A Mobile Press for Camelina Extraction in Wyoming.

In Wyoming, researchers and landowners are planning to test if the concept of biofuel would work in their state. The reason I grabbed this article is because, guess what ?? they are gonna try growing Camelina- cabbage cousin. As I mentioned earlier, Camelina is a wonderful biofuel, crop which is known to reduce the carbon emissions drastically and its fertilizer requirements are very less too.

The Wyoming Business Council Agribusiness Division has received a grant for their research. They are actually planning to buy a press- equipment, which will be to crush the Camelina to extract oil from it. The grant which they have received, will help a great deal to take it all around their state to show the producers the way it works. It is called a mobile press .It is believed to extract about 40-45% oil. Earlier, the problem they faced was the the processing of Camelina near the place where it was grown. They hope that this mobile press will solve this problem..They feel that it can be rolled out and set up for demonstration and small-scale research. In March, the Camelina company in Montana was after a press, I don’t know if this mobile press would be of any help to them.

The focus of this research has been the biofuel. However, there are some questions which arise at this point? Generally speaking, when a seed is pressed only one-third of it is fat and the rest is its meal . What will be done with the leftover Camelina stuff (meal) after the oil extraction ?

Efforts are underway to check if this will be economically feasible. Researchers wonder what they could do with such a huge quantity of meal . Hence, they would like to research on this topic for another two years or so before jumping into further conclusions.

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Will the cabbage fuel be the future biofuel ?

Camelina, considered the cousin of Cabbage could reduce the carbon emission in the jet fuels to about 84 percent. Interestingly, it is one of the plant-fuels, which exhibits the lowest carbon emission when compared to the other plant derived biofuels. Even in my previous posts, I have mentioned the fact that, Camelina requires very little attention, it being a lowly weed does not require much use of fertilizers, water or nutrients.

Yet another unique attribute of this crop is that it has a capacity of converting oil to a hydrocarbon jet fuel that meets or exceeds almost all the petroleum and jet specifications. The most exciting fact about this crop is that, it is almost an exact replacement of fossil fuels. The cultivation of Camelina is quite easy, it can be cultivated on marginal agricultural lands as well. Camelina will not compete with the food-crops such as corn or soy.

The bottlenecks we face in using this great weed is it's price, the feedstock availability and it will be a bit difficult to convince farmers to grow this crop as well. Apparently, a recent news from Albany claimed that farmers were shocked when they came to know the potential of this Camelina oil crop. The Albany farmers were actually eradicating this weed for many years. Similarly, there are so many ignorant farmers in many parts of the world not knowing that this oil crop can do wonders.

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Related blog posts:

Camelina-Derived Renewable Jet Fuel Reduces 84% Carbon Emissions
Albany farmers plan to grow plant biofuel crops.

Illinois professor answers a few important Plant Biofuel questions

A professor from the University of Illinois has spoken in the Vatican about the use of non-food crops (Miscanthus) and biological wastes for deriving biofuels. Professor Stephen Long has given answers to some very important questions such as : the types of biofuels that are being developed, if those biofuels can be produced in developing countries? , the time period required to make these non-polluting biofuels as our transportation fuels , and so on.

Please check out the link for the full article.

Albany farmers plan to grow plant biofuel crops.

Farmers in the warmer countries are being asked to grow weeds such as Camelina, penycress and other oil yielding weeds that help making biodiesel. Some farmers ,when asked to grow these "stink weeds"- that's how they call these plants,were shocked as they didn't realize its potential earlier. They were eradicating them for cultivation of other food -crops.

For those interested - Full article

Plant-based fuels Vs Synthetic fuels in Aircrafts

I had posted an article yesterday, which claims that by 2015 the aviation industry is gonna use plant fuels only or rather, say biofuels in about a decade. Here is another article which talks about the future use of plant fuels in the Boeing jets.

Please refer the link to read the full report.

Related blog post:

Veggie Power: Plant-based Jet Fuel Outperforms Oil-based Jet Fuel

Dynamics of Biomass Energy Diffusion - Co-firing, Gasification, Digestion Case Studies

Came across an interesting paper that discusses what factors have contributed to innovations in biomass energy not growing fast enough.

The aim of the thesis is to contribute to insights necessary to accelerate the diffusion of renewable energy by identifying the underlying factors that induce or block the development, diffusion, and implementation of renewable energies. Biomass energy technologies in the Netherlands and Germany are used as empirical case studies.

To identify the relevant factors, this thesis starts from the perspective that technological success is not only determined by economic and technical characteristics but also by the social system in which a technology – and the knowledge involved – is developed and diffused or rejected.

Interesting paper that discusses quite a few case studies that include biomass gasification, biomass digestion, biomass combustion and biomass co-firing

Full paper here

Will the "second -generation biofuel feedstock" rule the aviation industry by 2015?

This article caught my eye when I was surfing through the renewable energy magazine. It claims that about 60% of the people are ignorant of the fact that the third-generation biofuels are going to rule the aviation industry in a decades time, or may be even earlier than that. A guide has been published by ATAG-Geneva(a non-profit industry dealing with many sectors of aviation) for beginners in this field to gain more knowledge in the arena of third-generation biofuels.

