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December 2008
NewEnergy magazine for the bioenergy business
Termites contribute to bioethanol Forests deliver sustainable energy Bio-refinery perspectives
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COLOFON
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New Energy Plus is a supplement with De Molenaar, trade journal for the grain processing and feed industry in the Benelux. De Molenaar is a two weekly trade journal. The special New Energy Plus, magazine for the bio energy business, is first published in October 2006. The next publication is due in March 2009.
CONTENT
Management Egbert van Hes, general manager Bouke Hoving, financial director
Commercial manager Seb van der Kaaden
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Editorial staff Jacqueline Wijbenga, managing editor Anneke van der Schaaf, chief editor Albert Bouwman, editor Editorial contributors Lourens Gengler, Marc van der Sterren and Mike Wilson. Editorial address P.O. Box 340 8901 BC Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) Tel. +-31-(0)58-2954862 Fax. +-31-(0)58-2954878 Email: newenergy@eisma.nl
CONTENT
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DEVELOPMENT
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Chemical bio-refinery perspectives
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Bio-ethanol co-products for pig feed
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BioEnergy Event: ‘Effort is needed to stay ahead’
BIOMASS
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Advert department Mark Veenstra, senior accountmanager Tel. +-31-(0)649931873
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Advert department address P.O. Box 340 8901 BC Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) Tel. +-31-(0)58-2954872 Fax. +-31-(0)58-2954871 Email: verkoop@eisma.nl Subscriptions Subscription service Eisma Businessmedia P.O. Box 2238 NL - 5600 CE Eindhoven Tel.: 088-2266648 abonnement@eisma.nl A subscription to an address within Europe costs € 49,- for 2008 (four issues). The invoice is sent at the start of each new subscription year. Subscriptions are subject to automatic renewal. Cancellations should be sent no less than one month before the end of the subscription period. All cancellations will be confirmed by letter. PrePress ZeeDesign, Witmarsum (The Netherlands)
Austrian forest origin of sustainable energy
20 KWB: ‘Lowest emission is our goal’
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BIO-ETHANOL
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Print Scholma druk bv, Bedum (The Netherlands)
© Copyright 2008 Eisma Businessmedia bv, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Nothing from this publication may be multiplied and/or copied in any way without written permission from the publisher. Publisher and authors declare that this magazine was made with the utmost care and to the best of their knowledge. However neither publisher nor authors can be held responsible for the correctness and/or completeness of the information supplied. Publisher and authors do not accept any responsibility for any form of damage caused by decisions or actions taken on the basis of the presented information. Users of this magazine are firmly advised to not use this information without question, but to use their professional knowledge and skills and to check the information before use.
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Publishing company Eisma Businessmedia bv P.O. Box 340 8901 BC Leeuwarden (The Netherlands)
Publisher Minne Hovenga
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Thermites can contribute to bio-ethanol
BIOGAS
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Dutch biogas production lags behind potential
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Small is beautiful in biogas
CALENDER
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26 Biofuels events and news
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New Energy Plus December 2008
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New Energy News
International CO 2 compensation platform launched An international platform is launched allowing individuals and companies to become carbon dioxide neutral. The platform is an initiative of Statkraft, one of the largest European producers of renewable energy, at the occasion of its ten year anniversary in Continental Europe.
gest producer of renewable energy in Europe following an asset swap with E.ON AG. The two companies will swap Statkraft's shareholdings in E.ON Sverige AB against one third of E.ON Sverige's hydropower plants, shares in E.ON AG and plants for flexible production of gas power, hydropower and district heating. The assets included in the swap produce 7 to 8 TWh annually. “The E.ON swap is a result of our strategy and objective to become a leader in environment-friendly energy in Europe. The power plants we take over strengthen our position as a leader in environment-friendly energy in Europe and will become a solid platform for further growth,” says Bård Mikkelsen, president and CEO of Statkraft. In 2007 Statkraft posted a profit after tax of EUR 827 million and employed more than 2,300 employees in ten countries.
New Energy Statkraft launched its international internet platform ‘MyCO2.NO’ during a business seminar in Amsterdam last month. The seminar was organised by Statkraft as part of the celebrations of the 10 year anniversary of Statkraft’s presence in Continental Europe. The international internet platform ‘MyCO2.NO’ allows individuals and companies to neutralize their carbon dioxide emissions by buying certified emission reduction credits generated by projects in developing countries. The platform has been developed in Norway
and is available in English, Dutch and German. “We will also offer our platform to partners for use in their own green product portfolio which will contribute to carbon dioxide emission reductions,” says Torsten Amelung, managing director of Statkraft Markets. Ta k e o v e r Statkraft established its first trading office in Continental Europe ten years ago, and its first energy production in Germany one year ago. Next year Statkraft is expected to become the lar-
American farmers supply biogas to Californian homes The Kern County (USA) board of supervisors has approved construction of a biogas distribution network that will for the first time produce renewable natural gas from multiple dairy farms to generate power for utility customers, BioEnergy Solutions announced. The distribution network, the first of its kind to be approved by a government authority in the US, will produce biogas from cow manure on as many as nine dairies in eastern Kern County, upgrade it to utility standards and deliver it into a nearby Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) pipeline. “California is the leading dairy producer in the US and its dairies, with their abundant supplies of cow manure, have great potential for the production of renewable natural gas,” said David Albers, president of BioEnergy Solutions and a thirdgeneration dairyman. “California’s dairy community is poised to pioneer the large-scale production of this cleaner, greener form of energy and create a model for agricultural and energy producers nationwide.” Three of the nine farms have agreed to supply biogas to the network: C&R Vanderham Dairy, Inc., Whiteside Dairy and
Vermeer and Goedhart Dairy. Their combined herd of 6,500 milk cows is expected to produce 615,000 cubic feet of natural gas a day, enough to generate power for 3,000 California homes. BioEnergy Solutions, which builds and operates biogas pipeline facilities in California, will construct an underground pipeline linking the dairies. Biogas from the farms will be transported through the pipeline to an upgrade facility located at the Vermeer and Goedhart Dairy. The renewable natural gas from the farms, more than 99 percent pure methane, will be pressurized and delivered into the PG&E pipeline for use in the production of energy for residential customers in northern and central California. Known as the Shafter cluster, the nine-farm network could include as many as 26,700 milk cows, 17 percent of the dairy herd population in Kern County, and produce enough cleanburning natural gas to meet the energy needs of 12,000 California homes. The cluster could also reduce the equivalent of 220,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
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Prices
Heat from coal minewater For centuries coal was an important source of energy. Communities flourished, thanks to the black energy source. But everything changed in the seventies. Other fossil fuels like oil and gas took over and coal mines were deserted. Now they come to new use. Coal mines throughout whole Europe closed down, the former coal regions fell right into a recession that lasts until today. Coal mine cities still have high unemployment rates. Aachen in Germany, Heerlen in The Netherlands, Lorraine in France and Midlothian in Scotland are just a few European towns that share the same history. Together they found a way out of these problems, with the support of the European Union, national and regional governments and a lot of companies and research institutions.
