and reach zero leakage with the two available sealing surfaces.

Netherlocks Safety Systems will be exhibiting its range of valve position indicators, which offer a highly accurate signal about a valve’s status, helping tank storage operators to ensure a correct line-up of manual valves and avoid

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wrong (off)loading operations, product spills, and product contamination. There will be a particular focus at Tank Storage Asia 2016 on its recently launched aluminium coated A-Series, providing a lightweight, cost-effective, yet high end solution for non-corrosive environments.

Timm Elektronik will be unveiling its new Marine Grounding System, SEK3, which offers the highest safety during the loading and unloading of vessels. It has a compact design, good visibility of status lamps, both on device and clamp, as well as a multifunctional status display. The Marine Grounding System has EX certification according to ATEX and IECEx standard.

The system has been developed in collaboration with the Hamburg University of Applied Science.

Powell comments: “We are thrilled to welcome so many big name exhibitors to the show this year. The floorplan is now 93% full and has already surpassed the size of last year’s exhibition, plus the showfloor is bursting at the seams with innovation, which is all wonderful news. 2016 is going to be the best show yet!”

Educational content The Tank Storage Asia 2016 exhibition runs alongside a two-day conference programme, which features more than 20 global authorities from the bulk liquid

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storage sector. Experts from companies such as Nexant, Tri-Zen, Aurecon, and Peaker Energy will provide visitors with an insight into the sector’s critical issues at both a local level and on a global scale.

Clive Gibson, VP of Asia energy and chemicals at Nexant, will take a regional outlook, focusing on the key drivers for storage demand in Asia crude oil, and looking at the petrochemical trends in the region.

Maintaining the regional emphasis will be Danial Mah, CEO of Labuan International Business and Financial Centre, who will present Malaysia as Asia’s Trading Hub. He will examine why Malaysia is perfectly suited for oil and gas trading, whilst also looking at the incentives for oil commodities traders in the area.

Continuing with this theme will be Moe Merican, lead consultant at Tri-Zen, who will talk about Asia’s oil and gas storage. He will explore the market’s outlook and its investment prospects.

Matthew Goita, CEO of Peaker Energy will analyse the region’s shale industry and the impact of supply and demand.

China is set to be a key focus at the 2016 conference, with Ms Lili, head of research team at ICIS China, taking to the stage on day one to discuss China: Good or bad timing for the crude oil storage business in the world’s top crude importing country? Ms Lili will examine China’s trading, renting

and contango, looking into its crude oil importing and storage prospects, and speaking about China’s State Petroleum Reserve Plan.

With China in mind, Xiabo Liu, general manager at InFull Services will look at China’s storage market, explaining that what you see is not always what you get.

Many of the speakers will be taking a more industry specific focus, for example, Ignatius Hwang, partner at Squire Patton Boggs Singapore, will look at mitigating development risks for storage terminals.

Eric Ho, representative for Southeast Asia and Australia at American Petroleum Institute, will give a policy update, focusing specifically on standards and certifications.

Bob Gill, general manager for Southeast Asia at Arc Advisory Group, will discuss Asset Management, whilst Trinath Sahoo, chief manager at Indian Oil, will be using the conference to explore the advances in storage tank sealing systems and environmental control.

Many may be wondering about the short-, mid-, and long-term effects of the current oil price environment on investment in storage.

Jack van Lint, MD at Nomar Investment, will analyse the impact from both a strategic and investor point of view.

As always, tank integrity continues to play an important role within the bulk liquid sector. Alan Munn, senior engineer at MMI Engineering will outline ten ways that tank

integrity is compromised, and explain how to prevent these turning into major incidents.

Following the same theme, Jonas Berge, director of applied technology at Emerson Process Management Asia Pacific, will detail how to modernise old tank farms, so that they meet all the new requirements and regulations.

Looking towards the future will be Antonio Della Pelle, MD at Enerdata, who will be taking a look at the next 25 years of primary energy demand. He will forecast the energy demand, perform a deep-down analysis of the key new energy and storage requirements – gas/LNG and renewables – and explore the availability of LNG storage for spot trading purposes.

Powell concludes: “Each year we strive to improve the show, keeping it at the forefront of the latest tank storage trends and movements. With this in mind, we put particular focus into providing educational content, that is relevant on a regional, international and industry level. We really feel that this year’s conference has something for everybody.