The industry aims in making these powerful biofuels as the main source of aviation fuels Considerable efforts are underway to achieve their goal. Their big focus was on "Sustainability fuel"since last year. Many test flights have been used to test the efficiency of second generation fuel-plants such as Camelina, Jatropha and other microbial fuels such as algae oil. Interestingly, all these test flights were a success as they burnt cleanly unlike the fossil fuels and didn't produce any engine inefficiency either.

The industry however, is not very sure of the hindrances they are going to face as they are a little concerned about its impact on the food and water supplies. This top-ranked aviation industry has requested the Geneva government to support the biofuel suppliers in developing the required feedstock and refining systems to achieve their dream of making these highly capable biofuels commerically available for use in the aviation sector.

I cannot wait to see this happening!


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Related blog posts:
Camelina-Derived Renewable Jet Fuel Reduces 84% Carbon Emissions
World's First Camelina Biofuel Test Flight

India Biomass Gasification Status and Trends

An interesting post here on the Indian biomass gasification status / trends - from the EAI blog

Danish Biomass Gasification Using Bubbling Fluidized Bed Gasifier (BFB)

Gasification technologies offer an opportunity to use biomass more efficiently, especially when used in CHP mode. The commissioning of a novel gasification demonstration project located in Skive, Denmark, is an interesting experiment.

At the Skive gasification demonstration project in Denmark's northern Jutland, a bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasifier is used to produce fuel gas from wood-based biomass. This gas is then used to supply a series of reciprocating gas engines in a
combined heat and power (CHP) application.

Based on a low pressure BFB system and three gas engines, a single gasification plant will supply fuel to all the engines.

Source

Rentech to Produce Synthetic Diesel and Power from Urban Waste

Rentech, Inc. announced a plan to build a plant in Rialto, California for the production of ultra-clean synthetic fuels and electric power from renewable waste biomass feedstocks.

The Rialto Renewable Energy Center (Rialto Project) is designed to produce approximately 600 barrels per day of pure renewable synthetic fuels and export approximately 35 megawatts of renewable electric power that is expected to qualify under California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) program. The plant will be capable of providing enough electricity for approximately 30,000 homes.

Rentech has entered into a licensing agreement with SilvaGas Corporation for biomass gasification technology for the Rialto facility. Between 1998 and 2001, a 400 ton-per-day plant using the SilvaGas biomass gasification technology successfully operated in Burlington, VT, producing synthesis gas (syngas) from wood-based biomass in a series of operating campaigns.

The conditioned syngas will be converted by the Rentech Process in a commercial scale reactor to finished, ultra-clean products such as synthetic diesel and naphtha using upgrading technologies under an alliance between Rentech and UOP, a Honeywell Company. Renewable electric power will be produced at the facility by using conventional high-efficiency gas turbine technology.

Source

Biomass Gasification Course Courtesy WIRED Grant Funds

University of Minnesota, Morris Continuing Education has been awarded a grant of $174,258 by the Renewable Energy Marketplace.

- Alliance for Talent Development (MNREM) initiative. Pending transfer of funds from the Department of Labor to the Renewable Energy Marketplace-Alliance for Talent Development, the funding will be used to develop new curriculum in biomass gasification technology which will serve participants during an intensive three-week pilot to be offered in May 2009 on the Morris campus. Participants will include four-year students from Morris, two-year students from Minnesota West Community and Technical College (MN West), undergraduate students from other institutions and working adults who seek training and employment in biomass gasification.

The Morris campus will develop biomass gasification technology curriculum through a unique partnership with MN West, University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center (WCROC), Nova-Tech Engineering (Nova-Tech), Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. – Architects and Engineers (HGA) and Rural Minnesota Concentrated Employment Program (CEP). Morris’ industry partners—HGA and Nova-Tech—have experience and expertise in biomass development and will guide the curriculum development to ensure that the course meets the needs of current and prospective employers.

Source

Small-scale Biomass Gasification Power Generation in India using Prosopis juliflora

Name of Project “Biomass Gasification based Power Generation by Beach Minerals Company Private Limited” at Kuttam Village, Radhapuram Taluka of Tirunelveli District, Tamilnadu by M/s Beach Minerals Company Private Limited(BMCPL)

Location of the Project - Kuttam Village, Radhapuram Taluka of Tirunelveli District, Tamilnadu.

Brief Description of the Project Beach Minerals Company Private Limited (BMCPL) established a 1.44 MW biomass gasification power project located in Kuttam, Tirunelveli district, Tamilnadu. BMCPL is the first high capacity biomass gasification based captive power project in India. Prosopis Juliflora is the major fuel for this project activity which is available abundant in this region. The biomass supplied to the two numbers of gasifier with a capacity of 900 kg/hr .The producer gas generated in the gasifier is then supplied to the six numbers of 240 kW producer gas engine. The generated electricity is supplied to BMCPL’s in house consumption.

