Biofuels International Sep/Oct 2013

September/October 2013 Issue 5 • volume 7

international

A world first for Canada Atlantec Bioenergy’s refinery uses Whitefox solution to take value from local produce

Changing gears The advent of biodiesel across Latin America

Ups and downs The latest EU report on biofuels consumption

UPM Biofuels

UPM Biofuels

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international

Issue 5

volume 7

c ntents 2 Comment

September/October 2013

4 Bioethanol news

Horseshoe Media Limited Marshall House 124 Middleton Road, Morden, Surrey SM4 6RW, UK www.biofuels-news.com

14 Biodiesel news 19 Technology news 22 Incident update 23 Green page

managing director Peter Patterson Tel: +44 (0)208 648 7082 peter@horseshoemedia.com

24 People on the move

publisher Margaret Dunn Tel: +44 (0)208 687 4126 margaret@biofuels-news.com

26 Sunny outlook for US biodiesel

Deputy Editor James Barrett Tel: +44 (0)208 687 4146 james@biofuels-news.com Assistant Editor Keeley Downey Tel: +44 (0)208 687 4183 keeley@horseshoemedia.com INTERNATIONAL Sales MANAGER Shemin Juma +44 (0)203 551 5751 shemin@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 (approximately $240/€185 depending on daily exchange rates).

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ISSN 1754-2170

biofuels international

25 Regulations If the cap fits

28 Regulations: EPA’s new standard set 29 Plant update 32 Ethanol in South America 36 Biodiesel in South America 38 Big opinion Three industry experts give their thoughts on today’s key issues 40 Ups and downs Here are the findings from the latest EU biofuels barometer 42 Smokin’ new option Can tobacco unlock the biojet fuel door?

44 Safety feature Handling hot issues 45 Renewable diesel: more sustainable and better quality 46 Cover story Read about a world’s first in Canadian ethanol production 48 Biomass pretreatment One size does not fit all 50 Keeping it cool 52 Testing and analysis focus: New Zealand 54 Fuelling biodiesel success What approaches are being taken for laboratory, field and mobile characterisation of biofuels currently?

56 Inside the lab Unlocking the potential of baker’s yeast for biofuel tolerance 58 Feedstock: the next generation

September/October 2013 Issue 5 • volume 7

international

59 India and its biofuels potential

A world first for Canada

60 Finance and investment: Spotlight on the transportation biofuels sector

The advent of biodiesel across Latin America

Atlantec Bioenergy’s refinery uses Whitefox solution to take value from local produce

Changing gears Ups and downs The latest EU report on biofuels consumption

62 Commodity risk How can business be made less risky?

64 Pumps feature Positive displacement for biodiesel 66 Land issues Demystifying biofuels in Africa 68 Events page Ad index

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Front cover courtesy of UPM biofuels: The fuel of the future – from wood-based raw materials FC_Biofuels_septoct_2013.indd 1

22/08/2013 12:22

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8 months late and still questions remain unanswered…

I

Margaret Dunn Publisher

t makes a refreshing change to be covering a little less about the turmoil in the European market this issue, and shifting the focus onto the US. But the situation is no less controversial.

At the beginning of August the EPA finally announced the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) levels for 2013 – quite substantially missing the originally deadline of November 2012.

To compensate, the EPA has extended the deadline for obtaining sufficient credits for gallons of ethanol equivalent fuels (RINs) from February to June 2014. The EPA also intends to meet the statutory deadline of 30 November 2013 for the 2014 standards, and therefore will have released the 2014 standards well in advance of the 2013 compliance deadline.

This will allow obligated parties to make informed decisions about their 2013 compliance strategies, such as whether to use banked RINs, or save certain RIN categories for 2014 compliance.

EPA’s final 2013 overall volumes and standards require 16.55 billion gallon of renewable fuels to be blended into the US fuel supply, creating a 9.74% blend.

When it comes to next year, many people now agree that the blend wall will be well and truly smashed. In fact for some nations it has already arrived.

Although it seems the blend wall has come around quickly, the issue has become pertinent much sooner than the original law anticipated as US petrol sales declined

instead of continuing to grow by 1-2% per year.

The blend wall refers to the pragmatic threshold at which the RFS requires more ethanol to be blended into petrol than the quantity needed to create E10 – the maximum ethanol content for which many cars on the road were designed.

Because of the use of carryover RIN credits and increased use of biodiesel, which reduces the volume of ethanol required to meet the mandate, EPA estimates that in 2013 the total volume of ethanol consumed in order to meet the requirements will not exceed 10% of the petrol volume sold.

Next year, in contrast, the EPA acknowledges that the carryover credits likely will not be sufficient to avoid the blend wall, as the statutory volume requirement increases significantly.

So why is this such a big problem? Based on current EPA guidelines, refiners have to buy ethanol they cannot use, they say, which could result in cutting fuel production in a way that pushes up retail prices that are still uncomfortably close to $4 (€3) a gallon.

In June, Chevron warned ethanol mandates may spur refiners to export petrol in order to avert the law’s punitive effects. That could in turn cut into domestic supplies and also put upward pressure on prices.

So clearly something must be done about it. Oil companies have called for the outright repeal of the ethanol mandate, which they argue

has elevated fuel prices – but this seems a drastic and somewhat unlikely solution.

One easier solution would be to use more E15, which is approved for many vehicles.

If E15 accounted for just 1% of total petrol sales in 2013, the RFS requirement for renewable fuel could be met strictly with physical gallons of ethanol. However oil companies have so far avoided increasing their use of ethanol and have instead chosen to stockpile excess RINs. As the situation stands the EPA has said it will use authority under the RFS to reduce both the advanced biofuel and total renewable volumes in the forthcoming 2014 volume requirement proposal. But it still does not specify the measures it will take to do this and it still leaves many wondering why the blend wall issue could not have been resolved this year.

For now there certainly does not seem to be a Rin/ Win solution but we will keep you up to date on all the latest developments, We hope you enjoy the issue, Best wishes, Margaret

2 september/october 2013 biofuels international

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WHY IS FUTURE BIOFUEL MADE OF WOOD?

Future biofuels come from Finland. The new biorefinery we are building in Lappeenranta will use wood-based remnants from pulp production as its raw material. The result will be an extremely high quality second generation biofuel.

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In fact, advanced second generation biofuels have the lowest emissions of all fuels but are still of the highest technical quality. And their properties match those of oil-based fuels, so they are fully compliant with current engine technology.

Produced from 100% non-food, wood-based raw material, UPM BioVerno represents sound principles of sustainability.

The forest of new opportunities.

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UPM is building the world’s first biorefinery for wood-based advanced biofuels in Lappeenranta, Finland. The facility will have a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year.

biofuels international

UPM BioVerno production starts in 2014. It will be available commercially in the same year.

Consumers will be able to decrease their emissions considerably.

UPM BioVerno is a very high quality biofuel.

It reduces traffic emissions up to 80% compared to fossil fuels.

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Bioethanol from waste facility in Spain opens

Largest bioethanol plant in UK officially opens

Renewable energy business Abengoa has inaugurated its demonstration plant that uses waste-tobiofuels technology.

The multi-million pound Vivergo bioethanol plant officially opened in Hull, UK in July.

The plant, located in Babilafuente, Spain has a capacity to treat 25,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste, from which it will obtain up to 1.5 million litres of bioethanol via a fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis treatment.

Manuel Sánchez Ortega,

CEO of Abengoa, said during the opening: ‘This plant highlights our commitment to technological research and innovation, which has enabled it to maintain a competitive advantage in its sectors.’

Abengoa claims the production of bioethanol from municipal solid waste is a ‘major breakthrough in the waste management model’ which helps to lower ‘waste going to landfill’ and ‘dependency on fossil fuels while reducing greenhouse gas emissions per kilometre travelled by 70%’. l

Raizen Energia to enter local Philippines bioethanol market?

Local news reports in the Philippines state Brazilian joint venture business Raizen Energia (RE) is set to build a new bioethanol facility with local developers.

Raizen, owned by Shell and Cosan Industria and Commercio, currently produces over 2 billion litres of ethanol from sugarcane in its native country.

A source revealed that Raizen ‘is still at the exploratory stage, looking at local partners and feedstock suppliers’.

The Philippines has four bioethanol plants already but local energy officials claim only up to 25% of demand is being fulfilled by them. A plan is allegedly in place to increase the number of production plants to nine via P15 billion (€267.6 million) worth of potential investment. l

The facility, a joint venture between Dupont and AB Sugar costing £350 million (€407.1 million), makes Vivergo the biggest bioethanol plant in the UK, as well as the biggest single-source supplier of animal feed.

It is believed the plant will pump out 420 million litres of bioethanol a year when running at full capacity, a third of the UK’s current demand. Wheat will provide the base feedstock for the operation, with Vivergo

officials claiming around 1.1 million tonnes of the crop will be needed annually.

‘Our location right on the Humber is ideal; we’re at the heart of the UK’s wheat belt which offers some of the best yields in the world, and our channels for distributing the bioethanol, either by ship or by road to depots where it is blended with petrol, are second to none,’ claims Vivergo MD David Richards.

The project is also taking a ‘local first’ stance, with the company aspiring to source all feedstock from farms in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire while aiming to employ local people via collaboration with local authorities and training providers. l

Vivergo is the UK’s largest bioethanol plant

Ethanol plant resumes production in Zimbabwe Production at a Green Fuelowned ethanol plant in Zimbabwe has resumed after the company entered a 49-51% joint venture with the government.

The plant stopped production after Green Fuel failed to get government approval for mandatory ethanol blending within the country, plus the government had other

concerns including the company’s shareholding structure.

It is believed foreign companies, under legislation, are required to transfer a minimum of 51% of local operations to Zimbabweans. Despite Green Fuel promoting its joint venture between two private firms and the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority as local, the government wanted it to fall in with its indigenisation laws.

‘We have resumed the production

of anhydrous ethanol for the blending with unleaded petrol and the company has agreed with the Zimbabwe government to form the joint venture adhering to local indigenisation and economic empowerment laws,’ a Green Fuels statement read.

The fuels business is now confident the government will endorse mandatory petrol blending which could help the country reduce its imported fuel costs by around $120 million (€89.8 million). l

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Biofuels International Conference 2014 in Ghent on September 23-25

www.portofghent.be

Large enough to cope, small enough to care

biofuels international

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Colombian bagasse-toethanol project sealed with agreement A new agreement hopes to increase the amount of sugarcane residue and palm oil harvesting intended for fuel ethanol and future blending.

The US Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will work with Colombian petroleum company Ecopetrol to look at ways of improving bagasse

conversion processes and analyse the economic potential of commercial biofuels production.

The 18 month project is being funded by Ecopetrol to the tune of $2.3 million (€1.7 million) and will also include a limited study on residue left over from palm oil production.

NREL already has a pilot plant on a campus in Golden, Colombia which can process up to 1 tonne of biomass a day. l

New ethanol plant to begin construction Construction is set to begin on a long proposed ethanol plant in North Dakota, US. The ground is scheduled to be officially broken on the Dakota Spirit AgEnergy plant, backed by Minnesotabased Great River Energy, after two years of planning.

It is believed the plant will cost around $150 million (€113 million) and will use over 20 million bushels of corn to produce 65 million gallons of alternative fuel annually.

‘As soon as the initial shovel dig takes place, the construction crews will hit the ground running,’ project engineer Rich Garman was quoted as saying.

Production has been pencilled in for January 2015. l

Ethanol demand sees more loan investment in Brazil

Ethanol is set to benefit from a 46% rise in loans to sugarcane mills in Brazil this year.

Brazil’s state development bank is expecting to loan BR6 billion ($2.6 billion), which is up from BR4.1 billion in 2011.

Artur Yabe Milanez, biofuels manager within the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social, says it has been lowering rates on loans for cane mills as demand for ethanol is growing quicker than demand.

The bank cut its rates for planting sugarcane, via its Prorenova credit line, from around 6.3% to 5.5% at the end of July. l

news in brief

Angolan ethanol project gearing up Angolan bioenergy company Companhia de Bioenergia de Angola (also known as Biocom) is expected to start ethanol and sugar production next year.

Biocom is a partnership between the Angolan state (20%), Angolan group Damer (40%) and Brazilian group Obebrecht (40%). It is part of the Capanda agro-industrial hub.

Carlos Fernandes, chairman of Capanda agro-industrial hub management company SDPAC, says the facility plans to process 2 million tonnes of sugarcane to make 30 million litres of ethanol and 260,000 tonnes of sugar.

Fernandes revealed the project received an overall investment of $197.5 million (€151.2 million).

Brazilian ethanol plant receives new lease of life

It has been reported an idle ethanol and sugar plant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has found a new buyer.

Brazilian engineering company Montagens and Projetos Especiais is believed to be spending $31.2 million (€24 million) to modernise the Usina Sapucaia sugarcane mill, as well as planting crops too.

Local news reports claim Usina Sapucaia filed for bankruptcy three years ago and has not been processing crops during the last few seasonal harvests.

US state wants increase in ethanol blend pumps

A third round of grant funding aimed to help petrol stations buy ethanol blender pumps has begun in South Dakota, US. The state has put up $500,000 (€389,500) and station owners can apply for up to $25,000 to install a pump for the first time, or up to $10,000 for any additional pumps.

Blender pumps allow customers to choose their ethanol blends at the pump at 10, 20, 30 or 85%. South Dakota was the first state to allow blender pumps, the first of which was installed in 2010, and 75 stations now have them currently.

Ethanol production part of Australian political push

A political party in Australia considers ethanol production as the key to reinvigorating a region in Queensland.

Ray Sawyer of the Katter Australia Party reveals he has feedback from locals in Nambour that directly links problems to the closure of the town’s sugar mill 10 years ago.

‘We have a sound resolve to reinstating the sugar production industry by using sugar as the raw resource to produce ethanol. Ethanol production using sugar will create jobs and reduce fuel costs, which will help the hip pocket of everyone,’ Sawyer was quoted as saying.

The reasons given for the closure by owner Bundaberg Sugar at the time were a poor 2003 harvest, growing competition from Brazil and falling world prices.

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Fox River purchases Wisconsin facility Fox River Valley Ethanol, a whollyowned subsidiary of Ace Ethanol, has been revealed as the purchaser of the Utica Energy ethanol plant and its related assets.

The sale includes the 50 million gallon ethanol production facility in Utica, Wisconsin, a nearby distiller’s grains drying facility and a grain elevator in Green Bay. It is believed Ace’s ethanol plant is similar in capacity and design to the Utica Energy one.

Neal Kemmet, president of Ace Ethanol, says the company expects to restart operations this autumn and is in the process of rehiring a substantial number of the original employees: ‘They had an experienced team; and we’re looking forward to returning the plant to full-time operations.’

‘Given Ace’s operating performance and experience, it is optimally positioned to successfully start-up and operate the plant going forward, which in turn will put people back to work in the community, re-establish a market for local grain and produce homegrown transportation fuels, feed and other co-products,’ adds Kirk Martin, a partner at Ascendant Partners, an investment banking organisation that advised the seller. l

biofuels international

Idled ethanol plant to regain health in US An ethanol plant in Texas, US is to restart operations after a seven month idle period.

capacity to begin with, before working up to full capacity before the end of 2013.

The reason behind the lack of production was placed on the severe corn drought of 2012, which was the plant’s main feedstock, but White Energy did manage to retain about a third of its workforce.

It is believed locally sourced sorghum and milo will now become the dominate feedstock of choice at the facility. l

White Energy claims the Plainview Ethanol facility will resume production before November and the company is holding job interviews over the summer.

It hopes to be running at around 80% of its 325,000 gallons of ethanol a day

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First cellulosic ethanol plant in India breaks ground Praj Industries, a process solutions business for bioethanol, has emerged as the first company in South Asia to set up an integrated second generation cellulosic ethanol plant.

The demo plant, located in Maharashtra, India, will operate on different varieties of biomass, including agricultural wastes such as corn stover, cobs and bagasse, at a capacity of 100 dry tonnes per

day. It will enable Praj to consolidate six years of R&D efforts, starting with laboratory to pilot-scale trials. The same plant will also enable Praj to develop various biochemicals and bioproducts.

Praj’s executive chairman Pramod Chaudhari initiated the groundbreaking in early August alongside Mansinghrao Naik, chairman of Viraj Alcohols and Allied Industries.

The demo plant will seek to demonstrate various technical parameters including optimisation of water and energy

Fuels of the Future 2014 11 th BBE / UFOP International Congress on Biofuels 20 and 21 January 2014 International Congress Center ICC Berlin

Overview of conference topics: -

Political conditions for the development of biofuels in Europe Impacts of EU policy on biofuels industry Biodiesel, bioethanol, biomethane technologies Sustainable biomass supply for biokerosene production Biofuels form waste and residual material

17 different panels with more than 50 speakers will give insight into market trends, ongoing research and practical lessons learned from new biofuels and from those already on the market. Representatives from the international biofuel sector discuss with the automotive industry, component suppliers, mineral oil industry, politics, science and associations of nature protection.

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integration and its impact on the CAPEX and OPEX. The plant will also develop the entire value chain including biomass handling and composition and its impact on the operations.

Praj expects the project cost to be in the region of $25 million (€18.8 million) and will work with Vaail, an existing ethanol producer located in western Maharashtra, which will provide land and allied services for the project.

‘This is a giant leap in biotechnology and towards a more sustainable world.

The greenhouse gas savings from cellulosic ethanol is greater than those from first generation crop-based biofuels, as well as fossil-based fuel, and hence this project will play a vital role in reducing carbon footprints,’ says Chaudhari. ‘The project site gives us a location advantage in terms of sourcing of biomass, utilities and manpower.’ l

Dual roles cemented at US ethanol plants

Two ethanol plants situated close by in Minnesota, US have formed a relationship via a new business deal.

Granite Falls Energy has acquired a majority interest in Heron Lake BioEnergy and the facilities will share three management positions between them.

The three individuals now stretching their roles over to Heron are Granite CEO and GM Steve Christensen, risk manager Eric Baukol and chief financial officer Stacie Schuler.

The move comes as Heron CEO Bob Ferguson reportedly aimed to retire from his position via an asset acquisition agreement with Guardian Energy Heron Lake earlier this year. But it failed and meant he had to stay on.

The terms of the purchase have not been divulged. l

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Grass crop receives ethanol backing The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ruled that a giant reed variety, with a high ethanol potential, qualifies as a cellulosic renewable fuel.

Arundo donax has been reported as yielding three times as much ethanol per acre as corn and this decision makes it a potential replacement of corn for renewable transportation fuel in the Midwest.

Many scientists and environmentalists believe Arundo to be a ‘dangerous invasive crop’ however, but the EPA has begun moves to address the concern.

Another company watching this debate keenly is technology and engineering business Chemtex. It is planning an ethanol refinery in North Carolina, slated for 2015, of which Arundo is a critical element of its development.

Chemtex want to allegedly use 6,000 acres to grow Arundo on farms situated near the plant site. But, to secure further financing, the company needs production contracts in place with farmers as soon as possible.

The new ethanol refinery is backed by a federal loan guarantee to the tune of $99 million (€76.8 million). l

Move over corn: Arundo has been hailed as a second generation feedstock

Green Plains cut ribbon in Nebraska Green Plains Renewable Energy officially opened its recently acquired ethanol plant in Atkinson, Nebraska in August.

Plains commenced operations of the approximately 50 million gallon capacity facility this

July after it signed a purchase agreement to acquire the membership interests of Choice Ethanol Holdings.

‘The communities of Atkinson and O'Neill were very helpful in our efforts to restart this plant over the past few weeks,’ says Todd Becker, Green Plains CEO. ‘Our team has made

Potential biomass ethanol plant set for Malaysia A new collaboration between Malaysia-based Hock Lee Group (HLG) and global bio-tech business Beta Renewables may yield the first commercialscale biomass ethanol plant in the region.

The agreement was announced by Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) which claims the development is in line with the government’s vision for biomass owners to be involved in downstream activities rather than just simply selling their resources as a commodity.

If a new plant does become a reality, it could act as a catalyst for a biomass-based industry across sectors like biofuels, biochemicals and bioenergy.

‘Such a cluster is expected to increase the state’s GDP as well as create jobs by attracting high-value partnerships with local companies that will also benefit local SMEs, smallholders and local communities,’ AIM said in a statement.

Locations in Bintulu, where HLG is based, have already been described as ‘suitable’ for a facility to be built on. l

biofuels international

the necessary upgrades and the plant is running at full capacity for producing economical renewable fuel.’

It is believed Nebraska senator Deb Fischer attended the event as the guest of honour. l

Whitefox is growing and is seeking clever minds with clean ideas

www.whitefox.com/careers

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Sea creature researched for biofuels potential Scientists in Norway claim a sea dwelling species may be another avenue towards creating sustainable biofuel for transportation.

Tunicates, a yellow-green organism that sucks bacteria and other microorganisms through one end before turning it into purified water at the other, has been subject to tests by researchers at the University of Bergen.

The researchers believe tunicates are the only living thing to produce cellulose, making them viable as bioethanol feedstock. They are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids meaning a type of fish food could be made as a by-product.

Tunicates are not desired by any predators in the wild thus making them an abundant source of potential energy.

Project manager Christofer Troedsson has been quoted as saying the biggest challenge now is ‘cultivating enough biomass per square metre to make operations profitable’. l

Don’t be blue: Tunicates have potential as a biofuel feedstock

Ace scoops CropEnergies acquires Ensus jackpot with Germany-based CropEnergies Through Ensus, CropEnergies expects to access EU’s third largest bioethanol has acquired UK bioethanol ethanol plant producer Ensus from funds affiliated market. Ensus owns one of the largest European bioethanol facilities that to The Carlyle Group in an all has an annual production capacity of purchase stock deal worth €13.5 million.

400,000m along with 350,000 tonnes US ethanol producing company Ace Ethanol has completed the purchase of a dormant ethanol plant in Wisconsin.

The price is a reported $16.5 million (€12.6 million) and Ace is aiming to reopen the facility in the autumn. Ace co-founder Robert Sather was quoted as saying to build a plant of this size, capable of producing 50 million gallons a year, from new would cost Ace about $75 million.

‘We’ll have it up and running

by October and we’re confident it will be profitable in a short space of time,’ he adds.

It is believed the facility needs around 45 employees and Ace is currently looking to rehire current or former employees of Utica Energy, the selling company. l

3

Following the completion of the transaction, Carlyle is expected to gain 2.6% stake in CropEnergies.

The company is set to invest nearly €58 million to enhance the competitiveness of the UK producer and increase its own production capacity by 50% to more than 1.2 million m3.

of dried protein animal feed (DDGS).

CropEnergies, meanwhile, is intending to invest €27 million for a processing plant for neutral alcohol in Zeitz, Germany until 2015, continuing its expansion. The German producer has four modern production facilities in Germany, Belgium, the UK, and France with combined production capacities of 1.2 million m3 of bioethanol a year. l

Sign here: Ensus has been bought for €13.5 million

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Ineos Bio moves into commercialscale operation Ineos Bio, owned by global chemicals companies Ineos, has begun production of commercialscale bioethanol at its first facility.

The Indian River BioEnergy centre, Florida is now producing commercial quantities of bioethanol from vegetative and wood waste, while also exporting renewable power to the local community. It is also permitted to use municipal solid waste (MSW), quantities of which will be used for bioethanol production during 2014.

The facility has already converted several types of waste biomass material into bioethanol, including vegetative and yard waste, plus citrus, oak, pine, and pallet wood waste. It will have an annual output of eight million gallons of cellulosic ethanol and 6MW of renewable power.

The Centre cost more than $130 million (€98 million) and created more than 400 direct construction, engineering and manufacturing jobs during its development.

The project sourced more than 90% of the equipment from US manufacturers, creating or retaining jobs in over 10 states. It has 65 full-time employees and provides $4 million annually in payroll to the local community. l

biofuels international

New venture for bioethanol plant in Indonesia A new bioethanol plant development has been launched by the Indonesian government this August.

To be located in East Java, the plant will use molasses as its base feedstock and have a production capacity of 30 million litres when complete. The project is expected to cost around $42.9 million (€32 million).

The project is the result of a partnership between the Indonesia Industry Ministry and the Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation, but the facility will be owned by plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara.

The resultant product will be purchased by state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina, according to minister Dahlan Iskan. l

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Don’t miss your chance to appear in the November/December issue of Biofuels International magazine

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How and where are both production and support coming from as the country works towards fulfilling a strong renewable fuel contribution

A delve into new innovations and future expansions at shop floor level

What are the newer catalysts some are claiming can unlock the potential biofuels in biomass?

For editorial suggestions contact james@biofuels-news.com, +44 (0) 208 687 4126

Bonus distribution: National Biodiesel Board conference, San Diego, US Fuels of the Future conference, Berlin, Germany

New ways of producing methanol are being looked into, but what new techniques are being used?

Mil ita ry A catch up on how global military outfits are viewing the potential use of biofuels

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North America contact biofuels international september/october 2013 57 12 64 september/october 2013 biofuels international july/august 2013 biofuels international Matt Weidner, +1 215 962 0872, mtw@weidcom.com

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Bio-chemicals benefit from new business deal UK-headquartered Green Biologics, an international biotechnology company, has announced collaboration and planned investment in facilities with US business Easy Energy Systems (EES).

The collaboration will result in the modification of EES’s ethanol demonstration plant in Iowa to produce renewable n-butanol and acetone.

‘We’ve been working with Easy Energy for just over a year after we identified its ethanol facility as a potentially good site,’ GB CEO Sean Sutcliffe told Biofuels International. ‘We’ve produced butanol and acetone from corn mash at a 40,000 litre fermentation scale to date.’

The collaboration meant GB did not have to build a new demonstration plant from

scratch and Sutcliffe reveals GB ‘ran three separate batches last July which matched results in both total solvent production and n-butanol yields that were achieved in our UK laboratories and our Ohio pilot facility’.

‘From these demonstration runs we have validated fermentation performance at scale meeting our commercial targets,’ he adds.

This scale-up complements commercial-scale demonstration work already achieved by GB in China two years ago. It partnered with Laihe Rockley Biochemical in 2011 to eventually produce ‘the world’s first commercialscale cellulosic n-butanol from residual corn waste’.

‘The Chinese commercial trial run was completed last June at 3.2 million litre fermentation scale in one of three 50,000 tonne/year production units,’ Sutcliffe explains. ‘We

Long-term biomass supply agreed in US Two US-based companies have signed a long-term agreement for the supply of purpose grown energy crops and residues to be used as cellulosic feedstock.

Chemtex International and Murphy Brown, both located in North Carolina, will ensure the feedstock goes towards use in Chemtex’s cellulosic ethanol facility planned for construction in Clinton.

The agreement covers a number of feedstocks to be grown on approximately 6,000 acres of land owned or controlled by Murphy. The proposed crops will be grown on acreage not typically used for grain production and

biofuels international

will represent the backbone of the supply chain for the planned Chemtex biorefinery.

