Liters Of Biodiesel Research Articles

Potential to increase indigenous biodiesel production to help meet 2020 targets – An EU perspective with a focus on Ireland

Abstract The biofuels penetration rate target in Ireland for 2013 is 6% by volume. In 2012 the fuel blend reached 3%, with approximately 70 million litres of biodiesel and 56 million litres of ethanol blended with diesel and gasoline respectively. For January and February 2013, the blend rate had only reached 2.7%. The target of 10% by 2020 remains which equates to approximately 420 million litres. Achieving the biofuels target would require 345 ktoe by 2020 (14,400 TJ). Utilising the indigenous biofuels outlined in this paper leaves a shortfall of approximately 12,000 TJ or 350 million litres (achieving 17% of the 10% target) that must be either be imported or met by other renewables. 70% of indigenous production from one biodiesel plant is currently from TME and UCOME. If this remains for 2020 then only 30% remains equating to approximately 10 million litres indigenous production for a second biodiesel plant (30% of 21+13 million litres) which has planned capacity of 40 million litres (36,000 t). In terms of the EU biofuels sustainability criteria, up to 2017, a 35% GHG emissions reduction is required compared to fossil fuels. From 2017 onwards, a 50% GHG reduction is required for existing installations and a 60% reduction for new installations.

Biomass Wastes: An Energy Option for Baja California, México

Cotton and wheat crops are essential part of the Baja California agricultural production. Such crops generate waste biomass after each harvest cycle, which is almost fully openly burned in order to clear land for the next cycle. Thus in the agricultural 2011 cycle, 542,000 tonnes of straw were generated from wheat in the Mexicali Valley. In addition, the residue from the cotton consisting of stalks exceeded 143,000 tonnes. All these residues are a source of energy that is discarded annually equivalent to 10.19 PJ. Therefore, in addition to determining the biomass potential available in the state from such wastes, the aim of this paper is to propose options for the use of the energy contained in the waste biomass considering the characteristics of raw material available and existing technologies. The results show that there is the potential to generate electricity with a system of 105 MW of installed capacity, and also obtain annually 6.4 million liters of biodiesel. Obtaining this biofuel is by a transesterification reaction of waste vegetable oils, considering an average efficiency of 80% conversion, based on experimental results obtained with mixtures from Mexicali.

Analyzing the effect of biofuel expansion on land use in major producing countries: evidence of increased multiple cropping

AbstractEstimates on impacts of biofuel production often use models with limited ability to incorporate changes in land use, notably cropping intensity. This review studies biofuel expansion between 2000 and 2010 in Brazil, the USA, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Mozambique, South Africa plus 27 EU member states. In 2010, these countries produced 86 billion litres of ethanol and 15 billion litres of biodiesel. Land use increased by 25 Mha, of which 11 Mha is associated with co‐products, i.e. by‐products of biofuel production processes used as animal feed. In the decade up to 2010, agricultural land decreased by 9 Mha overall. It expanded by 22 Mha in Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Mozambique, some 31 Mha was lost in the USA, the EU, and South Africa due to urbanization, expansion of infrastructure, conversion into nature, and land abandonment. Increases in cropping intensity accounted for 42 Mha of additional harvested area. Together with increased co‐product availability for animal feed, this was sufficient to increase the net harvested area (NHA, crop area harvested for food, feed, and fiber markets) in the study countries by 19 Mha. Thus, despite substantial expansion of biofuel production, more land has become available for non‐fuel applications. Biofuel crop areas and NHA increased in most countries including the USA and Brazil. It is concluded that biofuel expansion in 2000–2010 is not associated with a decline in the NHA available for food crop production. The increases in multiple cropping have often been overlooked and should be considered more fully in calculations of (indirect) land‐use change (iLUC). © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Manufacturing Vegetable Oil Based Biodiesel: An Engineering Management Perspective

:The search for alternative fuels has increased over the past years. In an era of high government subsidies for alternative fuel production, engineering managers will be tasked with evaluating the economic benefits of these proposed alternatives. This research was an exploratory process that examined biodiesel manufacturing as a potential alternative for cottonseed oil mills that could furnish an outlet for their product if their current market shrinks. The analysis was performed as possible future investment by an existing company with a no debt scenario. The cost modeling indicates that under current market conditions, cottonseed oil is not a viable alternative to traditional fossil fuels. With the expected wholesale price of $0.91 per liter of bio-diesel and a production cost of $1.28 per liter, the current feasibility of the operation is questionable without the inclusion of governmental subsidies.