In more than 30 years the old coal mines have been flooded with water. This deep water reaches temperatures of 32 degrees. Heerlen drilled five wells from 450 to 700 meters. With a capacity of 80 cubic meters per second they pump up the water to heat buildings. At present it’s only a test. A cultural centre is being warmed with this energy. But in the near future a university campus and lots of offices, shopping centres and private houses will be warmed with heat from the mine water. The project has multiple advantages. Besides the benefit of durable energy, it decreases the risk of floods coming from the mines and it creates jobs. It’s an opportunity, not only for the four cities that take part in the project, but for all the other former coal mine regions.
gy News Biotechnology offers opportunities Consumers should be aware that the price of oil has had the greatest impact on crop and food prices during 2008, according to Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). “American consumers should not be fooled by ongoing attempts to misplace blame for this year’s rise in food prices on biofuels. The evidence before consumers is clear: crop prices have fallen dramatically in the past few months as oil and gas prices have declined. A barrel of oil cost $140 in July but is currently less than $65. Similarly, a bushel of corn that was more than $7.50 back in July is now less than $4, even while production of biofuels and other food, feed and fiber demands have all remained consistent.” Greenwood is of the opinion that agricultural biotechnology continues to help increase crop yields, producing more food and biofuel feedstock on less land. “And industrial biotechnology is helping to convert corn starch and crop residues into biofuels more efficiently.” The nation’s current goal of producing and using 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels by 2022 is a tremendous opportunity for jobs and growth, states Greenwood. “Production of advanced biofuels could increase US gross domestic product by $4.7 billion and, importantly, would add more than 20,000 jobs to rural economies.” BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations.
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In the past year car drivers were confronted with high petrol prices. These prices contributed to the awareness of the need to find alternatives. Some of the alternatives require feed stocks that can also be used in food. As food prices rose, consumers and policy makers blamed alternative fuels for this. In Europe this resulted in an adjustment of the blending targets of transportation fuels from 5.75 to 4 percent by the year 2010. The food-fuel debate has hindered the development of biofuels in Europe. Policymakers mainly focus on those biofuels that don’t compete with food supply. Biomass offers lots of opportunities to that regard. Especially in countries were wood is readily available, such as Austria and the Scandinavian countries, wood-heating is a possibility. Due to this development, for example, a poor Austrian region now flourishes again. Wood, however, is not available everywhere. Germany for example has sufficient wood in the south, but not in the north. Biogas is big in that country. The biogas installations mainly use corn that isn’t meant for human consumption, but could well be used as cattle feed. According to a German farmer consumers don’t worry so much about the feed versus fuel debate. “It’s not a problem to feed the installation with corn, whereas economically I would be better of using the wheat I grew this year due to the low prices. But that would upset the consumer, so we decided to continue with corn.” His installation is one of the first to directly deliver the biogas into the gas network that supplies the houses. Just using the one feedstock is an advantage in this case as the quality of the gas is stable at all times. The gas produced would also be usable as car fuel. With high petrol prices the car industry also looked for alternatives such as biogas. Before it will take a flight however, the feedstock problem has to be solved. For the time being, the necessity to do so seems to have diminished with the recent drop in fuel prices. Jacqueline Wijbenga
New Energy Plus December 2008
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Chemical bio-refinery p Development
[Carolien Makkink]
The best application of biomass for the replacement of fossil fuels is the petrochemical industry. The combustion of biomass as an alternative to fossil fuels is not the best way to utilize its potential. That’s according to Benjamin Brehmer in his thesis entitled ‘Chemical bio-refinery perspectives’. Rye grass only yields 14.1 ton of hay per hectare, but achieves much higher energy savings per ton of chemicals produced: 50.8 GJ per ton for grass versus 37.0 GJ per ton for palm oil.
Fossil fuel stocks are decreasing worldwide. The need for alternative, renewable energy sources increases. All renewable energy sources (solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, and geothermal energy) are based on heat and electric generation, with the exception of biomass combustion. Biomass has unique properties: it contains many interesting chemical functionalities. Therefore, Benjamin Brehmer states in his thesis
Benjamin Brehmer received his PhD degree from Wageningen University on the 24th of October, 2008.
‘Chemical bio-refinery perspectives’ that the application of biomass should focus on the best utilisation of the unique properties of biomass. Biomass can be used as a feedstock for the petrochemical industry. By doing this, the use of fossil fuels may decrease substantially. In the Netherlands, the industry is responsible for 44 percent of the total energy consumption. One third of this is used by the chemical industry, which
Table 2. Top 5 cropping and bio-refinery systems according to energy and exergy fossil fuel savings.
Position
Nominal energy savings (see figure 1)
Nominal exergy savings (see figure 2)
1 2 3 4 5
Oil palm (Malaysia) Sugar cane (Brazil) Wheat (France) Maize (United States) Rye grass (The Netherlands)
Sugar cane (Brazil) Sorghum (Kenya) Cassava (Nigeria) Sugar beet (Germany) Oil palm (Malaysia)
equals 15 percent of the total energy consumption. Worldwide, the petrochemical industry consumes around 7.5 percent of total energy production. Instead of using crude oil, they could use biomass as a raw material to produce various chemicals. B i o - e n e r g y c ro p s Brehmer selected 16 crops (Table 1) and assessed their potential to serve as input
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y perspectives raw materials for the (petro)chemical industry. Energy input factors included the energetic input caused by the use of fertilizers and pesticides, irrigation, farming, sizing/drying, transport and storage/transfer. The resulting overall fossil fuels savings were calculated as energy and ‘exergy’ savings. Exergy is a measure of work potential contained in the energy stream and the loss after each system change. Exergy can therefore be regarded as a thermo dynamical efficiency factor. Figure 1.
Energy is based on the first law of thermodynamics (the conservation of energy). Exergy takes the second law of thermodynamics into consideration: each system change increases the entropy. Striving for the maximum exergy efficiency will ensure that the maximum amount of work potential is utilized from the resource (fossil fuels). Maximizing the work output of fossil fuels is vital with the impending scarcity of these fuels. Large differences between energy and exergy in certain sections and process elements may reveal possibilities to further improve the efficiency.
Graphical display of optimal biorefinery cropping system in terms of energy savings.
Life Cycle Analysis Brehmer used Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) techniques to quantify the energy savings of using biomass for the production of bio-chemicals. The best impact assessment terms for sustainability issues proved to be: * Fossil fuel energy savings per bio-chemical mixture produced (GJ per ton of chemical), * Fossil fuel savings per annually harvested biomass (GJ per ton of biomass), and * Fossil fuel savings per arable land area (GJ per ha).
Figure 2. Graphical display of optimal biorefinery cropping system in terms of exergy savings.
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New Energy Plus December 2008
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>> Chemical bio-refinery perspectives
The first (production efficiency) and the last (land use efficiency) issues are of special interest for biomass production chains. They express the fossil fuel replacement potential efficiency of the chemical feedstock products and land consumption. By plotting these two values (normalized: relative to the minimum and maximum values) the optimal bio-refinery cropping system was determined (Figure 1). The bio-refinery cropping system closest to the right-hand corner of the chart has the best overall performance. Based on energetic savings Brazilian sugar cane is the second best feedstock in the optimal bio-refi-
Energy Dutch rye grass has the best energy savings in chemical terms (GJ per ton of chemicals produced) and Malaysian palm oil performed best in land savings (GJ per ha). These two crops are very different: temperate versus tropical, protein-rich versus oil-rich, fresh/direct processing versus half-product, et cetera. Oil palm, with an assumed yield of 25.0 ton of fruits per hectare achieves the highest savings per hectare. Rye grass only yields 14.1 ton of hay per hec-
nery system.
tare, but achieves much higher energy savings per ton of chemicals produced (50.8 GJ per ton for grass versus 37.0 GJ per ton for palm oil). Overall performance is a combination of yield, bio-chemical composition and concentration for down-stream processing. Malaysian oil palm land use efficiency is so high that it scores as the optimal biorefinery system overall, based on ener-
Table 1. Crops investigated for their potential as feedstock for the chemical industry.