‘The production of these feedstocks will be a natural complement to livestock production in the state and will bring new opportunities for all farmers,’ says Don Butler, VP of government relations at Murphy.

‘This project will demonstrate to policymakers that their focus should be on encouraging these US-made next generation biofuels that are produced without consuming foodstuffs.’

Chemtex’s new facility will produce 20 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually using technology from Beta Renewables. Final execution of the agreement is contingent upon achieving financial closure for the project. l

Prized asset: the global n-butanol market is valued at $10 billion

imported 55 tonnes of that product to the US and are now marketing the material for chemical applications.’

GB places the global n-butanol market at $10 billion (€7.6 billion) and, although it has business interests in Europe, China, India, Brazil and the UK, it is concentrating on progress in the US primarily because ‘it has lots of facilities in place and support for renewables is high’.

‘We’ll be using corn feedstock for our work in the US due to its abundance,

but molasses would figure in places like India and Brazil,’ says Sutcliffe. ‘Cellulosic feedstock will play a big part in Europe and I’m excited about the potential municipal soild waste (MSW) holds in that regard.

It is low-cost and diverts waste away from landfill.’

GB has been studying the utilisation of MSW for n-butanol production at one of its UK laboratories, research that was funded by the Technology Strategy Board. l

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biofuels biodiesel news

Mayor calls on UK industry to make London a biodiesel hub London mayor Boris Johnson has called on the UK’s biofuel industry to turn more of London’s waste, such as cooking oil, into biodiesel for the capital’s bus network.

It is claimed vehicles running on biodiesel produce around 25% fewer carbon emissions than those running on traditional fuel. London’s bus

fleet uses approximately 250 million litres of fuel each year, 20% of which could potentially be made up of biodiesel.

The capital also has the highest concentration of food businesses in the country producing between 32 and 44 million litres of used cooking oil every year. However the vast majority of the low carbon fuel is currently being processed in the north of England and Scotland.

The Mayor’s vision included proposals to help deliver the capital’s first biofuel refinery that will be able to tap in to the huge potential for biodiesel in London.

It is envisaged that a new plant could convert up to 28 million litres of waste oil a year, providing 20% of the fuel for London’s bus fleet while creating hundreds of jobs and saving more than 50,000 tonnes of CO2.

Strike in Argentina affected biodiesel movement News reports from Argentina claim biodiesel and feedstock exports were disrupted in July as port and shipping workers went on strike.

The country’s unions for grain handlers, port workers and some shipping workers downed tools in protest against government taxes.

Although many workers allegedly Unity: Argentinean workers were received a pay rise this year, it now means they have to pay higher income protesting about high taxes tax. This, coupled with an inflation rate currently above 25%, sparked the demonstration.

‘There wasn’t enough workers to control the weight and quality of the products so boats couldn’t load,’ Guillermo Wade, president of the Argentine Chamber of Port and Maritime Activities, was quoted as saying.

The strike was enforced until midnight of 18 July at most ports, with others pledged to hold out until early the next morning.

Argentina currently delivers 155,000 tonnes of biodiesel a month via ships split between exports and in-house refinery use. l

‘By capturing used cooking oil right here in London and turning it into biodiesel we could provide 20% of the fuel needed to power London’s entire bus fleet while saving thousands of tonnes of CO2 and creating hundreds of new jobs,’ says Johnson.

Demand for biodiesel from other vehicles is also increasing with use expected to rise from 4.75 to 10% of all transport fuel in the UK by 2020. l

Wastewater base for biofuels project in Spain A pilot plant in Spain is to use municipal wastewater and sunlight for biofuels production via algae.

The project, branded as All-Gas and backed by seven European-based partners, is set to cost €12.2 million ($15.7 million) but at least €9 million has been received from the European Union (EU).

It will aim to produce 3,000kg of algae a year with an oil content of 20%, enough biodiesel for 200 cars. The treatment plant is owned by Aqualia which claims the remaining algae biomass can be used to make biomathane, CO2 and minerals.

The pilot plant is located in Chiclana de la Frontera and will hope to contribute to the EU directive of increasing transport biofuels from 2.4% to 10% by 2020. l

Idle biodiesel plant receives investment Canadian biofuel company Lignol Energy is set to invest additional monies into a currently idle Australiabased biodiesel facility.

The additional $908,000 (€678,100) investment will increase Lignol’s holding in plant owner Territory Biofuels to

66% of issued and outstanding shares and 68% on fully diluted basis. The 140 million litre capacity facility is the largest biodiesel plant in Darwin but was shut down in 2009 as tough market and economic conditions hit.

It is believed Territory want to integrate new feedstock pre-treatment technologies and catalysts however to expand into using different types of

palm oil, used cooking oil and tallow.

‘This investment represents the opportunity for us to have a majority equity interest in potentially a very profitable business,’ Lignol CEO Ross MacLachlan was quoted as saying. ‘Our goal remains to work with Territory with a view to restarting the plant in late 2013 with an appropriate project funding package in place.’ l

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Soy Energy unit holders approved the sale in a vote on 29 July. Pursuant to the purchase agreement, REG acquired the biorefinery for $11 million (€8.3 million) in cash and the issuance of a $5.6 million promissory note. Due to a post-closing adjustment, the note was reduced to $5.1 million.

‘We are pleased to bring REG Mason City into our fleet of biorefineries because it helps us move forward with our growth strategy,’ said Daniel Oh, REG CEO. REG plans to repair and re-start the facility using soyabean oil and low free fatty acid feedstocks by the end of the year. The acquisition brings the company’s total annual production capacity to 257 million gallons and it now owns and operates eight active biorefineries.

REG has begun the hiring process and expects to employ up to 25 full-time employees. l

John Swire and Sons (Green Investments) has acquired Scottish biodiesel producer Argent Energy.

The deal was closed for an unknown sum and will see Argent remain in private ownership and will continue to operate independently.

Argent Energy owns a commercial-scale biodiesel production plant, which began operating in Motherwell, Scotland in 2005.

Barnaby Swire of John Swire and Sons says: ‘We are committed to exploring and investing in innovative and viable green industries. We believe Argent Energy can grow and prosper not only within the UK but also overseas, in particular in Asian markets with which Swire Group companies are familiar.’

Souter Investments are Q-Rohr®-3 / Q-Box II / EXKOP exiting the business for dust collectors, pellet presses, hoppers after four years. l

Iowa sets new biodiesel production record A record for biodiesel production has been claimed this August by the US state of Iowa.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) believes a combination of ‘a strong federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and reinstatement of the federal biodiesel blenders’ tax credit’ has led to state facilities producing 56.7 million gallons of biodiesel during the second quarter of 2013.

The IRFA also claims a figure of 99.5 million gallons manufactured in the first six months of the year is also a record.

‘Record biodiesel production this quarter is providing a noticeable boost to Iowa soyabean farmers and livestock producers,’ states IRFA communications director TJ Page. ‘With a strong RFS and the tax incentive helping to level the playing field against long-standing petroleum subsidies, biodiesel is successfully

biofuels international

competing in the marketplace.’

The biodiesel blender credit is due to expire at the end of this year however and that, coupled with the constant lobbying of the petroleum industry against renewable fuels, means there will be challenges ahead.

‘Given petroleum’s advantages in current federal policy, we have to protect the RFS and extend the biodiesel tax credit,’ adds Page.

‘Provided a fair chance, Iowa’s biodiesel producers could continue to set records and provide consumers with a clean, homegrown fuelling option.’

Iowa is a hub of biodiesel production in the US as it boasts 12 biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce nearly 315 million gallons annually. In addition, it has 41 ethanol refineries capable of producing over 3.7 billion gallons per year, with one wet mill and three cellulosic ethanol facilities currently under construction. l

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US-based Renewable Energy Group (REG) has completed the purchase of a 30 million gallon per year capacity biodiesel plant in Iowa, formerly owned by Soy Energy.

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biofuels biodiesel news

Brazil exports first biodiesel load to Rotterdam The Port of Rotterdam has received the first load of biodiesel ever to be exported from Brazil for commercial purposes.

Brazilian biofuel producer BSBios shipped 22 tonnes of biodiesel to the port after it received authorisation from the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels to export the fuel back in 2008.

‘BSBios has tried to make partnerships official

to export biofuel,’ explains the company’s CEO Erasmo Carlos Battistella. ‘There are many difficulties, with relation to taxes mainly, which cost Brazil and make negotiations difficult with the European market. This is an important advance we need to fulfil to demonstrate that Brazil can also export biodiesel,’ he says.

BSBios has two plants, one in Marialva, Parana and Passo Fundo in Rio Grande do Sul, with a total production capacity of 350 million litres a year. l

Del Monte says yes to biodiesel in UAE Food manufacturer and marketer Del Monte has joined in a biodiesel project with its client McDonald’s in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Twenty vehicles from Del Monte’s logistics fleet are running on biodiesel made from McDonald’s UAE’s used vegetable cooking oil, with an aim to get the entire fleet on renewable fuel before 2014.

McDonald’s UAE has been powering its vehicles via 100% renewable fuel for two years in partnership with Neutral Fuels.

‘As McDonald’s UAE’s supplier for the past six years, we saw this as a great opportunity to participate in what we believe is a groundbreaking initiative,’ Oussama Naddy, GM at Del Monte Foods (UAE), was quoted as saying.

‘The benefits associated with this biodiesel include the 80% reduction of carbon dioxide emission and a conversion from regular diesel to biodiesel can be made throughout our fleet without modifying the engines.’ l

Biodiesel study in Australia gets green light A biofuels feasibility study in Australia has received funding from the local government of Victoria.

The Hepburn Shire Council will use the AU$60,000 (€41,235) as it considers converting heavy fleet vehicles to biodiesel.

Hepburn Shire will work with fellow councils in Golden Plains and Pyrenees Shire to work out the best way for their local communities to benefit from the switch. As well as consistency of final supply, the study will look at available feedstocks and their potential conversion. l

news in brief New biodiesel plant in US starts up

It has been reported Pleasant Valley Biofuels (PVB) has begun operations in Utah, US. The plant has a capacity of 1.5 million gallons a year and will make biodiesel via organic oil from primarily waste vegetable and tallow feedstock.

PVB will also generate Renewable Indentification Numbers and glycerine at the site.

Biodiesel partnership delivered to TNT

Parcel delivery business TNT Express is to trial biofuels within its fleet in the UAE. It is working with Lootah Biofuels to help reduce its carbon footprint via locally produced B5 biodiesel made from used cooking oil for Lootah’s commercial vehicles in Dubai. TNT hopes to save 32 tonnes of carbon emissions through this collaboration.

‘This initiative adds to our other regional ones, such as our recent CNG vehicle fleet in Pakistan, in our continued efforts to reduce our carbon output,’ says TNT MD Middle East Bryan Moulds.

Toxic feedstock to power buses in China

The Shanghai Food and Drug Safety Authorities has been working with Tongji University to provide city buses with biodiesel in 2014.

The partnership conducted a toxic oil recycling programme and will now use swill oil as the basis of fuel for 1,000 buses, despite officials admitting the two processors the city boasts are ‘limited’.

Swill oil made headlines for another reason a few years ago when it was discovered many restaurants were using the toxic oil in their cooking.

Feedstock increase for Spanish biodiesel plant

A Spain-based biodiesel plant is to increase its options in terms of feedstock handling.

BDI Bioenergy International is to retrofit the Stocks del Valles facility so it can handle waste oils, including animal fats and restaurant grease.

The refit will include the installation of a new pre-esterification unit to help bolster the site’s current 9.3 million gallon capacity.

‘This new system allows for a high percentage of degradation products in the oil, especially free fatty acids,’ says BDI board member Edgar Ahn. ‘In addition, it provides an efficient way for biodiesel producers to increase the profitability of their existing plants.’

16 september/october 2013 biofuels international

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Biodiesel of Las Vegas becomes certified

The certification is a voluntary programme hosted by the National Biodiesel Accreditation Programme for producers of BQ-9000 biodiesel. It combines the ASTM D6751 quality standard with a quality systems

programme that focuses on things like shipping, sampling and fuel management.

‘This shows our industry that we are committed to producing quality fuel for our community,’ company VP Brandon Buff was quoted as saying. ‘This certification also reinforced to our team what we have accomplished and becomes a milestone in our roadmap for the future.’

The Las Vegas facility becomes the 46th biodiesel producer in the US to obtain this award. l

Delivered: the NBB has certified biodiesel produced by Biodiesel of Las Vegas

Investment received by Botswana biodiesel project The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has supported a biodiesel project based in Botswana, Africa.

JICA will donate an estimated P$2 million (€175,000) worth of equipment to aid a biodiesel processing plant, which uses jatropha feedstock, at helping the country reduce its dependency on fuel imports.

The overall project started in Botswana last year and the donated equipment will go towards helping jatropha

plants thrive in Mozambique.

‘Botswana’s temperatures range from zero to 40˚C, but jatropha requires a temperature range of around 20 to 30˚C. This is a challenge we have to address,’ says agricultural research officer Stephen Chite.

The equipment provided via the JICA investment includes a portable photosynthesis and fluorescence system, a denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis machine and a weather station. The overall project involving the 50 million litre a year plant is set to last for five years. l

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Biodiesel of Las Vegas has become the first producer in Nevada, US to earn a BQ-9000 certification from the country’s National Biodiesel Board.

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biofuels biodiesel news

Higher biodiesel blend in Philippines could boost coconut industry A collaboration in the Philippines is set to see road tests within public transport vehicles of biofuel blend B5.

The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and the University of the Philippines’ National Centre for Transportation Studies will trial

the fuel, made with coconut oil, in seven jeepneys across various transport groups.

The move to B5 comes after the National Fuels Board recently approved a mandated biodiesel increase from B2.

PCA administrator Euclides Forbes was quoted as saying a successful trial would strengthen the

domestic coconut market and could potentially boost income for farmers by P19.6 billion (€339.5 million).

The jeepneys, which are local bus-type vehicles, will drive on the fuel for 25 days and be tested for power efficiency and fuel economy.

The first five days will still see B2 in use before the transition to the newer blend. l

Heeby jeepneys: the vehicles will trial B5 for 25 days

REG to supply biodiesel at new terminal location Biodiesel producer and marketer Renewable Energy Group (REG) is to supply biodiesel at IMTT’s storage terminal located at the New York Harbour in Bayonne, New Jersey.

As one of the world’s largest trading hubs, the new location will allow REG to sell large volumes of biodiesel via barge or truck.

‘The Northeast has an active biodiesel market and this terminal position allows us to provide more REG-9000 biodiesel to better serve this growing market,’ explains Gary Haer, REG VP of sales and marketing.

Dave Elsenbast, REG’s VP of supply chain management, says: ‘REG will grow our current biodiesel marketing capabilities by utilising IMTT’s terminal with deep water access to multiple barge and ship berths. This is a major step in our strategy to grow volume in this region of the country.’ l

Man jailed over biodiesel fraud caper A man in Texas, US has been jailed for fraud and money laundering in a plot surrounding a nonexistent biodiesel plant.

Kenneth Paul Lawrence was sentenced to five years for his role in defrauding investors to put money into a biodiesel plant that was never going to be built. He also received a probated 10 year sentence for engaging in organised crime.

In a statement the Texas State Securities Board said:

‘Lawrence was the proposed operator of the biodiesel plant and received money from Greenway Energy Partners, the managing partner of the energy project. Greenway raised more than $800,000 (€602,525) through the fraudulent sale of investments and Lawrence received $265,000 of that total.’

It was also revealed Lawrence had been fined, and issued a case and desist order, by the Texas Securities Commissioner for selling unregistered oil and gas securities. l

Banged up: Lawrence was sentenced to five years behind bars

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Butanol production technology receives USDA grant The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded biotechnology company Microvi Biotechnologies a grant to develop its breakthrough technology that improves the yield and performance of biobutanol processes.

Microvi claims its MicroNiche technology overcomes the toxic and inhibitory effects on butanol producing microorganisms, a ‘major bottleneck in scaling existing biobutanol processes’.

‘A diversified energy future based on biobutanol and other low-cost biofuels requires new technologies,’ says Microvi director of reseaerch Ameen Razavi.

‘We open a new paradigm for managing toxic stresses for biobutanol production leading to economical production.’

Bioutanol, as a fuel or petrol additive, has many advantages over ethanol including dropin capability, higher energy content and better transport and handling properties. It can also be used as a building block for chemicals and polymers. l

HF Press+LipidTech expand production capacities Technology manufacturer HF Group has established a new manufacturing location for its oilseed processing and screw press division HF Press+LipidTech.

The Germany-based division has reportedly reached its production limit at a site in Hamburg and it will now have a place at a HF site in Valpovo, Croatia.

Valpovo has been chosen as the new location as its infrastructure matches the division’s requirements. A welding centre with robots for hard facing began operation this May. HF Group also points to good transportation links to other parts of Europe, simple custom formalities and ISO 9001 certification as other reasons behind the chosen location. l

WB exhibits new corn oil technology Renewable fuels company WB Services is offering ethanol producers a way to turn corn oil into high-value fuels on-site.

It has two separate technologies, both commercially available, which call for co-location of either a biodiesel or renewable diesel facility with an existing ethanol plant.

WB has built and is operating a 2 million gallons a year (mgy) biodiesel plant and is in the process of completing construction on a 3 mgy renewable diesel facility, both in Kanssas.

Although neither facility is co-located with an ethanol plant, both serve as a showpiece for potential customers interested in co-location. ‘People can come and see the technology at work,’ says Ron Beemiller, WB CEO. ‘We think this just adds another arrow to the quiver for an ethanol plant as far as diversifying their product mix and insulating them against tough times,’ Bernie Hoffman, VP of business development was quoted as adding. l

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biofuels technology news

From vegetable oil to biodiesel with reactor system The Globe jacketed reactor system from chemical reactor systems provider Syrris has enabled chemical engineering students in the US to safely investigate the production of biodiesel.

As part of their senior thesis, some undergraduate students at the Worcester Polytechnic University suggested a ‘green’ experiment of converting vegetable oil into biodiesel.

‘This base-catalysed process uses methanol and potassium hydroxide, which is not that simple a reaction or particularly safe. To implement this process in an undergraduate teaching laboratory, we needed a computercontrolled mini pilot plant that could run the reaction safely at different temperatures and Globe was ideal,’ says William Clark of the university’s chemical engineering department.

The Globe system enables the biodiesel reaction to be performed under computer control, eliminating manual transfer of reagents and allowing the experiment to be carried out safely.

Good reaction: the reactor system allows for safer biodiesel experimentation

‘Working with Syrris, we designed a small chemical factory; two Globe reactors and a Globe Reactor Master Module – enabling the integration of balances, pumps, temperature probes, stirrers, a temperature bath and a pH meter – controlled by Globe Reactor Master Software,’ adds Clark.

The catalyst, potassium hydroxide in methanol, is generated at a controlled

New technology increases cellulosic ethanol level

temperature in the first reactor, then pumped across to a second reactor containing heated vegetable oil to start the biodiesel process.

Clark says an advantage provided by the software controls the entire process, ‘a great advantage as we do not have to write additional programmes to control other integrated modules’, as well as providing an audit trail. l

OriginOil launches mid-sized algae harvester

Quad County Corn Processors, after four years of research into an $8.5 million (€6.4 million) expansion, has developed a technology to make 2 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol each year via corn kernel fibre feedstock.

OriginOil, developer of chemical-free clean water processes, has launched a mid-sized algae harvester designed, with producer input, for distributed algae production.

The process, which ferments the starch first and then the fibre rather than a concurrent process that does both at the same time, is expected to increase the 35 million gallon plant’s annual capacity by about 6%.

GM Delayne Johnson said the investment will ‘allow us to produce more ethanol from the same amount of corn, help us contribute to the nation’s supply of cellulosic ethanol and continue to lower prices at the pump for consumers’.

He adds the new cellulosic process also will boost the plant’s corn oil extraction by about 300% and create a distillers grain product that is higher in protein and lower in fibre: ‘With the new process the distillers grain material will be more similar to corn gluten meal.’ l

The new harvester, branded EWS Algae A60, can process 60 litres per minute of algae water and individual units can each be assigned to manage a pond or bioreactor assembly of up to 500,000 litres. Units can also be combined to achieve parallel processing capability.

The company claims the A60 is a continuous flow ‘wet harvest’ system that efficiently dewaters and concentrates microalgae.

It can remove up to 99% of the

incoming water volume and produce a 5% solids concentrate.

‘We sized this harvester to meet the distributed processing demands of algae producers,’ says Jose Sanchez, OriginOil’s VP of quality assurance and services.

‘Our clients can scale up gradually, they can shut down an individual harvester for pond stoppages and they also have redundancy.’

The A60 design is also designed for aquaculture, a new global application for algae production.

‘The new A60 is ideally sized to harvest algae product for fish feed,’ adds Sanchez. ‘At a time when fish feed costs are exploding, fish farms are looking to adopt algae cultivation in a big way. Not only is algae about a third of the cost of conventional feeds, but it is also nutritious.’ l

20 september/october 2013 biofuels international

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Dyadic issues warning over license agreement Codexis, a developer of engineered enzymes for biofuel production, has received notice from Dyadic International alleging it is in breach under a license agreement established by the companies in 2008.

Codexis had obtained a non-exclusive license relating to Dyadic’s C1based proprietary fungal expression

technology for the production of enzymes to make products in the fields of biofuels, certain pharmaceuticals, chemicals and the conversion of cellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars for use in non-fuel products.

The company agreed to pay Dyadic certain license issuance fees, milestone payments and fees based on volume of enzyme products sold or manufactured using the technology.

According to the notice, Dyadic intends to terminate the agreement if

New cleaning equipment from Butterworth Butterworth, a manufacturer of industrial tank cleaning equipment, has extended its portfolio with the addition of new product lines.

The company has introduced the 12 and 14mm LTQ machines – a four nozzle device typically used in ethanol fermenters, where the increased density of the cleaning pattern yields a more efficient cleaning process. The machines can achieve a flow rate of up to 300gpm.

In addition, Butterworth has launched its CAT Tank Cleaning Machine – a single nozzle, programmable, fixed-in-place device which gives the end user the ability to determine how much of the tank to clean (360°, bottom only, sides only, spot, etc.) by adjusting the start and finish points.

By changing the speed and pitch, the machine can be adjusted from heavy wash to light wash, depending on the user’s needs. An electronic rotation checking device ensures the user that the machine is functioning properly. l

the breach is not reversed. Codexis believes that it is not in breach of the license agreement and that the notice is unjustified. It is considering all available remedies to protect its interests under the Dyadic license agreement.

Codexis currently uses this license solely in connection with its CodeXyme cellulase enzymes. It does not expect any termination of the Dyadic license would have any impact on its current pharmaceutical and CodeXol detergent alcohol businesses. l

Analysing product offers multiple biofuel uses The FuelQuant FT-NIR analyser, manufactured by Q-Interline, can be used for quality control of biofuels, intermediate products and raw materials.

The list of parameters which can be analysed via the FuelQuant includes mono-, di- and triglycerides, iodine value, moisture, methanol, FFA, acidity and relevant properties of the raw materials.

The FuelQuant will provide analytical results for multiple parameters in 30 seconds. It is maintenance free, uses no chemicals and the sample is analysed in cheap disposable vials.

‘It can be equipped with Q-Interline’s Spiral Sampler too, which enables analysis of heterogeneous energy crop samples as well as raw materials,’ says Marcel Ardon, director of distributing company Anaspec. ‘The samples do not need pre-treatment and the sampler will scan an unmatched area of 375cm2.’ l

No need: samples used do not need to be pretreated

Funding received for new biofuels technology course Carl Sandburg College in Illinois, US will offer a new biofuels manufacturing technology programme starting this year.

The two-year Associate in Applied Science programme is funded by the Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN) and will prepare graduates for employment as operators or technicians in the field of biodiesel production, wet and dry ethanol production, waste and water treatment, process control and chemical processing.

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‘Biofuels is a broad base for people who are interested in math, science and agriculture,’ says Lauri White, dean of career, technical and health education. ‘Students will learn how to process different feedstocks. In this case, we’re going to produce ethanol and biodiesel.’

The college will allow students to complete their coursework online while attending its main campus for laboratory exercises.

Sandburg received a $680,000 grant from IGEN in 2011 as part of a network of green programmes in 17 colleges statewide. l

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

Location

Company Incident information

30/07/13 Kansas, US

Green Energy Products

A fire was reported at the biodiesel plant and firefighters battled through thick black smoke to put out the blaze, believed to have originated from a stock of burning corn oil on 30 July.

Local news reports claim 12 people were inside the facility when the fire started, but all escaped without injury.

The cause of the fire has not been disclosed, nor the cost of the damage, but rescue services managed to keep the fire contained within one structure.

25/07/13

Port of Tampa, Florida, US

N/A

A train derailed at the Port of Tampa and caused 15 rail cars to topple over, leading to an ethanol spill.

Firefighters used foam on the spill to reduce flammability. The operation to upright the cars and clean up the spill began straightaway.

There was no immediate word on injuries and the majority of the port was reopened within a few hours.

15/07/13

Tacoma, Washington, US

N/A

A biodiesel tank exploded inside a private garage, sparking a fire.

A Tacoma fire spokesperson said the tank was inside a detached garage of a private home.

The explosion caused the fuel to spill over into a nearby alley, paving the way for flames to reach nearby projects. A nearby garage and a parked recreational vehicle were charred, and several nearby homes were also damaged by the heat.

The cause of the explosion has not been determined and there are no reports of injuries.

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22 september/october 2013 biofuels international

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Accidental damage If you own a car in the state of Ohio, US and it starts playing up, your best bet for a cheap repair is to pay a quick visit the GetGo petrol station in Brunswick.

A local news reporter detailed the fact pumps at the Giant Eagle-owned station were dishing out pure ethanol from its 87-octane tanks for almost a 24 hour period at the end of July. It was estimated around 500 cars took on board the undercover liquid.

The owners handled the initial furore by saying flex-fuel vehicles would not be damaged by the use of ethanol, but standard car owners could be reimbursed by Giant Eagle if they suffered problems and had to visit a mechanic.

But before you start taking wrenches to your engines in the vain hope of upgrading at someone else’s expense, please bear in mind the cover date of this magazine and that Giant Eagle has probably squared away all incoming enquiries now on this tip.

Over 90 petrol stations in Ohio dispense E85 fuel – sounds like this one just wanted to join the club! l

“…and you say ethanol fuel did this?”

Deception, biofuels and the gun shop owner While compiling this issue, BI was concerned about the amount of stories coming through related to ‘scams’ and ‘fraud’ within the biofuels world – the industry faces enough challenges without chancers coming along and muddying the waters further.

One such story revolves around a gun shop owner out of Tampa, US who is alleged to have conned investors out of $3.5 million (€2.6 million) by pretending to be a VIP in Florida’s alternative fuel industry.

William Vasden Jr (we left that in so his father does not get any misguided abuse) faces 30 counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements.

Wire fraud alone carries a 20-year maximum sentence.