If you are involved in the bulk liquid sector, then the Tank Storage Asia conference has something for you. It is without doubt our most comprehensive programme yet.” l For more information: To register for free, please visit www. tankstorageasia.com or contact event director Nick Powell, on +44 (0)20 8843 8801 or at nick@stocexpo.com

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biofuels jatropha feedstock Revival of climate targets and increased scientific knowledge may reignite global interest in jatropha

A second chance

D

espite research advances on conversion of biomass residues into so called second-generation biofuels, vegetable oils remain a preferred raw material, especially for the production of bio-middle-distillate fuels (jet fuel, heating kerosene, and petrol and diesel oils). The International Energy Agency (IEA), among others, says that “while vehicle efficiency will be the most important and most cost-efficient way to reduce transport emissions, biofuels will still be needed to provide low-carbon fuel alternatives for planes, marine vessels and other heavy transport modes, and will eventually provide one fifth (2.1 gigatonnes of CO2) of emission reductions in the transport sector”.1 Increasing biofuel content in middle distillates is critical for achieving the global biofuel goals. Around 3 billion tonnes of biomass per year will be needed in 2050 to produce the amount of biofuels envisioned in the IEA roadmap for biofuels. The road map prognoses that approximately a third of the required volume would come from biomass residues and wastes, which would need to be supplemented by production from around 100 million hectares of land – around 2% of total agricultural land.

To achieve this mammoth task, processes for effective conversion of biomass residues into biofuels and new sources of suitable biomass are being evaluated.

Vegetable oils of suitable chemical composition are especially desirable feedstocks because of the ease of conversion to drop-in fuels. The plants oils, however, should have a substantially

– including a study from UN agency ICRISAT – that have shown that jatropha plantations result in substantial carbon sequestration in biomass and soil.3-5 Jatropha cultivation thus has the proven positive effect of increasing the quality of soil where it is grown.

The jathropha plant can grow on poor soil and survive under water stress

positive greenhouse balance and need to be produced without jeopardising human food security and existing forest cover.

All these considerations remain important when considering a global picture, even though the sustained low commodity prices over the last two years – despite rising bioethanol and biodiesel volumes – has led to a rethinking on the nature of the food vs. fuel debate. A recent article co-authored by the International Food Policy Research Institute concluded that biofuels actually support food security in developing countries.2 Why jatropha oil Jatropha oil has been shown to be a highly suitable feedstock for biofuels aimed at replacing fossil-derived middle distillates due to its chemical properties (see table 1 for average fatty acid composition of jatropha oil). Its superior quality as biodiesel feedstock is long known. Recently, airlines (Lufthansa, Air New Zealand) have conducted successful tests on commercial flight with

aviation spirit blended with hydro-treated jatropha oil.

Table 1: Important fatty acids in jatropha oil Palmitic acid 16:0

9-22 %

Stearic acid 18:0

5-8 %

Oleic acid

18:1

35-46 %

Linoleic acid 18:2

30-45%

The attractiveness of jatropha oil as a feedstock comes also from the properties of the jatropha plant. A key advantage of the plant is that it can grow on comparatively poor soil and survive under water stress. It can therefore be cultivated on land usually not preferred for food crop production and where the soil has only limited carbon stock.

It can also be integrated into smallholder farms as a fence crop, generating additional income for them. Being a perennial plant that uses nutrients efficiently, jatropha cultivation is less greenhouse gas (GHG) intensive compared to common vegetable oil crops. Jatropha plant also has a wide distribution and hence is familiar to most farmers in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world.

There are scientific studies

Current status of the sector The potential of the jatropha plant has been known for a long time. Its cultivation as a biofuel crop got a big boost in the first decade of the century when rising crude oil prices and public policies promoting biofuels resulted in high market demand for biodiesel feedstock. Most of these high-profile projects failed as wild collected seeds were used to raise plantations, resulting in high variability and low average yields. Little was known about the agronomy of the plant and the routine plantation management measures required.

Establishment of plantations of the required size for producing “biofuel volumes” of jatropha oil proved to be challenging in remote areas.

Projects supported by shortterm, high-cost capital quickly collapsed, followed by others.

Even under such unfavourable conditions, a few projects did survive and continue to exist, mostly in cases where longer term oriented promoters are involved in project sites where the framework conditions were especially favourable for jatropha cultivation and product marketing.

Will there be a second chance?

Jatropha is in principle still a favourite among the various feedstock options to achieve the challenging global biofuel

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goals, given its properties as a plant, the quality of its oil, and the potential uses of its by-products, such as jatropha kernel meal. For the revival of the crop, the reasons that led to the failures in the first round need to be addressed and remedied. Most importantly, standardised seeds that can grow into plants with predictable oil yields per hectare under given conditions need to be available for planters at reasonable prices.