Crop
Location Region
Fossil fuel savings1) Energy per chem. biom. ha
Fossil fuel savings1) Exergy per chem. biom. ha
37.1 50.8 29.2 45.4 37.0 34.5 41.9 39.0 40.3 32.3 42.0 22.2 38.5 35.5 49.6 44.0
69.1 55.6 30.7 52.6 42.6 69.8 44.8 73.0 42.5 67.6 84.3 22.5 43.7 59.6 55.5 50.5
Cassava Grass Lucerne Maize Oil palm Potato Rapeseed Sorghum Soya bean Sugar beet Sugar cane Sunflower Switchgrass Tobacco Wheat Willow tree
Nigeria Holland S-Dakota Iowa Malaysia Holland Belgium Kenya Illinois Germany Brazil France Iowa Australia France Sweden
12.5 17.6 12.4 15.4 20.9 11.4 21.5 12.3 18.1 10.0 11.3 15.3 14.8 13.1 18.5 15.6
438 249 186 382 721 200 353 455 196 292 490 128 208 346 343 125
1) chem.:
GJ per ton bio-refinery chemical mixture
biom.:
GJ per ton total dry weight harvested biomass processes
ha:
GJ per arable hectare of cultivated land
23.3 19.3 13.0 17.9 24.0 23.1 22.9 23.0 19.1 20.9 22.6 15.5 16.9 21.0 20.7 17.9
817 272 195 444 830 405 377 851 206 610 985 130 236 582 383’ 143
getic savings. Brazilian sugar cane is second best in this ranking. Exergy Figure 1 depicts the energy efficiency: that is, what use is made of the resources. Plotting the exergy savings (see figure 2) depicts the thermodynamic situation: what use could be made of the resources. Figure 2, therefore, indicates the potential: exergy-based savings are, in all cases (see table 1), higher than energy-based savings. From figure 2 it can be seen that sugar cane, sorghum, cassava and sugar beet outperform oil palm, based on exergy. Overall conclusions Brehmer concludes that early biomass systems based on combustion or conversion to biofuels are sub-optimal. Biomass has the largest fossil fuel replacement potential when employed as an alternative feedstock in the petrochemical industry. Brehmer determined the optimal biorefinery cropping system by systematically assessing the entire production chain using LCA calculations. Assessing the exergy fossil fuel savings reveals the potential value of the crops, the calculated energy fossil fuel savings displays the current situation. Table 2 shows the top 5 cropping systems for both approaches. Dedicated chemical bio-refineries represent a developmental leap towards achieving maximum fossil fuel replacement.
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New Energy December 2008
09•adv:09 26-11-08 12:11 Pagina 9
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10-11-12-13•austria:10-11-12-13 28-11-08 09:28 Pagina 10
Austrian forests origin o Biomass
[Marc van der Sterren]
One of the poorest European regions during the cold war was the district of
obstruction for development, worked out as a success factor.
Güssing in Austria. There was no employment in the area, which is covered by dense forests. Today those forests produce energy for the whole region.
“The region still depends on European and national subsi-
Austria already reaches the European goal of using 20 percent renewable energy by 2020. Thanks to what happens around the small town of Güssing. Machinery for producing durable energy and the accumulating knowledge, is exported all over Europe. A success story about development, with renewables in the leading role.
dies”, Nemestothy admits. “But it’s needed. Everybody profits from this business.”
Success factor During the cold war the Austrian region Burgenland was very poor. Situated right next to the Iron Curtain there was
no trade or industry and the agricultural sector was very small. The unemployment rate was high. About 70 percent of the people who did have a job worked far away, in Graz or Vienna. On the edge of the Western world, the region depending on development subsidies from the European Union. The hilly area might look beautiful, but life was hard. More then 70 percent of the region is forest, simply because in this area agricultural production was not very lucrative. This fact, that initially seemed to be an
H y d ro p o w e r It is Kasimir Nemestothy, policymaker for energy at the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, who proudly presents these figures. Besides Austria, only Finland, Sweden and Lithuania already reach this goal, he knows. Thanks to the mountains and the forests about 23 percent of Austria’s energy is renewable. That’s impressive considering the use of energy is increasing due to the flourishing economy. Half of all the durable energy is hydropower. The other half comes from biomass, mainly wood. Every year 20 million solid cubic meters of wood is harvested from Austrian forests. This is only 60 percent of the amount that’s grown every year. “A high share of the harvesting potential in our forests is not used”, says Nemestothy. The forests are mostly owned by small farmers. In Austria 60 percent of the forest is property of owners with less than 200 hectares. Forks, bends and knots The centre of renewables is Güssing. Nemestothy knows the region well. “In this south-eastern region of Austria the average size of forest ownership is only about two hectares. This makes the proper utilization of the forests difficult.” In many cases even the borders of the forest are not marked properly. “Some owners don’t even know the exact location of their forests borders.” The forests in this area are not perfect for the wood industry, Nemestothy explains. “The forest of these eastern provinces contains more deciduous trees then in the mountainous western areas.” These deciduous trees have more forks, bends and knots, which are not as usable
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n of sustainable energy Former poor region leading in renewable energy
for the sawing industry like the Norwegian spruce or the Scottish pine. But for energy production, the rest of the material from deciduous trees is very useful. In Austria only one nuclear power plant was built, but it was never made active. Despite of using electricity from nuclear power for heating, like for instance Finland, Austria began to focus on biomass for heating purposes starting in the early 80’s. Nowadays 450,000 traditional tile stoves are in operation, covering an overall heat-load of 2000 Megawatts, which equals two nuclear plants if electricity was used for heating. Besides that, 1000 biomass district heating plants have been built, covering an overall heat load of another 1000 Megawatts. That’s another nuclear plant.
Oil and gas fields Burning wood is nothing new in Austria. Through history all houses where heated with wood, right from the forest. In the past century fossil fuels were introduced. Austria has its own oil and gas fields, Nemestothy says. The Austrian oil production peaked already in the fifth decennium of the past century, with 3,5 million tons per year. “With this amount Austria was at that time quite well supplied with oil.” Nowadays the oil fields are practically depleted. They produce only 900,000 tons of oil a year, while Austrian oil consumption reaches 9 million tons. This means that only about 10 percent of Austrian oil demand is covered by domestic production. Natural gas production in Austria equals to 2 billion cubic meters a year, covering approximately 20 percent of demand. Since the
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sixties Austria has imported a lot of oil and gas. Natural gas mainly comes from Russia and to some extent Norway. Crude oil is bought at the free market and mainly conveyed via a pipeline from Trieste, an Italian town at the border with Slovenia. The forests however are still there. While the wood industry came up, another fuel source was being developed. Already in the fifties the first rest material was used for heating houses. The growing stock is increasing year by year and amounts already to 1 billion solid cubic meters. Wo o d p e l l e t s In the beginning of the eighties, the burning of wood chips and other rest materials began to grow. Small villages and town centres are heated with wood chips and saw dust. In the nineties the
New Energy Plus December 2008
Waste wood from wood factories is cheap. Saw dust is almost for free.
