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Behemoth
Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds
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 Posted: Tue Apr 05, 05 12:21 pm Post subject: Green biodiesel production starts |
 
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From the BBC News Scotland Website
Green biodiesel production starts
The first lorry-load of biodiesel has left the Argent plant
Commercial production of green fuel at the UK's first large scale biodiesel plant has now started.
The first tanker-load of useable fuel, made from used cooking oil and animal fats, has been picked up from the Argent Energy plant at Motherwell.
It is expected that the green fuel will shortly be available at forecourts.
The news has been welcomed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling, and Enterprise Minister Jim Wallace.
The load is part of a contract between Argent Energy and Petroplus which could see up to 25,000 tonnes of biodiesel a year making its way to refineries in Grangemouth and in Teesside.
Once there, it will be blended with mineral diesel and marketed under the Bio-plus brand on filling station forecourts.
Expansion plans
Biodiesel requires no changes to the logistics of the fuel supply chain or to vehicle engines.
Hamish Curran, chief operating officer at Argent Energy, said it was a landmark day.
"Producing biodiesel from these raw materials at this scale has never been done before," he said.
"We've worked very hard to get this project off the drawing board and turn it into commercial reality."
Biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide - the main gas responsible for global warming
Dr Stephen Thomason
Petroplus
Mr Curran added: "We are now focussed on getting the plant up to full production capacity and expect this to happen within the next few weeks.
"We are also developing plans for expansion and looking at the possibility of setting up at least two more plants in other parts of the UK."
Dr Stephen Thomason, of Petroplus, said test results on the product showed that it was good for engines and for the environment.
He said: "It improves engine lubrication, improves fuel efficiency, it burns more completely thereby reducing emissions and it's virtually sulphur free.
"Above all biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide - the main gas responsible for global warming."
An additional environmental benefit is that the use of used cooking oil and animal fats in producing biodiesel creates a demand for previously unwanted products, reducing the amount which has to be treated as waste and ultimately reducing pollution.
Biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide emissions
Welcoming the news that production of the green fuel in the UK has started, a Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister has frequently stressed his personal commitment to combating global warming and has made climate change one of his two priorities for the UK's presidency of the G8.
"Biofuels and biocrops have a potentially important role to play, and the prime minister is very glad to see production and marketing of these environmentally-friendly fuels taking place."
Transport Secretary Alastair Darling added: "This is an excellent example of a positive initiative which will bring real benefits to the environment and to the local economy.
"The government is keen to support the development of renewable, low carbon transport fuels and all the more so where these are produced in the UK, bringing benefits to the UK economy."
Mr Wallace said: "I visited Argent's plant at Motherwell last year and am delighted that this ambitious project is now under way.
"Scotland has the potential to become a world leader in the green economy of the future and to create jobs across a range of sectors, including recycling, renewable energy and the development and manufacture of cleaner technologies." |
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45420
Location: Essex
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thos
Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 1139
Location: Jauche, Duchy of Brabant (Bourgogne-ci) and Charolles, Duchy of Burgundy (Bourgogne-ça)
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dougal
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent
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| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 05 1:50 pm Post subject: Re: Green biodiesel production starts |
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| thos wrote: |
| Behemoth wrote: |
Biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide - the main gas responsible for global warming
Dr Stephen Thomason
Petroplus |
I hope the other claims are a bit more accurate. |
IMHO thats as accurate as one is likely to get, in that many words, in a press release aimed at the 'person-at-the-pump'.
Biodiesel can justifiably be considered to be fossil-carbon-neutral. Substituting Bio for fossil fuel obviously does not simply "reduce carbon dioxide", it recycles it rather than adding extra fossil carbon to the problem.
In a Biofuel economy, there is CO2 being captured into the crops, a proportion of which is burnt to CO2, and returned to the atmosphere when the fuel is used. There is then a cycle as more atmospheric CO2 is captured, recycled into the next generation crop.