Secondly, planters should have access to routine plantation management information, including water and nutrient requirements of the crop, likely pests and diseases and prophylactic/ treatment measures, postharvest handling of the seeds, and so forth. Another factor that is critical, especially at the initial stage of jatropha revival, are favourable conditions at the proposed plantation site.

Elite jatropha seeds: There have been several initiatives since mid-2000s to improve jatropha seeds by selection and breeding. For example, Jatropower started such a programme in 2009. Jatropha seeds can be significantly improved, as evidenced by studies where the seed yield of jatropha collections was observed over the first five years of their development.

Contrary to the common belief, in these evaluation trials the seed yield of the plants did not stabilise in year five of growing on poor soils and stressful conditions, but continued to increase.

The average yield of the best yielder rose to 3.2kg per plant in year seven, thus more than doubling from the average yield obtained in year five.

Since 2005 onwards, several jatropha seed development companies have been concentrating on improving jatropha germplasm by selecting these superior cultivars and breeding them to further concentrate the favourable characteristics.

The plants’ response to the improvement programmes has been good, as can be expected during the initial periods of such programmes. Intraspecific hybridisation of jatropha curcas, used in most improvement programmes, has shown high hybrid vigour. The results of the programmes are now available in the market, thus fulfilling one of the most important conditions for the success of jatropha plantations.

One interesting new seed product is the nontoxic jatropha seed, the development of which has been pioneered by Jatropower.

Conventional jatropha seeds and oil are toxic because of the presence of phorbol esters, which are below detection levels in the nontoxic varieties. The advantage of the non-toxic variety is that its processing results in diverse products, such as oil, seed husks as mulch and shells as fuel pellets, and kernel meal as high quality animal feed ingredient, thus fitting well into the biorefinery concept.

Improved, superior, non-toxic seeds are currently available in the market for planters.

1,600 1,400

g/plant/year

1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0

1

2 Average of all

Year

3

4

5

Average of the best culBvar

Graph 1: Grand average of dry seed yields of a diverse collection of conventional jatropha Graph 1: Grand average of dry seed yields of a diverse collection of provenances compared to that of the best yielder (poor soil, life-saving irrigation in summer) conventional jatropha provenances compared to that of the best yielder

Technical and agronomic knowledge development: A considerable body of experience and knowledge has been accumulated over the last decade by seed development companies and the larger scientific community, and many articles have been published on the various agronomical aspects related to jatropha cultivation in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The data is by far not comprehensive enough and needs to be built on with performance data of the improved seeds from diverse plantation conditions, which is expected in the years to come.

Suitable sites: At this stage of jatropha development, it is important to select suitable countries and sites within the country to ensure early profitability of a growing project.

The most important factors to consider are: 1. The country should have large tracts of deforested land that are currently lying unused and available for plantation activity at a reasonable cost.

2. The plantation site needs to be carefully selected based on the climatic and soil requirements for the crop, which have been well elucidated.

3. Labour should be available in the plantation area at a reasonable cost.

4. There should be a local market for fuel oil where the transport and low-infrastructure premium gets valorised in the fuel oil price.

The above conditions are satisfied in most SubSaharan African countries (especially the landlocked ones, but also in interior areas of others) and in parts of Asia and Latin America.

5. Political stability and existence of rule of law at the plantation sites,

policy framework that is conducive for bioenergy and new industries.

6. Participation of the country and local governments in the form of land concessions to the project in return of profit sharing and community partnerships with the project (especially in terms of contract farming supported by transfer of agricultural technology and local infrastructure development).

The new jatropha projects need to be looked at as biorefinery projects and not just as biofuel production. There are several initiatives at country level and at the EU level to promote a thriving bioeconomy. The Paris accord and the resulting revival of climate targets has resulted in renewed interest in ecofriendly fuels despite low crude oil prices. Jatropha is poised to contribute substantially to the sustainability of this environment. l For more information: This article was written by George Francis, CEO at Jatropower.

Visit: www.jatropower.ch References: 1 https://www.iea.org/ newsroomandevents/pressreleases/2011/ april/biofuels-can-provide-up-to27-of-world-transportation-fuelby-2050-iea-report-.html 2 Keith L. Kline, Siwa Msangi, Virginia H. Dale, Jeremy Woods , Glaucia M. Souza, Patricia Osseweijer, Joy S. Clancy, Jorge A. Hilbert , Francis X. Johnson, Patrick C. Mcdonnell And Harriet K. Mugera, 2016. Reconciling food security and bioenergy: priorities for action. GCB Bioenergy, doi: 10.1111/gcbb.12366, accessed from http://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/10.1111/gcbb.12366/full.