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>> Austrian forests origin of sustainable energy
technology improved, so that smaller heaters warmed buildings like schools and offices. The technical innovations are still increasing. Modern stoves can now burn different kinds of biomass. The latest inventions bring the technology of burning wood pellets to houses. It’s not only the technology for the burner itself, the production of the pellets is becoming more cost- and energy efficient. Besides that, Austria developed a complete logistical network for these heaters. The small pellet heaters with a capacity from less then 100 kW are already the sixth generation of automatic wood burners on the Austrian boiler market. This machinery and the accumulating knowledge are exported all over Europe. A pipeline transports saw dust to the power plant in Güssing, which is famous for its castle.
Güssing Castle The small town of Güssing counts less then 4000 citizens. Until recently this town was famous for the beautiful
Güssing Castle on the hill. Nowadays it is the Austrian headquarters of bioenergy. The company Renet Güssing is situated in this town, which is also home to the European Centre for Renewable Energy (EEE), a centre for research and development on renewable energy. At Renet Güssing, Richard Zweiler explains the history of technological development in this small town. The district of Güssing, with 27,000 citizens, started an energy strategy which in the nineties lead to the construction of a biodiesel plant, different district heating plants, and a genuine centre of technology. “In 2000 we opened the first biomass gasification power plant in the world, that’s based on the FICB-process”, Zweiler says. The Fast Internally Circulating Fluidised Bed gasification system enables the plant to physically separate the gasification reaction and the combustion reaction, in order to gain a largely nitrogen-free gas.
Liquid bio fuels The photovoltaic plant dates from 2005. In the same year they finished the construction of a biogas plant and a cogeneration plant with a steam turbine. “Güssing is not only the Austrian centre for bioenergy, it’s the European centre,” he explains. The development of green technology goes on. Big energy plants produce liquid transport biofuels. For this, they mainly use maize. With the production of 340,000 cubic meters of ethanol per year all over Austria, 190,000 tons of rest material comes available for feedstock. Since last September Renet Güssing started up the Bio-SNG plant. This demonstration plant is also the first prototype worldwide. With this plant the wood gas from the gasifier is transferred into Bio-Synthetic Natural Gas. This gas reaches and exceeds the standards for natural gas. From the beginning of 2010 they will be able to also produce the same amount of biofuel in the form of diesel with the planned demonstration plant based on Fischer –Tropsch technology. If the fun-
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ding and the projects will be on schedule, Güssing will be self sufficient for more than 60 percent in transportation fuels. Zweiler prepared a lot of numbers. For private homes and industry the town is self sufficient for 99 percent of the overall heat demand. For electricity, it’s 150 percent. Of all major businesses and public buildings 90 percent is connected to the district heating and 70 percent of the 1000 households. Mastermind Renet Güssing and the EEE are privately owned. Reinhard Koch is the CEO. Zweiler and Nemestothy have a lot of respect for him. “He’s the mastermind behind the success of our town”, says Zweiler. Koch has a political and economical background. Nemestothy describes him as an intelligent guy who is able to make quick decisions while keeping an overview on the total situation. “He worked in Vienna, but originated from this town and wanted to work here. But it was a poor region with no jobs. He was fed up with the situation.” So Koch started a business, a small engineering company. The sector has grown since the shift to renewables, which employs 1100 people. And this doesn’t even cover side effects, like tourism. The region still has beautiful hills and the town has a wonderful castle. Annually almost 50,000 visitors come to this area. “It’s eco tourism,” Nemestothy emphasizes. “So they also come for renewable energy.” Germany Nemestothy knows Germany envies the Austrian situation. “While most of the burners and the technology for smallsized wood combustion comes from our country, Germany complains that the subsidy money involved in green technology goes straight to Austria.” Energy technology is an important export product of Austria, but the country still is net importer of fossil energy. In 2006 and 2007 the country booked a negative balance of 9 billion in energy trade. In 2008 this figure is expected to reach 14 billon euros. Thanks to bioenergy these costs are limi-
“In the near future, we will be able to feed the electricity directly into the local grid,” Richard Zweiler promises.
ted in Güssing. The region is no longer depending on development subsidies from the EU, in the same way as ten years ago. Nowadays, they receive money for research and technological development. The costs of the power plant, for example, added up to 8 million euro. It was built with subsidy from the European Union, 2.4 million euros to be exact. “Yes, we still depend on European and national subsidies”, Nemestothy admits. “But it’s needed. Everybody profits from this business. That includes employees at the wood factory and farmers who get a contract.” For every megawatt heat load that is installed, about 50 farmers in the direct region profit. Wood comes from a distance not further than 25 kilometres. Each and every citizen in the
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district of Güssing profits from the bioenergy business. “Citizens pay 30 percent less for heating their houses.” For electricity they pay 17 cents per kWh today. “In the near future, we will be able to feed the electricity directly into the local grid,” Zweiler promises. At that time, he expects, the price will decrease to 15 cents. But the success story is not complete yet. The knowledge of gaining energy out of wood lasts for decades. With this knowledge, Austria conquers the rest of Europe. Other European EU-members focus on Austria, whose goal is to use at least 34 percent of renewables by 2020. A big challenge. Because the financial situation of the region is growing. And this means an overall increasing demand for energy.
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New Energy December 2008
14-15•Termites:14-15 26-11-08 11:55 Pagina 14
Termites can contribute t Bioethanol
[Mike Wilson]
If bioethanol is to make a major contribution to our fuel supplies, we may well require the assistance of the lowly termite, says Michael Scharf, an assistant professor of Entomology at the University of Florida, Gainesville.
The study of the termite digestome has really only just begun.
Assistant professor Michael Scharf and his colleague Aurélien Tartar of the University of Florida say the enzymes produced by both termites and the micro-organisms that inhabit their gut – known as symbionts – could help to produce ethanol from non-edible plant material such as straw and wood. Nutrition “Termites are really specialized in getting nutrition from woody biomass, that’s the angle we’re coming from,” says Scharf. “We’re taking a genomic approach – it’s about sequencing genes, finding the genes that code for the enzymes that will degrade the cellulose.” Scharf and his team sampled the genes that are being expressed by the termite gut and microbes that live in the termite gut using standard molecular biology approaches. They sequenced 12,000 total genes, looking at the composition of what was there and found a clearer picture of what the termites and their symbionts are contributing. “We’re starting to understand how they collaborate,” he says. “Once we understand that we can take the gene we want and move them into some kind of micro-organism – just like the way that insulin is produced - and we can look for the right combinations of genes that degrade cellulose most efficiently.” E ff i c i e n t Right now fuel ethanol in the U.S. is made mostly from corn starch and the
14-15•Termites:14-15 26-11-08 11:55 Pagina 15
e to bioethanol Can termites unlock secrets to second gene ration ethanol?