Kinetic study of thermal processing of glycerol by thermogravimetry

Over the past years, the production of biodiesel has significantly increased in Brazil due to its obligatory use in the composition of diesel for vehicle use. As a result, in the most ordinary processes, a hundred thousand tons of glycerol is produced as by-product per 1 billion liters of biodiesel. Glycerol has already been widely studied. Nonetheless, the quantity produced today demands new proposals for uses, such as a fuel. In this aim, the authors studied the kinetics of the thermal processing of glycerol. In this research, thermogravimetry (TG), derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were used to provide the experimental data. Kinetic parameters were calculated by Kissinger method for the global process observed during the heating of the samples from the room temperature up to 600 °C, both in open and in sealed crucibles (with a little hole). Kinetic data were also determined at different isoconversion conditions during heating, by applying Ozawa–Flynn–Wall and Blazejowski methods to TG data. Results show that glycerol heated from 30 to 600 °C, under normal pressure, does not experience simple volatilization. The activation energies calculated at different conversion degrees by these methods show that only volatilization occurs when the mass loss of glycerol is lower than 40% and that for higher conversion degrees, partial thermal decomposition and/or dissociation of glycerol are occurring as well. These facts are also confirmed by the volatilization enthalpies estimated using another method developed by Blazejowski based on Van’t Hoff equation.

The seeds of green energy: Expanding the contribution of plant oils as biofuels

Plant oils represent one of the most energyrich sources of renewable fuels available in Nature. Most of these oils occur in the form of triacylglycerols (TAGs) that can be transformed into biodiesel by conversion of their acyl chains into fatty acid methyl esters. In 2009, 14 billion litres of biodiesel were produced worldwide from plant oils (largely in the EU). This compares with 70 billion litres of ethanol (largely from Brazil and the USA). Both of these fuels now depend on land and crops (e.g. oil seeds, palm trees, maize and sugar cane) that are also used for foods. To meet growing demand and avoid competition with food, major expansion of biofuel production and development of new sources of biofuel are required. In this article, we outline how plants synthesize oils and describe some ways in which supplies of oils from plants could be increased to provide a larger contribution to renewable energy supplies.

Brazilian Family Farming Agriculture in the Biodiesel Production: A Portrait of Regional Possibilities

Brazil is a country deeply labeled by economic and social contradictions when the distinct regions are placed in comparison. The living conditions of peasant vary greatly according to region where he lives. After the promulgation of the constitution of 1988 policies aimed to remedy these regional imbalances, mainly re- lated to rural people have been settled. In this sense, one of the governmental initiatives to lower this problem was the encouraging incentive program to cultivate castor beans and other crops by family farmers to produce biodiesel to share 50% of the mixture with mineral diesel in the proportion defined by law. The blend was initially 2% starting in 2006 and 5% until 2012. The Brazilian consumption of diesel oil in the 2006 was approximately 40 billions of liters in the transportation, agriculture and others sectors, so that a market of 800 millions of liters of biodiesel was suddenly created at attractive prices with total exemption from federal taxes. This paper analyzes what actually such market means in economic terms to various regions of Brazil. Two regions – North and Midwest still display a high degree of poverty for small farmers. The national biodiesel program may represent an interesting economical alternative for them.

Integrated environmental assessment of biodiesel production from soybean in Brazil

This paper presents the results of an environmental impact assessment of biodiesel production from soybean in Brazil. In order to achieve this objective, environmental impact indicators provided by Emergy Accounting (EA), Embodied Energy Analysis (EEA) and Material Flow Accounting (MFA) were used. The results showed that for one liter of biodiesel 8.8 kg of topsoil are lost in erosion, besides the cost of 0.2 kg of fertilizers, about 5.2 m 2 of crop area, 7.33 kg of abiotic materials, 9.0 tons of water and 0.66 kg of air and about 0.86 kg of CO 2 were released. About 0.27 kg of crude oil equivalent is required as inputs to produce one liter of biodiesel, which means an energy return of 2.48 J of biodiesel per Joule of fossil fuel invested. The transformity of biodiesel (3.90E + 05 seJ J −1) is higher than those calculated for fossil fuels as other biofuels, indicating a higher demand for direct and indirect environmental support. Similarly, the biodiesel emergy yield ratio (1.62) indicates that a very low net emergy is delivered to consumers, compared to alternatives. Obtained results show that when crop production and industrial conversion to fuel are supported by fossil fuels in the form of chemicals, goods, and process energy, the fraction of fuel that can actually be considered renewable is very low (around 31%).