3 Sophia Baumert, Asia Khamzina, Paul L. G. Vlek (2014) Soil organic carbon sequestration in jatropha curcas systems in Burkina Faso, Land Degrad.

Develop. (2014) DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2310 4 Pankaj Srivastava, Yogesh K. Sharma, Nandita Singh (2014) Soil carbon sequestration potential of Jatropha curcas L. growing invarying soil condition.

Ecological Engineering 68 (2014) 155–166.

5 Suhas P. Wani, Girish Chander, K.L. Sahrawat, Ch. Srinivasa Rao, G. Raghvendra, P. Susanna, M. Pavani (2012) Carbon sequestration and land rehabilitation through Jatropha curcas (L.) plantation in degraded lands. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 161 (2012) 112– 120.

Since 2005 onwards, several jatropha seed development companies have been concentrating on biofuels international

improving jatropha germplasm by selecting these superior cultivars and breeding them to further concentrate the favourable characteristics. The plants’ response to the improvement programmes

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biofuels corn oil extraction A six-step process to evaluating a potential return on investment

Corn oil extraction aids on trial

M

ost fuel ethanol plants use a chemical extraction aid to increase the amount of corn oil they extract as a by-product of their manufacturing process. Their goal is to create a corn oil revenue stream, within profat limits, that can bolster their plant’s profitability – especially when ethanol prices are depressed or when corn oil prices are high. However, the corn oil extraction aid space has been more than a little confusing for many plant personnel, who are often faced with high-potential additives that quickly fizzle and a revolving door of vendors promising to deliver the next incremental improvement in corn oil extraction.

Evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of new extraction aids has led to a fair amount of “trial exhaustion” among plant managers, with product trials that consume considerable staff time and energy resulting in minimal or unclear returns on investment. The following six-step process can help fuel ethanol plant managers to avoid these pitfalls and evaluate clearly their potential return on investment (ROI) in a corn oil extraction aid trial.

Step 1: Identify the target for increased corn oil production Determining a target is the first step to hitting it. From corn quality to syrup flow rates, many variables influence the amount of oil available to capture. Some of these variables can change from day to day. Establishing a reliable baseline of available corn oil is a must before investing time and energy in a trial.

For example, a plant manager who expects .75 pounds per bushel when only .65 are available is certain to be disappointed. For many plants, developing this baseline requires considerable manpower and money.

However, omitting this step is like charting a course to a destination without knowing whether it exists.

Step 2: Determine the cost differential between producing corn oil with and without chemical extraction aid Understanding the plant’s current and historical returns on investment using an additive to extract corn oil is necessary to enable a fair comparison of vendor offerings. The calculation is relatively straightforward.

• Determine the corn oil production rate when an extraction aid is not used.

• Determine the corn oil production rate using the current extraction aid.

• Calculate the gross revenue by multiplying the increased oil production converted to pounds by the current selling price for corn oil.

• Determine the net revenue by subtracting the value of an equal number of pounds of distillers dried grains (DDGs) or wet grains, depending on the plant’s sales strategy.

• Calculate the profit by subtracting the cost of the corn oil extraction aid from the net revenue (see Tables 1 and 2 for examples).

• Repeat the above steps using the proposed new extraction aid, the expected use cost, and increase in corn

Table 1 – Customer data Oil per day with COE aid

5,040

Gal/day

Oil per day without COE aid

3,888

Gal/day

Oil gain with COE aid

1,152

Gal/day

7.65

Lb/gal

Oil gain with COE aid

8,813

Lb/day

Selling price of oil

$0.30

$/lb

$925,344

$/year (350 days)

Density of oil

Gross revenue from COE aid

COE = corn oil extraction

On-site vendor trial support is a key factor in successful corn oil extraction aid trials

oil production (these numbers can be a range, for comparative purposes).

• Compare the ROI using the current extraction aid with the expected ROI using the proposed new extraction aid to help determine the merits of trialling a new product.

Step 3: Understand clearly what is different or unique about the new product The chemistry used by the vast majority of producers of corn oil extraction aids is essentially the same as the technology Solenis brought to the market. Plant managers should be wary of claims by manufacturers that new products are technology breakthroughs with significant competitive advantages.

Those plant managers who seek specific answers from the manufacturer about what differentiates a new product from the pack, including how it will deliver improved results, are the ones who optimise their ROI in new product testing.

