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The public comment period on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s ) proposals for the expanded Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) closed on 25 September 2009, and comments came from as far as Brazil and the Caribbean islands. The primary concern is the EPA’s interpretation of an indirect land use proposal in the agency’s cradle-to-grave lifecycle analysis approach in counting greenhouse... gas emissions. At the moment this also includes consideration of increased emissions generated outside the US by the activity of domestic producers. Critics, and there are many, complain that the indirect land use provision, which was an 11th hour addition to the Energy Independent and Security Act (EISA) passed in December 2007, is flawed. One complaint is that the economic models used by the EPA for its lifecycle analysis fail in achieving science objectivity. The EPA’s proposal released earlier this year would disqualify soya-based biodiesel from counting towards the federal demand mandate outlined in EISA which would have significant consequences for the industry. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) submitted an 11-page response with its objections. [read more]

A large share of biofuels production capacity in southeast Asia is targeted at export markets. In weak domestic markets many producers are hoping for an upturn in demand in Europe as well as further opportunities to supply their products to markets in North America. Singapore Because of its size and small domestic market, development of the biofuel market in Singapore has followed the pattern of... the country’s petroleum industry with major international producers establishing biofuel blending facilities to supply the regional and global markets. In addition to Singapore’s position as an important oil refining centre, the island state is able to attract investment in biofuel production facilities as its neighbours include the world’s largest palm oil producers, Malaysia and Indonesia, and other countries that are sources of biofuel feedstock products. Singapore’s biofuel production capacity soon will receive a major boost when Neste Oil of Finland completes construction of what will be the world’s largest biodiesel plant. Neste Oil is investing $775 million (€520 million) to build a biodiesel plant which will have an annual capacity of 800,000 tonnes when it becomes operational next year. [read more]

Two French sugar manufacturers Champagne Cereales and Cristal Union opened an 80 million gallon a year ethanol facility, termed Cristanol, in Bazancourt-Pomacle, France in June 2007, dedicated to the production of ethanol and alcohol, from both sugar beet and wheat feedstock. Since the start-up 2.4 million hectolitres of ethanol have been produced from beetroot juice, which goes some way to... meeting France’s objective of tripling the production of renewable fuels from sugar beets and cereals by the end of 2010. To carry out this ambitious project and reach the target of producing 3 million hectolitres of bioethanol a year the producer needed to install new loading arms at a total investment cost of €270 million. Because the producer wanted full control of the project in terms of budget and design it decided against using an EPC contractor. This goes against industry trends but shortens the project time by allowing the company to push its process engineers, operational staff and purchasing department to actively participate in the architecture of the whole new plant as well as being able to choose the equipment the company uses. [read more]

The EU and the US are the two largest consumers of petroleum fuels, yet they remain paralysed by indecision on the proper definitions for sustainable biofuels regulations, land use criteria, mandates, and import/export regulations. On the subject of biofuels Brussels and Washington remain mired in red tape, regulations, and confounded by the perplexing uncertainties of defining sustainability... from several perspectives. It is important to remember why some nations started biofuels regulations in the first place: national security, and perhaps even more importantly – international security. The three largest emerging markets of the BRIC countries – China, India and Brazil continue to move forward on biofuels policies, mandates and programmes while Washington and Brussels sidestep, punt, and delay mandates for unclear sustainability rationale (and agricultural protectionist reasons). This has lead to a slowdown and suspension of US biofuels-mandated markets. [read more]

Vance Bioenergy is one of the first large-scale biodiesel producers in southeast Asia. The group is based in the Asian financial capital of Singapore and has its state-of-the-art production facilities located next to Johor Port – the largest liquid port in Malaysia – in the Pasir Gudang Industrial Estate of Johor. Vance has been producing biodiesel since 2006 and to date has been responsible for... more than one-third of all biodiesel shipped out of Malaysia. Vance has located its operations in an area where there is a confluence of factors that allow it to have ready access to high quality feedstock and achieve one of the lowest production and logistics costs available in the region. Pasir Gudang Industrial Estate has the largest concentration of oil palm refineries in the world with a refining capacity of 7 million tonnes a year. [read more]

