Biodiesel
in the news
Honda
develops new way to make biofuel that could boost environmentally
friendly cars
Shell
opposes biofuel quotas
Giant,
BP React to Ethanol, Biodiesel Plan
Biodiesel
to drive up the price of cooking oil
Combating
the Glycerin Glut
News
in detail
Honda
develops new way to make biofuel that could boost environmentally
friendly cars By
Associated Press
PTOKYO (AP) -- Honda Motor Co. has developed a way to make
ethanol fuel from plant waste matter in a process that has
the potential to expand the use of biofuels that fight global
warming, the Japanese automaker said Thursday.
Existing bio-ethanol production faces supply limits because
it uses sugar and starch of sugarcane or from corn, both of
which are also utilized as food. By tapping far greater supplies
of inedible plant matter, such as stalks, leaves and rice
straw, the new fuel takes a step toward making biofuels more
practical, Tokyo-based Honda said in release.
The breakthrough comes as automakers look for alternatives
to petroleum-based fuels that will not release greenhouse
gases that fan global warming. Surging oil prices have also
spurred companies to develop new fuels that may be cheaper
and not as prone to supply disruptions.
''Expansion of biomass utilization holds enormous potential
as a major step forward toward the realization of an energy
sustainable society,'' Honda said.
Honda developed the technology with Honda R&D Co. and
the Kyoto-based Research Institute of Innovative Technology
for the Earth. The process uses a special microorganism to
better convert sugars in the plant matter to alcohol, and
another step that then boosts the efficiency of the conversion.
The partners plan to work next on a refinery that can produce
not only ethanol, but other industrial compounds from plant
matter.
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Shell
opposes biofuel quotas(20/09/06)
Oil giant Shell
is warning that government biofuel proposals would lead to
increases of at least 5 cents per litre on petrol and diesel
and result in New Zealanders paying an extra $300 million
per annum for their fuel.
The government
has put out a discussion paper which proposes introducing
compulsory biofuel sale quotas for oil companies.
These would start
at 0.25 per cent of sales in 2008, and rise to 2.25 per cent
by 2012.
But Shell says
that meeting the proposed minimum sales requirements would
require major infrastructure modifications, including changes
to fuel storage facilities and petrol stations throughout
New Zealand, and these would have to be carried out over a
short period of time.
Shell says the
cost of sourcing fuel would also increase as a result of the
need to import biofuels or rely on a small domestic manufacturing
base.
According to Shell,
the best way to encourage biofuel use in New Zealand is to
create incentives to support the development of next generation
low-carbon, low-cost biofuel manufacturing technologies.
It says this will
help to make biofuels competitive with conventional fuels
and support speedy acceptance by the consumer and businesses
alike.
Biofuels are renewable
fuels that have the potential to produce lower carbon dioxide
emissions than conventional fuels and are currently made primarily
from food crops and animal waste bi-products (tallow).
The two main types
of biofuel are bioethanol (blended with petrol) and biodiesel
(blended with diesel).
The government's
discussion paper on Biofuel is online at:
http://www.transport.govt.nz/biofuels-sales-obligation-discussion-document-2/
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Giant,
BP React to Ethanol, Biodiesel Plan(11/09/06)
By Lisa Meerts, The Daily Times - Link to Story
Vehicles in the U.S. will run on more vegetable-produced gasoline
under an Environmental Protection Agency proposal released
Thursday. But the strategy, designed to reduce emissions and
dependence on foreign oil, creates a crop of considerations.
The EPA
claims the Renewable Fuels Standards Program, which begins
next year following a public comment period that ends in November,
will cut petroleum use by about 3.9 billion gallons a year
in 2012 by blending motor vehicle fuels with ethanol and biodiesel.
To start, the EPA proposed that 3.71 percent of all gasoline
sold next year be renewable. EPA spokesman John Millett said
the country can easily produce that much renewable fuel.
Click here
for full story.
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Biodiesel
to drive up the price of cooking oil
If
you think the high price of gas has been irritating,
wait until you see the cost of french fries.
The popularity
of biodiesel--made from vegetable matter intead of fossil
fuels--"will tighten the supply of vegetable oils,"
William Camp, executive vice president of Archer Daniels Midland,
said during a presentation at the ThinkEquity Partners Growth
Conference in San Francisco.
Because agricultural prices typically fluctuate with supply
levels, the vegetable oil shortage could cause food prices
to rise.
Martin Tobias, CEO of Seattle-based biodiesel start-up Imperium
Renewables, agreed. Vegetable oil prices have declined in
the past three weeks because projected demand for biodiesel
has come down from the speculative levels achieved a few weeks
ago. Nonetheless, lowered levels of projected demand still
seem destined to make supply difficult.
"I do think there will be a crimp in vegetable oil supplies
in three to five years," said Tobias, who once worked
at Microsoft.
According to Camp, part of the problem is the amount of oil
required. It takes 7.5 pounds of oil to make one gallon of
biodiesel.
Next, add the expansion plans. Archer Daniels Midland has
already installed capacity to produce 300 million gallons
of biodiesel in Europe and 135 million gallons in the U.S.