easily-accessible sugar molecules that can be fermented. If scientists like Scharf can identify and produce the right combination of enzymes from the termite gut, it will be possible for ethanol to more efficiently be produced from wood, switchgrass, ag waste, or other non-food resources. “Through millions and millions of years of evolution, termites and their symbionts have acquired highly specialized enzymes that work together to efficiently convert wood and other plant materials into simple sugars,” says Scharf. “These enzymes are of the most value to bioethanol production.” The non-edible parts of many plants contain a large number of sugar molecules, but these sugar molecules are far less accessible. This is because they’re locked up within a substance known as lignocellulose, which provides structural support for plant cell walls. Breaking this substance up into its component sugar molecules is far from easy and currently is very energy-intensive. Termites, however, don’t seem to have too much trouble digesting wood and other lignocellulosic materials into their component sugars, as many homeowners can attest. I n p ro g re s s Scharf says the study of the termite digestome has really only just begun. “On a scale of one to ten, as a scientific community, we’re still below five,” he says. “My collaborators and I have identified hundreds of seemingly important
genes from the termite that we work on, which is the ‘Reticulitermes flavipes’, the Eastern subterranean termite. But by no means are we the only group investigating termites for this purpose. We’re quite a ways from commercial application. What is unique about our approach is that we are considering the collaborative interaction between termites and their symbionts.”
major players, from termites and symbionts, we can test combinations that may have applications in making bioethanol production more feasible from existing feedstocks, and maybe even other feedstocks that aren't on our radar screens yet.”
“There are many directions that the science can now head,” Scharf says. “First, we now have the ability to produce and test individual enzymes for their competency and roles in lignocellulose degradation. Once we identify
Michael Scharf: „What is
-
unique about our approach is that we are considering the collaborative interaction between termites and their symbionts.”
Commercial partnership Scharf’s University of Florida research team is partnering with a commercial company, Chesapeake PERL (Protein Expression Recovery Laboratory) of Savage, Maryland, which specializes in making recombinant proteins from nothing more than knowledge of gene sequence. “Where we need to go next is to do hypothesis-driven experiments – testing these different combinations of enzymes to find out which have real applications,” Scharf concludes. “You can’t just jump to the end product. Our goal is to test these combinations over the next few years to see which will be the most commercially relevant.”
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New Energy Plus December 2008
16-17•NE food fuel:16-17 26-11-08 12:08 Pagina 16
Dutch biogas production l Policy
[Henri de Haan]
Research centre Acrres organized a public debate on food versus fuel. Main question of the day: ‘Are there enough acres available to grow biomass for sustainable energy in the future?’ The debate showed that animal husbandry and the new energy industry share many dilemmas, such as greenhouse gas emission and feedstock supply.
Marc Londo: “Thanks to the food versus fuel debate, we now have sustainability criteria and attention on indirect effects”.
The debate ‘Food versus fuel’ seems less necessary as pressure on fossil energy supply loosens. However, the discussion remains hot as the search for alternative energy resources continues world wide. Recently the Dutch applied research centre on sustainable energy and feedstock, Acrres, organized a public debate on ‘Food versus fuel’. Aike Maarsingh, chairman of the Dutch biogas producers (BBO), and chairman of the debate, outlined some facts. “In the Netherlands 39 applications for bio-
gas installations were submitted. Of this number only fourteen have been allowed sufficient government support.” The Dutch government had a maximum subsidy for such initiatives, and this was reached very quickly partly because large and international companies were allowed to put in their propositions as well. “Three applications were rejected and as many as 21 applications withdrew.” In The Netherlands biogas production at present isn’t financially attractive. Under the Dutch incentive scheme the energy produced from biogas plants is guaranteed at twelve cents per KWh. While many plans don’t materialize, policy makers are not convinced the incentive needs to be increased. “Some biogas producers are investing under the current scheme and they seem to do well. We only want to encourage the best plans”, comments Diederik Samson, Member of Parliament for the governing labour party. Independent According to Maarsingh the Dutch government must give more financial incentive if they are serious about supporting bioenergy initiatives. “And the need to produce more bioenergy is obvious’’, says Maarsingh. The increase in wealth world wide boosts the demand for food and energy. “We must become less dependent on fossil fuels.
Others, including the Russian president, control the supply and we don’t. That has to be changed”, states Maarsingh. “Furthermore, if we are committed to achieve reduced greenhouse gas emissions, we simply need alternative energy supplies. Biogas can make a significant contribution of about 25 percent by the year 2020, but we in The Netherlands are running way behind compared to countries around us. Germany has 3700 biogas production units, in Holland there are only a hundred.” Feedstock According to Paul Braks, head of Rabobank Food and Agribusiness Research, demand for food, feed and fuel combined, will grow with 1.1 billion tonnes from the year 2005 to 2015. Most of this increase is due to the ethanol demand, some 600 million tonnes. Braks expects sugarcane to become the major feedstock for ethanol. “Brazil grows sugar cane on 3,5 million hectares, about half a percent of their land area. They can quite easily increase this. Corn simply can’t compete with cane sugar with regard to ethanol production.” Other growth areas are biodiesel industry (90 million tons), food industry (180 million tons) and feed industry, which will need an additional 190 million tons of feed for livestock. Braks expects quite a lot from the former Soviet Union countries. “Since the fall of communism in 1989 production of arable crops has decreased from 120 million hectares to 80 million. Production levels on average amount to 1.2 tonnes per hectare.” Braks is optimistic about the potential to improve yields and increase production of this acreage. “I visited Kazachstan recently. One large scale farmer cultivates half a million hectares. He already increased production to 1 tonne per hectare”, says Braks his statement.
16-17•NE food fuel:16-17 26-11-08 12:08 Pagina 17
n lags behind potential
Food versus fuel: competing for resources or joining forces Prices When Braks starts explaining about prices of cereals, at first glance it seems current price developments do not reflect supply and demand fundamentals. Braks: “Demand for meat in emerging economies increases, the biofuel industry grows, and we have seen bad harvests in 2007 due to adverse weather. Policy reforms contributed in lower stocks and less price stability. As stocks went down, price volatility increased.” “Then, how come that in 1965, the year I got married, we paid the equivalent of 3.2 eurocents per cubic metre gas and today we pay 70 cents, whereas the cereal price has not seen a similar price increase over these years?’’, asks Maarsingh. Part of this is due to the financial crisis, according to Braks. “The crisis has decreased cereal prices as there is less liquidity in the financial markets and more uncertainty. Also, investors have been selling commodities to reduce risk and raise cash.” Braks illustrates how cereal production over the last twenty years increased, despite lower inflation-adjusted prices. “If the projected demand growth is to be met, both yield and acreage increa-
ses are needed. In Europe the new EU member states have significant growth potential, as well as Ukraine.” Assuming sugar cane will provide an additional 600 million tonnes of production growth in Brazil, another 140 million hectares or a yield increase of 30 percent, is needed to meet projected demand. “Current grain markets are tight, prices have come down due to the financial crises and a good crop year. Long term however we expect grain to trade above historic average prices but below the highs we’ve seen earlier this year’’, concludes Braks. Criteria The year 2008 not only witnessed record high prices for nearly all major commodities, these prices also resulted in a heated debate about the use of these commodities for food, feed or fuel. According Marc Londo, researcher at the Dutch energy research centre (ECN), this debate resulted in criteria for sustainable feedstock, measuring energy and reduction of greenhouse gasses as well as environmental, social and economic criteria. “We now have an eye for the indirect effects. Furthermore the debate
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shifted investments towards second generation energy and fuel production.” The different criteria must be clear and transparent, says Londo. At present experiments are being done in the northeast of the Netherlands –called Energy Compass- to measure the effect of variables such as type of corn or other biomass crops and irrigation on methane production and reduction of greenhouse gases. The project aims to provide clear and transparent measures on energy production from biomass.