A federal indictment says Vasden capitalised on concerns about America’s dependence

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on foreign oil by presenting himself as a successful farmer at workshops and other meetings and persuading attendees to invest in crops that could be converted into biofuel.

That sounds like an awful amount of hard work just to boost his bank balance,

particularly when you consider what he does for a day job.

Perhaps, while considering he deserved to live the life of a millionaire, Vasden looked around his shop full of weaponry and thought to himself: ‘That’s it – I’ll concoct a complicated and convoluted plan to

con people into investing in renewable energy crops’...

Banks breathed a huge sigh of relief!

Vasden is currently freed on $500,000 bail, according to court records, and his trial is scheduled for October in US District Court. l

“Gimme all your carbon credits and nobody gets hurt!”

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biofuels business brief

People on the move New man at Poet-DSM Poet-DSM Advanced Biofuels has hired a new corporate controller.

Michael Nealon will be responsible for planning, organising, directing and controlling the consolidated accounting and financial reporting functions for the joint venture.

Nealon joins Poet-DSM after more than 11 years at Glacial Lakes Corn Processors, where he worked as controller and, most recently, finance manager.

His work experience also includes accounting and finance positions in the real estate, credit card and gaming industries.

Templeton joins GIB The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has appointed Gavin Templeton as its head of sustainable finance.

He will oversee GIB’s combined sustainability, green impact and technical teams.

The bank claims Templeton brings ‘a wealth of experience in the energy and financial sectors’ and he joins from VTB Capital. He begins his role in the GIB Edinburgh headquarters in October.

Stockton Group welcomes new VP The Stockton Group, an international crop protection company, has appointed Guy Cooper as VP of commerce and business development.

He will lead business

24 september/october 2013

at Evogene New board members research company for Evogene, a plant genomics ustries, has appointed biofuels, feed and food ind to its board of directors.

Akiva Mozes and Ziv Kop Bazan Group’s oil refinery Mozes is the chairman of s board of directors. He and member of the Straus ent of Israel Chemicals, previously served as presid year. last n retiring from this positio of Go Capital, a newly O CE and Kop is the founder Prior to that, he was the formed private equity fund. ck Israel, a private equity managing partner at Glenro managed a portfolio of investment firm where he ved on the board of more growth companies and ser companies. than ten private and public their respective fields in ‘As experts and leaders relevant expertise to and they both bring valuable existing members, and complement the skills of our ing rapid growth,’ says further support our continu rd Martin Gerstel.

Evogene chairman of the boa

development efforts on a global scale and oversee Stockton’s commercial organisation.

Cooper worked as a business consultant prior to joining Stockton and, before that, at agrochemical manufacturer MakhteshimAgan for 12 years. During that period he performed different roles such as commercial manager for Europe, global head for seed treatment and biopesticides and M&A manager.

‘His experience in negotiating, structuring and building key partnerships makes him an ideal

addition to the team we’re assembling,’ explains Stockton CEO Ziv Tirosh.

Cooper holds an MBA in marketing, finance, and organisational behaviour and a BA in economics and international affairs, both from the Hebrew University.

All change at Joule Joule, the leader in direct

New EPA leader confirmed Gina McCarthy, the former assistant administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) office of air and radiation was confirmed by the US Senate as the new administrator of the EPA this summer.

She was nominated by President Obama to replace Gina McCarthy Lisa Jackson and was confirmed before the end of July.

McCarthy has been described as ‘very familiar with clean air issues’ by the Energy and Environment Conference chairman Prahbu Dayal: ‘Her appointment reinforces her ability to evaluate the concerns and technical issues to build productive relationships among energy executives, environmental leaders and policymakers.’

CO2-to-fuels solar conversion technology, has announced changes in its leadership.

William Sims, after four years of leading Joule’s early development as CEO, will step out of his management role but remain a member of the company’s board.

Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and chairman, is assuming the role of interim CEO while Paul Snaith will be promoted to president and COO. Snaith joined Joule in January 2012 to lead business development and strategy, and later took on the role of chief business officer. He previously spent 24 years at Shell in multiple roles, including VP of downstream marketing for Shell Global Solutions and MD of Shell Research, during which time he led the technology strategy for Shell’s biofuels business. l

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With member states split on the issue, a draft proposal affecting first generation biofuels is due to be voted on this autumn

If the cap fits?

T

he European Parliament Environment Committee has approved draft legislation which will limit the contribution of first generation biofuels toward EU green transportation targets.

The Committee’s vote on proposals to deal with possible greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from indirect land use change (ILUC) took place on 11 July. The potential 5.5% cap on transport from all land-based biofuels was passed by 43-26.

The incorporation of ILUC factors into the accounting of GHG emissions for biofuels under the Fuel Quality and Renewable Energy Directives, which some see as controversial, has also been passed.

The proposals voted in will be put to the Plenary of the European Parliament in the autumn, when the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) will be able to introduce any potential amendments.

Conflicting views Many biofuels advocates are coming out as disappointed with this final result with Clare Wenner, head of renewable transport at the UK Renewable Energy Association, claiming ‘so-called green campaigners have well and truly shot themselves in the foot with this pyrrhic victory’.

‘This vote is very disappointing for so much of the UK biofuels industry.

It will ensure that fossil fuels continue to dominate transport for the foreseeable future and it will reduce the stimulus

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for investments in improving agricultural yields and practices,’ Wenner continued.

‘These final proposals are a conceptually flawed attempt to force European biofuel developers to pay for the assumed emissions of other industries in other regions of the world. They will put committed investments in agricultural biofuels and future investments in advanced biofuels at extreme risk across Europe.’

The legislation is being guided through parliament by French liberal MEP Corinne LePage, who defended the need for ILUC factors after the vote: ‘Just because something is difficult to assess, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.’

MEPs were shown an advance copy of a study by the Commission’s joint research centre ahead of the vote, which concluded that ILUC impacts can negate the emissions savings of biofuel if they remain unaddressed.

It also concludes that, if anything, the Commission’s proposal underestimates the impact of ILUC. ‘We have to ensure that the European biofuels industry

is sustainable, and helps to meet the objectives of the legislation,’ LePage added. ‘I have visited plants that use conventional biofuel, and I saw that these plants were already working on shifting toward second or even third generation biofuels.’

Debate The European Biodiesel Board (EBB) believes this culmination of what has been a lengthy debate has been asking the wrong questions while looking for solutions.

‘Limiting biofuels production will neither solve hunger, nor will it prevent deforestation,’ says EBB secretary general Raffaello Garofalo. ‘ILUC modelling remains uncertain and the industry cannot be penalised on groundless assumptions.’

Garofalo and the EBB believe there is a lack of consistent, accurate information in terms of ILUC factors and biofuels contribution, but the organisation does welcome the maintaining of ‘strong incentives’ for biodiesel made from waste and residue

feedstocks which can achieve up to 95% GHG reductions.

The vote will take place on 10 September, the day before the start of Biofuels International conference on 11-12 September in Antwerp.

The debate will provide the perfect backdrop to discussions regarding the industry’s future and representatives from a cross section of the industry, including policy makers, oil majors, biofuel producers, retailers, associations, analysts, ports, feedstock suppliers and financiers, will come together to share opinions and take questions from delegates.

The main discussion points will include the industry’s initial thoughts on the 5.5% cap on food-based biofuels, the reaction to the decision not to include emissions arising from land use change in the measurements and research into double counting and its impacts.

Many key speakers are lined up to attend, including: Arthur Reijnhart, GM for alternative energy and fuels development strategy for Shell Bernd Kuepker, policy officer at DG Energy European Commission Ilmari Lastikka, head of EU affairs at Neste Oil Benny Mai, CCO at DONG Energy new bio solutions Daniel Oh, CEO at Renewable Energy Group. l

For full details visit www.biofuels-news.com/conference

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biofuels regulations

Sunny outlook for US biodiesel

Brian Milne, energy editor, Schneider Electric

A

rmed with an expanding mandate for its product, US biodiesel producers headed out of summer on surer footing for a still nascent but growing industry that has been pummeled at times over the past several years by an uncertain regulatory and subsidy environment and economic recession.

In August the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalised its previous proposal that lifted this year’s biomassbased diesel nested category under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) from 1 billion gallons to 1.28 billion gallons, requiring obligated parties under the RFS to blend more biodiesel into petroleumbased fuel or buy in the market credits to demonstrate compliance with the mandate.

US biodiesel plants, of which the Energy Information Administration says totals 116 with annual production of 2.165 billion gallons, stand ready to meet their end of the mandate.

Data from the EPA, the administrator of the RFS, shows cumulative domestic

output of biomass-based diesel, which include biodiesel and renewable diesel made from vegetable oils, animal fat and recycled grease, from January through June just short of 700 million gallons—more than halfway there. Traders and marketers have no worry the industry would produce enough non-petroleum-based diesel fuel to meet its mandate this year, while the National Biodiesel Board, the US trade group for the industry, lobbies Washington for the 2014 mandate to again be 1.28 billion gallons.

Such efforts would likely be more schmoozing then arm twisting since a higher mandate for this nested

petrol market. RFS2, as it is referred, instead requires 36 billion gallons of renewables to displace petroleumbased transportation fuels by 2022, with nested categories for cellulosic and advanced renewables.

RFS2 caps the use of traditional corn-based produced ethanol at 15 billion gallons in 2015, with ethanol seen as a stepping stone to the next generation of renewables, so it was billed in 2007 when seeking support from lawmakers.

Problem is RFS2 was premised on petrol demand in the US to continue higher by roughly 1% year after year, expanding the pool for ethanol blending. Instead, US petrol

‘Trading physical biodiesel in the spot market remains light on volume, with it still primarily sold at wholesale distribution terminals under the rack’ category helps to offset, to some degree, challenges in satisfying the overall RFS, which came under blistering attack this year by the oil industry that sought its repeal, calling the mandate unworkable.

The current RFS, established by the Energy Independence and Security Act signed into law in December 2007, expands greatly from the initial mandate that would have topped out in 2012 requiring 12.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be blended into the US

demand peaked in 2007 and has declined by at least 7.5% since then amid recession, the increasing use of fuel efficient vehicles, and a change in behaviour by consumers in response to high pump prices.

For 2013, RFS2 calls for 16.55 billion gallons of renewables to be used in the marketplace to offset petroleum-based road transportation fuels, with 13.8 billion gallons carved out for the Renewable Biofuel category satisfied almost exclusively with traditional ethanol. The

Renewable Biofuel nested category increases to 14.4 billion gallons in 2014.

US petrol demand is projected at 13.3 billion gallons this year and about the same for 2014, with the Renewable Biofuel category already over a 10% share of the petrol pool. This scenario is known as the blend wall since the 10% ethanol ratio in petrol is the saturation level for ethanol in the US based on automobile warranties and customer preference—a problem for obligated parties needing to comply with the mandate.

To show compliance with the RFS, obligated parties — oil refiners, blenders and importers — obtain Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) that are generated when a qualified renewable is produced or imported. RINs move with the renewable through the supply chain and can be separated and traded in the market.

RINs are then submitted to the EPA to show compliance.

There are four nested categories, with the Renewable Biofuel category generating D6 RINs. Biomassbased biodiesel generate D4 RINs, equivalent to 1.5 D6 RINs, more valuable since biomass-based diesels are also viewed as an advanced fuel that achieves a greater environmental benefit. D4 RINs can be used to satisfy the Renewable Biofuel nested category, as well as its own carve-out, but D6 RINs can only satisfy the Renewable Biofuel mandate.

D6 RINs cost just pennies through 2012 before flirtation with the blend wall. They first surged over $1 in March, and

26 september/october 2013 biofuels international

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Chicago spot ULSD and biodiesel minus tax credit and D4 RIN value

Gulf Coast spot ULSD and Houston biodiesel minus tax credit and D4 RIN value

Renewable identification numbers

ULSD/soyabean oil spread

in mid-July neared $1.50, as concern over a shortage of RINs, not only for this year but also for 2014 when any prior year banked RINs were seen exhausted, spiked values. Obligated parties were less concerned in meeting the biomass-based diesel category, which pressured D4 RIN values early in 2013.

However, with a D4 RIN valued greater than a D6, D4 RINs gained with D6 credits.

The higher D4 RIN value plus a $1 gallon tax credit paid by the US Treasury for blending biodiesel or renewable diesel into distillates narrowed biodiesel’s premium to ultra-low sulphur diesel fuel, prompting profits at times for blenders. The early August announcement

by EPA finalising this year’s

York Mercantile Exchange ULSD futures contract.

A decline in soyabean oil prices, with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange soyabean oil futures contract dropping to a nearly threeyear low in early August on government crop reports showing expectations for a large harvest this season, pushed the implied return for blending bean oil into biodiesel to nearly a $1 gallon early in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island and New York have passed legislation mandating 2% biodiesel in heating oil, called bioheat, to be sold in their states effective 2014 and 2015 respectively, promising more support for an industry heavily intertwined with government policy.

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requirements for obligated parties - which was more than eight months beyond the November 2012 deadline for the EPA stated by the law - also came with a four-month extension in meeting this year’s compliance requirements, pressuring RIN values.

The EPA said it would be flexible with 2014 compliance, but offered no detail. D6 RINs were again moving higher on this uncertainty at the time of this writing, pushing D4 RINs up as well.

Trading physical biodiesel in the spot market remains light on volume, with biodiesel still primarily sold at wholesale distribution terminals under the rack. Spot biodiesel values react primarily to price movements by the New

New York City already has a 2% mandate, while other states in the US Northeast—the world’s largest concentration of consumers and small businesses that use heating oil for space heating—are set to follow suit.

This is a real success story for heating oil distributors in the Northeast savaged by lower costing natural gas, providing the industry green credentials in their battle with the large utilities. l For more information: This article was written by Brian Milne, energy editor for Schneider Electric and editor of OilSpot, a weekly newsletter for fuel marketers, buyers and sellers. Milne has been a journalist and editor for 19 years, focusing on the energy markets for 17 of those years, www.schneider-electric.com, +1 952 851-7216

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The A.B.C. of EPA’s new biofuels standard

T

he US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has divulged its final ruling on percentage standards for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) programme.

It requires 16.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be blended into the overall volume of US fuel supply, a total which makes up 9.7%. The EPA standard breaks down as this: • Advanced biofuels – 2.75 billion gallons (1.6%) • Biomass-based diesel – 1.28 billion gallons (1.3%) • Cellulosic biofuels – 6 million gallons (0.004%) The EPA states these standards reflect updated production projections, based on engagement with the industry and an overall assessment of the biofuels market. The remaining 12.5 billion gallons of the mandate can be met by any renewable biofuels.

The ruling, completed 6 August, has more than halved the target for cellulosic and advanced biofuels, from 14 million to 6, based on current production levels and a realistic fear such a high number could not be met.

The rule finalises an earlier proposal requiring that advanced biofuels total be blended into US fuel supply this year. Advanced biofuels, under the RFS, must reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% compared with petroleum fuels.

The EPA has also extended the deadline for compliance by four months making it 30 June 2014.

Strength in numbers The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) commended the EPA for maintaining what it calls ‘a strong 2013 advanced biofuel requirement’ under the RFS. ‘With this decision, the EPA is helping consumers, creating jobs and reducing emissions,’ says Anne Steckel, NBB’s VP of federal affairs.

‘We feel this target will clearly be met, and it will continue to

today and that they can reduce prices for consumers,’ Steckel adds. ‘The RFS is a critical component to that success and this rule will help stimulate new technologies and additional growth.

‘The announcement also demonstrates that the EPA has flexibility in addressing concerns stemming from the various volume requirements under the RFS, and that it is prepared to use that flexibility

‘The visible progress of the industry is proof that the Renewable Fuel Standard works’ Brent Erickson, BIO

diversify our fuel supplies so that we are not at the mercy of global oil markets every time we fill up at the pump.’

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soyabean oil and animal fats, biodiesel can be used in existing diesel engines without modification. It is produced at refineries in nearly every US state, supporting around 50,000 jobs nationwide, and is the first and only advanced biofuel under the RFS to reach commercial-scale production nationwide.

Biodiesel broke just over 1 billion gallons of annual volume last year, with the industry producing enough fuel to fill 87% of the total advanced requirement in 2012. The NBB believes the industry is ‘on pace’ to fill a majority of the requirement again this year.

‘Biodiesel is proving that advanced biofuels are working

in a practical way to ensure that the policy is running smoothly.’

Attainable goals Other US associations seem happy with the latest EPA announcement too, with many calling the 6 million gallon target for cellulosic involvement ‘realistic’.

‘We appreciate the EPA keeping the total volume intact and thoughtfully using the flexibility given to it by Congress to set the final cellulosic target at 6 million gallons. We think that total is realistic for this year,’ says American Coalition of Ethanol executive VP Brian Jennings.

The Biotechnology Industry Organisation also welcomed the release of the final ruling, noting that EPA’s carefully balanced implementation of the RFS has provided advanced biofuel developers and investors with confidence that,

if they can produce advanced and cellulosic biofuels, they will have market access.

‘This is a pivotal year for cellulosic and advanced biofuels as, following years of research and development and millions of dollars in investment, the first companies are right now commissioning biorefineries and producing commercial volumes of cellulosic fuel for American drivers. Additional companies have new facilities under construction, with expected start up over the next few years,’ reveals BIO executive VP Brent Erickson.

He went on to suggest current efforts to destabilise the programme have been ‘shortsighted’ and motivated solely by ‘the oil refining industry’s desire to block competition and consumer choice at the pump’.

EPA did receive comments from numerous stakeholders concerning the E10 blendwall during the rulemaking , which is expected to occur in 2014 and refers to the difficulty in incorporating ethanol into the fuel supply at volumes exceeding those achieved by the sale of nearly all petrol as E10.

‘We firmly believe the limits to market access for biofuels, commonly referred to as the blendwall, represent a series of barriers contrived by obligated parties to prevent biofuels from gaining access to the marketplace,’ Erickson continues. ‘Multiple avenues exist for blending additional volumes of biofuel into the nation’s fuel supply. BIO urges EPA to withstand pressure to reduce RFS obligations based on future blendwall claims.’ l

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Plant update – South America

BranBio/Rhodia Location Brazil Alternative fuel Bio n-butanol Feedstock Sugarcane, straw, bagasse Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Completion date 2015 Comment The companies plan to build the world’s first biomass-based n-butanol plant, producing 100 kilotons per year of solvents

Montagens and Projetos Especiais Location Brazil Alternative fuel Ethanol Feedstock Sugarcane Construction / expansion / Acquisition acquisition Investment $31.2 million (€24 million) Comment It is due to modernise the formerlyowned Usina Sapucaia facility as well as planting crops too

Vinema Biorefinarias do Sul Location Brazil Alternative fuel Ethanol Capacity 600 million litres Feedstock Rice, oats, sorghum Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Completion date 2020 Investment €265 million Comment A total of six mills will be constructed in Cristal and use grain feedstocks to produce the ethanol

Riopaila Castilla Location Colombia Alternative fuel Ethanol Capacity 400,000 litres a day Feedstock Sugarcane and molasses Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Praj Industries Investment INR 109 crore ($20 million)

Albion Sugar Location Guyana Alternative fuel Bioethanol Capacity Demo-scale Construction / expansion / Construction acquisition Designer / builder Whitefox Technologies / Green Social Bioethanol Project start date November 2012 (announced) Completion date August 2013 Comment The plant is located next to the existing Guysuco sugar plant and kick-starts the move to introduce ethanol blended fuel in Guyana. The project is part funded by the International Development Bank

Industria Paraguaya de Alcoholes Location Paraguay Alternative fuel Ethanol Capacity 400,000 litres a day Feedstock Sugarcane, corn, sorghum Construction / expansion / Expansion acquisition Designer / builder ICM Project start date July 2013 Completion date Second quarter 2014 Comment An evaporator and dryer system will be installed into the plant after an agreement by both companies

*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 james@biofuels-news.com

biofuels international

september/october 2013 29

Ramada Plaza, Antwerp, Belgium 11-12 September 2013 Day one: 11th September 2013 8.50 Opening remarks from the chair: Updates on European biofuels policy Ruud van Stralen, Commercial Manager, Port of Amsterdam 9.00 What impact does government policies have on advanced biofuels development?

• Current development opportunities across Europe • Will current policies damage market?

• What’s next for advanced biofuel developers?

• What are the proposed alternatives? What are some of the challenges facing them?

Arthur Reijnhart, General Manager for Alternative Energy & Fuels Development Strategy, Shell 9.30 Commission’s proposal for limiting indirect land-use change emissions (ILUC) • Proposal • Impact • Status quo of negotiations Bernd Kuepker, Policy Officer at DG Energy, European Commission 10.00 What impact would a 5% cap have on first generation biofuels production?

• Current production capacities across Europe • Will a 5% cap kill the ethanol market?

• What’s next for biodiesel producers?

• In depth economic modelling assessing the effect on the market • What are the proposed alternatives? How do the economics compare?

Dr Caroline Midgley, Head of Biofuels and Biomass, LMC International

Day One Afternoon Finance Stream

Quality & Feedstocks Stream

2.20 Opening remarks from the chair: Finance stream

2.20 Opening remarks from the chair: Quality & feedstocks stream

2.30 Improving production economics for advanced biofuels • Analysis of cellulosic ethanol costs and revenues • Reducing enzyme costs by selective fractionation of biomass to pure C6, C5 and lignin streams • Profitability of cellulosic sugar and lignin platforms • Case study: results from cellulosic ethanol production facility • Comparison of low-cost cellulosic ethanol feedstocks Juha Anttila, Vice President, Chempolis Asia & Pacific and Americas, Chempolis

2.30 Greening up Aviation: Advanced Biofuels ready for Take Off • The path towards commercial scale production - Economic viability of jatropha and other bioenergy crops • Value chain integration & logistics • By-product commercialisation • Sustainability challenges • Working towards competitive pricing and refining Dr Christoph Weber, CEO of JatroFuels

3.00 Overcoming the funding shortage • Costs of getting commercial plants up and running Ian O’Gara, Clean Energy Solutions, Accenture

3.00 Standardised analytical solutions for biofuels • Verifying end product quality requirements • Complying with environmental regulations • On-site measurement capabilities • Ready-to-go analytical solutions Latif Aksu, Sales Manager, Agilent Technologies

3.30 Networking break in the exhibition hall

3.30 Networking break in the exhibition hall

4.00 Finance – Roadmap to project debt funding • Early stage development – key issues • Key requirements for bringing a project to financial close • Due diligence process Chris van Niekerk, Associate Director, NIBC

4.00 Feedstock price forecasts for the near and medium term • Analysing the biofuels industry’s feedstock requirements • Taking a closer look at feedstock price volatility & availability • Supply and demand trends across Europe Christophe Cogny, Biofuel and Oilseed Analyst, Tallage

4.30 From Start-up to Company, Early-Stage Venture Capital to Grow Bio-based Industries • Types of project finance available and examples of success • Avoiding risks during the scale-up process Ludwig Goris, Investment Manager, Capricorn Venture Partners

4.30 Jatropha is use in a plant oil cooker – lessons learned • Strengths and weaknesses of the cooker • Future objectives for the technology • Opportunities for growth in Africa Dr Brigitte Bohlinger, JatroSolutions

10.30 Networking break in the exhibition hall 11.00 Latest developments in international standards for biofuels and biomaterials • Sustainability standards under development within ISO, CEN and the voluntary schemes • Development of sustainability schemes for bio-based chemicals • Outlook towards one international standard Ortwin Costenoble, Senior Standardization Consultant, NEN Energy Resources 11.30 European biofuel supply and demand: Current and future challenges • First and second generation production levels so far • Varying interpretations of directives by member states • Biofuel demand levels across Europe James Challinor, Senior Analyst – Downstream Oil Research, Wood Mackenzie 12.00 Biofuels trade: explaining anti-dumping measures and counterveiling duties • Has the EC made the right decisions?

• What further action needs to be taken to protect the European market?

• What are the latest import/export figures • Update on the bioethanol market in Belgium Hendrik Lemahieu, Secretary-General, Belgian Bio-Ethanol Association 12.30 Infrastructure: Can Europe cope with advanced biofuels?

• A closer look at feedstock logistics • What additional infrastructure will be needed?

• The importance of developing synergies between bio-based industries Hendrik-Jan van Engelen, CCO, Port of Ghent 1.00 Lunch in the exhibition hall

5.00 Close of day one Networking reception

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Day two: 12th September 2013 8.50 Opening remarks from the chair: Commercialising advanced biofuels 9.00 Case study: Scaling up and derisking second generation technology • How to secure finance • Running a commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plant • Are Europe’s targets achievable?

Raffaella Serra, Business Development Manager for Central and Eastern Europe, Beta Renewables 9.30 Case study: Producing commercial scale biofuels from MSW • The journey towards commercial scale production • Working with MSW • Advice on raising finance Marie-Hélène Labrie, VP of Government Affairs and Communications, Enerkem 10.00 Case study: scaling up second generation cellulosic ethanol production • Increasing yields by 50% Benny Mai, Chief Commercial Officer at DONG Energy, New Bio Solutions 10.30 Networking break 11.00 Case study: Advanced Biofuels From Wood-Based Raw Materials Dr Sari Mannonen, Director, Business Relations & Marketing, UPM Biofuels 11.30 Case study: Making cellulosic ethanol innovations a commercial reality • New innovations production technology and conversion pathways • Case study: commercial scale demonstration of technology • De-risking cellulosic ethanol Christian Koolloos, Business Manager Bioethanol, DSM 12.00 Food Then Fuel: Biodiesel’s Role in Strengthening Food Security • REG’s lower cost feedstock model • Explaining the US Renewable Fuel Standard – what can Europe learn?

• How biodiesel increases profitability for agricultural and food sectors • Future biodiesel growth opportunities Daniel Oh, CEO, Renewable Energy Group 12.30 What will happen beyond 2020?

How do we create the stability the industry needs?

• What impact will would commissions proposal on ILUC have on biofuel markets(5% cap, multiple counting, ILUC factors)?

• Developments in advanced biofuel feedstocks including microbial oils Ilmari Lastikka, Head of EU Affairs, Neste Oil 1.00 Lunch in the exhibition hall

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Day Two afternoon

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Sustainability & ILUC

Benefitting from market synergies

2.20 Opening remarks from the chair: Sustainability & ILUC Kathryn Sheridan, CEO, Sustainability Consult

2.20: Opening remarks from the chair: Benefitting from market synergies

2.30 Double counting – is it the right solution? What are the alternatives?

• Is it a bankable business model?

• The impact on biodiesel from used cooking oil • Experiences of multi counting in different countries across Europe • Discussing the possibility of a dedicated sub-target, how would it work?

Dr Martin Grass, Project Manager / Auditor, Sustainability Certification, Intertek

2.30 From the retailer’s perspective: challenges to commercialising next generation transport energy • Changing customer attitudes • Dealing with technical and infrastructure issues • Regulatory framework to promote development Lars Gaustad, Senior Vice President, Transport Fuel, Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA

3.00 Why do low ILUC biofuels need a policy incentive?

• Explaining the Low indirect impact biofuels (LIIB) certification module • How can LIIB be used in EU biofuels policy and how would it fit into the Commission’s ILUC proposal?