Step 4: Define the objectives for the trial Trial objectives could range from increased corn oil yield to improved corn

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Innovation: The lifeblood of the ethanol industry “Innovation,” said Steve Jobs, the legendary founder of Apple, “distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” That is certainly true in today’s biorefining marketplace, where a handful of leading companies are investing in developing game-changing products.

The process of developing new products, such as a corn oil extraction aid, requires equal doses of time, money, and persistence.

At Solenis, this does not happen solely in a laboratory. It is a customer-focused process driven by a continuing dialogue among operators of fuel ethanol plants and Solenis engineers, product development, and marketing managers. This dialogue enables the Solenis team to learn directly from the plant personnel about their business and emerging production issues and to determine how Solenis can create value by addressing those issues.

The rigorous process also includes continuous sample collection from fuel ethanol plants, extensive lab analyses, detailed timelines, and frequent updates of Solenis senior managers to determine whether the new product merits continued investment by the company. This new product development cycle could easily take a year or more to complete and, in some cases, could cost more than $1 million.

State-of-the-art improvements in ethanol production are critical to the long-term profitability of the industry. Importantly, leading chemical companies serving the ethanol market that invest in developing game-changing new products should be compensated by the marketplace for their efforts, including a return on corn oil extraction aid trials.

Only then can they reinvest in bringing to market the new and better products that are the lifeblood of the ethanol industry and provide fuel ethanol plant managers with comprehensive service and technical support.

biofuels international

Table 2 – ROI calculation Gross revenue from COE aid Selling price of DDGs

$925,344

$/year

$175

$/ton

Value of DDGs lost

$269,892

$

COE revenue net of DDGs

$655,452

$

Cost of COE aid

$362,614

$/year

81%

%

% ROI COE = corn oil extraction

oil quality to reduced production costs or all of the above. A prospective vendor should be willing to share data on how a new product can be expected to deliver on each pre-determined objective.

Step 5: Determine the cost of the trial The plant manager and the prospective vendor should agree on the cost of the trial in advance and, importantly, whether the trial price for the new product will be the ongoing price.

Step 6: Evaluate the level of service customarily provided by a potential new supplier A direct link exists between the success or failure of a corn oil extraction aid programme and the level of service and technical expertise provided by a supplier.

Trading a current supplier who is wellversed in a plant’s process requirements for someone who lacks that perspective and

expertise can mean the difference between getting .6 pounds of corn oil per bushel and .75 pounds. For a plant that produces 50 million gallons of ethanol per year, that difference can mean more than $800,000 (€721,695) in additional revenue, assuming a corn oil price of $.30 per pound.

Differentiate among vendors Given that the chemistries used in corn oil extraction are essentially the same, the most important determinant in whether to conduct a trial is likely to be the track record of the vendor involved. Typically, the vendors who deliver the best value are participating in industry research, are capable of analysing and normalising the data, have their own laboratories, and can provide a team for on-site trial support. l For more information: This article was written by Andrew Ledlie, biorefining marketing manager, and Paul Shepperd, biorefining technical manager at Solenis. Visit: www.solenis.com

Quality vendors will also understand how the mechanical separation equipment works in relation to their chemistry and point of application

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biofuels oilseed extraction Borderview Farm’s Roger Rainville on tractor planting oilseed crops

Biodiesel production can help farmers achieve energy independence, in addition to energy cost savings

Becoming independent

A

t Borderview Farm in Alburgh, Vermont, US, Roger Rainville’s dairyturned-energy farm makes biodiesel from locally-grown sunflower seeds. In 2008, when diesel prices in the US rose from $4 to $5 per gallon, Rainville began experimenting with farm-scale biodiesel production. With guidance from the University of Vermont Extension and grant funding from the Vermont Bioenergy Initiative, Rainville began planting sunflowers on a portion of his 214 acres and installing biodiesel processing equipment.

Oilseed sunflowers (as opposed to confectionary sunflowers that are grown for

Borderview’s oil

eating) are the most popular oilseed crop in Vermont, with hundreds of acres planted

state-wide. The crop is grown in rotation with grains and grasses and yields high quantities of oil. Following harvest with a combine harvester, a seed cleaner and grain dryer are used to prepare the seeds for storage in a 180-tonne grain silo prior to processing. A flex auger system moves the seeds from storage into hoppers on each press, and screw augers push the seed through a narrow dye at the front of the press.

Extracted oil oozes from the side of the barrel and is collected in settling tanks, while pelletised meal is pushed through the dye

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at the front and is stored in one-tonne agricultural sacks. The oil can then be used as culinary oil for cooking or further refined into biodiesel. The leftover seed meal is used for livestock feed, fuel for pellet stoves, or fertiliser for crops.