In The Netherlands biogas production at present isn’t financially worth wile.
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Decentralized Production of biogas may in some cases fit to existing business, such as animal husbandry and arable farming. Animal manure can be used along with coproducts from arable farming. The digestate can be used as fertilizer. Biogas production closes product and mineral flows. Greenhouse gasses are converted in electricity and its emissions thus reduced. Transportation of low value biomass is kept to a minimum with this type of decentralized power production.
New Energy Plus December 2008
18-19•Biogas:18-19 26-11-08 12:06 Pagina 18
Nowadays it’s also possible to produce biogas
“Using manure can bring more stability in a bio-
Sugar beets are also an interesting feedstock
and directly deliver it to the natural gas net-
gas installation’’, according to the German
for biogas installations.
work. This requires some modifications of the
Biogas Association.
biogas, but the necessary techniques are available.
In Germany biogas is still ‘hot’. Lots of farmers show interest in this form of decentralized energy production. The German federation of biogas expects quit a lot of new installations to be built in 2009, after a slow down in the past two years. “The new installations are likely to be smaller ones, even as low as 75 kW,’’ according to Josef Pellmeyer, president of the German Biogas Association.
Small is beautiful in b Biogas
[Jacqueline Wijbenga]
The German Biogas Association gave a press conference at the recently held BioEnergy Europe exhibition in Hanover. This exhibition, held for the second time in conjunction with the exhibition EuroTier, showed that interest for bioenergy and especially biogas is growing. Around 400 businesses exhibited their latest developments on bioenergy in Europe. With Germany being the home country of the exhibition the focus in the halls was mainly on biogas. Only a few companies showed some other alternative energy forms, such as oil from meat fat or heat from wood.
Amandus Kahl was one of the few companies at BioEnergy Europe that focussed on wood as an alternative source of energy.
Support Biogas has developed rapidly in Germany in recent years. This is mainly due to the government support of alternative energy and the availability of feedstock for biogas installations. In the
past the development mainly focused on ‘bigger is better’, with installations of 500 kW becoming minimum size. This, however, is changing, says Josef Pellmeyer, president of the German association. “We see a shift to smaller units, below 100 kW even.” According to the federation, these kinds of biogas installations offer a good opportunity for stand alone purposes. “If farmers want to be self sufficient in their energy demand and heat supply they don’t necessarily have to build them big.” The shift to smaller installations required a different approach. “The technology had to be adapted to the different needs. Several suppliers have now developed installations that are very efficient at the lower capacities.” Opportunities According to the association German farmers can’t make a living by just gro-
18-19•Biogas:18-19 26-11-08 12:07 Pagina 19
n biogas
Builders of biogas installations had a lot of visitors at the exhibition BioEnergy Europe.
wing arable crops or producing milk or meat. “At the exhibition here in Hanover they are looking for opportunities. One of those is bioenergy.” Especially now that smaller installations are available on the market a biogas installation is something that opens new possibilities for many farmers. “Furthermore, the new regulations on
the use of manure in the installations help. Last year showed us that price fluctuations in grains have a major effect on the exploitation of a biogas installation. Using manure brings more stability in feedstock for the installation.” Even though the smaller installations are now available and technically efficient, they are not always the best
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option. “This depends on the possibilities of the investor. The smaller installations have higher costs per kW. An extra compensation for use of manure in the installation can make such an installation economically feasible.”
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New Energy Plus December 2008
20-21•KWB:20-21 26-11-08 12:14 Pagina 20
‘Lowest emission is o Biomass
[Jacqueline Wijbenga]
The Austrian company KWB produces biomass heating systems. With twenty-six employees in research and development the company has the largest private European biomass research centre. “The energy problem won’t be solved by wood alone. Research has to contribute to optimize the burning process and find new energy sources,” says Andreas Giselbrecht of KWB.
The heating systems of KWB are exported to ten different EU countries and Chili.
KWB with headquarters in the Austrian town of St. Margarethen/Raab was founded in 1994 by two partners: Dr. August Raggam, professor at the University of Graz, and Erwin Stubenschrott, fitter of profession. Professor Raggam has an impressive research history in combustion of biomass. His goal was to implement this knowledge at a practical level. With the technical know-how and experience of Stubenschrott this was made possible
20-21•KWB:20-21 26-11-08 12:14 Pagina 21
s our goal’ Austrian KWB contributes to ‘Energy for life‘
The heaters are assembled in two stages. Stage
Not all parts of the heaters are home made. All
KWB has two production lines: one for pellet heaters and one for chip
1 results in a module, stage 2 is the finishing
parts are available in storage two weeks before
heaters.
touch.
assembly of the demanded heating system.
within KWB, producer of biomass heating systems. Today the company employs over 200 people, 26 of them are involved in research and development forming the biggest private research centre on biomass.
heaters are only 20 percent higher in price. However, our boiler systems offer maximum energy with minimum emission.’’ Lowest emission is one of the major goals of KWB. Not only is the efficiency of the heating system itself of importance to the company. They also focus on environmentally friendly production when producing the heaters. “For example, we use green electricity in our facilities.”
Automatic The Austrian company specializes in fully automatic biomass heating systems that use either wood pellets, wood chips or fire wood. “Our heaters range from 10 to 300 kW. This means the system meets the heating demands of lowenergy houses, single and multi-family buildings as well as regional heating such as housing developments and public buildings,” explains Andreas Giselbrecht, responsible for marketing. The heaters are in general 1.5 times more expensive than the conventional oil-heated boiler systems, says Giselbrecht. “However in most cases the purchase of a wood heated boiler is subsidized by the government. If so, our
Feedstock The KWB heating systems use either pellets, wood chips or fire wood. “The pellets are made from rest wood or saw dust and contain a little grain or corn for the oil content.” Wood chips contain less energy than pellets. For this reason this energy source is only interesting to use if readily available in a circle of around 50 km from the heating system. “Pellets have a higher energy density which allows transportation over longer distances.”
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Energy systems that use wood chips require more storage space. “Pellets contain about 3.5 times more energy than chips”, explains Wolfgang Torschitz. This also explains the difference in volume between the two feed stocks. Fresh wood is not yet used, says Giselbrecht. “But if farmers shift towards growing energy crops and fast growing wood types, this might well change.” According to KWB biomass will be the energy source of the future. “But we have to use it well”, warns Giselbrecht. “It’s important not to use more than what’s added by nature each year otherwise we create a new problem.” KWB is aware the energy problem won’t be solved by wood. “Other resources are needed as well. Research is needed to find the optimal burning process that will supply us with sufficient energy.”