Use of Biofuels is good news, overdue in the UK, as the most effective and convenient way of storing renewable (ie ultimately solar-derived) energy.
I suspect that this may be the largest biofuel plant using waste oil as feedstock. IIRC, there's large scale production in europe from fresh oil-bearing crops... |
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tahir
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45420
Location: Essex
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| Posted: Sun Jun 19, 05 1:26 pm Post subject: |
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Just found this:
GREEN DIESEL: NEW PROCESS MAKES LIQUID TRANSPORTATION FUEL FROM PLANTS
MADISON - University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering researchers have discovered a new way to make a diesel-like liquid fuel from carbohydrates commonly found in plants.
Reporting in the June 3 issue of the Journal Science, Steenbock Professor James Dumesic and colleagues detail a four-phase catalytic reactor in which corn and other biomass-derived carbohydrates can be converted to sulfur-free liquid alkanes resulting in an ideal additive for diesel transportation fuel. Co-researchers include chemical and biological engineering graduate students George Huber, Juben Chheda and Chris Barrett.
"It's a very efficient process," says Huber. "The fuel produced contains 90 percent of the energy found in the carbohydrate and hydrogen feed. If you look at a carbohydrate source such as corn, our new process has the potential to create twice the energy as is created in using corn to make ethanol."
About 67 percent of the energy required to make ethanol is consumed in fermenting and distilling corn. As a result, ethanol production creates 1.1 units of energy for every unit of energy consumed. In the UW-Madison process, the desired alkanes spontaneously separate from water. No additional heating or distillation is required. The result is the creation of 2.2 units of energy for every unit of energy consumed in energy production.
"The fuel we're making stores a considerable amount of hydrogen," says Dumesic. "Each molecule of hydrogen is used to convert each carbon atom in the carbohydrate reactant to an alkane. It's a very high yield. We don't lose a lot of carbon. The carbon acts as an effective energy carrier for transportation vehicles. It's not unlike the way our own bodies use carbohydrates to store energy."
About 75 percent of the dry weight of herbaceous and woody biomass is comprised of carbohydrates. Because the UW-Madison process works with a range of carbohydrates, a wide range of plants, and more parts of the plant, can be consumed to make fuel.
"The current delivered cost of biomass is comparable or even cheaper than petroleum-based feedstock on an energy basis," Huber says. "This is one step in figuring out how to efficiently use our biomass resources."
https://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/11260.html |
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BB
Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Kernow (West)
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santa
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 15
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hils
Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 568
Location: Nottingham
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BB
Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Kernow (West)
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Will
Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 571
Location: Grenoside, Sheffield
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| Posted: Mon Jul 04, 05 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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...plus ca reste la meme chose, surtout en Afrique...mais...
turning used cooking oil into fuel reduces the amount of mineral diesel consumed. It reduces the amount of landfill coming from the catering industry. Burning biodiesel also produces lower levels of sulphates and particulates than mineral diesel, and it's about as poisonous as mayonnaise until mixed with mineral diesel.
Clearly biodiesel isn't the answer to the fossil fuel/transport conundrum - that is a tangled mess of multiple alternative fuels, incentives to reduce the number of miles travelled, more walking, cycling and public transport, etc, etc, but it can contribute to an improvement. Plus it could embed the idea of recycling and reusing more firmly in consumers' minds.
I just hope this one takes off - Sheffield had a firm called Boolers Bio-diesel who looked to be going well and had signed supply deals with local taxi firms but folded due to "management issues" just after I found out about them.  They were selling 100% biodiesel at around 65p a litre. The main reason for blending with mineral diesel is to ensure compliance with the relevant BS - Broadland Fuels will supply mail order 100% at your own risk, but it's quite expensive and you'd need somewhere to store it.
Re compatibility, the main issue is the premature rotting effect that bio-diesel has on natural rubber components. Almost all rubber vehicle components since the mid-90s have been made from synthetic rubber. In a 5%/95% blend with mineral diesel compatibility shouldn't be a problem for any (diesel!) engine. |
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