Biodiesel processing The small-scale biodiesel production facility at Borderview Farm is an 800ft2 insulated and heated building (the space does not need to be heated, but the oil should be stored where it will not freeze) that houses an oil press, a BioPro 190 automated biodiesel processor, a methanol recovery system, and a set of dry-wash columns for cleaning the fuel.

The clean oil at the top of each settling tank is added to the BioPro 190 processor along with lye, methanol, and sulfuric acid. The automated processor runs through several stages of processing in about 48 hours (esterification, transesterification, settling,

Borderview Farm’s Roger Rainville with automated biodiesel processor BioPro

washing, and drying), with one break after 24 hours to remove the glycerin by-product.

Safety equipment in the processing facility includes

personal protective equipment like aprons, gloves, eye protection, a ventilation system, gas detectors, and spill containment materials.

At Borderview Farm, a set of standard operating procedures hangs on the wall and blank check-sheets are in a binder to make the process easy to repeat. The finished biodiesel is stored in 250 gallon pallet tanks making distribution to different farms easier.

The installed capacity of the facility can process 100 tonnes of seeds from 138 acres of sunflowers per year, yielding 10,500 gallons of biodiesel and 64 tonnes of sunflower meal – assuming the state average yield of 1,500 pounds sunflower seeds per acre and operation of 24 hours per day for 260 days per year.

Rainville switched from purchasing diesel for five tractors and one truck to making his own biodiesel. He wanted to be independent of imported fuel, and liked creating a new way for farmers to diversify. “Using land for making biodiesel is not the most economical option compared to some other crops, but it’s about creating opportunities to try something different,” says Rainville.

Cost benefits Rainville’s annual biodiesel use has ranged from 500 to 3,000 gallons. At current prices (over $4 per gallon for diesel and $2.29 per produced gallon of biodiesel) biodiesel has saved him from $500 to $4,000 (€454€3631) per year in fuel costs.

He also emphasises energy independence as an added benefit. Plus, any growers that also raise livestock can use the meal, which is leftover after the oil is extracted, as part of their feed rations.

Rainville recommends talking with an animal nutritionist to blend this into feed at the right ratio, since sunflower meal has a high fat content. l

Borderview Farm in Alburgh, Vermont, US

biofuels international

For more information: This article was written by Rachel Carter, communications director for the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund.

Visit: www.vermontbioenergy.com

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A new technology allows sugarcane plants to fully integrate corn into plant production to maximise production year-round and produce higher yields

Flexing the productive muscles

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n the South American sugarcane ethanol industry, sugarcane cannot be stored and must be harvested and taken immediately to a sugar mill or ethanol plant for processing. During the non-growing season and during poor weather in the growing season, the plants cannot operate due to lack of feedstock. Sugarcane’s sugar concentration also varies throughout the crop cycles of which there are two annually in Brazil. These factors result in a sugarcane ethanol plant only running at full capacity for a few weeks twice a year. At other times, the plant must operate at a lower rate or not run at all.

The newest trend in South American cane milling is the concept of flex plants, where corn and cane are co-located on the same site. These systems help to better utilise some of the plant infrastructure during the off-season, as corn can be harvested and stored for many months.

However, most flex plants are essentially an independent corn ethanol plant co-located with a sugarcane facility.

A new system The Fluid Quip Process Technologies (FQPT) wet fractionation system is a patent-pending technology that provides a corn starch/ sugar stream that can be directly blended into the sugarcane stream, allowing the plant to run on 100% corn, 100% cane, or any blend of the two streams as seasons change. The system allows for full utilisation of

the existing fermentation, distillation, and back-end processing systems at a current cane ethanol facility.

“The wet fractionation system integrates many technologies that FQPT has had in full-scale operation at dry-grind corn ethanol facilities in the US for many years,” says Neal Jakel VP for Strategy and Technology at FQPT. “From years of experience in the corn ethanol space, FQPT is able to provide significantly higher yields than what is seen at most traditional corn flex plants in South America.

We can provide yields up to 460l of ethanol per tonne.”

The wet fractionation system also produces valuable coproducts from the incoming corn stream, which add to a plant’s bottom line. The system recovers streams from the corn starch/slurry stream, so that a purified starch/sugar stream is sent to the cane ethanol equipment. These new co-products include: • A corn fibre stream: used for cattle, dairy, or poultry feed • A corn oil stream: used for poultry feed or biodiesel feedstock • A corn gluten and yeast stream: a high purity feed used for fish or pets The corn gluten (protein) and yeast stream is a feed product at 50% protein purity. It is recovered after fermentation to include the corn protein and the brewing yeast.