Daan Peters, Senior consultant bioenergy, Ecofys

3.00 Biobuthanol production via process intensification: new challenges • Biothanol as alternative to ethanol • Process intensification to increase productivity • New resources (residues) for biobuthanol production Dr Ludo Diels, Research manager for Sustainable Chemistry, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO)

3.30 Networking break in the exhibition hall

3.30 Networking break in the exhibition hall

4.00 The argument in favour of mandating ILUC factors • Should be scrap quantity targets for biofuel in transport altogether?

• Sustainability within the FQD -Analysing the latest scientific research • Uneven returns? The economics of EU biofuels policy Pietro Caloprisco, Policy Officer, Transport & Environment

4.00 Improving lignocellulosic biofuel production & a closer look at cellulases • The latest developments for biobutanol • How to secure additional investment • Improving profitability through biotechnology Martin Bellof, Autodisplay Biotech

4.30 2G bioethanol production in Abengoa: From R&D towards the first commercial plants • The development of 2G technologies in Abengoa Bioenergy Carmen Millán Chacartegui, Director of Project Promotion and Institutional Relations, Abengoa Bioenergía Nuevas Tecnologías

4.30 Biofuels developments across central and eastern Europe Giorgio Rosso Cicogna, Alternate Secretary General, Central European Initiative

5.00 Close of conference

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Lay of the South American land

by Phil Thane

Brazilian ethanol is a well-known success story, but what are it and other countries’ current situations in South America?

S

outh America is the fourth largest continent with the fifth largest population in the world but variations in climate and terrain make generalisations difficult.

Much of the continent is in the tropics, but the south of Chile and Argentina are as far south as Canada and northern Europe are north, with predictable effects on the climate.

Even in the tropical zone there is a huge variation between the Amazon basin and the Andes. Some regions are ideal for sugarcane, others better suited to corn and other grains. On the lower slopes of the Andes, especially in Chile, there is well-developed forestry so cellulosic ethanol from forest waste is a natural target.

Technologies and locations Much has been written about sugarcane ethanol in Brazil,

but it has aspirations beyond that. Where you have cane harvesting, there are residues and leaves and where you have cane processing, you have bagasse – both potential sources of cellulose.

GranBio (formerly Graal Bio Investments) is building the first commercial-scale second generation ethanol plant in the southern hemisphere.

The unit, scheduled to begin operations in early 2014, will be located in the state of Alagoas and produce 82 million litres annually. The company holds a licence from Chemtex, a part of the Italian M&G Group, to use the bagasse processing system Proesa.

Making fuel from existing waste streams is a good start, but GranBio is also working to increase the production of cellulosic feedstock by developing a new strain of sugarcane named cana vertix.

The result of crossing modern varieties and ancestral types of cane, vertix is more robust

and pest-resistant, lives longer and has, crucially, a higher fibre content. GranBio aims to have planted 200,000 seedlings by the end of 2013, with the first commercial planting planned for 2015.

‘Raw material is a key competitive factor for second generation ethanol. We believe that energy cane is the world’s best source of biomass for this industry,’ GranBio president Bernardo Gradin says.

All about the money State funding for second generation fuel projects is often necessary to get things moving. Brazil’s Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP) and Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) are financing GranBio’s first plant to the tune of R$300 million (€99 million), plus FINEP is supporting its R&D work.

The pair are also supporting Spanish energy and utilities company Abengoa’s second

generation technology plant which aims to produce 100 million litres of bioethanol, plus biobutanol from sugar cane straw and bagasse.

When the use of corn stover was considered as cellulosic feedstock in the US, research was done on the effect of soil structure and fertility if the stover was removed from the fields.

Alfred Szwarc, emissions and technology consultant of the Brazilian sugarcane industry association UNICA, reveals issues arising from the use of bagasse and cane straw.

‘It is quite different here.

Not so long ago it was our practice, in about 70% of cases, to burn the straw before the harvest.

Since 2007 UNICA and others representing the sugarcane industry have made agreements with environmental agencies and we are in the process of increasing mechanisation of the harvest,’ Szwarc says.

‘Once the cane is harvested,

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the straw is left on the soil and part of it is recovered and used as a fuel in the boilers, in place of bagasse.

‘Leaving some straw provides cover for the soil, retaining moisture and reducing erosion, but it also encourages pests. This represents a challenge.’

Since the sugarcane industry began, bagasse has been used as a fuel for both heat and power generation, but the development of better boilers and the increasing use of straw as fuel has meant a decline in the amount of bagasse needed by sugar processors. GranBio is hoping its efforts will make this even less of a problem in future.

Cane straw is a different matter. Traditionally it is burnt in cane fields, returning trace elements to the soil and destroying pests and weeds in the process. With increased mechanisation of harvesting it is possible to remove most of the waste, leaving some to decay naturally into the soil. Investigations are ongoing into the ideal amount to leave behind, leaving too much decaying matter encourages crop pests.

Perhaps surprisingly given the huge scale of Brazil’s ethanol industry, demand still outstrips supply. Around half of all cars are flex-fuel types that happily run on 100% hydrous ethanol, particularly popular in remote regions far from oil refineries.

In the cities E25 is the norm.

The government is asking the industry to produce 2627 billion litres this season, but it is predicted to fall well short. The problems are in part financial. Prior to the banking crisis 30 new sugar mills opened in 20089 but, since then, 40 have closed and another 60 have unmanageable debts and are expected to fail in the next year or two. A government cap on ethanol prices is not helping producers invest in new plant or in upgrades.

Only two new mills have

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opened in recent years but, as Szwarc explains, a lot of investment has been going into mechanised harvesting and planting: ‘There has been $4.5 billion (€3.4 billion) invested since 2006. Last year $1.5 billion was invested into infrastructure, such as warehouses and port terminals, and $3.5 billion will be spent on a designated ethanol pipeline by 2017.’

Bountiful algae Chile imports almost three quarters of its fuel, so its government is keen to encourage locally produced biofuels. Corn, wheat and sugar beet are all grown there but agricultural land is in short supply so, as Chile already has to import food, the government decided not to invest in first generation biofuels but to look at second generation technologies.

Biocomsa is a technology corporation funded by the Chilean government, with a brief to determine the quantity and quality of lignocellulosic biomass available in the country and research available technologies.

Another research company was created in 2009 under the name Bioenercel which, last year, opened a ‘scaling laboratory’ designed to test how well various experimental cellulosic ethanol technologies work on a larger scale.

Both consortia bring together a mix of public and private companies and universities, and have outlined avenues of research, but have yet to demonstrate any real progress.

Algal biodiesel however is becoming more recognised on the biofuels stage and BAL Biofuels is developing technology to produce ethanol or butanol from macro algae (seaweed). Chile, with its 2,500 miles of coastline, has a ready supply of feedstock.

BAL has formed a partnership with Chile’s national petroleum refining

company ENAP and has received a $7.3 million grant from the Chilean Economic Development Agency to support the development of a plant to produce ethanol. Work started in January 2011 and the consortium expect it to be in production within five years.

The ethanol is produced by fermentation of the algae using genetically modified E Coli bacteria capable of breaking down the alginic acid component of the seaweed.

BAL claims the microbe can produce 80% of the theoretical maximum yield, and convert 28% of the dry weight of the seaweed to ethanol.

Cross border tensions Unlike Chile, Colombia has plenty of usable land and its biofuels industry is growing fast. With the second largest population on the continent there is plenty of demand and government policies are supportive. There are tax exemptions for biofuels and the areas around production facilities are treated as customs zones with reduced income taxes. The Ministry of Energy regulates prices and blend levels guaranteeing a minimum price for producers.

Colombia is South America’s second biggest ethanol producer, yet production has so far only reduced sugar exports by 25%. Colombian ethanol is 98% made from sugarcane and 2% from yucca.

Sugar production is almost double local demand, so production of ethanol neither competes with food in regards to supply or land needs.

Colombia has five ethanol plants adjacent to sugar mills and one designed to produce ethanol from yucca. However, the yucca supply has been far lower than expected and ethanol production virtually non-existent. Ethanol producer Colombiana de Biocombustibles Celulosicos is following the same path as GranBio by choosing Chemtex to provide engineering and

technical services for a cellulosic ethanol project in Chitaraque. The $167 million plant is expected to produce 85 million litres a year from cane waste.

Cross border trade is often a source of tension in South America. In north eastern Colombia sugar growers have for years sold their crop to the Urueña mill across the border in Venezuela. The Venezuelan government has recently placed restrictions on cane imports to protect their own growers however, so the Colombian government has announced the construction of an ethanol plant in El Zulia to use local cane.

The plant will produce 15,000 litres per day, but there may be a problem selling it.

Petrol in the area is imported from Venezuela with ethanol already included, so the new plant may have to ship its product south to larger cities where it can be blended.

Argentina The third most populous country on the continent and a net importer of fuel, Argentina had to delay the introduction of its ethanol mandate because local supplies were not sufficient, but in 2010 it introduced a 10% mandate and hopes to reach 20% by 2015. Most Argentinian ethanol is made from sugarcane by local sugar companies encouraged by tax breaks. Sugarcane does not grow so well in Argentina’s climate which is better suited to the production of maize.

To increase supply the government has authorised five projects to supply corn and sorghum-based ethanol to oil refiners, all expected to come online later this year.

Martin Fraguio, executive director of the Argentine Corn Association, says Argentina has 2 to 5 million hectares of land available suitable for expanding corn production compared to the 10-20,000 hectares available to expand

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biofuels regional focus sugar production. The aim is to reduce the price of petrol by reducing petroleum imports, as has happened in Brazil.

Total production of ethanol last year was still a little below that needed to meet a 5% mandate. But figures from the US Department of Agriculture suggest production will increase dramatically this year, possibly to as much as 720 million litres which represents 9% of petrol consumption. A 10% mandate does not look an impossible objective in the near future.

Uruguay Compared to those other countries, Uruguay has a small population of around 3 million but it still needs fuel and has several potential feedstock crops for both ethanol and biodiesel.

Back in 2007 Gulf Ethanol announced plans for an office in Montevideo to work with partners developing ethanol from sweet sorghum, but the company crashed the following year. The sorghum is still available however and appears

to have found a new customer.

Abengoa has been operating in Uruguay since the 1980s and, in 2011, it announced a deal to build an ethanol plant in Paysandú for Alcoholes de Uruguay (ALUR). The plant will process sorghum, maize, barley and wheat using dry milling and batch fermentation to produce 70 million litres of ethanol and 50,000 tonnes of DDGS a year.

Biomass waste will fuel a co-generation plant to provide the facility with heat and power. The project will require 200,000 tonnes of grain, but the use of a range of crops harvested at different times of the year should simplify the logistics. Construction began last December and it is hoped that the plant will be on stream in 2015, allowing Uruguay to meet its target of blending 10% ethanol into its fuel.

Peru One of the larger countries with the fourth biggest population in South America, Peru is not wealthy by any standards but annual

economic growth is around 6% and inflation and unemployment are both low for the region. It adopted a 7.8% ethanol mandate in 2011.

There are two ethanol plants in Peru, both in the Piura region and both using sugarcane. Peru’s soil and climate are even more suited to sugarcane than Brazil’s as harvesting is possible all year and yields are high.

Caña Brava is currently the larger of the two producers with 6,000 hectares planted and a processing plant capable of making 350,000 litres per day. The other, Maple Energy, is not far behind and is investing heavily.

Maple has recently acquired 13,500 hectares in Piura and plans to use 7,800 hectares for ethanol production from sugarcane. The land has been cleared and planting began in January 2011. To irrigate the crops, the company has built two reservoirs, two pumping stations and a pipeline. Water and fertilisers will be distributed

via a drip feed system.

Maple’s annual report shows that up to May 2013 it processed 412,000 net tonnes of cane to produce 31 million litres of ethanol. The majority of Maple’s output is exported as almost 30 million litres went to Mitsui for delivery to the EU and a mere 1.5 million litres went to the domestic market.

So it appears South America is developing fast after ethanol got off to an early start in Brazil. Other countries in the continent are developing their industries quickly, benefiting from Brazil’s experience and investing in new technology.

Corn ethanol is flourishing in regions where sugar is not grown and second generation schemes using waste materials and even algae are being developed.

The adoption of biofuels as the mainstream fuel for road transport is more advanced in South America than anywhere else and, thanks to the overall climate and availability of land, looks set to remains so. l

Moving forward: corn ethanol is flourishing in regions of South America where sugar is not grown

34 september/october 2013 biofuels international

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biofuels regional focus Brazilian ethanol is not the only biofuel in South America as biodiesel is set to grow throughout the continent

Changing gears

by Phil Thane

B

razil is a rapidly developing country and represents the B in BRIC, the acronym global economists like to mention when speaking about advancing economic developments. Therefore it needs diesel fuel for muliple industry concerns like haulage, forestry and agriculture, building and civil engineering.

Its biodiesel industry is as almost well developed as its ethanol business and the two are converging to some extent. Brazil’s government currently mandates B20 for diesel fuel, compared to 25% for petrol/ethanol blends.

Major oil company Petrobras and its wholly-owned subsidiary Petrobras Biocombustível (PB) have been producing ethanol and biodiesel since 2008.

PB has assessed different oilseed crops for their suitability in different regions of the country, and designed biodiesel plants that are able to process different types of raw material. The most widely used is soyabean oil but it works with castor and sunflower oils in the semi-arid northeast, palm oil in the north and canola oil in Paraná too.

The company wants to establish long-term relationships with farmers and the goal is to have 15,500 farmers on contract by the end of the 2013-14 season. PB gives free technical assistance and invests in technology to increase productivity and it hopes to eventually work with 80,000 family farms in the regions surrounding its plants.

It has three plants producing biodiesel with total production capacity of 170 million litres per year, and is studying the

feasibility of adapting its two experimental plants in Guamaré, where proprietary biodiesel technology was developed for commercial use. Most of Petrobras’ biodiesel is blended with its conventional diesel.

Recently the company, through its affiliate BSBios, signed a contract to export 8,000 tonnes of biofuel to Europe. The first shipment was sent on 25 June this year to Rotterdam.

New avenues Aware of the need to move beyond first generation biofuels Petrobras, in partnership with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Nortehas, has set up a pilot plant in Extremoz to cultivate micro-algae and process it into biodiesel.

Tests are being carried out to analyse production potential, oil quality and content.

Micro-algae will grow in polluted water and Petrobras is experimenting with wastewater from its oil production sites.

The aim is to use the algae to help clean up the water for disposal or re-use, absorbing chemicals such as nitrogen and phosphorus to create biomass.

The pilot plant opened in April 2012, using 4,000 litre tanks to grow the algae, but it will be a while until any results are made public.

Much of Brazil is ideally suited to growing sugar, which forms the basis of its ethanol industry, but it can also be used for many other things. Within plants, sugar is the precursor to the cellulose, proteins and fats they produce and, ultimately, it is the precursor to all our fossil fuels so it is not too surprising that many companies are developing methods for turning

sugar into fuel oils, lubricants and industrial chemicals.

San Francisco-based Solazyme has a proprietary biotechnology platform that uses micro-algae to create renewable oils. Most microalgae produce their own nutrients by photosynthesis but Solazyme’s are heterotrophic meaning they grow in the dark, consuming sugars derived from plants that have already harnessed energy from the sun.

Using standard industrial fermentation equipment the process is said to be scalable, reducing the micro-algae’s oil production time to just a few days and producing commercial quantities.

The company formed a joint venture with Bunge Global Innovation in 2011 named Solazyme Bunge Renewable Oils. The goal of the joint venture is to design and build a facility adjacent to Bunge’s Moema sugarcane mill in São Paulo to produce renewable oils. Bunge announced this January that project financing comes in the form of a loan from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) of $105.4 million (€79.4 million).

Another US company active in Brazil is renewable

products business Amyris.

It has an office and pilot and demonstration plant in Campinas, plus it also recently opened its first commercial-scale plant in Brotas. Rather than produce oil directly, Amyris uses genetically engineered microbes to convert sugar into hydrocarbons.

The company’s ‘building block’ product is farnesene which can be used in the manufacture of a range of products including transportation fuels, such as diesel and jet fuel. The plant sources its sugarcane feedstock locally from a mill in Paraíso. The first commercial shipment of what Amyris calls Biofene was delivered in February.

‘This initial shipment marks the completion of our start-up activities. We have operated multiple tanks without contamination or surprises through several production runs during the first month of operation,’ says Amyris CEO John Melo.

‘We are now focused on ramping up this production and delivering product ranging from renewable diesel for bus fleets in Brazil to squalane

Jatropha is slowly being introduced by a biodiesel concern in Peru

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emollient globally, plus for a range of speciality chemical applications in the near future.’

This focus on using sugar for biodiesel might make some readers wonder about the effect it will have on the ethanol industry.

‘There is so much room to expand that companies like Solazyme and Amyris will just make sure they have their own cane fields for their own projects. It’s not like there will be battles for sugarcane because there’s lots of opportunity for expansion,’ explains Adhemar Altieri, communications director of Brazil’s sugarcane industry association UNICA. When also asked about moves toward cellulosic ethanol production Altieri adds that ‘if that works out as expected, existing mills are going to produce a lot more ethanol but without having to plant more cane’.

Argy bargy Whereas Brazil is famous for ethanol and slowly building its biodiesel sector, Argentina’s climate favours the growing of oil-bearing crops which have made it a world leader in biodiesel exports. Diesel is also the country’s most popular domestic fuel, as two thirds of vehicles run on it, and Argentina has a 5% mandate which it expects to rise to 20% by 2015.

Its main feedstock is soyabean and Argentina is the biggest exporter of its oil in the world. In recent years, it has increased the value of the crop by converting it to biodiesel for export. The surfeit of soyabeans explains why plans to grow jatropha and castor oil plants for biodiesel production have so far come to nothing.

Argentina produced 3 billion litres of biodiesel in 2012 and production this year is expected to be slightly lower at 2.8 billion, with domestic consumption around 1.3 billion. Production capacity has been increased dramatically

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in recent years and the US Department of Agriculture estimates it will reach 5.2 billion litres by the end of 2013.

Last year the government renationalised the former stateowned oil company YPF which had been privatised in the 1990s. The major shareholder was Spain-owned Repsol and the Spanish government responded by banning imports of biodiesel from outside the EU. Argentina had exported 1 billion litres to Spain in 2011, well over 50% of total exports.

To support the industry the Argentine government announced in 2012 it would ramp up the mandate by 0.5% per month to reach 10% by October, but this was never implemented. Its government also tried to encourage exports to the rest of the EU, but that went badly awry. Export taxes on soyabean oil are much higher in Argentina than the tax charged on biodiesel however, one of the reasons the country is now in dispute with the EU about ‘dumping’.

Last August the European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents 75 producers, lodged a formal complaint that millions of tonnes of Argentine and Indonesian biodiesel were being dumped into the EU market. The EBB alleged unfair subsidies based on market evidence that imported fuel was selling for between $60 and $110 (€45-€75) less than EU biodiesel. Soyabean oil was also around $100 a tonne more than imported soyabean-based biodiesel.

Following an investigation the European Commission, this June, imposed anti-dumping duties of between 6.8 and 10.6% on biodiesel imported from Argentina. Now the EU has to decide whether to turn this decision into duties levied against biodiesel imports from Argentina (and Indonesia). It is expected that any such duties would run for five years.

Argentina has filed a complaint against the EU with the World Trade Organisation, so this skirmish is not over yet.

In the meantime we expect to see increased domestic consumption of biodiesel in Argentina, plus exports to other South American countries.

Elsewhere One such importer is Peru where biodiesel consumption in 2012 was 280,000 tonnes, of which 255,000 tonnes were imported and 73% of that from Argentina. Local production this year is estimated at 32,000 tonnes.

The largest local companies, Palmas del Espino and Heaven Petroleum, produce over 90% of that. Palmas specialises in the cultivation of palm oil and also cocoa. It extracts palm oil and produces edible oils and fats as well as biodiesel.

Heaven Petroleum invested $25 million to build the first biodiesel plant in the country back in 2008. That plant, designed to produce 600,000 litres a day from locally grown soyabean, is located 34km south of capital Lima. Further south of the plant, in the Ica district, Heaven is to plant 50,000 hectares of jatropha, in 5,000 hectare increments, over the next decade.

The jatropha will be transported to Lurin for processing as it is hoped the plant will eventually double its output. The target is 3.7 tonnes of jatropha per hectare producing 6,000 litres of biodiesel annually.

South of Peru, Chile’s varied terrain and climate, from desert in the north to distinctly chilly in the south and mountains to the east, represents a challenge for any kind of agriculture – unsurprisingly biofuel production is limited.

US biodiesel manufacturer Biomass Energy Services announced in 2012 however that it was working with Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (ENAP) and the Chilean Ministry of Energy to build a $10 million biodiesel plant to cater for public transport needs.

Unfortunately the company disappeared shortly afterwards.

Three years previous Energy Partners Chile signed an agreement with Ghana-based Gold Star Biofuels which should have seen it construct small biodiesel plants throughout the country with a view to producing B20 fuels. This project sunk without trace too.

More promising is a technological consortium set up in 2010 called Algae Fuels, formed by E-CL, Copec, Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile, Rentapack and Bioscan, to produce second generation biodiesel from micro algae. The group is establishing a pilot plant in Mejillones to grow feedstock for biofuel production.

The construction of the plant is expected to take five years and require a total investment of $6.8 million, of which the government innovation agency InnovaChile will contribute $3.2 million.

North of Peru is Colombia and it is a major producer of both coal and oil. That fact, together with its turbulent recent history, has hindered the growth of a biofuels industry. The current biodiesel mandate is set at 10%, and the industry is focussed on producing fuel from palm oil to act as a low sulphur additive to the locally produced high sulphur diesel fuel.

There are currently nine biodiesel plants, four owned by palm oil producers, two plants are majority owned by the nationalised oil company Ecopetrol and the others are independent. Total biodiesel production capacity is estimated to exceed 630 million litres per day. Total biodiesel capacity in Colombia by 2015 is expected to exceed 800 million litres per day.

Existing production is based on palm oil but Ecopetrol has a partnership agreement with Solazyme looking at alternative feedstocks including algae and sugarcane.

Ecopetrol’s strategic goal is to provide at least 450 billion litres of fuel from renewable oil sources by 2015. l

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biofuels opinion

Differing opinions from a producer, retailer and technology provider We ask some of the speaker’s at this year’s Biofuels International Conference in Antwerp for their reactions to the industry’s biggest issues: The 5.5% cap Sari Mannonen, director, UPM Biofuels: ‘Sufficient differentiation between conventional and advanced biofuels must be established.

A cap on food crop based biofuels is an important element of the proposal as it will direct demand and investments into advanced second generation biofuels.

UPM appreciates the limit on conventional biofuels and the dedicated target for truly advanced biofuels. The key aspect of the regulation must be on advanced biofuels: how do we ensure that new innovative technologies producing high-quality advanced biofuels will be brought to the market?’

Lars Gaustad, senior VP transport fuel, Statoil Fuel and Retail:

Christian Koolloos, business manager bioethanol at DSM Biobased Products & Services:

‘A cap is a rudimentary way of dealing with a complex issue, and may prevent some effective biofuels reaching the market. In general, I think it’s risky to have specific limits for specific feedstock or groups of feedstock. Instead, I believe the best approach would be to have a standardised way of accounting for the CO2 impact of indirect land use change.’

‘DSM has focused its efforts in biofuels on non-food feedstock from the beginning, so the line of thinking is clearly recognised.

Without a clearer vision on how Europe is planning to support the development of this emerging, high-investment requiring industry over the coming years however, we feel that limiting the transitional (food-based) types of biofuels in this way, and frustrating investors in clean energy by changing the rules of the game while playing, in the end are not helping this industry to move ahead.’

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The decision not to include iluc calculations UPM Biofuels:

Statoil:

DSM:

‘We recognise the important debate on land use change biofuels, and the ILUC principle, however a more in depth study must firstly be carried out to evaluate the true indirect effects of biofuels. We strongly believe that it is essential for an effective implementation of the RED proposal, that the feedstock eligible for advanced biofuels production are lignocellulosic derived (i.e. straw, bagasse, EFB, forestry residues, crude tall oil and tall oil pitch), or manufactured from waste or residues, truly sustainable and that the potential for fraud has to be excluded.’

‘I believe we need to include these effects. ILUC is a real issue, even though today it is very difficult to know the exact scale of the problem. In my view, the current ILUC calculations do not offer anything like the accuracy required in a regulatory framework. At the same time, I believe the biofuels industry – through ILUC – is currently blamed for many of the woes of the agricultural sector. As a consequence, we risk missing out on opportunities for low-cost and efficient ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport.’

‘With the unclear scientific status of ILUC calculations, and the clear indications that ILUC-like effects from the development of a biofuels industry in Europe are nonexistent, or at least unlikely, we think this is a good decision. Notwithstanding, the industry should keep a very careful eye while moving forward on unwanted and unexpected side effects of its impact on the planet and on society. DSM supports all of its decision making by means of Life Cycle Assessments that we update while moving ahead in our projects in order to keep a close watch on whether or not we are improving footprints versus existing, traditional solutions and products.’

Double counting UPM Biofuels:

Statoil:

DSM:

‘It is important that advanced biofuels are provided with market-based incentives that enable investments into new and partly unproven technologies in order for this industry to prosper. UPM recognises the importance of double counting as a means to provide market-based incentives for biofuels with higher environmental benefits in terms of greenhouse gas reduction and no additional demand for land. We also need a long-term stable legislative framework and specific targets for advanced biofuels.’

‘I am uncertain how effective double counting will be as an incentive. I can see that it might have a positive effect in moving supply towards more advanced biofuels. However, a double counting regime is complex and it will be difficult for both suppliers and retailers to include in their business cases. It is not totally clear which feedstock will have multiple counting or how stable this incentive would be. In addition, double counting clearly risks creating more bureaucracy and disincentives. Ultimately, it also disconnects the measures from the aim of reducing emissions, so from my perspective, while I don’t dismiss double counting, it would be better to have incentives directly linked to reducing emissions – for instance through progressive CO2 tax refunds.’

‘We think double counting is not a suitable method to manage the development of the biofuels sector.

Next to being sensitive to fraud, it will in the end lead to lower volumes of (good) biofuels being consumed. It is therefore giving the wrong incentive.

Furthermore in their thinking the EC seems to be working from the presumption that all fuels in their scheme are commercially available, which is not yet the case. This is still a pretty early stage industry, and especially the availability of advanced biofuels in the coming years will be limited (and very much depending on the availability of investment money/entrepreneurs).’

The biggest obstacle facing the European biofuels sector UPM Biofuels:

Statoil:

DSM:

‘Now is the time to bring advanced second generation biofuels to the EU market. The industry is committed to delivering but needs stable long-term investment conditions which encourage investment while at the same time promoting true advanced biofuels. This will have a positive economic as well as environmental impact on the EU. Industry needs a dedicated target for truly advanced biofuels, at least 2.5% by 2020 with intermediate targets. The RED proposal also needs revision of the complex and impossible to implement criteria (with respect to diversion from existing uses) and definitions of hierarchy of waste and residues, and inclusion of cellulosic non-food and lignocellulosic materials from agricultural residues and energy crops in the advanced biofuels feedstock list.’