Thermal stability and water content determination of glycerol by thermogravimetry

During the last years, the demand for biofuels has increased significantly. In Brazil, a production of 1 billion liters of biodiesel was produced by the end of 2007, due to its obligatory use in the composition of the diesel for vehicle use. In this production, a hundred thou- sand tons of glycerol are produced as by-product, for which alternative uses are needed. As glycerol has already been studied by other conventional characterization methods in the past, thermal analysis has been used mostly for char- acterization of sub ambient temperature properties of glycerol. In this paper, thermogravimetry (TG), derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were used for its thermal characterization above room temperature. Thermal stability was determined from experimental data, which show that even in air, only a very small part of the volatilized glycerol is burned out. A thermogravimetric quantitative method was developed to determinate the water content of glycerol-water mixtures, which also was used to quantify the water impurity in pro- analysis samples of glycerol, showing compatible results with those obtained by Karl Fischer method.

EDITORIAL

The search for energy sources that alleviate the dependency on fossil fuels is one the greatest challenges of humankind. The environmental damages that result of many decades of gas emissions from burning oil, natural gas, and mineral coal are evident, revealed by the high levels of atmospheric CO2 and by the ocean acidification, for instance. Two fundamental routes will help to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels: the development of machines and engines with more efficient consumption of fuel and the production of renewable sources of energy, such as biofuels.Brazil is probably the country with the highest potential to produce biofuels. The Brazilian success in the production of ethanol since the 1970’s is a world landmark. The recent growth of biodiesel production in Brazil from different sources (e.g., soybeans, bovine fat) is encouraging. New matrixes to produce biodiesel have been tested all over the world. Microalgae represent a world hope to generate advanced biofuels, allying a (potential) huge scale and very high productivity.In theory, microalgae can triplicate their biomass in 24 hours, depending on the species. This high growth rate combined to high accumulation of triglycerides allow the estimates that some microalgae could generate dozens of thousands of liters of biodiesel / ha per year. Microalgae do not follow seasonal crop harvest regimes (they can be harvested on daily basis), they make biofixation of CO2, occupy small physical areas, and can be cultivated in salty or brackish waters, avoiding the competition with scarce water resources for human consumption of irrigation. Fertile lands are unnecessary, since the cultivation includes ponds or photobioreactors, which are independent of the soil characteristics. There is no conflict with land use for agriculture, deforestation of pristine biomes is avoided, and there is the possibility to generate valuable co-products in parallel to biofuel production.Despite these stimulating arguments, no company produces biofuel from microalgae at commercial scale. Several hurdles still have to be overcome, such as the cost and the efficiency of the separation of the cells from the liquid medium, the accumulation of more triglycerides by the microalgae, the reduction of costs of the systems for mixing the cultivation and dissolution of CO2, and the scarce availability of water in key regions, among others. All technical problems put together and the high intensity of manpower result in high costs of production of biofuels from microalgae. Probably it is not possible yet to produce 1 liter of microalgae biodiesel for less than US$ 9.00, a value that makes the incorporation of microalgae to the world matrix of biofuel to be economically impossible, using the current technology.Due to the Brazilian tradition on biofuels, there is a tremendous international expectation on the participation of Brazil in the production of biofuels from microalgae. Several Brazilian groups have been working on the challenge of creating solutions to make feasible the cultivation of microalgae to generate biofuels. In the previous issue of Engenharia Térmica, two good examples of the Brazilian effort to develop microalgae production can be evaluated by the readers. Ribeiro et al. offered a mathematical analysis of the growth of Phaeodactylum tricornutum, a fast-growing marine microalga, in a closed system for cultivation - a photobioreactor. Torrens et al. evaluated the properties of different kinds of biodiesel generated from microalgae and their theoretical gas emissions in engines, based on the characteristics of their fatty acid composition. These initiatives are important and very welcome. Hopefully, these promising results will stimulate the development of the field in the country, attract more researchers to the subject, and inspire the cooperation amongmultidisciplinary Brazilian teams.