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New Energy Plus December 2008
22•Bioethanolproducts:22 26-11-08 12:17 Pagina 22
Bio-ethanol coproducts for pig feed Development
[Carolien Makkink]
Co-products from bio-ethanol production, such as ddgs, can be used in animal feeds, for example, in pig feed. The composition of ddgs depends on the raw materials used and on the processing and drying techniques applied. Therefore, each bio-ethanol plant produces a different quality of ddgs. During the fermentation process of the bio-ethanol production carbohydrates in the raw material are converted into ethanol. All non-fermentable components, like crude protein, crude fat, and minerals stay behind in the wet distillers grains. After drying, these nutrients will be present at a three times higher concentration in the dried distillers grains with solubles (ddgs) than in the raw material. Ddgs from corn contains on average 28 percent crude protein, while wheat ddgs contains 38 percent. Not only beneficial nutrients, but also unwanted substances, like mycotoxins, are concentrated in the co-products. Mycotoxins Biomin Gmbh tested 293 ddgs samples from the United States and Asia for their mycotoxins content. A high percentage of the samples was contaminated with mycotoxins (Table 1). Gary Munkvold from Iowa State University developed a model to estimate the economic impact of one group of mycotoxins (fumonisins) in ddgs on the swine industry in the United States. He only considered the expected weight gain reduction due to the presence of fumonisins in the feed (20 percent inclusion of ddgs in the diet). With the current market penetration of ddgs (replacement of grain by ddgs), the model estimated the economic loss for the indus-
try at 4 to 37 million dollar annually. At 100 percent market penetration, these losses may increase to 29 to 293 million dollar per year. Total losses may be considerably higher, due to the presence of other mycotoxins, and due to other detrimental effects on pig production besides growth reduction. Inclusion At Biomin’s trial farm several feed trials were conducted to study the acceptance of ddgs and the performance of pigs. A recent trial with 88 fattening pigs revealed that inclusion of 10 percent ddgs (from wheat, rye and barley) in the diet did not impair feed intake. The ddgs pigs even had a higher feed intake than the control pigs, leading to a slightly higher daily weight gain. Feed conversion ratio
was similar for both groups. The Biomin researchers conclude that ddgs may be included in fattening pig diets, probably at a rate of 15 percent. With respect to the crude protein digestibility of ddgs, it should be considered that the cereal proteins are denaturized during the fermentation and drying processes. Protein digestibility may vary from 40 to 70 percent. Limiting factors for the use of ddgs in pig diets also include the essential amino acids that may not be supplemented synthetically. Ddgs is probably less suitable for inclusion in piglet diets, because of the immature digestive tract of these young animals. Care should be taken in feeding ddgs to breeding sows and gilts, because of the sometimes very high levels of zearalenone in (corn) ddgs (Table 1). A high DON content in ddgs may also pose problems for growing pigs. Fatty acids composition of ddgs is especially relevant for corn ddgs because of the high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids; these may affect meat quality. Also, polyunsaturated fatty acids reduce the shelf life of ddgs, due to the risk of oxidation.
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Table 1. Occurrence of mycotoxins in ddgs samples from the United States* and Asia
AFB1 number of samples tested number of positive samples % positive samples average level (ppb) maximum level found (ppb)
ZEA
DON
FUM
T-2
293
293
293
293
293
57 20 1
244 83 163
205 70 1239
264 90 1053
28 10 8
89
8107
13920
9042
226
*Source: Griessler and Hofstetter, World Mycotoxin Forum, 2008
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New Energy December 2008
23•adv:23 26-11-08 12:21 Pagina 23
bio-ethanol / feedstuffs P.O. Box 6 4600 AA Bergen op Zoom The Netherlands Phone: +31 (0)164 – 213400 Fax: +31 (0)164 – 213401 Internet: www.nedalco.com Dutch sales point: Mr A.P.A. van der Weide Phone: +31 (0)6 – 53435045 E-mail: a.vdweide@nedalco.nl
YOU R URGE NT A NA LY TIC A L Q UE S T I O N DESERVE S A PROMPT SOLUTION Bankwerkerstraat 16 3077 MB Rotterdam P.O. Box 91244
Swi ft se r vi ce wi th attrac tiv e rates Mycotoxi ns Pes ti c i d es Heav y M eta l s
3007 ME Rotterdam The Netherlands
phone +31 (0)10 282 32 92 fax
+31 (0)10 282 32 73
GMO
e-mail info@tlr.nl
Mic r o B i ol og y
www.tlr.nl
Now a l s o a v a i l a b l e: B io fu e ls an d B io m as s More information about these and/or other analyses? Please contact us by phone, fax, e-mail or go to www.tlr.nl
24-25•Bioenergy event:24-25 26-11-08 12:27 Pagina 24
‘Effort needed to s Development
[Jacqueline Wijbenga]
Energy from biomass can make an important contribution to the energy supply in Europe. Developments in some countries such as Germany have put them at a head start. But European countries are divided in their efforts, whereas cooperation is needed to reach the bioenergy targets. ”Energy is the heart of our society, but due to the financial crisis the heart shows some disturbance in the rhythm. However, the interest in bioenergy will come back if the mist of the financial crisis has cleared.” With these words Carl Albrecht Bartmer, president of the German farmers association DLG, opened the BioEnergy Event held during BioEnergy Europe in Hanover, the large-
Klaus Robert Kabelitz of E.ON Ruhrgas expects the car industry to shift to biogas as a fuel source.
st bioenergy exhibition in Europe. Bartmer continues: “We can’t rely on fossil energy alone to provide the world with sufficient energy. Our scientific blood circulation will be hampered if new energy sources are not found and explored. I’m convinced bioenergy will play an important role in our future energy supply.” The DLG-president is realistic enough to acknowledge energy
from biomass is not the only alternative. “But it is definitely part of the mix of possibilities.” Lead According to Bartmer, Germany is leading when it comes to knowledge development in the field of bioenergy, for technological development as well as export and production. “This is confirmed by the presence of over 400 businesses on the exhibition grounds here in Hanover.” Klaus Robert Kabelitz of E.ON Ruhrgas points out that Germany reached its top position due to lack of interest in most other countries. “But as soon as some of them, for example the United States, put their mind to it, we in Europe have to make a
24-25•Bioenergy event:24-25 26-11-08 12:27 Pagina 25
o stay ahead’ Bioenergy Event 2008, Hanover
The financial crisis has had a major impact on the development of bioenergy in Europe. “We see that it has influenced decisions in the European parliament, for example the debate on carbon dioxide trade”, says Klaus Robert Kabelitz of E.ON Ruhrgas. Despite this, Kabelitz is still convinced bioenergy is the way forward. “Biogas doesn’t have high turnover but the output is stable over length of time. It’s the kind of security banks want.” Bioenergy has a major advantage over fossil energy, according to Kabelitz. “Everything involved, investment, development, labour and energy remains in the home country.” Bernard Saint André doesn’t completely agree. “To supply Europe with enough alternative energy the continent has to be flexible. This might well include import of feedstock over long distances.”