‘The main barrier currently facing the European biofuels sector today is the missing clear link between the objective we all agree on – reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport – and the confused and complex regulatory framework in which we operate. This is partly because we don’t have clear, agreed data on the impact of biofuels on greenhouse gas emissions, and partly because it has become a highly politicised area, where facts are blurred by conflicting political and commercial interests. Unfortunately, the biofuels sector is strongly linked to agricultural policy and to poverty – two areas where ideology tends to outweigh the facts.’

‘Unstable policies and therefore creating an even bigger obstacle in getting financing for building up a completely new industry.’

Hear more from these speakers at Biofuels International Conference on 11-12 September in Antwerp: www.biofuels-news.com/conference

biofuels international

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biofuels biofuels in the EU The annual European Biofuels Barometer from EurObserv’er has been published – here is the crux of its findings

Ups and downs

D

espite the uncertain lay of the political land, the most recent biofuels report published by EurObserv’er says consumption with the European Union was on the rise in 2012.

Biofuel use in the transport sector rose to 14.4 million tonnes last year which represents a 400,000 rise since 2011. That growth is however reported as ‘anything but even’ when looking at individual country participation.

There were 14 countries, including Finland, France, Sweden and Spain, which increased their use of biofuels but another 10, including Hungary, the UK and Poland, did not. The remainder either did not incorporate biofuel last year (Estonia and Malta) or did not fill out the survey (Romania).

There were, according to the report, two main reasons so many countries dropped their levels in consumption: the economic crisis prompting some importing countries to drop their levels and the uncertainty surrounding future European legislation.

The actual breakdown of the types of biofuel used was consistent with previous years, with biodiesel accounting for 79.1% of total consumption, streets ahead of bioethanol with 19.9%.

Biogas and pure vegetable oil accounted for just 1%.

Leading from the front Germany picked up again after a slight dip in 2011 and recorded over 3 million tonnes of biofuels used last year. That puts it at the front of the line in terms of consumption.

An extra benefit attached to Germany’s total was the fact all that consumption was certified, which means the country can include it in any overall

Biofuel consumption for the transportation sector across the EU in 2012* (toe)

calculations pertaining to its overall renewable energy target.

Just across the way France took the crown as top biodiesel consumer for 2012, a total of 2.29 million to be exact, as it posted an overall biofuels figure of 2.71 million and a 12% increase year-on-year.

EurObserv’er says mainland French road transport has one of the highest incorporation rates, at 6.8%, when premiums for methyl esters of animal fat and used oil are factored in.

Those figures seem even more impressive when it is considered France has only had properly certified biofuels consumption since last year.

Last September its government also stipulated a maximum first generation biofuel incorporation rate of 7%, but it is believed that will not affect the distribution of E10 at petrol stations as other methods (second and third generation, electric and hydrogen, for example) will bridge the gap.

The mood in Spain has

been reported as being ‘buoyant’ in regards to biofuel consumption growth, with 1.9 million tonnes of biodiesel and 323,586 tonnes of bioethanol used within its transport.

Spain’s energy content consumption did increase by 13.3% between 2011 and 2012 and that has been tacked exclusively onto that volume of biodiesel used (bioethanol’s contribution had slightly dropped during the same time period).

It is pointed out that Spanish consumption was not subject to sustainability certification however, which has only come into play at the start of this year.

And one other country continuing to make great strides is Sweden and the information ascertained by EurObserv’er shows an increase in sustainable biofuel share of transport fuel consumption from 6.3% in 2011 to 7.8% last year.

Local energy agency Energimyndigheten claims consumption of biofuel, certified as sustainable or

not, was at 348,442 tonnes of biodiesel, 321,863 of bioethanol and 83.3 million m3 of purified biogas. EurObserv’er converted those figures into energy equivalent to make the share of certified sustainable biofuel consumed at 91%.

These numbers are strong and bode well for a country aiming to run all vehicles on 100% clean fuel by 2030. This ambitious target will not surprise those well versed in this industry however as, since 2005, discussions and plans to rid Sweden of its dependency on oil have been ongoing. Ways of producing second generation biofuels have also been evaluated since 2006 and introduction of subsidies for biofuel-offering petrol stations, tax exemptions for green cars and swift implementation of the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive all back up its status.

Contributing factors One of the reasons already mentioned for a dip in many countries’ consumption was the European Commission’s decision to impose a six month anti-dumping tax on imports from Argentina and Indonesia.

These wheels were set in motion via a complaint by the European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which led to two inquiries throughout 2012 and eventually put into practice this May. The Commission said at the time Argentinean and Indonesian exporters increased their combined share of the EU biodiesel market to 19.3% in the 12 months up to June 2012, rising from 9.1% in 2009.

It also divulged Indonesian exporters gained ground quicker, raising their European market share from 1.4% to 8.5% over the same period.

EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said via a

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Trends in biofuel consumption used in transport across the EU of 27 (ktoe)

spokesperson that the tariffs are about ‘ensuring a level playing field for business and fighting for European jobs’. Spain, Italy and the Netherlands have reportedly been the hardest hit through this measure.

The EBB’s general secretary Raffaello Garofalo is quoted in the EurObserv’er report as saying that decision ‘represents a first step to counter unfair and uncompetitive biodiesel imports from these countries’.

However, he added the level of anti-dumping duties is still ‘insufficient to stop this unfair trade’ and he would welcome additional duties to be fixed ‘as a matter of urgency’.

The European bioethanol has struck upon a slightly more positive note however, with a ruling passed to impose duties on bioethanol being dumped from the US this February.

American bioethanol will, for the next five years, be subject to a rate of €62.90 per tonne and will not be altered as it has been agreed that length of time satisfies the European Council.

Chipping in In terms of Europe’s own production, two companies are leading the way in that respect with a total of six sites a piece.

Tereos, based in France, has six plants in Europe with a combined capacity of 883 million litres but Spain-headquartered Abengoa Bioenergy had the most production capacity last year, coming in with a combined capacity of 1.2 billion litres.

biofuels international

Other notable performances last year came from the likes of CropEnergies/BioWanze (Germany), Cristanol (France), Ensus (UK), Agrana (Austria), Verbio (Germany) and Agroetanol (Sweden).

EurObserv’er believes current discussions about the modification of the two directives will not affect the 10% renewable energy target for transport in 2020, but will affect the proportions of the types of biofuel involved in fulfilling this target.

‘If the European Union decides to limit the incorporation rate of first generation biofuel from 2020 onwards and introduce a minimum incorporation rate for advanced biofuels (such as 2.5%), which would be subject to premium, these decisions could reduce the volumes to be incorporated,’ it states.

It is also thought any mandatory allocation of renewable electricity into transport would also have an affect on the amount of biofuels needed moving forward.

‘Pending any EU decisions, we have decided to adhere to the consumption forecasts it made for 2020,’ EurObserv’er continues. ‘These forecasts will be revised by the end of the year as we prepare another report to factor in anynew strategic reorientation of EU biofuels policy.’ l For more information: The full EurObserv’er report can be viewed via www.energies-renouvelables.org

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 sustainability Energy Tobacco Solaris in the bio-jet fuel industry: integrated value chain approach

Smoking new option?

A

viation, a global industry and one of the strongest growing transportation sectors, faces problems and challenges that require global solutions. In the period leading up to 2050, worldwide aviation is expected to grow by 4.5% annually. If fuel consumption and CO2 emissions were to grow at the same rate, CO2 emissions from aviation would be nearly six times their current figure.

As such, the potential importance of renewable fuel-based aviation cannot be over-emphasised in terms of its role in driving biofuel demand worldwide.

Yet it is a technologically complex and politically sensitive sector which is reliant on the global green energy community coming together to drive forward both production and demand in order that potential can be truly realised (IEA, 2012).

Bio-jet fuel currently represents the only viable option for significantly reducing aviation-caused emissions without cutting the number of flights. The key for a successful implementation of bio-jet fuel is the availability of feedstock in a large and sustainable scale, plus it must be available on

a significant global scale.

Of the various feedstock assessed (at the time of writing), the most economic option is edible oils. However, given the implications with food security, non-edible oils might have a more sustainable potential.

So, let focus on a new nonedible oily crops (see table 1).

So-called energy Tobacco Solaris can offer considerable potential for bio-jet fuel and technology provider Sunchem holds the exclusive rights for the exploitation of energy Tobacco Solaris and works with it at an industrial level.

Multiple avenues The main issues, opportunities and problems related to bio-jet fuel are1: 1. The production (inputs, raw material, technology) is cost intensive 2. The bio-jet fuel industry supply chain lacks a clear structure 3. The commercial price of bio-jet fuel is higher than conventional jetfuel (called Jet A-1) 4. Investments in the industry are perceived to be ‘high-risk’.

Sunchem developed a new strategic integrated value

chain approach called genetic to market as a solution to overcome these implications.

This approach centres on a new agricultural plant-species called energy Tobacco Solaris.

This approach aims to control all primary and supporting processes and activities involved in the bio-jet fuel value chain; and, thus, establishing a close and strong cooperation between the constituents involved at four different analytical levels: research and development, agriculture, processing and demand.

Sunchem Holding holds the international patent of energy tobacco (PCT(IB/2007/053412).

This patent has been deposited in 57 countries and granted in 38. The company aims to developan approach integrated with the territory creating small, decentralised plants, with dedicated cultivation close to airports, sized to meet their need with a short, integrated supply chain to reduce time to market and obtain logistics optimisation.

In addition, Sunchem Holding is working with its partner in the US – Tyton Bioscience – in order to promote a new technology named ‘sub-critical water’ to extract the plant sugar (for

Raw material

Brief description

Jatropha

Non food, evergreen, produces oil Can grow on marginal land seeds (30-40%), lifetime 30 years, drought resistant

Marginal land means marginal yields, or at least unpredictable crop yields. (Herreras, 2010)

Camelina sativa

Edible plant, requires little water and fertiliser, short growth season, can be grown in rotation with wheat

Products can be used as animal feed

Deters surrounding plant growth (PFAF, 2010)

Salicornia bigelovii Grows in salt marshes, seeds 20%

oil

Can be integrated with fish farming and mangroves (Charlesworth, 2010)

Lower yield (606 l/ha) than jatropha (> 1500 l/ha) (Garnham, 2011)

Algae Can be grown in photobioreactors

or open ponds (Wenner, 2009)

Rapid growth rate, efficient photosynthesis, can recycle CO2, algae can be genetically modified to produce specific sub-products

Economically they are very uncertain, high capital costs, long-term investments, oil extraction can be complex

Solaris tobacco

Can grown on marginal land, adapts to various climates and to various farming situations, integrated approach which favours several market outlets.

Requires irrigation and/or rainwater for adequate production, the plant is technological.

Table 1

Non food, integrated seed and biomass production, one seed contains 38-39% of oil fresh biomass produces an average of 180-200 m3 of methane gas, nicotine-free.

Pros

Cons

ethanol) and oil (for biodiesel and jet-fuel) at the same time.

This new technology could improve the project portfolio on the worldwide basis.

Energy Tobacco Solaris is a crop that is 100% sustainable as all economic, social and environmental sustainability criteria are met, ranging from the production of the seed used to obtain oil for biodiesel, bio-jet-fuel and cake to the generation of fresh biomass.

Tobacco Solaris has strong potential as an energy crop: first, oil production per hectare using existing varieties bred for seed production, exceeds sunflower, soyabean and oil seed rape.

Second, historically, breeding efforts in Tobacco Solaris have focused on biomass yield and leaf characteristics, such as nicotine content and size, so there is great potential for further rapid gain in seed and oil yield by shifting selection to the development of high seed-yielding varieties using conventional breeding, molecular marker technology and modification of key genes for oil biosynthesis through biotechnology.

Thirdly, Tobacco Solaris is already commonly cultivated throughout many climatic zones and soil types, so the required changes in agronomic production practices to produce it as an energy crop would not be as extensive as the introduction of a new crop. Tobacco Solaris can be grown on marginal soils, so energy Tobacco Solaris would not likely displace food crops from fertile soils.

Tobacco Solaris plants produced for oil can be used as a further energy sources.

From one hectare of cultivation an average of between 6 to 10 tonnes of seed was taken, dependant on the country of cultivation and climatic

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Key characteristics of tabacco oil Flash point

UNI EN ISO 2719-05

258 ˚C

Volumic mass at 15˚

UNI EN ISO 12185-99

Viscosity at 40˚

UNI EN ISO 3104-00

Yield value

IS) 3016-94

Acid number

ASTM D 664

3.88 mg KOH/g

Hydrogen

ASTM D5291-07

8820 kcal/kg

Net calorific value

UNIEN14107

13.8 mg/kg

Potassium

UNIEN14538

2.4 mg/kg

928.6 kg/m3 32.1 mm2/s -21 ˚C

Table 2

Key characteristics of tabacco residual cake Humidity Ashes Carbon Hydrogen Nitrogen Net calorific value Macroelements Calcium Magnesium Potassium Sodium Ashes Softening temperature Melting point

ASTM D 5142-04 ASTM D 5142-04 ASTM D 5373-07 ASTM D 5373-07 ASTM D 5373-07 ASTM D 5865-07 UNI CEN/TS 15290 UNI CEN/TS 15290 UNI CEN/TS 15290 UNI CEN/TS 15290 DIN 51730 DIN 51730

8.0 % 5.5 % 47.6 % m/m 6.1 % m/m 5.8 % m/m 4618 kcal/kg 2450 mg/kg 6287 mg/kg 15594 mg/kg 25 mg/kg 1065 ˚C 1290 ˚C

Table 3

conditions. The seed contains about 40% of oil and, with a process of cold pressure, get to more than 3 tonnes of oil and 5 or 6 tonnes of expeller (as shown in tables 2 and 3).

The oil is intended for the biofuel industry while the panel will be marketed as a dietary supplement for animal husbandry. These factors make Tobacco Solaris an attractive new energy plant and, in addition, that use represents a viable alternative to defeat the so-called crisis that the Tobacco Solaris farmer industry was facing up to a couple of years ago.

Addiction?

The Tobacco Solaris variety cannot be used for smoking due to its lower (under 1%) nicotine content and the fact that it is OGM free.

Agronomic production trials are currently underway in several countries like Brazil, Namibia and South Africa to develop systems of direct seeding of Tobacco Solaris into fields, as opposed to transplanting germinated seedlings, and

biofuels international

multiple harvesting especially in temperate areas.

These species potentially contain desirable characteristics which would influence greater seed production or larger seeds with more storage reserves, because greater fecundity and seed storage reserves are survival advantages in the wild. Tobacco Solaris has great potential to be grown on marginal lands, such as those on hillsides or with poor soil quality, as this is where it is typically grown in African and South American Tobacco Solaris producing countries.

One of the most critical components of developing or domesticating a new energy crop is to develop agronomic production, management and harvest practices which allow the value of the crop to be realised. As the focus for growing Tobacco Solaris as an energy crop is seed production and not leaf quality, it is possible that Tobacco Solaris with high seed yields could be produced on low fertility or marginal soil.

Although Tobacco Solaris is already considered a ‘domesticated’ agricultural

crop, production of Tobacco Solaris for energy will likely be very different than for Tobacco Solaris products. A great deal of emphasis on testing several agricultural production scenarios for Tobacco Solaris as an energy crop has been almost completed. Tobacco Solaris produced for human leaf consumption is first sown in greenhouse beds or trays and then moved into the field.

This labour intensive method will simply not be feasible to produce Tobacco Solaris on large areas as an energy crop.

Field studies have been done to determine the feasibility of direct Tobacco Solaris seeding into field beds. Optimisation of planting density to achieve the highest yield of seed produced per hectare has to be conducted by performing field trials comparing yield versus number of plants per hectare.

Tobacco Solaris oil is proven to be an excellent raw material for the production of bio-jet fuels. The kerosene fraction showed an extraordinary freezing point, below -65˚C, with perfect density and viscosity . Sunchem carried out a series of tests on Tobacco Solaris oil to obtain a bio-jet fuel according to the ASTM D7566-11 specification named Kerosene from hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids.

Conclusion Tobacco Solaris truly has great potential as a high energy crop,

with three potential energy products: seed oil, biomass and seed cake. The utilisation of all three of these plant portions will ensure a high energy yield, input ratio for Tobacco Solaris production and a net energy gain making Tobacco Solaris a profitable and renewable energy crop, without the end product competing for food use.

So we can assume that energy sourced from Tobacco Solaris is sustainable in terms of economical, social and environmental criteria because: 1. It is not edible and consequently not in competition with food supply chain 2. It is an annual and, under specific conditions, a multi-annual crop 3. It does not contain nicotine 4. Global demand for traditional Tobacco Solaris farming is starting to decrease so the current existing Tobacco Solaris infrastructure could be converted 5. It provides multiple market products: biodiesel, bio-jet fuel, biomethane, bioliquid for electrical energy, animal feed and more 6. Unique agronomic protocol – high adaptation to different climate and soil conditions. l References 1 Blakey, 2011; IEA, 2012; Garnham, 2011; Gudmundsson, 2012; Nilsson, 2007; SWAFEA, 2010 For more information: This article was written by Nicoletta Di Norscia, DBA student at the International University of Monaco.

Developing Tobacco’s potential as novel, nicotine free, sustainable, high-yielding, renewable energy crop Contact Sunchem Holding Srl Management - Via Cristoforo Colombo 54/1, 18018, Arma di Taggia (IM), Italy Managing Director: Dr. Sergio Tommasini (sergio.tommasini@gmail.com - sergio.tommasini@sunchem.it)

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biofuels fire safety Here is a taster of the advice provided by the Renewable Fuels Association as it travels the US highlighting ethanol safety procedures

Handling hot issues

B

eing fully prepared for an ethanol related incident requires time and proper training for emergency responders.

Despite all efforts to prevent accidents, there is always the possibility of the unthinkable happening and it is essential emergency responders act immediately to ethanol emergencies while being as fully prepared as possible. It is crucial to have an ethanol emergency education programme wherever new biofuels are being introduced.

According to the Association of American Railroads, approximately 1.7 million loads of hazardous materials were shipped by rail in 2011 and 99.99% were delivered without incident. The ethanol industry takes every precaution through the entire supply chain to ensure each shipment arrives safely. In the unlikely event of an ethanol emergency, training and education ahead of an incident are imperative.

Ethanol burns differently than petrol and needs to be extinguished differently as well.

While petrol emits a thick black smoke, ethanol burns with little to no smoke plus, unlike petrol, ethanol is water soluble and cannot be extinguished with water alone.

Instead it needs to be blanketed with a gentle layer of alcohol resistant foam, with water, until the fire is smothered.

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is the national trade association for the US’s ethanol industry and it has taken safety seriously since day one. The RFA is a founding member of the Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition (EERC), sharing a common mission: ensuring the safety of first responders,

ethanol industry employees, and the communities in which ethanol is produced, transported, and used.

In 2006, RFA and EERC created a safety training programme called The Complete Training Guide for Ethanol Emergency Response which has been sent out all over the world. Since 2009 the RFA began hosting ethanol safety seminars through a grant from the Department of Energy. It has also received grant funding from the Federal Railroad Administration and partnered with Class One Railroads, emergency management agencies, fire departments and others to make the safety seminars a reality.

The RFA has held over 90 such seminars across the US to date, training thousands of emergency responders, and heading into Oregon, California, Washington, New Mexico and Minnesota this autumn.

The seminars are broken down into seven modules that address everything from the chemical makeup of ethanol to fighting an ethanol fire.

The seminar addresses this and more as follows: Module 1: Ethanol and ethanol-blended fuels Before responders can handle an ethanol related emergency, they have to know the basics. They are taught the difference between petrol and ethanol-blended petrol, as well as the three most common ethanol blends.

Module 2: Chemical and physical characteristics of ethanol and hydrocarbon fuels The programme then digs deeper into the makeup of both petrol and ethanol fuels. In order to understand

the nature of ethanolblended fuels, emergency responders need to know the characteristics of polar solvents and hydrocarbons, their differences and how these types of products interact.

Module 3: Transportation and transfer of ethanolblended fuels The responders learn the specifics of this subject, as well as where the most likely points for error in these actions will exist. It is essential that emergency responders be able to effectively identify the presence of ethanol at the scene of an incident and recognise the proper placarding and marking of blended fuels.

Module 4: Storage and dispensing locations Responders are given information on where ethanol is located and stored within their jurisdiction. Many believe that if there is no bulk storage or production operation around then they have little to worry about. This could not be farther from the truth. Ethanol and ethanol-blended fuels can be found at production facilities, bulk tank farms, rail transload facilities, farm cooperatives, construction sites and retail fuelling stations within communities and throughout the US. Module 5: Fire fighting foam principles Responders are taught firefighting strategies and foam-use tactics for controlling and fighting fires associated with flammable liquid hazards.

The predominate danger from ethanol emergencies is not from incidents involving cars and trucks running on blended fuel, but instead from tanker

trucks and rail cars carrying large amounts of ethanol, or manufacturing and storage facilities. Responders need to be prepared to handle largescale emergencies with the most effective techniques and extinguishing foam.

Module 6: Health and safety considerations Responders are taught appropriate spill control methods, proper personal protective equipment and detection and monitoring devices for responding to ethanol-blended fuel incidents. Understanding the properties and characteristics of both petrol and ethanol will help mitigate incidents involving blended fuels.

Module 7: Tank farm and bulk storage fire incidents Responders develop preemptive plans to fight or contain fires at tank farms and bulk storage facilities.

These fire operations can be dangerous and require an advanced technical knowledge of flammable liquids, firefighting and fire protection.

Departments responsible for these installations are taught to establish extensive pre-fire plans, schedule drills and walkthroughs on a regular basis. It is imperative the departments have good relations and cooperation with the facility operators and staff. In addition to their own emergency plan, they are also taught to establish a plan in case the fire or emergency is too large for a single department to handle. l For more information: To request a free DVD or for safety seminar destination locations visit www.ethanolresponse.com or email safety@ethanolrfa.org

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Renewable diesel: more sustainable and better quality

W

ith so much talk about European proposals limiting foodbased biofuels to 5.5%, the race is on to secure sustainable alternative processes to produce advanced biofuels.

Hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) or renewable diesel, is produced using a different process to the traditional trans-esterification.

In the HVO production process, hydrogen is used to remove the oxygen from the triglyceride (vegetable oil) and integration to an existing oil refinery is preferred for small plants.

Additional chemicals, like methanol for FAMEproduction, are not needed and the process does not produce any glycerol as a side product.

This is not a new process – in fact the first commercial scale plant with a capacity of 170,000 tonnes per year opened in 2007.

But it is an expensive one.

The plant’s owner Neste Oil is finally on track in 2013 to post its first fullyear profit, since it began reporting its results in 2008.

It is when you look at the quality of the end-product, though, you can see why the company has persevered.

Just over a year ago biofuels testing and quality assurance expert Intertek worked with CONCAWE to study the quality of FAME, particularly B10 to see if higher blends would be suitable for use in engines.

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‘One particular problem we came across was how FAME deteriorated in the hot climates in southern Europe,’ explains Kurt Tyssen, business line manager, analytical assessment for EMEA region at Intertek.

‘The fuel quality standards are European wide so these climates cannot be ignored.’

The main struggle now will be the availability of these advanced fuels.

‘Investors have been scared off with recent changes to government mandates and targets,’ Tyssen explains.

‘The US is more proactive in this area, and volumes are increasing, but Europe is lagging behind.

HVO’s cetane value is 70%, rather than 51% in mineral diesel, sulphur levels are lower and the fuel does not suffer from cold flow issues Tyssen finds it difficult to see a solution to this problem as engines and particularly injectors are so sensitive to slight changes in fuel quality.

‘With all the talk surrounding limits on food-based biofuels, we don’t envisage B10 blends being brought in using FAME – we see the emergence of other types of advanced biodiesel instead.’

One of the major advantages of HVO is that it can be blended up to 50% with diesel, without having an impact of the final quality of the fuel. This means it will be suitable for current engines.

In fact, HVO are even shown to have some superior characteristics to regular diesel.

Its cetane value, for example, is 70%, rather than 51% in mineral diesel. Sulphur levels are lower and the fuel does not suffer from cold flow issues.

Once the fuel is produced on a larger scale production costs are anticipated to drop with competition.

Intertek has come across several other issues that can arise when using FAME. ‘Biodiesel is very hydroscopic, meaning it easily picks up water,’ Tyssen explains. ‘This leads to high viscosity and microbial contamination, all of which cause engine malfunctions.

The company has recently started differentiating itself from the completion by specialising in testing biodiesel produced from used cooking oils. ‘With lower quality feedstocks producers have to be aware of components such like sterolglucosides or mono saturated glycerides separating,’ Tyssen says. ‘To avoid this companies should look at adding extra distillation

or centrifuge stages into the pre-treatment process.’

Although a contaminated fuel can sometimes be rectified it will be more costly for the producer or trader. ‘Blending can sometimes solve the problem or we may suggest additives or antioxidants are added to stabilize the fuel.’

When it comes to second generation ethanol, there is a much smaller difference between this and first generation ethanol. ‘The major quality challenge with ethanol blending is the limitation on vapour pressure specifications in the European petrol standard EN 228,’ Tyssen says.

One solution to this is to convert the ethanol to bio-ETBE, although again this is more expensive, as an additional intermediate refinery stage is required.

Intertek has about 30% of the market share for biofuel quality testing. Tyssen stresses how important quality assurance is, not just for the end-user’s engine performance but also to reduce any financial impact of off-spec fuel within the supply chain.

In addition to the quality itself, Tyssen adds that labelling and consumer understanding is just as critical. ‘We saw in Germany the reaction customers had to the introduction of E10. We need to introduce one common roadmap across Europe to avoid confusion. At the moment mandates and pump labels are different throughout different countries, which results in an overall negative attitude towards using biofuel out from consumer perspective. l

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biofuels fermentation Atlantec BioEnergy’s refinery is producing ethanol from locally grown energy beets in Canada – but how?

World’s first in Canada

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tlantec BioEnergy is entering the final stages in the construction of a 300,000 litre a year biofuel demonstration facility in Cornwall, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The refinery, scheduled for commissioning in late 2013, will process locally grown energy beets to produce ethanol.

The plant will feature an integrated anaerobic digester, generator set and nutrient refinery. This first in the world design configuration will result in a net energy neutral and process water neutral facility, while producing ethanol, electricity and a liquid fertiliser by-product optimised for the feedstock growing conditions.

‘Biofuels are an important and rapidly growing global renewable energy resource.

The use of biofuels such as ethanol is advocated by governments throughout the world as a means of meeting two key public policy objectives: energy security and environmental preservation,’ says Atlantec president Paul Wheaton.

He has extensive experience in the energy business and explains the expected impact of the Atlantec project on local communities.