Australia’s widelydispersed population accounts in part for the nation’s dependency on petroleum. Motorists frequently navigate the isolated roads which cross vast expanses of empty agricultural land between urban areas. Yet a recent report has shown that more and more Australian drivers are opting for ethanol-blended petrol, and with the considerable potential of the plentiful, unused... agricultural land as oilseed crop plantations, biofuels production facilities are a logical step. Historically, however, Australia has struggled with its biodiesel industry. Following the Gulf War of 1991 there was a brief fl urry of biodiesel activity, but it quickly waned. After a string of plant openings in 2006, the country was badly hit by fi nancial crisis just a year later, as the price of palm oil doubled within just 18 months. This made it virtually impossible for Australian biodiesel producers to make a profi t and a wave of plant closures swept the nation. Yet emerging from its troubled recent past, the market is once again demonstrating its resilience. Since the election of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2007 the industry has gone from strength to strength. Now is an exciting time for biofuels in Australia, as the recovering industry takes steps to catch up with the European Union’s impressive renewable energy portfolio. August saw the passing of an ambitious bill ruling that 20% of the country’s electricity production must come from renewable sources by 2010, enough to power the houses of all 21 million Australians, a marked increase from the current statistic of 8%. [read more]

It seems that for every potential biofuel feedstock, there is an argument to counter it. Palm oil and sugarcane farming poses the issue of clearing valuable rainforests, corn-based ethanol production sparks a food-versus-fuel debate and waste seems ideal yet its conversion technology is not yet fully established. Sorghum negates many of these concerns. As an annual crop, it fits into already... established production systems, and is harvested the year it is planted, unlike perennial grasses, allowing farmers greater flexibility. Sorghum also only takes about four months to reach maturity, which in warmer climates allows for two or even three harvests a year, in effect doubling its annual yield. Sugarcane, on the other hand, lasts up to 10 years once planted, and farmers can be unwilling to commit to their crops in this way. Sorghum is the world’s fifth largest grain crop, behind rice, corn, wheat and barley and is grown on more than 42 million hectares in 99 countries. It even takes pride of place on Botswana’s national coat of arms. The plant itself looks a lot like ear-less corn with its wide, reddish tinged bladeshaped leaves arching out in a whirl around its thick stalk. It can reach anything from 6 to 15 feet high, and hybrids are being created with the aim of larger plants with increased yields. [read more]

In the US and Brazil, the majority of ethanol and biodiesel production capacity is geographically removed from high fuel consuming population centres and export terminals. This stresses reliance on rail distribution in the US and on truck transport in Brazil, where rail delivery is less developed. The petroleum industry in the US is not as reliant on rail distribution for the bulk of its... distribution requirements. The infrastructure used to refine, transport and deliver motor fuels consists of refineries, pipelines, distribution terminals, and retail outlets. Refined products are transported primarily by pipeline and ocean going tankers to terminals near destination markets. These terminals further blend the fuel to meet regional fuel specifications. Tank trucks are then used to move fuel to retail outlets. The majority of these fuel terminals were not originally designed to support rail as a major mode of transport and only a relatively small number have the capability of receiving unit trains. The use of pipeline transport of ethanol and biodiesel would provide for increased access to both domestic and export markets. In the US the likelihood of exporting ethanol is very limited, but significant quantities of biodiesel have been exported in the past. Using pipelines for transport can be accomplished at approximately one-third the cost of rail and eliminates the long lead times associated with rail shipments. A shipment through 16” (40.64 cm) pipeline can take on daily continuous flows equivalent to that of over 225 railcars. [read more]

As utilities rack up their renewable credentials, an effi cient plan for collecting the agricultural material, transporting, processing, storing and burning it is essential. Green power plant operators are now scratching their heads and asking ‘how do you best harvest, handle and then house a forest?’ The forest on the forecourt An explosion of renewable energy projects has painted the world a... splash greener this year. In July consent was given to one of the world’s largest biomass plants from the UK Government. The £500 million (€587 million) Tees Renewable Energy Plant, which national biomass plant operator MGT Power is building, will have a capacity of 295MW, generating enough electricity for 600,000 homes in the north east of England. To fuel this big green machine 2.4 million tonnes of wood will be required every year. To add to this MGT Power has just announced another identical 295MW plant. The biggest issue with plants of this magnitude centre around the question of how to move wood to this facility. While many sites are located deep in the plentiful woodland and served by road or rail, the MGT Power facilities will be situated by water. [read more]

Back in 2002 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began investigating noncompliance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) within the ethanol industry. At the time the largest company in the US ethanol business Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) had 52 plants in 16 states, and the number two, Cargill, had 27 plants in 12 states. In 2003 the EPA announced it had reached a settlement... with ADM, estimating that the company would spend $340 million (€230 million) over a 10-year period to make its plants compliant. In addition, ADM had to pay a civil penalty of $4.6 million and spend $6.3 million on supplemental environmental projects. Two years later the EPA reached agreement with Cargill that required the company to install air pollution control devices at an estimated cost of $130 million and pay a civil penalty of $1.6 million and spend $3.5 million on environmental projects across the country. Arguably much of the investment costs would have been the same if they had been compliant with the regulations all along, but the penalties and supplemental costs could have been avoided. [read more]