Bernard Saint André of Dalkia is of the opinion each application requires its own specific energy source.
huge effort to stay in that top,” warns Kabelitz. Bernard Saint André of Delka agrees. “The United States so far didn’t put a lot of effort into bioenergy, but they don’t sit still. At present Europe is too divided on the subject of bioenergy to enhance the developments in that field.” Biogas E.ON Ruhrgas has for example invested in the development of a hydrogen gas installation. “The biggest in Europe with a capacity of 1000 cubic meter per hour. And we’re currently building a new one with a production of 1700 cubic meter.” This illustrates, according to Kabelitz, that developments can go a lot quicker than earlier predicted. “We thought to produce 10 milliard cubic meters of biogas by the year 2030, about 10 percent of the total gas demand. But if developments continue at the present pace we will reach that goal a lot sooner.” This will contribute to the environment. “A gas heater burning 30 percent biogas is ecologically better than a wood burner.” Furthermore, Europe Is covered with a fine maze of gas pipelines to almost
every house. “The infrastructure is already there, whereas using biomass such as vegetable oils or wood requires extra road transportation which has a negative effect on the carbon footprint of these technologies.” Not only can the urban energy supply be partly met by biogas, states Kabelitz. “The car industry also has to make an effort towards reducing the output of carbon dioxide by the year 2015. We know they also look at biogas as a fuel source for their cars.” Kabelitz expects the development to go towards dual fuel engines. “On the other hand, those cars that have a gas installation don’t need adjustments. They can switch from fossil gas to biogas without problems.” Specific Bernard Saint André of Dalkia, part of energy company Veolia Environment, believes each application requires its own specific energy source. “In France there has not been a lot of interest in alternative energy sources as nuclear energy is plentiful.” According to Saint André Europe should make a bigger effort to join forces when it comes to development of alternative energy sour-
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Home grown or foreign
25
ces. “This requires energy management, conservation of the available resources and introduction of bioenergy.” Saint André is convinced biomass has great potential towards future energy supply. “Short rotation crops, grasses and wood offer bigger potential in energy that any other energy source, wind, sun or hydro. We have to make sure the crops don’t compete with food supplies and the natural environment.” C o n t ro v e r s e Bartmer is aware of controversy that arose last year due to the high feedstock prices. The debate food, feed, fuel flared up. “We should not walk away from it, but I’m convinced that using the right approach, the cascade of utilization, all aspects, food, feed and fuel, can benefit from the development. Strong partnerships are needed and more important to ensure the development of alternative energy sources in a sustainable future,” says Bartmer. Jochen Hauff, manager at A.T. Kearney, agrees with the DLG president. “There are hurdles in the development of bioenergy. This requires specific solutions offered by strong co-operation between different partners.” Kabelitz states: “Bioenergy is the way forward. Food and fuel can go together with the right approach.”
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New Energy Plus December 2008
26•agenda:26 28-11-08 09:29 Pagina 26
CALENDER
3
calender
CALENDER / NEW ENERGY NEWS
In the New Energy Plus Calender events and activities are listed. The focus is on those events and activities that are connected with production of bio-energy from renewable feedstock. A selection of events is listed in our quarterly magazine. Future events and activities for this calendar can be forwarded to: newenergy@eisma.nl.
2008
2009
December 3-4 International algae congress, Amsterdam (NL) www.algaecongress.com
January 21-22 International congress ‘The permanent oil crisis: challenges and opportunities’, Amsterdam (NL) www.europoint.eu
December 8-10 Bioenergy Australia 2008, Melbourne www.bioenergyaustralia.org
December 10-11 Waste to energy, Bremen (D) www.wte-expo.com
December 10-12 CANCELLED: Detaf, exhibition on sustainable energy, Venlo (NL) www.detaf.nl
December 12 Business meeting bioenergy 2008, The Dutch Bio-energy Association, Arnhem (NL) www.platformbioenergie.nl
December 15-16 Dutch course ‘Heat distribution’ www.energieconsulent.nl
February 11-12 Next generation biofuels, Munich (D) www.agra-net.com/nextgenbiofuels
Thenergo continues to grow Since June of this year Thenergo, developer and operator of decentralized, clean energy projects, has completed five new projects. This brings the number of operational sites to 27 in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands, representing a total of 72 MW electrical and 195 MW thermal capacity coming from 63 MWe and 184 MWth. Together with the sites under construction the company holds a portfolio generating approximately 100 MW electrical and more than 200 MW thermal capacity. Thenergo has experienced some delay in the production of Jatropha oil in Thailand. This does not compromise the projects planned for 2009, as the company has the opportunity to purchase alternative bio-oils at similar prices.
Bio-ethanol from waste whey
February 12-13 Biopower Generation, Brussels (B) www.greenpowerconferences.com/biofuelsmarkets/biopower.html
February 22-26 SIMA, The Paris International Agri-business Show: ‘Together we grow the world’, Paris (Fr) www.simaonline.com
M a rc h 1 0 - 1 2 Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo, Las Vegas (USA) www.pennwellregistration.com
September 27-30 World congress on oils & fats and 28th ISF congress, Sydney (AU) www.mvo.nl
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Intensive research has enabled the German company Inocre Umwelttechnik GmbH to develop a method of producing bio-ethanol from lactose concentrate (whey). It is based on their own fermentation biologics using specially developed yeasts and associated micro-organisms. The aim is to solve the problem faced by cheese dairies, which have to dispose of lactose concentrate at great expense, and also to increase the share of alternative fuels.
Weltec exports biogas plan For Vechta-based biogas plant manufacturer Weltec BioPower GmbH, the participation in the BioEnergy Europe exhibition within the scope of the Eurotier 2008 exhibition in Hanover proved was a great success. “With 150 concrete inquiries for compact plants in Europe, the bottom line was truly positive for us,“ says director Jens Albartus. This success represents a further step ahead in the company‘s profitable export business. Weltec BioPower operates in more than 25 countries. Weltec BioPower used the leading exhibition as a platform for signing a cooperation agreement with Altus AG, Karlsruhe, a globally active project development company in the field of renewable energies. Established in 2001, Weltec BioPower GmbH has become one of the leading providers of complete biogas plants.
New Energy Plus December 2008
omslag 3:omslag 3 26-11-08 12:05 Pagina oms 3
New Energy Plus The independent magazine for the bioenergy business
Jun e 200 8
NewEnergy magazine
With the limited supply of fossil energy there is a growing interest for renewable energy. The magazine New Energy Plus offers an independent platform of information on the development of different types of renewable energy using agricultural feedstock. The magazine mainly focuses on heat from biomass, biogas, bio-ethanol and biodiesel. The articles in New Energy Plus not only address the biofuel production but also policy making and new developments in Europe and abroad. New Energy Plus is a quarterly magazine spread throughout Europe. Subcribe now and stay informed on the latest developments in reNEWable ENERGY. Please contact Eisma Businessmedia (tel. +31 (0)58-2954870 or e-mail: verkoop@eisma.nl) and make sure you receive the next issue (November 2008).
for the bio energy bu siness
Booming biomas s business Algae as feed an d energy source Hydrogen from waste water
T +31 (0)58 295 48 70 | F +31 (0)58 295 48 71 Web: www.eisma.nl | e-mail: verkoop@eisma.nl
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Plants Plants for for Pelleting Pelleting of of Renewable Renewable Raw Raw Materials Materials
Biomass Pellets
Wood Pellets
AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG Dieselstrasse 5-9 路 D-21465 Reinbek / Hamburg Phone: +49 (0)40 727 71 - 0 路 Fax: +49 (0)40 727 71 - 100 info@amandus-kahl-group.de 路 www.akahl.de