‘The Canadian federal government has implemented a 5% national mandate which assures that, on average, all petrol refined in the country will contain 5% ethanol,’ he continues. ‘Some oil companies import millions of litres of ethanol every year by rail from as far away as Chicago.

This represents a substantial sum of money leaving the area since the ethanol is not available locally. We can change the existing paradigm by combining readily available

smallest possible environmental footprint.’ He adds, ‘Its modular approach reduces that footprint and is designed to enable energy extraction from multiple feedstocks through the demonstration process.’

Simmons believes this capability provides a useful R&D platform in ‘the growing effort to derive renewable energy from other feedstocks including biomass and lignocellulosic sources’.

Partnership: innovation and advanced learning minister Allen Roach (left) with Atlantec president Paul Wheaton

technologies for sustainable production of ethanol from locally grown crops.’

Collaborative success Atlantec has developed its process technology in partnership with international partners but the project has not been without its challenges.

Wayne Simmons, Atlantec VP of engineering, says: ‘This is a complex project on which our team has been working over the past seven years. The results of the initial processing at our Cornwall facility have been promising and, throughout this developmental phase, we have identified the best-in-class technology for each process.’

He reveals that Atlantec benchmarked existing operations, visited sugar facilities and spoke to technology providers and component suppliers throughout North America and Europe, before forming relationships with each of the companies that incorporated their proprietary technology into the design.

Simmons has extensive engineering experience and he led the collaborative

Membrane process solution

One of the technology providers is Whitefox Technologies, a company offering membranebased solutions ranging from integrated chemical reactors and recycling of waste ethanol, to potable and fuel ethanol production facilities.

In this project Whitefox engaged with Atlantec to identify various process designs that would deliver target products and then assisted it in selecting the best option to maximise the commercial benefits of the system.

Stephan Blum, Whitefox chief technology officer, says his company performs various simulations to determine process design, calculate mass-balances and financial return based on given parameters.

‘When Atlantec provided us with the project specific parameters we designed a standalone dehydration unit to meet those requirements. The benefits of Whitefox’s membrane solution, such as high energy efficiency, high water Integration: Whitefox’s standalone tolerance, small footprint dehydration unit has a small footprint partnerships with technology partners in the development of Atlantec’s and process technology.

‘Ultimately, Atlantec designed its pilot biorefinery using the best commercially available technology with the objective of ensuring the facility has the

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and ease of integration, made this project a good example of how advanced technology can transform the economics of decentralised ethanol facilities.’

In the future, the modular approach could cater for capacity increases and enhance additional revenues from coproducts such as electricity.

Whitefox is currently in the final stages of building the turnkey facility, which will be hydrotested at Whitefox’s premises in Calgary, before it is shipped to Prince Edward Island for commissioning and training.

Additional benefits Atlantec integrates commercial off-the-shelf technology with customised proprietary technology and processes from seed planting through to harvesting and refining.

Ron Coles, VP of agriculture andPR, is responsible for

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research directed towards low carbon footprint growth of energy beets in cooperation with seed genetic companies and research institutions.

‘The environmental performance in Atlantec’s production of ethanol results in a significant net reduction in GHG emissions. This facility will be a generator of carbon credits to further enhance the company’s value proposition in anticipation of a future national and international carbon trading regime,’ he says.

Plus the approach Atlantec took to design its biorefinery will make it the first company in the world to make ethanol direct from energy beets, without first refining sugar – a way that favourably impacts the economics of the refining process.

As a further innovation in support of energy sustainability, Atlantec also introduced a

co-generation component to control energy costs. This helps to improve the economics, energy requirements and environmental aspects of ethanol production. To address the soaring fertiliser costs and its effect on the agricultural community and feedstock carbon footprint, a nutrient refinery technology was incorporated into the design that enables the production of a natural fertiliser as a byproduct of the refining process.

The addition of this technology completed the integrated, energy selfsufficient, closed loop system that is the hallmark feature of the Atlantec approach and technology.

Government support and future expansions By assembling a team with such a diversity of background

and experience, Atlantec has been able to surmount technical challenges and economic constraints to design an integrated process that will improve the sustainability of ethanol production.

The Sustainable Development Technology Canada Foundation has recognised the technological merits and sustainable business model of this advanced ethanol project and is supporting the project through the awarding of a $1.8 million (€1.3 million) grant.

The demonstration refinery is projected to cost $6.2 million when fully commissioned.

Following a successful implementation of the demonstration facility, Atlantec intends to develop full-scale ethanol refineries within Canada initially with focus directed along the Canada east coast, Ontario and Alberta. l

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biofuels biomass pretreatment

Never straightforward: researchers are constantly finding new ways of working with feedstocks

Feedstock pretreatment for second generation biofuels, although a costly and diverse world, is becoming more important. What is the current lay of the land?

One size does not fit all

T

he commercial production of second generation biofuels based on low-cost, lignocellulosic sugars is emerging. Yet, despite many years and huge financial investment in laboratory research and pilot plant projects, progress is still relatively slow.

Two of the most significant challenges to faster development today are the technical and economic hurdles in the scale-up of biomass pre-treatment, as well the high cost of enzymes used in the hydrolysis step of biofuel production. Combined, these

factors create a substantial requirement for capital investment and high operating expenditures in order to establish the production of advanced biofuels.

Observations from the pulp and paper industry, plus enzyme optimisation research, suggest a few key solutions for reducing capital and operating expenditures while increasing yields for biorefineries.

Challenges An important factor in the efficient use of lignocellulosic biomass is the robust pretreatment the substrate

receives before being sent on to hydrolysis. Pretreatment refers to the separation of one or more of the four major components of biomass: cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin and extractives.

Cellulose: a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of D-glucose units. Cellulose is crystalline, strong and resistant to hydrolysis.

Hemicellulose: this contains different sugar monomers (C5 and C6).

Hemicellulose has a random, amorphous structure with little strength.

Lignin: a cross-linked macromolecule which acts as natural glue that holds cellulose fibres together. It is relatively hydrophobic and aromatic in nature. Lignin and its fractions not only prevent access to cellulose, but they also inhibit sugar fermentation.

Extractives (furfurals, acetic acid, etc): these require high amounts of cellulase or longer reaction times, and therefore larger hydrolysis tank volumes.

Savings through existing technology Any review will find more than 30 different pre-

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treatment options used to make biomass more easily digestible by hydrolysis enzymes. The most common are physical methods, like steam explosion, and the use of chemical methods such as dilute acids, alkaline solutions, organic solvents, ammonia, sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Sometimes enzymatic pretreatments are used in combination with chemical treatments to solubilise the lignin.

Many companies are investing large amounts of time and money designing new methods and machinery for pretreatment. Even more will be invested in the scaling up of these newly designed processes.

If we look at the pretreatment technologies discovered, scaled up and used for the last 100 years in the pulp and paper industry however, there are essentially no changes. Most of these methods and equipment are already in use within industry mills. The investment saved by utilising these existing technologies could represent important savings in capital expenditures and reduced risk for the nascent biofuels industry.

Diverse feedstocks – potential and problem In addition to the dozens of different pretreatment technologies there are numerous types of lignocellulosic biomass. Wood industry residues, corn stover, bagasse, wheat straw and many other sources are all used or have the potential to be used as feedstock for advanced biofuels.

While the diversity is desirable in terms of bountiful sources and environmental sustainability, it poses a real problem for the economic feasibility of a project. When multiplied by the dozens of pretreatment methods, we now have more than 100 potential variations of

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pretreated biomass ready for the hydrolysis step.

Posing a significant challenge is the fact that each type of feedstock requires a particular combination of pretreatment methods to optimise the yields of that feedstock, minimise the degradation of the cellulose and the amount of inhibitors, but maximise the sugar yield.

The goal in the pretreatment phase of biomass preparation should be on maintaining

different feedstocks with equal efficiency.

The second most important consideration, after optimising existing pretreatment technologies for a particular feedstock, is to optimise the enzymes specifically for the pre-treated lignocellulosic material.

A class of enzymes called oxidoreductases can be added to the process either during pretreatment or at the hydrolysis step.

‘Observations from the pulp and paper industry, plus enzyme optimisation research, suggest a few key solutions for reducing capital and operating expenditures while increasing yields for biorefineries’ high concentrations of solids and minimising the formation of inhibitors, both of which are primary drivers of capital and operating expenditures.

Pretreatment should be looked upon as an integrated part of a system that includes hydrolysis, fermentation and the overall economics of biofuel production.

Custom enzymes for diverse feedstocks Currently, the problem of inefficient hydrolysis due to diverse feedstocks and pretreatments is primarily solved through enzyme overdosing (primarily cellulase). Unfortunately, this practice keeps the entire biofuel process economically unfeasible. It is not reasonable to expect that there will be one magic cellulase or cellulosebased cocktail which will be able to convert dramatically

Oxidoreductases are complimentary to cellulases and can be used together in the hydrolysis reaction.

This addition of tailored enzymes disrupts the lignin network in biomass to make the cellulose and hemicellulose more accessible to the cellulase enzymes.

Enzyme optimisation is not a new concept as accelerated natural selection, site directed mutagenesis and even DNA shuffling are well-established methods. Unfortunately, all of them are labour intensive and time consuming.

Finland-based industrial enzyme developer MetGen has been developing a method founded on the rational design of enzymes tailored specifically to particular lignocellulosic substrates. In laboratory experiments this approach has demonstrated a dramatic increase in sugar yields and

simultaneously a detoxification of the fermentation broth.

MetGen’s approach to unlocking sugars from lignocellulosic biomass for the economical production of advanced biofuels includes: 1. The importance of addressing solutions to the fact that there are many different feedstocks and pretreatment methods 2. Optimising existing pretreatment processes for each feedstock. Minimising capital expenditures incurred from inventing and up-scaling new processes 3. Tailoring oxidoreductases to specific pretreated feedstock. This lowers the total enzyme dosage while increasing sugar yields.

It is evident that the challenges to the economically feasible production of lignocellulosic sugars for biorefineries are complex. It is also unlikely that a ‘one size fits all’ solution will be available soon for diverse feedstocks; there are simply too many variables. Nevertheless, a rational, if labourious, path to achieving economical production lies before us.

MetGen’s own approach has been to support collaborative projects to improve the industrial properties of enzymes used in all phases of biofuel production. Working with the biotech and pulp and paper industries has provided insights into the challenges specific to advanced biofuel and biochemical production.

Solutions to such complex challenges are to be found in strategic collaborative development.

A systems approach with the participation of experts from multiple disciplines will help us to achieve the goal of both environmentally and commercially sustainable advanced biofuels. l For more information: This article was written by Alex Michine, CEO of Metgen www.metgen.com

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biofuels feedstock pretreatment Can a new technology be an alternative to biodiesel distillation when meeting more stringent quality standards?

Keeping it cool

O

ne of the challenges of the widespread use of biodiesel blends is producing a fuel with characteristics suitable for use in modern vehicles and engines. Regulations governing engine exhaust emissions are becoming increasingly stringent.

Achieving the required level of compliance, and maintaining compliance in the longer term, requires that fuel specifications must also evolve. As fuel specifications change, biodiesel producers must update processes to meet the more stringent fuel quality standards while at the same time reduce costs, improve yields and increase margins.

The differences in chemical composition and structure between petroleum diesel and biodiesel result in several notable variations in the physical properties of the two fuels. Biodiesel is made from plant-derived oils and animal fats and particular attention is required to limit minor constituents because they have lower solubility in diesel. These components are partly determined by the feedstock used and partly by the quality of processing.

These constituents include saturated monoglycerides (partially converted fats and oils found within biodiesel) and naturally occurring polar compounds such as sterol glucosides. As the proportion of biodiesel in diesel fuel increases, so does the concentration of these compounds and they can crystalise and cause fuel filter plugging issues in cold weather.

Biodiesel blends made with ultra-low sulfur diesel with low aromatics have been shown to be more susceptible to this problem.

Fuel quality standards Standards organisations set the minimum fuel quality requirements. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), in 2012, released a new specification under ASTM D6751 that created a new biodiesel grade named Biodiesel No.1 which is suitable for cold weather applications1.

The new specification sets limits on the amount of monoglycerides allowable (<0.4 %) and sets stricter limits for the cold soak filter test. The new specifications are intended to limit the likelihood of fuel

filter plugging issues.

Biodiesel produced from animal fats, used cooking oils and even soya, using traditional transesterification process technologies, can have difficulty meeting the new lower monoglyceride levels and may require costly distillation of the final product.

European and Canadian standards organisations have yet to set new lower MG level requirements for biodiesel. The Canadian General Standards Board is however expected to soon publish a new, more stringent, functional test method that evaluates the Cold Soak Filter Blocking Tendency (CSFBT) of B100 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; aka potential for cold weather filter plugging in biodiesel diesel blends.

The CSFBT test quantifies the propensity of minor constituents to separate from

a blend of biodiesel and an apolar isoparaffinic solvent after a cold soak cycle. It is particularly sensitive to levels of saturated monoglycerides and other polar compounds.

The test is currently being evaluated by other standards bodies and is starting to be used in commercial procurement specifications within North America. These commercial procurement specifications, some of which are stricter than the various established or contemplated standards, are a powerful market defining metric that most biodiesel producers should be aware of.

Biodiesel made from animal fats and soya may have difficulty meeting commercial procurement specifications, even though they meet the lower monoglyceride levels specified for Biodiesel No.1.

BDR membrane reactor schematic

Blueprint: a schematic of the BDR membrane reactor

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High vacuum distillation of the final product is one solution to lowering monoglycerides and being CFSBT compliant. It is capital intensive, energy intensive and can significantly reduce overall yields, however.

Canadian-based process technology company BDR Technologies believes it has a technology which represents an alternative to distillation.

Membrane technology BDR’s membrane reactor system uses a simultaneous reaction and membranebased separation process.

The reactor is compatible with conventional plant technologies and can be used as an add-on to retrofit existing plants. The technology can also leverage existing plant infrastructure to

expand capacity and improve overall operations of the plant.

The reactor incorporates microporous ceramic membranes. These are arranged in modules in a reactor loop that contains a processing vessel and a pump. Oil feedstock, catalyst and methanol are continually fed into the reactor loop. The pump circulates the reaction mixture through the lumen of the membrane tubes.

The system maintains a stable emulsion – oil droplets in a polar mobile phase containing the methanol and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME).

As the reaction mixture passes through the lumen of the membrane tubes, the mobile phase permeates through the membrane wall. The larger, more non-polar oil droplets remain in the membrane reactor available for further

Global Biofuel Services

reaction. Glycerin is removed from the reactor via the purge.

The technology is unique in that the selective removal of FAME from the reactor shifts the equilibrium of the reaction towards the products, greatly improving conversion rates while at the same time lowering the amount of catalyst required. The higher conversion rate ensures lower mono-glycerides levels. The reactor can also selectively remove polar compounds such as sterol glucosides2 during transesterification via the reactor’s glycerin purge.

In addition, the unit can also be configured to utilise lower cost free fatty acid (FFA) containing feedstocks (<5% FFA) without requiring pretreatment of FFAs. The technology is currently in development and BDR is working on commercial

deployment. Pilot testing has confirmed that biodiesel produced using multiple feedstocks can meet both the Biodiesel No.1 and CFSBT requirements without distillation. Tests have also shown it to be able to remove sterol glucosides efficiently with no impact on overall yields, so the final product is ultrafiltered and free of particulates. l

References: 1 Biodiesel produced under the previous standard is now known as Biodiesel No. 2.

2 Sterol glucosides are often removed using a cold filtration step after wash washing. BDR’s technology eliminates the need for this step.

For more information: This article was written by Ken Lawless, CEO of BDR Technologies, www.bdrtechnologies.com

Confidence through expertise

• Quality testing and cargo inspection • Research and development • Sustainability auditing and certification • Biodiesel, ethanol, biomass and more EMEA:

+32 3 544 10 50

USA:

+1 888 400 0084 +1 281 971 5600 Email: biofuels@intertek.com www.intertek.com/biofuels/

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rin u d e ur

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biofuels testing and analysis It is believed biofuel blends will become more prominent in New Zealand moving forward, so how have viability tests been progressing?

New zeal for biofuels

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ecent developments in the biofuel industry indicate that biofuel blends are set to become a major part of the New Zealandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fuel industry. The biofuel component of any blend sold commercially in New Zealand must comply with the NZ Engine Fuel Specification Regulations 2011 (EFSR).

Benefits of biodiesel blends include reduced net CO2 emissions, better fuel lubrication, less impact on air quality and reduced diesel engine deposits, while biodiesel (B100) is also relatively non-toxic and mostly biodegradable.

Bioethanol petrol blends can also reduce net emissions of CO2 and provide some air quality benefits, as well as being a relatively high octane fuel.

Country regulations NZ fuel regulations have been designed to ensure fuels and biofuels conform to a minimum quality and are therefore fit for purpose via a number of physical and chemical properties of the fuel and limit the amount of impurities. Maximum and minimum specification limits are adopted for each type of fuel.

In New Zealand a fuel classified as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;dieselâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; may contain up to 5% of biodiesel by volume and a fuel classified as petrol may contain up to 10% of bioethanol by volume. Biodiesel (B100) and bioethanol (E100) have their own regulatory specifications detailed within the EFSR. The analytical methods required are stipulated and, in some cases, the specification

A BTNZ technician uses this GC-MS machine to assist with any troubleshooting which may arise during the method

limits are regulated to a single analytical test method.

Regulatory methods Regulations stipulate the analytical method which can be used but, sometimes, these do not perform quite as intended for a variety of reasons.

Methods may have been developed for specific sample matrices. As new generations of biofuels are developed from novel sources such as algae, wood and fibre materials, many of these biofuels have dissimilar properties to traditional petroleum fuels due to the fact that they have different chemical compositions.

Some B100 fuels, especially those which are tallow based, have been found to develop a thermal memory and may require pretreatment prior to testing. Differing matrices may cause interferences with internal standards that will affect results.

As new analytical methods

are developed it may also prove difficult to obtain standards of sufficient purity.

Modifications can be made to the stipulated methods and it is the responsibility of the testing laboratory to ensure that, within the best of its ability, results released are precise.

It is essential to have a good working relationship with both the client and the regulatory authority in order to do this, together with a high level of expertise. Consultation with the method issuing authority is also beneficial.

Case study When biodiesel production commenced and Biofuel Testing NZ (BTNZ), a division of the Independent Petroleum Laboratory, first started testing B100 for methyl ester content in 2007, the scope of EN14103 did not include tallow-based biodiesels.

At that time rapeseed and sunflower oil were the two main raw materials used for

biodiesel production in Europe and tallow was not generally considered a feasible supply of raw material. This had a significant impact on testing in New Zealand as tallow was the main feedstock used for biodiesel production.

EN14103 is a gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection (GC-FID) based method employed to determine the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) content of biodiesel. The method was essentially developed for the analysis of vegetable oil-based biodiesel. This method is unusual in that it does not employ a calibration curve but relies on peak area normalisation and linear detector response.

It initially employed methyl heptadecanoate (C17) methyl ester as an internal standard to quantify the methyl ester and linolenic acid methyl ester content of the biofuel which was quantified between C14 and C24.

As C17 methyl ester also

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naturally occurs in tallowbased biodiesels the test caused some biodiesels with >96.5% FAME to fail the current specification.

The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) worked on a proposed revision of the method in order to correct for this deficiency.

In the meantime BTNZ, and other analytical service providers, scanned samples for naturally occurring C17 methyl ester and subtracted the naturally occurring ester from the internal standard area to give accurate results. These results were reported as being analysed by EN14103 modified as per CEN recommendation.

Due to some of the issues detailed above modifications to the method were made in 2011 with the intention of including tallow-based biofuels within its scope. This was achieved by changing the internal standard to methyl nonadecanoate (C19) methyl ester as it is not found to naturally occur in tallow or vegetable oil-based biofuels.

However the use of C19 methyl ester has itself introduced other problems, one of which being the lack in availability of ≥99.5% pure C19.

The method states that the purity of C19 methyl ester

should be at least 99.5% m/m and, if the purity is lower, it should not be used for this determination as no correction of the purity of the internal standard is currently performed in the calculation of FAME. It is also a requirement of the method that the water content should be verified by the Karl Fischer method when a new lot of standard is open, although once again this is not taken into account in the final determination.

On initially setting up EN14103:2011 two peaks with a late retention time were noted.

A sample of C19, as supplied by a reputable chemical supplier, was tested by solubilising in certified reference grade toluene and analysing by GC-FID to identify the number of impurities.

Two impurities were found and identified by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detections (GCMS) as Tetrapentacontane (C54H110) and Hexacontane (C60 H122). GC-MS quantified these as 0.8% w/w and 0.6% w/w, respectively with other impurities at or below 0.1% w/w.

The certificate of analysis supplied by the manufacturer identified that the C19

methyl ester had a tested purity of ≥ 99.5%. The actual purity of the compound was determined to be <99% with both the Tetrapentacontane and Hexacontane being identified within the sample at concentrations above the certified maximum.

Notification of BTNZ’s findings to the manufacturer led to a positive response and they referred the findings to their technical department, which replied advising they had carried out an investigation and adjusted their GC method accordingly.

They re-analysed the C19 methyl ester and found a lower purity so, as a result, this specific lot was withdrawn and at the time there were no alternative batches. However BTNZ were soon supplied with a sample which had tested as having purity equal to 99.8%.

Testing this sample by GCFID gave a purity of 99.4%.

Other issues with EN14103:2011 includes an existing ambiguity as to whether to include C6 and C24 methyl esters within the quantification of total FAME. The method states that the integration shall be carried out as from the hexnoic acid methyl ester (C6:0), peak up to that of the nervoic acid

A chromatagraph detailing typical NZ B100. The two peaks represent the discussed interference

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methyl ester (C24:1), taking all the peaks identified as FAME into consideration.

It appears that there is an editorial mistake in clause 1 (Scope) and the correct reading is as in clause 6.4 (Identification): from C6:0 to C24:1. Any uncertainty in the identification of all the peaks identified has also been left up to the operator’s discretion. It also appears that results obtained generally

by EN14103:2011 appear to trend lower (but within tolerance limits) to those obtained by EN14103:2003.

Summary Many analytical methods used routinely to test petroleum products are wellestablished and perform well with little need for further development or modification.

As new sample compositions become available in the marketplace then test methods must be adapted, or new ones selected, to ensure they are applicable to the new sample composition. Ideally test methods should be scoped for the intended application before being adopted into the regulations.

If the sample matrix is not considered to fall within the scope of the method then work must be completed by literature research and laboratory testing to fully understand the ramifications of the new sample matrix and any other specific issues that may have been identified.

Through method validation must be performed to ensure good accuracy and precision, and the testing laboratory must employ experienced analysts who understand the test methods, because it is vitally important that biofuel manufacturers have the utmost confidence in their chosen testing laboratory. l For more information: This article was written by Ivor Reyes, technical specialist at Biofuels Testing New Zealand www.biofueltesting.co.nz

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biofuels testing and analysis What approaches are being taken for laboratory, field and mobile characterisation of biofuels currently?

Fuelling biodiesel success

C

onsumer concern regarding dependence on fossil fuels and the impact their consumption has on global warming, the environment and trade deficits has driven demand for sustainable, reliable, and clean energy sources.

Annual budgets funding research into converting biomass to biofuels continue to increase. Success of these programmes requires characterisation of raw material quality, effective monitoring efficiency of the conversion process and certification of the quality for fuel products.

Both the Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and ASTM International have written reference specifications and analytical methods for biofuel analysis as outlined in Table 1.

Biodiesel analysis Demand for alternative energy necessitates sourcing local

feedstocks to provide base materials for the production of alternate fuels such as biodiesel, which can provide benefits such as lower sulphur and CO2 emissions and reduced engine wear, plus production from locally sourced feedstocks that reduce producer dependence on long supply chains.

Some regions, like the European Union, have designated biodiesel as the cornerstone of a long-term renewable energy initiative, making it an important motor-fuel ingredient.

Producing biodiesel from local and differing feedstocks can lead to product quality and uniformity issues. To ensure it maintains consistent quality industry leaders, in partnership with the CEN and ASTM, have written standard product specifications that define biodiesel chemical and physical properties â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ASTM D6751 defines standard specifications for biodiesel

Reference method Analysis description

fuel blend stock for middle distillate fuels, for example.

Typically, biodiesel characterisation involves component analysis by gas chromatography. Depending on the analytical targets, samples may require derivatisation prior to analysis. The CEN updated method EN 14105 in 2011 for the measurement of glycerol and glycerin contamination in biodiesel using gas chromatography1.

By-products of biodiesel production, these compounds must remain below 0.25% (m/m) to avoid fuel filter plugging and engine deposits.

To achieve improvement in GC performance, glyceride quantification and precision, the revised method outlines a different sample preparation procedure compared to the original method.

Production or contract laboratories which analyse a large number of biodiesel samples look to automate

Target analytes

Standard specification for diesel fuel oils

ASTM D975

ASTM D6584

Determination of total monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides and free and total glycerin in B100 methyl esters by gas chromatography

Glycerol and glycerides free and total glycerine

ASTM D7371

Determination of FAME content in diesel fuel oil using mid infrared spectroscopy

FAME

EN 14078

Liquid petroleum products â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Determination of FAME content in middle distillates Infrared spectrometry method

FAME

EN 14103

Fat and oil derivatives - FAME - Determination Ester and LAME of ester and Linolenic Acid Methyl Ester (LAME) content

EN 14105

Fat and oil Derivatives - FAME - Determination Free- and total glycerine and mono-, of free and total glycerol and mono-, di-, di- and tri-glycerides triglyceride content

EN 14106

Fat and oil derivatives - FAME - Determination Free gycerol of free glycerol content

EN 14110

Fat and oil derivatives - FAME - determination Methanol of methanol content

Table 1: Reference methods for biodiesel and biogas analysis

sample preparation and handling. While automation improves precision of sample processing, scaling automated sample preparation to the 2mL vials commonly used for GC analysis reduced reagent costs and generation of chemical waste by a factor of 10 when following the 2011 update to EN 14105.

Agilent Technologies has produced solutions for biodiesel analyses conforming to CEN and ASTM methods for more than a decade. An instrument dedicated to automated sample preparation, the Agilent 7696A WorkBench can prepare calibration standards and biodiesel samples per the revised EN 14105 method.

To demonstrate the precision of laboratory automation, a commercially available soyabean biodiesel sample was automatically prepared 10 times using the defined derivatisation protocol.

Following derivatisation, samples were analysed using an Agilent 7890A GC configured per EN 14105 specifications. Figure 1 (overleaf) compares chromatograms from a single sample and an overlay of the automatically prepared samples. The overlaid chromatograms are virtually identical to the single chromatogram in both retention time and peak response, illustrating the precision for automated sample preparation.

Table 2 (overleaf) depicts the calculated content of free glycerol, mono-, di-, triglycerides and total glycerol.