“The FQPT MSC system has produced this product from dry-grind corn ethanol plants in the US for more than six years and it has shown great success in the high value feed ingredient arena,” says Jakel.

As with any new system, there were challenges integrating the wet fractionation system at a sugarcane facility.

“Working with different corn and introducing not only new equipment, but a whole new feedstock to plant operators has challenges, but things went very well and we had great buy-in from everyone involved,” says FQPT president, John Kwik. The plant has since also run sorghum as a feedstock with success.

“These technologies are really a culmination of the systems we have been developing for years to optimise the corn dry-grind ethanol plants,” says Kwik.

“The enhanced milling, pre-fermentation corn oil separation, fibre separation, and protein recovery systems have all been operational at full scale for many years at various facilities. It is really

exciting we can integrate these and configure them to provide new opportunities for sugarcane mills.”

FQPT is based in Springfield, Ohio, US, and is well established in the corn wet milling industry as well as the dry-grind ethanol industry.

The FQPT engineering team leveraged this corn grind and separation knowledge to develop the technologies that came together for the wet fractionation system. FQPT works closely with FluidQuip, which is a manufacturer of grind and separation equipment for the corn wet milling industry worldwide to optimise equipment specifically for the corn dry milling applications. l For more information: This article was written by Michael Franko , VP of business development at Fluid Quip Process Technologies.

Visit: www.fqptech.com

Corn starch can be used to produce many products such as corn oil

48 july/august 2016 biofuels international

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What will happen to biofuel sustainability certification in the future?

Reassessment time

I

n August 2011, the first voluntary sustainability schemes (VSS) were recognised by the European Commission (EC) for verifying compliance of biofuels with the sustainability requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). Approval runs out after five years, so the initial schemes are currently being reassessed. Now is a good time to reflect on the first five years of operation and what the future holds.

The purpose of the EUapproved VSSs is more than just showing compliance with the RED. They should also reassure the public that certified biofuels are sustainable and that they can fulfil a valuable role in decarbonising transport.

Since 2011, a total of 19 schemes have been approved with a wide range of attributes.1 Some VSSs are specific to one particular feedstock, such as Bonsucro for sugarcane, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS).

Others cover all feedstocks and technologies, including International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Red Cert, Biomass Biofuels voluntary scheme (2BSvs) and Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB). Right from the start, the “roundtable” schemes with NGO members included social and environmental sustainability principles, which go beyond the requirements of the RED. Safety, workers’ rights, biodiversity, and land rights are protected in areas of the world where they are not necessarily enshrined in law.

These schemes, which are more difficult to comply with, have gained more

credibility, not only for their multi-stakeholder involvement but also for their robust assurance and transparency.

This is in contrast to the narrower schemes, which are criticised as not going far enough to ensure biofuels are sustainable.

These conclusions come from studies that have been carried out over the past few years assessing the different schemes.2 Unforeseen consequences With a free market in sustainability certification, growers, processors, and biofuel companies can, in theory, choose the scheme that fits with their level of commitment to sustainability.

Thus all schemes should have a chance to flourish, with consumers making a purchasing decision based on a real choice. However, over the past five years it has become apparent that sustainability certification has evolved in a way that was not predicted.

Melanie Williams, biofuels consultant at Melanie Williams Consulting

Over the past five years it has been clear that sustainability certification has evolved in a way that was not predicted From the beginning, the EC allowed all schemes to decide whether to accept material certified by other approved schemes into their chain of custody, even though the RED indicates that mutual acceptance is the desired outcome.

Most schemes chose not to follow this lead of mutual acceptance, worrying more about their own reputation.

One scheme (ISCC) adopted the opposite strategy and did initially accept all biomass and biofuels certified by any other EU approved scheme.

This approach appealed to

downstream operators, like processors, traders, storage companies, and blenders, who only needed one chain of custody certification to accept biofuels or biomass certified by any scheme. ISCC quickly became the market leader. If growers had another approved certification, such as Bonsucro or RSPO, then that scheme’s brand identity was lost when biofuel passed to a transport, storage, processing, or blending facility.

Waste and residues are currently the preferred biofuel feedstocks in Europe. ISCC has prohibited its certificate

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holders from accepting biofuels made from waste and residues certified by other VSSs, with the exception of Red Cert. This cemented the scheme’s market dominance.

ISCC also said at its annual meeting this year that it might extend this ban to all types of biomass and biofuels, which would go even further to limit market access for other schemes.