An argument for using biomethane generated from grass as a biofuel in Ireland

The Biofuels Directive proposes 5.75% of transport fuel (by energy) to be replaced by biofuel in the year 2010. This equates to 11.3 PJ in Ireland, which equates to 538 million litres of ethanol or 323 million litres of biodiesel. However, if using biodiesel produced through bioesterification of rapeseed oil, then 6.3% of Irish agricultural land is required to produce 5.75% of transport fuel. Furthermore this equates to 70% of arable land. Using ethanol produced from wheat, 3.9% of Irish agricultural land is required to produce 5.75% of transport fuel. Ethanol produces less energy from a crop, than the energy in the biogas generated when the crop is digested. The ethanol production process uses up to 60% of the produced energy in the final ethanol product. It is shown for compressed biomethane generated from silage that the total parasitic demand of the process is of the order of 25%. Grass/silage is a crop that Irish farmers are familiar with, over 90% of Irish agricultural land is under grass. Grass does not require rotation, it does not require annual ploughing (releasing NOx), and it sequesters carbon into the soil. Digesting silage, scrubbing the biogas to biomethane, and compressing and utilizing it as a transport fuel, is suggested to be the optimum biofuel for Ireland. The 2010 biofuels target can be met with 1.6% of agricultural land; this is four times less land than required using rapeseed. A conservative economic analysis would suggest a lower cost than ethanol produced from wheat.

Pyrolysis of glycerol for the production of hydrogen or syn gas

Biodiesel has high potential as alternative liquid transportation fuel because it is renewable and CO 2 neutral, and has similar properties as diesel fuel. Glycerol is a by-product obtained during the production of biodiesel. Canadian government has planned to produce 500 million litres of biodiesel by 2010. An increase in biodiesel production would decrease the market price of glycerol. The objective of this study is to pyrolyse glycerol for the production of clean fuels such as H 2 or a feedstock such as syn gas for additional transportation fuel via Fisher-Tropsch synthesis. The pyrolysis of glycerol was carried out at various flow rates of N 2 (30–70 mL/min), temperatures (650–800 °C) and types and sizes of packing material in a tubular reactor at atmospheric pressure. The products were mostly gas, essentially consisting of CO, H 2, CO 2, CH 4 and C 2H 4. It was observed that temperature, carrier flow rates and particle diameter of packing material had profound effects on the conversion of glycerol as well as product distribution. Composition of product gas ranged between syn gas 70–93 mol%, CH 4 3–15 mol% and C 2H 4 2–12 mol% and heating value ranged from 13 to 22 MJ/m 3. This study indicates that the bio-glycerol has potential in making syn gas and medium heating value gases.

98/03664 Pilot production of biodiesel on the Nez Perce Tribe reservation

Native Americans always honor and respect the characteristics of Mother Earth. They always seek and utilize natural resources that are renewable and environmentally friendly. For thousands of years, they survive mostly on subsistence and sustainability of the natural resources around them. When the opportunity exists to incorporate their values with technology for a better future, they always attempt to practice their beliefs and tradition. Hence, the Nez Perce Tribe availed a simple technology that is within their reach and capability. The pilot project located at Lapwai, Idaho, relates to a renewable fuel from vegetable oil or animal fat and alcohol. The fuel, termed as biodiesel, is produced through a modified transesterification process. Biodiesel is comparable to diesel fuel with respect to chemical and physical attributes, and combustion characteristics. Biodiesel is also, biodegradable, cleaner burning and safer, and has environmentally friendly attributes. The unit produces up to 1,150 liters of biodiesel per batch, with initial batches of methanol and used cooking oil as raw materials. For demonstration purposes, both biodiesel and diesel are used in diesel powered vehicles and small engines. The raw materials and biodiesel are analyzed, and the vehicles/engines are tested for emissions and performance.