Reproducibility was excellent for each component (RSD <2%). Method EN 14105:2011 specifies a repeatability (r)

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0212+/<')5-() =21)

3

Portable measurements

(-+/<')5-() =21)

75-+/<')5-() =21)

+/<')52/ =21)

0-1

3

0-1

Figure 1. The upper chromatogram depicts a single run of a B100 sample -+85) ",) 833)5 ',520%72+5%0 ()3-'76 % 6-1+/) 581 2* % 6%03/) 35)3%5)( 86-1+ 7,) +-/)17 $25. )1', %', =21) *25 48%17-*-'%7-21 2* +/<')52/ %1( +/<')5-()6 -6 287/-1)( -1 5)( ",) /2:)5 ',520%72+5%0 prepared using the Agilent WorkBench. Each zone for quantification 29)5/%<6 6)3%5%7) 6%03/)6 35)3%5)( 86-1+ 7,) $25. )1', of glycerol and glycerides is outlined in red. The lower chromatogram overlays 10 separate samples prepared using the WorkBench

test for each component measured in biodiesel.

To apply this test the

sample preparation offers analysts for the GC analysis of glycerol contaminants

Sample

While biodiesel offers many environmental advantages, its long-term storage can promote biological growth and oxidative degradation. Using blended fuels in engines designed for petroleum-based diesel can result in problems with injector pumps and other components.

As shown in Table 1, ASTM and CEN standards define methods for determining biodiesel per cent fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) in diesel fuel. Concerns about product stability have prompted some industries to lower biodiesel limits for fuel blends. Producers must reliably verify blend quality and biodiesel content to meet these varying requirements.

The use of hand-held

Weight percent

Sample weight (mg) Free glycerol Monoglycerides Diglycerides Triglycerides Total glycerol

SRM01 SRM02 SRM03 SRM04 SRM05 SRM06 SRM07 SRM08 SRM09 SRM10

10.90 10.40 10.63 9.59 11.12 9.93 10.46 9.66 9.74 10.01 Avg Std Dev RSD

0.016 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.000 1.871%

0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.00 0.00%

0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.00 0.00%

0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.00 0.00%

0.156 0.157 0.157 0.157 0.157 0.157 0.157 0.157 0.157 0.157 0.157 0.000 0.202%

References 1. DIN EN14105:2011-07 Fat and oil derivatives â&#x20AC;&#x201C; FAME â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Determination of free and total glycerol and mono-, di-, and triglyceride contents, European Committee for Standardisation, Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17: B-1000 Brussels.

Table 2. The upper table shows the results for the analysis of ten B100 Biodiesel prepared using the Agilent WorkBench

Weight percent Sample

SRM01 SRM10 r calc r spec

Free glycerol

0.016 0.017 0.001 0.003

Monoglycerides

0.39 0.39 0.00 0.04

Diglycerides

0.14 0.14 0.00 0.02

Triglycerides

Total glycerol

0.19 0.19 0.00 0.02

0.156 0.157 0.001 0.020

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in biodiesel by EN 14105 and similar methods. Gas chromatography provides a robust, reliable and reproducible method for characterising biodiesel composition.

Range SECV

fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysers provides quick, accurate data about diesel composition.

These analysers use sampling systems engineered to provide Actual vs predicted R^2

2. Automation of a Complex, MultiStep Sample Preparation Using the Standalone Agilent 7696A WorkBench, James McCurry, Agilent Technologies: 5990-7525EN, March 2011.

3. Agilent 7696A WorkBench Automated Sample Preparation for the GC Analysis of Biodiesel Using Method EN14105:2011, James McCurry, Agilent Technologies: 5990-9893EN, February 2012.

4. Analysis of Biogas using the Agilent 490 Micro GC Biogas Analyser, Remko Van Loon, Agilent Technologies: 5990-9508EN, November 2011.

Table 3: Analytical precision as expressed by repeatability(r) for two B100 biodiesel samples prepared using the Agilent WorkBench.

absolute value of the difference between the two results with the largest difference, SRM01 and SRM10, was compared to the minimum difference required by the method (r spec). As shown in Table 3, samples prepared using automated techniques met the method specifications for repeatability for all components quantified in biodiesel.

The results described above demonstrate the benefit of automated standard and

the highly reproducible transmission required

by EN 14078. Calibrated using quantitative samples these systems measure the carbonyl absorbance of the FAME molecule.

Table 4 summarises performance data for analysis of blended samples with varying ranges of biodiesel content. The FTIR method provides precise and reproducible determination of biodiesel contamination in diesel fuel across a range of concentrations.

Mobile FTIR systems require no specialised training for operation allowing existing field teams to deploy them for detecting low levels of biodiesel contamination in petroleum diesel products.

Testing of various monitors has found FTIR systems to be superior to other methods for the analysis of low level biodiesel in diesel fuels. l

5. Test Method for Low Level Detection of Biodiesel in Diesel using the Agilent 5500t FTIR Spectrometer, John Selenbinder and Frank Higgins, Agilent Technologies: 5990-7804EN, May 2011.

For more information: The article was written by Craig Marvin, GPD solution business manager, Agilent Technologies www.home.agilent.com

# validation Average relative error samples

0.025% - 1%

0.0016%

0.9999

29

1.37%

1% - 10%

0.0164%

0.9999

12

0.06%

10% - 20%

0.04%

0.9999

8

0.57%

Table 4: Performance data for analysis of blended samples with varying ranges of biodiesel content

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biofuels testing and analysis Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore looked at the potential of baker’s yeast for improved alkane biofuel tolerance. Matthew Chang explains.

Biofuels: mix and bake

E

nergy security and climate concerns have led to increased attention towards discovery and production of alternative energy sources.

Biofuels can serve to provide a green solution to our energy problems, where bioethanol has been used to supplement petrol in various blend compositions.

However, not only can ethanol corrode engines and transportation pipes, its energy content is also lower than that in normal petrol. Hence, the production of advanced biofuels suitable for direct use in existing transportation infrastructure is crucial.

Alkane hydrocarbons, which are the main components in petrol, are of high energy density, hydrophobic, chemically similar to their petroleum analogs, and hence suitable for direct use in existing transportation infrastructure. As a result, much research interest

has been shown towards engineering microbes to produce alkanes.

Researchers have recently successfully demonstrated the production of alkanes in both bacteria and yeast1-3.

However, the titers and yield of alkanes obtained need to be greatly improved before talk of sustainable commercialisation potential.

Among possible causes for low alkane titer and yield, the toxicity of alkanes to microbes could be a main bottleneck for alkane biofuels production in microbes.

In order for cells to produce chemicals such as alkanes, they must be able to grow well. Thus, it is essential to understand the interaction between alkanes and microbial hosts to harness the underlying mechanisms for enhancing alkane tolerance and, ultimately, the improved tolerance could boost productivity.

Understanding of the molecular mechanisms

underlying responses of microbial hosts to alkanes is lacking however4.

Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is an established and widely used microorganism for research and industry, and it shows great potential to be a microbial host for producing alkanes at industrial scale.

In this light, we identified toxicity of alkanes to the baker’s yeast, investigated molecular mechanisms underlying cellular responses to alkanes at a systems level and improved cell tolerance against alkanes by introducing the baker’s yeast efflux pumps4.

These tests and analyses could potentially assist the engineering of baker’s yeast towards improved alkane tolerance and productivity.

Toxicity The cell viability of the strain of baker’s yeast BY4741 was examined after 48 hours’

Control

exposure to 2% of nonane (C9), decane (C10), undecane (C11), and dodecane (C12).

In all cases, cell viability was found to be significantly decreased. Treatment with C9-C11 decreased cell viability by about 50%.

Besides resulting in poor cell viability, alkanes could affect membrane integrity of the cell. To verify alteration of membrane integrity, the alkane-treated cells were stained with nucleic acid-staining fluorescence dyes and the fluorescence intensities were measured.

The results obtained suggest that C9-C11 decreased integrity of the cell membrane, with C9 and C10 resulting in the most serious damage.

The decrease of cell viability and membrane integrity confirms the toxicity of C9C11 alkanes towards baker’s yeast. Such toxicity could be a result of alkanes accumulated in yeast cells. The elucidation of yeast’s response towards alkanes will assist the

Engineered cells

Cells image: Before and after: an example of the difference between the control and engineered cells

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engineering of yeast with enhanced alkane tolerance.

Multiple molecular mechanisms To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying yeast response to alkanes, alkaneregulated genes were screened using a high-throughput microarray analysis approach.

Analysis of microarray data shows that more than 119 genes were regulated by C9, C10, and C11 and only eight genes were regulated

by C12. Functional analysis of those genes suggests that C11 primarily regulated genes related to heat shock response and sugar transport, whereas C9 and C10 induced a range of similar groups of genes.

To look therefore into cellular mechanisms commonly stimulated by alkanes, we functionally classified 147 genes regulated by both C9 and C10 using the MIPS tool5.

Functional classes mainly included efflux pumps, stress response, hexose transport and biosynthesis of fatty acid, lipid and derivatives. Most of the involved genes were induced by both C9 and C10.

Based on the microarray data, the functions and physiological roles of the regulated genes, we hypothesised that baker’s yeast responds to alkanes stresses through multiple mechanisms as follows: 1) Efflux pump genes are induced to export intracellular alkanes to reduce alkane toxicity 2) Alkanes exposure generates radicals and induces stressresponsive genes towards radical detoxification 3) More energy sources are generated through acceleration of glucose and fatty acid metabolism, and notably, ATP may be used for alkanes export by efflux pumps 4) The increase in glucose import and consumption aids in modifying membrane components (i.e. lipid

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Efflux pumps

Tolerancea

Alkane reduction (%)b

C10

C11

C10 C11

Snq2p

+

+

25±4.5 87.4±2.4

Pdr5p

+, improvement.

Average±SD from triplicates.

+

+

33±7.3 94.4±1.3

Table 1

and ergosterol), thereby helping cells to adapt to alkanes exposure.

Efflux pumps Among the above molecular mechanisms, we were interested in further identifying roles of plasma membrane efflux pumps in alkane tolerance and export because, firstly, microbial efflux pumps reportedly serve as a direct mechanism to improve biofuel tolerance6-10 as well as productivity6.

Secondly, efflux pumps can export biofuels so that they can be collected without cell disruption, which could reduce the cost of the downstream processes.

All the four efflux pumps (Yor1p, Snq2p, Pdr5p, and Pdr15p) induced by alkanes are ATP-bindingcassette (ABC) transporters, and considered as major pleiotropic drug transporters that comprise a pleiotropicdrug-resistance (PDR) network in yeast11. The significantly induced expression of these efflux pumps suggests that they might also provide protection to the cells against alkanes by reducing the accumulation of intracellular alkanes.

To identify roles of the induced efflux pumps in reducing intracellular alkane levels and improving alkane tolerance, we constructed knockout mutants of efflux pumps. Subsequently, we expressed each of the aforementioned efflux pump genes in the knockout mutants. Growth profiles

and intracellular alkane levels were then analysed.

We tested growth of cells with efflux pump Snq2p or Pdr5p in the presence of C10 and C11 respectively.

Cells were exposed to alkane inhibitory concentrations of 2% C10 or 5% C11. In support of our hypothesis, the mutants with the those two efflux pumps reached stationary phase at 36 hours, but cells without Snq2p or Pdr5p did not grow within 60 hours under both treatment conditions.

Results This result suggests that tolerance to C10 and C11 is significantly improved by the efflux pumps Snq2p and Pdr5p.

Further, gas chromatography analyses showed that the amount of C10 and C11 present inside the cells were reduced by 30% and 90% via Snq2p and Pdr5p respectively (Table 1).

This result indicates a crucial role of Pdr5p and Snq2p in reducing the intracellular C10 and C11 levels, consistent with the hypothesis on the role of efflux pumps in improving the tolerance to C10 and C11.

In conclusion, by combining multiple approaches, we found that C9-C11 alkanes are toxic to the baker’s yeast but cells respond to alkanes exposure through multiple mechanisms, including alkane efflux which, via efflux pumps, can improve tolerance to C10 and C11 through reducing intracellular alkane accumulation.

We believe that these findings provide valuable insights into designing

microbial engineering strategies to improve cellular tolerance for high efficiency alkane biofuel production. l References: 1) Bernard A, Domergue F, Pascal S et al: Reconstitution of plant alkane biosynthesis in yeast demonstrates that Arabidopsis ECERIFERUM1 and ECERIFERUM3 are core components of a very-long-chain alkane synthesis complex. Plant Cell 2012 2) Schirmer A, Rude MA, Li X et al: Microbial biosynthesis of alkanes. Science 2010 3) John Blazeck LL, Rebecca Knight, Hal S. Alper: Heterologous production of pentane in the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. J Biotechnol 2013 4) Ling H, Chen B, Kang A, Lee J-M, Chang MW: Transcriptome response to alkane biofuels in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Identification of efflux pumps involved in alkane tolerance.

Biotechnol Biofuels 2013 5) Mewes HW, Frishman D, Guldener U, Mannhaupt G, Mayer K, Mokrejs M, Morgenstern B, Munsterkotter M, Rudd S, Weil B: MIPS: a database for genomes and protein sequences. Nucleic Acids Res 2002 6) Dunlop MJ: Engineering microbes for tolerance to next-generation biofuels. Biotechnol Biofuels 2011 7) Li XZ, Zhang L, Poole K: Role of the multidrug efflux systems of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in organic solvent tolerance. J Bacteriol 1998 8) Ramos JL, Duque E, Gallegos MT et al: Mechanisms of solvent tolerance in gram-negative bacteria.

Annu Rev Microbiol 2002 9) Rojas A, Duque E, Mosqueda G et al: Three efflux pumps are required to provide efficient tolerance to toluene in Pseudomonas putida DOT-T1E. J Bacteriol 2001 10) Tsukagoshi N, Aono R: Entry into and release of solvents by Escherichia coli in an organic-aqueous twoliquid-phase system and substrate specificity of the AcrAB-TolC solventextruding pump. J Bacteriol 2000 11) Paumi CM, Chuk M, Snider J et al: ABC transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and their interactors: new technology advances the biology of the ABCC (MRP) subfamily.

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 2009 For more information: This article was written by Hua Ling, Wei Suong Teo, Binbin Chen and Matthew Wook Chang, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University matthewchang@ntu.edu.sg

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biofuels testing and analysis A research project involving European and South American partners shows the importance of near-infrared in the second generation biofuels sector

Feedstock: the next generation

B

iofuels look set to play an increasing role in the coming years as governments strive to increase the security of energy supply and address the negative environmental effects linked to the combustion of fossil fuels.

Most biofuels to date have been produced from first generation feedstocks, typically food or oil crops.

While the conversion of these feedstocks to biofuels is relatively easy, their economic and energetic costs of production can be high.

So the focus of biofuels research in recent years has shifted to second generation processes, which utilise biomass feedstocks mostly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.

Historically, the costs involved in processing such biomass have been high, due to their increased complexity compared with first generation processes.

New project A â&#x201A;Ź3.7 million ($4.9 million) research project named DIBANET, funded by the EUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 7th Framework Programme, is aiming to advance the conversion of biomass.

Levulinic acid and furfural, both platform chemicals, are produced in high yields from cellulose and hemicellulose to then be converted to biofuels.

The yields obtained from these depend greatly on their chemical composition.

The laboratory methods for determining the composition of biomass are costly and time consuming, meaning

that less samples tend to be looked at than if there were more rapid forms of analysis.

Use of near-infrared One of the objectives of DIBANET is to develop models to determine, for a number of different biomass feedstocks across Europe and South America, the mass concentrations of a range of constituents and elements based on nearinfrared (NIR) spectra.

While there had previously been some studies which developed models for second generation feedstocks, these tended to use samples that had been dried and sieved to a homogeneous particle size (DS samples), an activity that takes a significant amount of time.

DIBANET advanced the art by also developing models based on the spectra of wet unground (WU) samples of heterogeneous particle sizes. This capability suggests NIRS could be used online in a biorefinery. Such a system could allow for improved payment methods for suppliers of the biomass and for process conditions to be modified, or unsuitable biomass rejected, based on composition.

In addition to the models for WU and DS samples, DIBANET also developed models for dried and unground (DU) samples.

The qualities of these different models were also compared.

Results The Carbolea Research Group, based at the University of Limerick, has developed NIR models for miscanthus grass, pretreated miscanthus (prepared using patented

Carbolea technology), cereal straws, waste papers, peat and a global dataset with over 600 samples.

All of these groups had DS models developed, but miscanthus, peat and straw also had DU models developed too, with the peat and miscanthus groups also subjected to WU model development to boot.

Over 200 samples were analysed for the miscanthus models via reference methods with the data used in the calibration or independent validation sets for model development/testing. These samples were obtained from plantations at different stages of growth and productivity and included different varieties, including whole samples and various anatomical fractions, of the plant.

It was found that, while the best models were based on the spectra of samples in their dry and ground state, highly accurate models were still possible from samples in a wet unground state.

The wet spectra have also been used to discriminate samples according to plant fraction, sampling period, stand age,and clonal variety.

At the University of Campinas, located in Brazil, NIR models have been developed for residues from the coffee, coconut and banana industries.

Accurate predictions were demonstrated, based on the NIR spectra of these samples, for the chemical constituents of most importance for second generation technologies.

At Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (CTC), also in Brazil, separate NIR models have been developed for

sugarcane bagasse and residue in various stages of sample preparation, ranging from WU to dried and sieved.

Both sugarcane bagasse and residue is currently used as a source of heat and steam, but there has been huge interest in using it as a feedstock for the production of second generation biofuels.

Technical partnership Analytical instrument provider Foss, one of the partners involved in DIBANET, has supplied its XDS and ProFoss systems to the project.

The Rapid Content Analyser module of the XDS system can scan large sample cells via the solid transport device, meaning unground samples could be analysed. Separate XDS systems were used at both Carbolea and CTC too.

The transfer of the labspectra models, developed on the XDS, to the ProFoss system was also possible. The ProFoss is a diode-array system and demonstrated improved reliability in online analysis compared with an older monochromator-based unit.

The NIR systems have analysed thousands of samples, reducing time spent on traditional reference analysis and sample preparation. This has allowed for more research, for example the WU models for miscanthus have helped to map compositional trends over the harvest window and within different parts of the plant. This would not have been possible without NIR analysis. l For more information: This article was written by Daniel Haynes, biomass researcher for Carbolea, www.carbolea.ul.ie

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Helping India realise its potential

I

ndia is among the leading producers of vegetable fatty acids, something that makes biodiesel production a good opportunity for the country.

Biofuel development in India first received momentum by the ex-President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who was one of the strong advocators of jatropha cultivation.

Jatropha oil has been used in India for many years as a biodiesel for the diesel fuel requirement in remote rural areas.

Jatropha has the potential to provide economic benefits at a local level since it can grow in dry non agricultural lands, thereby allowing villages and farmers to leverage non-farm land to generate income. Central India and parts of northern India, particularly, have got vast non-agricultural lands where annual rainfall is scanty.

In September 2008, the Indian government announced its National Biofuel Policy, aiming to meet 20% of India’s diesel demand with fuel derived from plants. India’s total biodiesel requirement was projected to grow to 3.6 million tonnes by 2011-12. The Indian government is currently implementing an ethanol blending programme in petrol and considering initiatives in the form of mandates for biodiesel. Considering this strategy, the ever increasing population in India and its energy demand from the transport sector, the biofuel business can be assured of significant market growth in India in future.

Biodiesel implementation The Indian government has undertaken several initiatives to further promote the use of biodiesel in India.

India’s premier nationalised bank State Bank of India, for example, has signed an MoU with a private player to give loans to the tune of Rs.1.3 billion (€1.5 billion) to local farmers in India to boost

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cultivation of jatropha plants and subsequently to increase the production of biodiesel.

Indian railways have also started using biodiesel blends with diesel fuel in various ratios from jatropha plants on experimental basis to power its diesel engines.

State governments like Andhra Pradesh have signed formal agreements with the private sector to grow jatropha and produce biodiesel in the state. States like Kerala and Chhattisgarh are also planning large jatropha planting campaigns to make their states self-sufficient in biodiesel production. Other Indian states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have also started to boost the biodiesel production in their respective states from jatropha plant.

Challenges As well as the advantages, there are also several challenges producers face, such as an increase in water separation and fuel foaming, higher levels of injector deposits and corrosion arising from the generation of low- molecular weight acids as compared to pure fossil fuels.

Additionally, biodiesel treated diesel oil tends to form wax crystallisation and separate when the temperature drops during the winter months.

Wax crystallisation begins at higher temperatures in biodiesel and biodiesel blends, causing them to gel sooner than conventional fossil fuels.

The pour point and cold filter plugging point of such biodiesels can occur at much too high a temperature to meet specifications and winter requirements. The explanation lies in the relative quantities of fatty acid oil types: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

The wax that crystallizes and causes cold flow concerns largely come from saturated

fatty acids. These have a long regular chain, enabling them to form highly regular crystalline structures easily even at relatively high temperatures. For example, in the Indian context, it has been reported that biodiesel produced from rapeseed has the best low temperature properties of all major classes of vegetable oil feedstock.

Indian soyabean derived biodiesel has intermediate low temperature performance.

Biodiesel made from palm and coconut oils, which are extremely high in saturated fatty acids, behaves extremely poorly at low temperatures.

In diesel vehicle fuel systems the presence of such long interlocking structures can cause operational difficulties as they would quickly stop fuel lines and fuel filters. If the temperature is sufficiently low to crystallize a lot of wax, the engine would simply stop through fuel starvation.

Cristol products Krishna Antioxidants has developed two product ranges, the CRISTOL-PPD BIO Series (Pour point depressants) and CRISTOL-CI BIO Series (Corrosion inhibitor).

CRISTOL PPD BIO series/ flow improver solutions have enabled several biodiesel blends to operate at temperatures below their wax appearing temperature.

These additives ensure smooth flow of the biodiesel and prevent fuel filter problems caused by wax crystallisation at low temperature.

The function of these additives is to interact with the wax crystals, modify their growth, reduce their shape and size, prevent them from forming agglomerates and also reduce the temperature at which they crystallise.

These additives are designed to be compatible with various biodiesel mineral fuel blends. Some additive chemistries can have negative

effects when blended into biodiesel blends in which the diesel portion was previously treated with a traditional diesel cold flow additive. Prior testing can be performed to avoid this scenario.

Biodiesel blends can show an increase in water separation as compared to pure fossil fuels. In addition, blending with low-stability biodiesel can lead to corrosion arising from the generation of lowmolecular weight acids.

Biodiesel blended diesel fuel with time develops sludge and sediments including water in the fuel tank, which provides a good media for the growth of bacteria, fungus, algae. This can lead to plugging of filters, starting problems, poor engine performance and corrosion in the entire fuel system. CRISTOL CI BIO series helps limit corrosion and inhibit growth of bacteria, fungus, algae that require water to grow.

The CRISTOL-CI BIO series are corrosion inhibitors developed to meet the needs of the oil industry. It has been developed with innovative chemistry involving complex amidoamine series. Corrosion inhibitors formulated with this organic base display high film persistency against the attack of many corrosive fluids. As the product can be formulated into oil‐soluble, oil‐soluble/water‐dispersible or water‐soluble inhibitors, the finished formulations get readily dispersed in hydrocarbon solvents, water and brine.

As a result, corrosion inhibitors formulated with the CRISTOLCI BIO series are able to work effectively across a range of tough chemical and physical environments, providing the formulator with versatility and low inventory requirements. l For more information: This article was written by Dr Tarun Chakraborti, director of oil and gas at Krishna Antioxidants, www.krishnaantioxidants.com

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What support can be found within transportation biofuels production and how can it be earned?

Backing a winner

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oad transport represented 76% of total transportation fuel requirements globally in 2010. Aviation takes up just 10% and marine another 10%. Transport sector CO2 emissions were almost a quarter of global emission, and cars (light duty vehicles) were 41% of this1.

(43%), Brazil (26%), Germany (4.9%) and France (3.9%).

The bulk of biofuel production converts first generation feedstocks, such as corn and sugar, to ethanol. The global market for first generation biofuels in 2011 was worth $83 billion2 (€62.1 billion). There are increasing concerns however over the sustainability of these

8%

1%

2% 1%

10%

32%

46%

3% Gasoline Diesel Jet Residual LPG/CNG Biofuels Electricity

Biofuels Engines running on biofuels do emit CO2 just like petrol or diesel. However, biofuels use plants and trees as feedstocks that need CO2 to grow and so biofuels do not add additional CO2 to the atmosphere.

The biofuels produced today are principally for road transport, the dominant transport segment and supported by subsidies in most countries, unlike for other transport uses. These fuels are blended (typically up to 5%) with traditional petrol or diesel. Production has been growing substantially over the past decade. Key producers include the US

10%

3% 52%

10% 4% 17%

LDV Truck Bus Aviation Marine Rail Other

Source: WEF, Repowering Transport

2010 transport energy by source and by mode (total ~2,200)

feedstocks, including the need for large amounts of land and water that could increase food prices and impact rural populations and wildlife, and use of conversion processes that require energy as well as fertilisers and that limits CO2 reductions.

This indirect land use change (ILUC) is an unintended consequence of use of first generation crops and has rightly prompted many fuel developers and fuel users alike to focus on advanced feedstocks, such as municipal waste and non-edible lignocellulosic materials like wood and straw, often grown on marginal land and requiring less water for example.

Figure 1 shows there is

Government subsidies

Source: International Environmental Agency

Figure 1: Global biofuels production 2000 to 2020 by product

insignificant production of advanced biofuel today.

Converting advanced feedstocks to biofuel is challenging as each requires new and untested technologies.

So, for example, pyrolysisderived biofuels is still in early stages of development and they are not commercially viable today, as seen in Figure 2. But while costs are likely to remain higher than for first generation for some time, expect the cost reduction potential for earlier stage technologies that have not been proven at scale of 30-50% over the next decade, with a further 2030% reduction by 2050 from component level improvements and efficiency gains3.

In addition, second generation biofuels significantly widens the feedstock options and that, in the long-term, is likely to be needed to satisfy demand.

The transition from first generation to advanced biofuels, and the complexity of the advanced technologies, likens the space to the personal computer industry in the late 1970s and early 1980s: many competing technologies fighting for platform dominance.

The biofuels industry is still awaiting its Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to emerge.

Much of the production to date has been possible through government subsidies to producers in the form of tax reductions. Global subsidies in 2011 were $22 billion4, mainly in the US and EU. Most of that goes to first generation biofuels.

The US has targeted 36 billion gallons of biofuels to be blended into petrol and diesel by 2022 (of which 13 billion gallons should come

from advanced biofuels) which does provide a demand signal for investors, but needs to be backed by financial support. The EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) requires all member countries source at least 10% of their road transport fuels from biofuels by 2020.

In the UK, the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) obliges companies providing more than 450,000 litres of fuel for road transport annually to source at least 4.75% over this amount from renewable sources. Suppliers in return receive one Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates (RTFC) per litre of biofuel, or kg of biomethane, supplied.

However, this is going to first generation biofuels. Greater incentives for advanced biofuels could help make the economics more attractive to investors.