It plans to open a plant to turn soybeans into biodiesel in
Missouri and one to turn canola oil into biodiesel in North
Dakota. Oils currently exported for food will get consumed
domestically as fuel, Camp predicted.
Imperium says it will be capable of producing 100 million
gallons per year by the second quarter of next year and is
in the midst of negotiating the purchase of large tracts of
land for refining biodiesel in North and South America.
Biodiesel's growing share right now, biodiesel doesn't total
so much as a rounding error in the overall diesel market,
Tobias said. About 62 billion gallons of diesel are consumed
annually in the U.S. and 85 billion gallons are consumed in
Europe. The total worldwide biodiesel production is 75 million
gallons.
Biodiesel, however, should grow to 2 billion gallons in the
U.S and 2.5 billion gallons in Europe by 2010, he said. Regulations
reducing greenhouse gases are driving demand in both markets.
At the tailpipe, biodiesel puts out 43 percent less carbon
monoxide and 55 percent fewer particulates.
•
Biodiesel, if made correctly, can also be less expensive than
standard diesel, Tobias said. Most biodiesel manufacturers
churn out the fuel for about $64 a barrel. A barrel of Imperium
is equivalent to a barrel of crude at $54.5. Next year, Imperium
will drop prices to $30 to $40 a barrel. The government currently
pays a 99 cents-per-gallon subsidy to biodiesel manufacturers.
"We've been cheaper than diesel for the year," he
said. "At $30 to $40 crude equivalent, we should be able
to compete with crude all day long." Imperium's prices
are lower because they can use a variety of feedstocks. The
company can make biodiesel out of palm, canola or soybean
oil. Palm is the cheapest to buy, but the refining is a bit
more complex.
Also, Imperium produces its biodiesel in a pressurized vat
rather than an open vat, as some providers do. And by locating
its plants near seaports, the company puts its biodiesel on
tankers and ships it more cheaply. Refiners in the Midwest
have to rely on trucks.
Biodiesel, Tobias further asserted, is a better alternative
than ethanol. The capital expenditure is about 50 cents per
gallon for biodiesel and $2 per gallon for ethanol. Biodiesel
is also compatible with existing diesel trucks and buses.
Gas-powered cars can handle only a small amount of ethanol
and only a few high-ethanol cars are on the market.
Next year, European car manufacturers will bring to the U.S.
more clean diesel cars, which produce fewer fumes than conventional
diesel-engine cars. Clean diesels can also run on biodiesel,
producing even fewer fumes.
"A clean diesel gets better mileage than a hybrid,"
he said
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Combating
the Glycerin Glut
By
Dave Nilles
The biodiesel industry continues to make an
impact on the liquid fuels industry—but its by-product
is having just as much of an effect. Producers and consumers
alike are struggling with business plans influenced by an
expanding flood of crude glycerin
Saying
the domestic crude glycerin market is reaching its saturation
point would place one in the running for understatement of
the year. The neutral substance, which is a by-product of
the burgeoning biodiesel industry, has been anything but neutral
to those directly affected by its price and availability.
As biodiesel
production soars, so does crude natural glycerin. With up
to 400 million additional gallons of biodiesel production
being built or on the drawing board, it’s clearly evident
glycerin is becoming a significant issue.
As with
most industries, the U.S. glycerin market is representative
of the world markets. Europe has been facing excess glycerin
production issues for years since its biodiesel production
began booming. “Biodiesel has taken off around the world,”
says the National Biodiesel Board’s (NBB) Steve Howell.
“Glycerin is very much a global market.”
In addition,
the growing oleochemical industry in Asia is producing glycerin
by the barge-load. Much of it had been exported to the United
States, but with rising freight costs, a majority of it is
now shipped to China.
European
companies are striving to stay ahead of the glycerin explosion.
In early 2006, international chemical company Solvay announced
plans to build a 10,000 metric-ton-per-year epicholorohydrin
plant in France. The plant will manufacture glycerin products
to make epoxy resins, paper-reinforcing agents and other products.
Other companies are proposing similar projects.
Meanwhile, the U.S. synthetic glycerin market has taken quite
a beating. Synthetic glycerin is petroleum-based, where natural
glycerin—such as that produced during biodiesel production—is
created from fats and oils. Dow Chemical was once the nation’s
only producer of synthetic glycerin. It closed its Freeport,
Texas, plant in January, citing—in part—the flood
of glycerin from biodiesel production. Dow Chemical still
operates a glycerin plant in Germany.
“There
is quite a synthetic market that’s been upset,”
says Jim Conway, vice president of sales for Kentucky biodiesel
producer Griffin Industries. “We are beginning to produce
more than the market can bear under the current scheme of
things.”
Annual
consumption of glycerin in the United States has ranged between
400 million and 450 million pounds for the past three years.
Domestic production figures show that approximately 400 million
pounds per year was produced heading into the turn of the
century.
The U.S.
biodiesel industry is expected to produce an estimated 1.4
billion pounds of glycerin valued at $289 million between
2006 and 2015, according to an economic study by John Urbanchuk,
director of LECG Inc. According to projections gleaned from
NBB estimates, the industry could produce as much as 200 million
pounds this year alone. Crude glycerin that once fetched between
20 and 25 cents per pound is now edging closer to 5 cents
and lower.
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