Searching for solutions It can then be asked whether a functioning free market for biofuel certification is important. Aside from the economic risks of a market dominated by one provider, it is perhaps also contributing to the public’s scepticism about the benefits of biofuels and the bioeconomy in general. People understand that the NGOsupported VSSs are sidelined in biofuels and have scarcely penetrated the biomaterials sector. It is understandable, then, if the public and politicians are not convinced about the sustainability of biofuels and the part they should play post-2020.

There are also VSSs owned by individual biofuels operators. It is not clear how a scheme run by one company for assessing the sustainability of the biofuel it produces could increase public confidence in the sector.

How can this situation be remedied and the best sustainability schemes increase their uptake? The successor to the RED, the ILUC Amendment to the RED (ILUC Directive), does not really offer a solution. The only change to the status quo is that all VSSs have to accept any member state scheme that is approved as a VSS. Change will therefore have to come from elsewhere.

Cooperation One idea is that the roundtable schemes could work together as an alliance

biofuels international

to provide a common chain of custody certification that gives them more visibility.

Launching a common chain of custody certification would involve some compromises by participating schemes and it may have to be approved by the EC, but it offers a route to increasing their market presence and a real choice to consumers. It would offer a practical alternative to companies who want to support the best biofuels.

Operators processing waste materials may still need an ISCC certificate as well.

Another idea, put forward by the European Biodiesel Board is that verification of wastes and residues should be an industry-wide initiative, which they call the Register of Biofuels Origination (RBO).3 This project would dovetail with the current sustainability schemes. In practice, it would function as an online chain of custody verification with the benefit that it could offer equal access to all schemes approved by the EU for wastes and residues.

Such a register would only work if it were compulsory for all operators. It would entail an extra layer of administration and cost, as all transactions down the supply chain would have to be logged. Up to now the EC has said that it cannot act to make such a register compulsory, so the RBO is in discussion with France and other member states to try and gain the necessary acceptance.

The need for some sort of EU-wide register of sustainable biofuels is also being driven by the aviation sector, which is part of the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Biofuel qualifies for a zero emission factor in the ETS if it is compliant with the sustainability requirements of the EU RED. Airlines fly between all EU countries and want an easy way of fulfilling their obligations under the ETS. Biofuels are

the best option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from aviation, and airlines are particularly conscious that their customers want them to use the most sustainable biofuels.

Any EU-wide register or scheme should treat all sustainability schemes equally and not allow one scheme to block market access for the others. At a recent meeting of the aviation biofuels sector in Brussels, the German system Nabisy, used for road transport biofuels, was discussed as a possible answer.4 Although Nabisy

verification of wastes and residues are expected. Extra reporting and transparency are also now required by the EC, which may deter some of the smaller schemes from continuing.

A continuation of the status quo, with the certification market dominated by ISCC and the relegation of the NGO-supported schemes to the sidelines does not improve the public reputation of biofuels. Action is needed to open up the biofuels certification market so that there is a real choice and the brands’ identities of

Biofuels are the best option for reducing GHG emissions from aviation itself allows equal access for all EU-approved VSSs, it has not prevented the market dominance of ISCC in road transport biofuels.

Sustainability schemes can even show that some firstgeneration biofuels do not cause ILUC. WWF recently endorsed a certification module for low ILUC risk biofuels in its report entitled “Greener Skies?”.5 The EU also acknowledges that crop-derived biofuels can be low ILUC. The ILUC Directive describes yield increases and second cropping as ways of reducing ILUC, but there is no way of giving any sort of preference or incentivisation for such low ILUC biofuels.

Conclusions The first EU-approved VSSs are going through the process of reassessment. ISCC is already unofficially claiming reapproval in its recent newsletter. All decisions will be announced officially on the VSS website. Measures to strengthen upstream

the “best” sustainability schemes can increase their visibility, provide market pull for the most sustainable biofuels, and thereby improve the reputation of biofuels in Europe. l

For more information: This article was written by Melanie Williams, a biofuels consultant at Melanie Williams Consulting. Visit: www.melaniewilliamsconsulting.com References: 1 https://ec.europa.eu/energy/ en/topics/renewable-energy/ biofuels/voluntary-schemes 2 https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/ betting_on_best_quality.pdf http://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront. net/downloads/wwf_searching_ for_sustainability_2013_2.pdf 3 http://www.biofuelsregister.eu 4 https://nabisy.ble.de 5 http://assets.wwf.org.uk/ downloads/wwf_aviation_a4_ summary_report_web.pdf

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