Alternative support The successful financing of an ethanol or biodiesel project requires a substantial amount of capital. The cost of constructing a plant producing 50 million gallons per year can easily exceed $80 million. And so, governments can support biofuels development in a number of other ways that can attract technology developers, something that is sorely needed to drive down the costs of production. These include: Grants: In the UK for example, government supports biofuels R&D targeting areas where the UK has capabilities and need gasification, pyrolysis, novel chemical and biological routes and lignocellulosic ethanol and butanol.

The UK Department for Transport announced funding of £25 million (€29.3 million) in August for a demonstrator

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capable of turning waste into biofuel. There are still additional areas the government could support further development, like around catalyst intensification.

The US is estimated to support R&D of advanced biofuels to the tune of $1 billion, Canada at $430 million and Australia at $12 million5.

Loans and loan guarantees: Loan guarantee programmes, usually for large-scale ethanol plant projects, have been popular in the US, funded by either the DoE or the USDA. The US programme provides loan guarantees for the development, construction and retrofitting of commercialscale biorefineries. The maximum loan guarantee is $250 million and the maximum grant funding is 50% of project costs.

Other examples include Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass receiving a loan guarantee for $132.4 million in 2011 for a cellulosic ethanol from agricultural and wood residues plant and the UK likely to provide access to debt financing to projects through its Green Investment Bank.

Export import banks: EIBs provide financing for indigenous companies to export to global markets.

The US EIB has probably been the most prolific of these banks globally, funding low carbon technologies. Typically, it provides up to 85% loan guarantee on the back of 15% equity from the investors. The focus is on commercially viable projects, but not a great deal has gone to biofuels funding, largely because it does not receive as many applications

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from this segment.

Bonds: Another form of financing for next generation biofuels is credit-enhanced bonds that are accepted through the USDA and Rural Energy for America Programme grants, as well as some through the Department of Energy.

Private sector investment As with any other business seeking finance, biofuel companies need to demonstrate they have identified an opportunity in the market, have a solid business plan and a credible team to deliver it. The major difference with biofuels, particularly advanced, is that the opportunity is in a relatively new market that is largely dependent on government subsidies, and the company’s solution is a novel process among many that are seeking dominance.

First generation opportunities can generally be funded though standard debt and equity channels. Advanced biofuels technologies are still emerging from the demonstration phase and unlikely to secure mainstream financing.

What do these advanced biofuel developers need to demonstrate to investors?

Before going to market, they need to be clear about its place in the biofuels sector by considering: 1) Which conversion technology?

There are several viable conversion technologies competing and each has

Source: International Environmental Agency

Figure 2: Transportation fuel costs, 2010 and 2020

its virtues and flaws. All are currently entering the first commercial plant scale and the company must be clear why its particular conversion route is superior to others.

2) Advantage of the company’s technology?

The company must explain why its variation within the conversion route is best. It boils down to whether the company’s biofuel can enter the value chain at an all-in price that makes it more compelling than petroleumbased fuels. Critically, given the risks to the intermediaries and end users of the company’s product, its biofuel needs to demonstrate a benefit to that of its competitors.

3) What is your business model?

An important decision is whether the innovator plans to sell the innovation by licencing the IP, sell the technology by licencing or building the process, or sell the biofuel by building and operating its own plants. This will ultimately determine total costs and hence investment needed. Given the novelty of the technologies, all three models will necessitate the development of the technology at the demonstration stage to attract investors.

4) What do the OEMs say?

Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) must be brought into the technology development to demonstrate their willingness to use the company’s biofuel in their equipment before others will invest.

It is also worth noting that there are two types of investors: financial and strategic.

Financial investors invest in biofuels primarily to derive a financial return. In the context of advanced biofuels, they primarily take the form of specialised venture capital investors who have the technical

expertise to engage with the complexity of the technology.

Other potential investors are deterred by the novelty of the sector and the difficulty of engaging with the science underlying the technology.

Strategic investors engage in targeted investment of other companies inside, or adjacent to, their own sector to preserve or create longer-term strategic opportunities. In the biofuels industry, they can span the value chain, including feedstock owners, engine manufacturers, process technology vendors and refineries.

First generation biofuels are still dominant today. Late stage investment is tending to go to first generation biofuels, while earlier stage funding is moving to advanced biofuels.

Massive technology cost reduction is needed to make advanced biofuels commercially viable and this will take time.

So, investors need greater confidence before investing and this can be aided by clearer and longer term government policy linked to subsidies for advanced biofuels.

The high levels of support currently offered for many first generation biofuels is an impediment to the development of advanced biofuels. That said, advanced biofuels are not without their challenges due to the logistical challenge of transporting biomass material but their increased sustainability is a major benefit.

Ultimately, technology developers must align their offering to target the investors most suitable for their technology, and these days that is a tough sell for advanced biofuels. l References 1 World Energy Council, Global Transport Scenarios, 2050 2 Clean Edge 3 Carbon Trust, Technology Innovation Needs Assessment, Bioenergy 4 International Environment Agency 5 International Energy Agency, 2010 For more information: This article was co-written by Al-Karim Govindji, technology acceleration manager, and Jenya Khvatsky, commercialisation manager, of the Carbon Trust, www.carbontrust.com

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biofuels commodity risk Risk is something any business, particularly those involved with biofuels, contends with every day – how can its impact be minimised?

Getting a good night’s sleep

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ow comfortable are we all with understanding, monitoring and managing commodity related risk? There can be many risks – market, operational, supply chain, currency, counterparty, political, sinking-barge - but how do we see and understand the whole of risk itself?

Many producers, traders and manufacturers across the commodity markets say: ‘You can worry about risk all you like, but it has a tendency to get away from you’. Try to put in a new process to manage risk holistically and the only realistic approach seems to be: manage each of your component risks individually.

It’s a real challenge to get a proper grip on the whole of risk all at once.

Is this good enough in today’s volatile, fast-moving markets, however? Individual risks and exposures do require dedicated oversight, but there can be, and almost always is, interplay between different types of risk which can complicate the impact.

Sometimes interplay is predictable – political risk has an impact on price and exchange rate volatility, for example - but sometimes it isn’t. New factors often appear in the gaps between the risks we know.

For example, what if the counterparty risk of a transaction is minimal and you’ve made a judgement call that the country’s political instability is not currently a big

Without considering all risk angles all your eggs may be in the wrong basket

issue. Did you factor in the high mobile phone penetration that enables the rapid pulling together of the one-off flash mob which burns all your supplier’s trucks before the army could step in?

An extreme example perhaps and, admittedly, it is almost as absurd as the notion that a single Icelandic volcano could ground the whole of European air freight.

But the real world does not deal in neat, measurable categories of risk. It hits you with what you least expect.

We need to manage our risk, from the farm gate onwards, rather than wait until the cargo reaches its destination.

That is easier said than done. Managing risk is a crucial yet complex activity

facing companies that deal with physical commodities. Yet many organisations struggle to define, measure and act in time on risks and exposures.

We all know it is important and we behave accordingly; we have some measurement tools in place and some established practices for risk management. But some would argue we need to revisit our definitions of risk, our preconceptions about it, the way which we try to manage it. To define risk is, of course, to define a moving target that changes shape unpredictably.

Today’s risk is not the same as yesterdays, and tomorrow’s will be something else again.

This, at least, is measurably true. Volatility across world physical commodity markets

has increased exponentially in recent years. A few years ago traders in agri commodities would see prices move up or down marginally in a month.

Volatility was less of an issue, although they could see that physical commodity markets were not well served by risk management technology.

The existing market solutions in 2004 only catered to the financial and energy markets, largely ignoring companies which traded in physical commodities. It was as if the risks associated with contract management, procurement, logistics, position, mark-to-market et al were outside the experience of the software designers.

In 2003, when biofuels started to come in, volatility

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started to rise and food inflation began. There have since been situations where prices in certain commodity markets have gone up by 400%, then come down by 200%. That has a terrible impact on business.

In today’s physical commodities markets in general, and the biofuels market in particular, risk management is about growth and survival. Biofuels is a relatively new and growing business, but it is also vulnerable to instability. A report by the FAO1 states: ‘In less than one decade, world biofuel production has increased five times, from less than 20 billion litres a year in 2001 to over 100 billion by 2011. The steepest rise in biofuel production occurred in 2007/2008, concomitantly with a sharp rise in food commodity prices, quickly accompanied by food riots in the cities of many developing countries.’

Increasingly, volatility is a multi-factorial expression of ongoing global instability.

The report continues: ‘These price increases were accompanied by price volatility and price spikes to an extent unprecedented since the 1970s. Though a range of other factors have been adduced … the steeply rising demand for the production of biofuels was identified as an important factor by many observers and a wide range of organisations.’

As this suggests, the objective of risk management must be to achieve an enterprise-wide oversight of everything. Gary Vasey, partner at Commodity Technology Advisory, adds: ‘Our research points to a growing need for commodity companies to adopt a fullyintegrated and enterprise-wide approach to commodity risk management, irrespective of the underlying CTRM systems operating.’

But we do not always have a complete understanding

biofuels international

of what risks we are facing, and the picture we do have is fragmented and often out of date. Also, the global economy is fragile, global politics is, well, political, and while new markets and opportunities do emerge, they can be as challenging, in terms of due diligence and risk mitigation, as they are attractive as sources

management has the potential to enable increased efficiencies in the context of business integration, as well as in risk management.

But does this also suggest that it can result in a smoother and simpler implementation process for future development across the enterprise?

There is a saying that

‘Volatility across world physical commodity markets has increased exponentially in recent year’ of supply or demand.

Factor in today’s regulatory environment, which is characterised by an emphasis not only on maintaining effective controls, but also on being able to demonstrate the ongoing effectiveness of those controls, and it is easy to think that we might just have a problem.

What’s to be done?

We need a wholly unified approach to measuring and controlling enterprise-wide risk. The objective should be to enable diversified users and business units across disparate locations to be brought within the scope of a standardised approach to risk management, covering how you define, measure and monitor risk via a single consolidated view.

Data from disparate sources, such as individual trading systems, ERPs and spreadsheets should be encompassed within that one single view.

That seems challenging but this has potentially positive implications.

By its very nature, enterprise-wide risk

‘Risk management is management”’and, if all the risks can be seen, perhaps the knock-on benefit is that all opportunities will be seen as well. To consolidate positions across purchases, trade contracts, price and basis risk, inventory, derivatives and FX for example, is to enable commodities companies to improve existing risk strategies regardless of time, trade and position information – and to target opportunity.

So much of the challenge of risk management lies in being able to see the whole of your risk. To maximise effectiveness, the view should be configurable also.

One solution, the Eka Risk Platform, allows users to establish an organisationwide risk policy, define measurement criteria, and employs dashboard visualisations to provide risk managers with analytical advantages.

For a highly interlinked, regulation-driven, global industry such as biofuels, the approach to risk should support a 24/7 trading environment via web-based analytics and decision support tools. Insomniac risk

managers who commute to work should ideally be able to see their risk from their mobile devices. It should also be possible to drill down from the enterprise-wide view straight to individual transactions.

Seeing is necessary; analysis is vital Effective risk management rests upon, for example, calculation of volume exposed against all market instruments. Key indicators are positions across products, grades and locations, counterparty and credit risk, alongside FX exposure based on A/R, A/P and forward expected cash-flow.

The profit and loss engine should accurately measure the mark to market exposures across all physical, financial and freight positions.

Enterprise-wide risk management for the biofuels industry also requires proper oversight of regulatory risk, credit risk, market risk, value at risk, counterparty risk, country risk. The risk-analytics functionality should enable the setting of limits at multiple tracking levels (as set within a user-defined enterprisewide risk policy), and allow risk managers to configure their own set of alerts.

If something bad happens, anywhere, anytime, your mobile phone should make sure you do not sleep through it. l

Reference: 1 Biofuels and fuel security (June 2013) – FAO High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition For more information: This article was written by Manav Garg, CEO of Eka www.ekaplus.com

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biofuels pumps Moving liquid from feedstock to delivery truck can throw curve balls at any time, but are you confident your current pumps would not be an issue?

Positive displacement for biodiesel

B

iodiesel refineries convert renewable raw materials to combustible hydrocarbon liquids and byproducts through a variety of process steps, ranging from incoming transport and storage to chemical reactions, mixing, heating and cooling, separation, additive addition and outgoing storage and transport.

The common denominator between these processes is a pump which moves liquids from one process to the next.

The world of pumps is large and complex, with thousands of potential suppliers offering potential solutions.

Heightening that competition is the fact that many different types of pumps can be used in the same application handling the same liquids.

The 21st century biodiesel boom resulted in hundreds of new facilities being developed simultaneously, based on the designs of a few market leaders, but without the kind of interactive learning that occurs over time in many process plants. A wide variety of pumps were applied as a result and they were not always the best choices.

Many facilities are now looking at their ‘problem pumps’ and realising investment in a different technology may have a short payback period.

‘Positive’ options Pump technologies generally fall into three main categories: 1. Dynamic – like centrifugal 2. Reciprocating positive displacement (PD) – like air

operated double diaphragm 3. Rotary PD – like gear.

It could be considered rotary PD pumps are generally the best choice for most biodiesel processing applications.

Let’s begin with fats, oils, glycerol and biodiesel – the key high volume liquids. Any of those above technologies can pump them in any of the applications typically found in a biorefinery. So, why choose a rotary PD over the others?

plant and one can see how this can add up quickly.

Reciprocating AODD pumps are effective on high viscosity liquids, but suffer from the inefficiencies of compressing air to perform work compared to electric motors. Generally they will require about three times the total energy input of a motor-driven rotary PD pump to perform the same work.

Motor-driven reciprocating pumps are highly efficient,

A Viking brand pump used for loading and unloading applications

Centrifugal pumps become more inefficient and more susceptible to cavitation as viscosity increases. While they may draw minimal power on a warm day, the amp draw from multiple pumps on a cold morning can have a relatively large negative impact on a facility’s total energy usage.

For example, on 500 cSt liquid at 45m3/hr and 10bar pressure, an ANSI centrifugal pump would require about 30kW more power than an internal gear pump (which is one type of rotary PD pump) providing the same level of performance. For that same process, multiply this by the number of pumps in the

but generally considered niche for higher pressures or slurries, rather than process pumps, due to check valve wear over long periods of use.

Fats, oils and glycerols increase in viscosity during cold weather, and glycerol is highly viscous in summer, generally 1400 cSt or more.

Some facilities have gone to extreme lengths to enable use of certain pumps, such as heating their oils in winter to make them pumpable by centrifugal pumps, which is energy that might be placed in a more efficient use elsewhere in the process.

Rotary PD pumps can handle any viscosity liquid,

from methanol to glycerol, as long as atmospheric pressure on the liquid in the tank can cause it to flow into a partial vacuum created as the gears unmesh. Generally the thicker the liquid, the slower the pump is operated.

This allows one pump to be used for thin liquids at high temperatures, and thick liquids at low temperatures, or to transfer different viscosity liquids with the same pump, without any change except operating speed.

B100 biodiesel does not just increase in viscosity as temperature decreases, it goes into a gel state. Slow running rotary positive displacement pumps can actually pump B100 as a gel as effectively as if it were liquid. This gives a facility the flexibility to use multiple feedstocks. While rapeseed biodiesel does not gel until about -10°C, tallow biodiesel may do it at temperatures as high as 16°C. The ability to pump it without cold flow additives can reduce cost structures.

While centrifugal pumps and reciprocating pumps can handle non-lubricating liquids like water, rotary PD pumps rely on a thin film of lubricating liquid to minimise wear of the rotary parts, such as gears, that continually contact each other. Fortunately for biodiesel producers, most of the liquids they handle have lubricating properties that ensure long pump life.

Controlling the process Another issue to consider is process control. Centrifugal pumps are generally controlled

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by a valve on the discharge side, which adjusts the head that the pump is operating against, and therefore the flow rate. If automatically controlled, a flowmeter measures the flow and opens or closes the valve to adjust it to the desired rate. Both the pump and the valve perform according to non-linear curves, and even a small change in pump head can result in a large change in flow rate, making accurate control difficult.

AODD pumps are also controlled by a downstream valve or by a valve on the incoming air line. The advantage is that they can be stopped without damage by simply closing one of these valves. For non-continuous applications where energy efficiency is not critical, they provide ease of operation and manual control. They are generally not used on flowmeter controlled processes because their pulsating flow is difficult to measure accurately.

Rotary PD pumps have the advantage that the flow is directly proportional to pump speed, so that a variable speed drive may be used to adjust the flow to the desired rate. When used with a flow meter, this property ensures continuous flow at the set rate, with less hunting behaviour, regardless of changes in system pressure.

This lends itself to more efficient operation and without the cost of a control valve.

On the shop floor Internal gear pumps are used at a 30 million gallon a year capacity biodiesel facility in central US which uses soyabeans as feedstock.

Sam Fowler,a biodiesel and refinery superintendent, says: ‘The facility uses internal gear pumps, from Viking Pump, to transfer product from holding tank to railcar at 400 gallons per minute through 900ft of pipe. In my view, a centrifugal pump in this application would call for larger piping. The centrifugal would run at a higher rpm, leading to increased pump maintenance and replacement costs.

‘In such applications, using internal gear pumps versus a centrifugal pump gives the plant savings through energy efficiencies and trouble free operations.’ benefits like reduction in spare pump and parts inventory, maintenance technician familiarity with the product and any associated reduction in unplanned downtime.

With rotary PD pumps, you can standardise on one model capable of handling the highest flow rate, and use that exact same model for all other lower flow applications simply by running it slower.

The pump’s efficiency is virtually the same at all speeds and flow rates.

Careful handling A final consideration is chemical compatibility as some of the additives metered

into the process, such as sodium methoxide, sodium hydroxide and sulphuric acid, are corrosive and hazardous.

The key here is ensuring material compatibility and optimum shaft sealing.

Virtually all of the different types of pumps discussed here have options in high alloys or non-metallic materials compatible with these liquids. While AODD pumps are inherently sealless, both centrifugal and rotary PD pumps offer magnetically driven options. Magnetic drives eliminate shaft seals to further minimise the chance of leakage and skin contact, as well as increased operational time with the

1. Oilseed Oils

1. NaOH or KOH

elimination of seal failures, which is another common feature found in gear pumps.

Within the rotary PD pumps category, there are many varieties, including internal gear, external gear, vane, lobe, progressive cavity, three-screw, timed two-screw, peristaltic (hose) and more. Each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. In selecting pumps for your application, consult with other facilities to get the benefits of their insight and experience. Your local pump distributor is an independent business which represents many pump manufacturers and multiple pumping principles, with knowledgeable and experienced staff who would be happy to review applications and present appropriate solutions. If you have problem pumps, or inefficient pumps, consult with them sooner, rather than later, to prevent unplanned downtime due to pump problems. l

For more information: This article was written by John Hall, senior product manager for Viking Pump (a unit of IDEX) www.vikingpump.com

4. Transesterification Reactor

3. Sodium Methoxide Catalyst

5. Separation (Gravity or Centrifuge)

Keeping your standards

Crude Biodiesel 1. Methanol

Reliability experts say that it makes sense to look at pump standardisation across the entire facility, wherever feasible. It is possible to use the same pumps for incoming raw materials transfer from railcars or tank trucks to the tank farm, then from there to esterification or transesterification before separation and finally to blending, storage and on the loading racks for outgoing railcars and tank trucks.

Standardisation brings

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6. Purification / Washing

1. Waste Cooking Oils or Animal Fats Rotary PD Pumps Commonly Used in Biodiesel

Internal Gear Pump External Gear Pump

2. Esterification Reactor

Methanol Distillation

9. Methanol Dehydration

B100 Biodiesel

1. Sulfuric Acid

Rotary Vane Pump

7. Biodiesel Blend Storage & Load Out

Methanol Distillation

Crude Glycerine Petrodiesel

8. Glycerine Storage & Load Out

Process mapping: the stages of biodiesel manufacturing

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biofuels land issues There seems to be conflicting views on the use of land for crop growing in Africa, but one organisation believes fuel and food could thrive across the continent

Demystifying biofuels in Africa

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alk to just about anyone on the street these days and ask them about biofuels and it would not be surprising to get a response like: ‘Food is for people, not for cars.’

It is not uncommon to come across a person who points the finger at biofuels for rising food prices and tortilla riots, for stealing land in Africa or for deforesting the Amazon in Brazil.

Biofuels, unfortunately, has become the demon everyone loves to hate, be it via the media, NGOs or the public at large during the past few years – no doubt in part to the expectation earlier in the 2000s that biofuels were the panacea to climate change and shrinking fossil fuel reserves.

Many of these myths are a result of lack of, or inaccurate, information that gets regurgitated over and over by those who would wish to see biofuels not take hold as a major energy source.

But combating those myths, especially when considering the openness of the internet, is exceptionally difficult.

That’s why Partners for Euro-African Green Energy (PANGEA), an organisation that promotes sustainable bioenergy in Africa, has put together a report called Myths and Facts about Bioenergy in Africa as an effort to clear the air about the most common misconceptions.

Along with every myth come a whole lot of facts.

There are 65 sources to back up the facts presented to battle 10 myths. For those who prefer

the public to remain in the dark, it is not very useful to come across those sources but, for those across the industry who have needed a quick reference at hand to go head-to-head when those ugly myths emerge, it has become handy.

One myth Biofuels should not be produced in sub-Saharan Africa because they cause food insecurity.

for less than 0.05% of global biofuel production.

Africa is home to up to 60% of the world’s underutilised land. About 45% of that available land is deemed suitable for agriculture, while three-quarters of existing farmland is heavily depleted because continuous farming has not been offset by an appropriate replenishment of nutrients.

The land use challenge can be partly solved with Integrated

IFES. Firstly, multiplecropping systems can be used in conjunction with nurturing livestock and/or fish. Secondly, using agroindustrial technology to produce renewable energy can integrate the processes by using all of the by-products and feeding them back into the system, creating higher crop yields. Anaerobic digestion is an example of these technologies.

Let us not forget energy is needed to produce food and investment in bioenergy can leverage investment and infrastructure to produce more food, not less. In Africa many other factors have a more influence on food production and prices, such as lack of food storage, post-harvest losses, climatic extremes and national policies.

So those who wish to truly solve food insecurity in Africa should look to enhance these areas rather than point the finger unnecessarily at biofuels.

Another myth

Land of opportunity: could Africa offer the biofuels industry a healthy base without the expense of food depreciation?

Biofuels are often accused of creating food insecurity in this region because of perceived competition for land with food crops. The assumption is that biofuel production is directly linked to increasing food prices, yet their production in Africa is still small, accounting

Food-Energy Systems (IFES), simultaneously producing food and energy. Farming methods combining the production of both food and energy will help rural communities solve two of their main problems in one fell swoop.

There are keys to achieving

Demand for biofuel causes ‘land grabbing’ in sub-Saharan Africa.

Land grabbing, or the largescale acquisition of farmland in developing countries, has caused global concern for the rights of small-scale producers at risk of losing their land at the hands of unscrupulous investors and governments.

Worldwide food security issues, and an increasing demand for biomass as an energy source, have resulted

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in heightened demand for fertile land. Large-scale land deals in sub-Saharan Africa are particularly controversial as land in this region is central to both livelihoods and identity.

In 2009, global land deals were estimated to total almost 60 million hectares.

Mozambique, Liberia, Ethiopia and South Sudan have all agreed major land deals with foreign investors. A more recent report has outlined proposals for the use of 500,000 hectares of land in Kenya and Angola for biofuel production while, in Tanzania, rice farmers have been driven off their land in favour of a sugarcane plantation.

PANGEA argues that land grabbing is not a result of demand for land to produce biofuels but instead is due to weak land tenure in African countries, stemming either from a lack of land policy or a lack of policy implementation which allows unscrupulous companies and government officials to take away land rights from otherwise helpless farmers.

that its use is for biofuel, it’s virtually impossible to know what the end market of that agricultural land will be for.

Will the palm oil be for biodiesel or for food? Will the sugarcane be just for ethanol or for sugar as well? What about the maize or soyabean?

These multi-use crops cloud the issue, making it easy for

Misdirection

one to assume that the end use is biofuel but without having any certainty if that is the case.

When PANGEA questioned the ILC’s programme manager last year regarding its data in hopes of finding a verified source for further research, he confirmed the quantitative data was based on figures from the extensive database ILC had been constructing.

That information for the database was obtained through media reports and the media reports were cross-referenced with reliable data sources such as studies carried out by contracted partners/trusted members and/or research projects whereby someone was sent into the field.

ILC emphasised the importance of the difference between reported land deals and cross-referenced land deals and explained

Reports from the likes of Oxfam, ActionAid and others all use a similar quote on land grabs: 60% or two-thirds of land grabs are for biofuels” These quotes come from the International Land Coalition (ILC) 2012 report Land Rights and the Rush for Land. But much like PANGEA’s report on land grabbing released in November 2011, the ILC found verifiable data regarding land deals to be exceptionally difficult to find.

Even though the ILC report is not yet able to provide cross-referenced and groundtruthed data, it is a starting point that gives an indication of where trends may be going.

Yet there is a real lack of clarity when looking at the various projects reported in the database. Other than jatropha, which is fairly clear

biofuels international

that it is indeed ‘very hard’ to verify data.

The report was written in a way as to not describe any of its data as verified, yet anti-biofuel advocates have failed to state this fact when pointing at the ILC study as the truth about biofuels.

It was also said by the manager that it is difficult to

governments to strengthen their policies and implementation of those policies to ensure fair treatment of small-holders.

At the same time, PANGEA insists that biofuel producers implement sustainable practices according to established, recognised sustainability programmes to ensure current and

Confused: are the general public in custody of all the facts about land grabbing in Africa?

verify data because, even with the information obtained from reliable sources, one must expect that things can change.

He agreed that biofuels projects receive far more media attention than the extractive industries do, hence it is entirely likely that the figures quoted for biofuel land grabs are inflated relative to those quoted for other industries.

He did however qualify this by saying that with the land matrix project and the resulting database, they are trying to reduce the effects of the extensive media attention on biofuels and food security issues by studying the other types of land deals in depth and, gradually, ILC feels the database is being cleaned out.

PANGEA recognises that some land transactions inside and outside of the biofuels industry have likely taken place, but puts the onus on

future projects provide the economic and development benefits they intend.

Beyond food security and land grabbing, there are so many myths that need to be tackled like ‘Biofuels plantations are bad for biodiversity’ and ‘Local farmers and communities do not benefit from biofuel plantations’.

From large-scale vs. smallscale to doubts over gender equity and the impacts of European and US biofuels legislation on the African landscape, at last there are more answers for these kinds of questions. It is only a matter of looking for the information that is out there, and then making sure it is at hand when it’s really needed. l For more information: This article was written by Meghan Sapp, secretary general of PANGEA, www.pangealink.org

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biofuels events and advert index Upcoming biofuels events September 11-12 Biofuels International Conference 2013

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Powering Africa: the Finance Options

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Bioenergy Australia 2013 conference and exhibition

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December 10-11 Tank Storage Asia

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