View Issue Contents

The need for change

Feature

Since the start of the year there has been a structural shift in the dynamics of the global ethanol market. Brazil has temporarily withdrawn from the export market, while the US, which as recently as 2006 was the largest importer of ethanol, is now an exporter and supplying many of the markets traditionally supplied by Brazil. While the new Czarnikow Sugar Brazil crop is expected to reach record... [read more]

US Biotech independence day

Feature

At the BioTechnology Industry Association’s (BIO) annual conference the wizards and warriors of the big pharmaceutical, petrochemical, defence and agricultural industries converged to bring a new alchemy to the biotechnology space: the new, improved, and profitable biorefinery model. Political pharma – chameleons This gathering of the political colors: red (republican), blue (democratic) and... [read more]

Biomass challenges and potential in the US

Feature

The tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico highlights the US’ urgent need for alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. The biomass industry started as an idea in California in the late 1970s: how can we put forest brush and industry waste to good use, and while we’re at it, reduce forest fires and landfill waste? Since then, biomass in the US has grown into a $1 billion (€0.8 billion) industry that... [read more]

Taking recycling to the next level

Feature

When Green Circle Bio Energy’s pellet plant was built back in 2008 it was known as the world’s largest. Producing 560,000 tonnes a year the plant’s output is twice as much as the second largest currently active plant in the world. But it won’t be holding this title much longer. However size is not everything and the Green Circle Bio Energy plant excels in other areas, most notably its... [read more]

Pellets: in or out?

Feature

Burning coal for the production of electricity constitutes around 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 91% of which would be eliminated if coal were fully replaced by wood pellets. According to ‘Wood Pellets – The Bioenergy Feedstock Solution? Global market, players and trade to 2015’ published by Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting, a Londonbased expert in bioenergy and biomass... [read more]

The best things come in small packages

Feature

Size reduction is often a first step in processing biomass and is by no means a new concept, but innovative technology can help cut costs and reduce the energy needed to run the machinery. The engineering process involved in reducing the size of materials has been with us since prehistoric times when early humans used stones to pulverise grains and nuts in order to remove the edible insides from... [read more]

What gets wetter as it dries?

Feature

Biomass may not be dried with a towel but the equipment used has the same effect. Water is heavy to transport, does not burn, hinders the burning of other components in the biomass and interferes with other processes, so the technology used to reduce moisture levels is bog business. Biomass drying can take place wherever the fuel is to be burned or processed, or close to the place of origin, the... [read more]

Solutions from the sea

Feature

Until recently Egypt has shown very little interest in biofuels. The country has traditionally had an abundance of oil and gas wells and concerns surrounding increased food prices have further constrained moves into renewable energy. But now for the fi rst time Egypt has become a net importer of petroleum and the country is starting to see the benefi ts of sustainable biofuel production. Jatropha... [read more]

One step forward, two steps back

Feature

Africa has abundant arable land and labour which, with sound policies, could be translated into increased biofuel production, incomes and food security. But it is these policies that have yet to materialise. So far only a few countries have made significant inroads into introducing biofuel policies, with South Africa leading the way in 2008. The country is adopting a five-year pilot scheme,... [read more]

Camelina biofuels takes off

Feature

Camelina, a member of the mustard family, produces an oil that shows so much promise as an aviation biofuel that 14 major airlines have an agreement with a Seattle-based company to buy up to 750 million gallons of the fuel. The fact that the underdeveloped oilseed crop, camelina, can be grown in dry regions, not best suited for food crop production, is putting it at an added advantage compared... [read more]

Fresh approach

Feature

New technology often enjoys a honeymoon period before deeper examination of the underlying issues reveals the considerable challenges still to be overcome. But whatever reservations there are about today’s biofuels, the fact that crude oil is a finite resource and demand for it is increasing cannot be ignored – an alternative has to be found. The crude oil refining industry took several decades... to develop from a time when fuels were produced by simple distillation through to today, when an impressive range of conversion and upgrading processes exists for making fuels that meet ever more exacting quality standards. There is an equally evolutionary process to be followed for biofuels, with the ultimate aim of producing materials on a commercial scale that are truly economically competitive and undeniably sustainable. The biofuels community, of course, has the advantage that it is not starting from scratch, unlike the first crude oil distillers all those years ago. Progress in the biofuels area is likely to be accelerated by placing emphasis on the development of fungible fuels – fuels that can be easily blended with standard petrol or diesel, transported through existing distribution networks and used in today’s engines: fuels that are, in fact, indistinguishable from today’s refinery products. In addition, to minimise investment requirements, refinery-like manufacturing routes are preferable, or at least processes that are compatible with existing refinery configurations. That is not to say that all the focus has to remain within the refinery gate. It will be important to optimise the entire biofuels supply chain from the point at where the raw materials are grown – whether in farms, woods, plantations, basins, or ultimately reactors, to the point at which the fuel is consumed. This could well involve elements of local processing to concentrate, densify, dry and suitably pretreat feedstocks for the biofuel conversion process. Setting up and optimising new supply chains will require the development of new relationships that bring together not just oil companies, process technology providers and catalysts suppliers (the triumvirate of today’s refining industry) but also the agricultural community, university and government research bodies, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. [read more]

The pipe dream turns into reality

Feature

Over recent months a few pipeline operators have moved from testing to regular shipment for biodiesel and bioethanol. Tulsa-based pipeline operator Magellan Midstream Partners has teamed up with Poet, the largest US bioethanol producer, in a bid to build a $4 billion (€3.2 billion) pipeline system that would connect ethanol plants in the Midwest corn-belt to major markets on the north east coast.... [read more]