Estimate of GHG abatement in tCO2 eq. 38076

Source

In Canada, Nexterra Biomass Gasification System Fires Up at Dockside Green

Nexterra Energy Corp. (www.nexterra.ca) announced that its biomass gasification system at Dockside Green (www.docksidegreen.com) is now operational and providing heat and hot water to residents of the award-winning $600 million green development in Victoria, British Columbia.

Housed in a building designed to fit into the urban neighborhood, Nexterra's proprietary gasification system will enable the Dockside community to self-generate clean, low-cost heat and hot water using locally sourced wood fuel and offset fossil fuels. At peak capacity, the system will provide heat and hot water to an estimated 2,500 Dockside residents, enabling the development to be carbon neutral from an energy perspective, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 3,460 tonnes per year, or the equivalent of taking 850 cars off the road.

Source

The Biomass "Wood Gas" Truck

This article is about a truck which runs on trash. The trucks owner, a man from Killingly has used a biomass gasification system which gasifies the trash such as wood, solid waste to produce fuel. He claims that his truck can go an average of 1.5 to 2 miles on a pound of solid materials, with a maximum speed of 75-85 mph . Nicolos, the Killingly man is very happy with his wood gas truck except for the few stumbles in its performance. However, he is pleased with the fuel as it burns very efficiently and cleanly.

Check out the full article. Seems to be quite interesting!

Miscanthus cultivation to commercialize in Georgia

There are many states in the United States growing Miscanthus for biofuel purposes. Georgia has now joined the cluster to produce Miscanthus as their energy crop. This massive project proposes to build three plants, each of them having a capacity to multiply into tens of thousands of plants progressively. The reason for choosing Georgia is that they provide favorable climatic conditions for the cultivation of Miscanthus. Earlier, Georgia was chosen for commercial production of sugarcane as well. Apart from the climatic conditions, they also have a history of high-quality crop propagation.

The BiUS Company, heading this project is a joint venture between BICAL- a Miscanthus producer in Europea and Pyramid farms- a Miscanthus propagator in Canada. They have planned to cultivate Miscanthus all over Georgia. Moreover, their big focus is on certain areas which they believe to have great potential for large-scale biomass production. Special arrangements have also been made for harvest, storage ,transportation and conversion of this promising energy crops.Well,another highlight of this fuel crop is that it does not require any fertilizers and pesticides and it expects to yield twice the amount of fuel than that of switch grass. Many efforts are underway to accomplish this challenging task.

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Renewable synthetic fuels - Rialto project

Here is an overview of the Rialto project by Rentech, a global provider of clean energy solutions which has planned to build a plant in Rialto. It expects to produce 600 barrels of renewable synthetic fuels from waste biomass feedstock as well as export 35 megawatts of renewable electric power.

The primary feedstock for the Rialto Project will be urban woody green waste such as yard clippings. The location of the project will provide local green waste haulers with a cost-effective alternative to increasingly scarce landfills for the disposal of woody green waste. This renewable synthetic fuel expected to heat around 30,000 homes emits less noxious substances, burns cleanly and therefore it will meet all the applicable fuel standards as well.

The conditioned syngas will be converted to an ultra-clean product such as synthetic diesel Renewable electric power will be produced at the facility by using conventional high-efficiency gas turbine technology. Construction of the Rialto project expects to create approximately 250 jobs with at least 55 permanent jobs during operation.

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Acreage Increase for Camelina Production

Here is a post about the development of one of the most versatile as well as a profitable oilseed producing biofuel : The Camelina company- Great Plains Oil And Exploration , a company which contracts for more than 85% of the Camelina cultivated in the North America, have planned to increase the acreage of Camelina by more than 200% than last year. The most interesting fact about this is that this increase of acreage is expected to make Camelina a commercial biofuel. A recent life cycle analysis conducted at Michigan Tech University stated that Camelina-based jet fuel would produce 84 percent fewer carbon emissions than traditional jet fuel (Source :Biodiesel magazine). Research studies reveal that camelina derived biofuel have been used to drive more than 15 million miles so far. Another interesting article, which I came across claims that Camelina is even better than Canola due to the fact that is showing increasing yields every year. (Courtesy:Idaho Business Review) Camelina Company’s CEO Huttenbauer claims that there are many varieties of Camelina, which have been successfully used as renewable fuel. Furthermore, the CEO credits the profitability of this crop grower as well.

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Related blogs:
Montana Legislature Addresses Camelina Biodiesel
Camelina As An Efficient Biofuel Source
Camelina - An Oil-Seed Crop For Different Bio-fuels

Nexterra to Install a Biomass Gasification System in Prince George Campus

Nexterra, one of the leading developers and suppliers of gasification technologies and systems are planning to install a biomass gasification system at UNBC (Univeristy of Northern British Columbia) for heating the Prince George campus. These alternative energy developers convert solid biomass into clean burning synthetic gas. Their new project is based on converting wood residues obtained from domestic sources into syngas. The resulting product is considered to be non-polluting, cleaner and is expected to replace about 85% of the energy needs of the campus. Furthermore, the great highlight of this system is that it is expected to drastically reduce the fossil fuel consumption by about 80,000 gigajoules per year. This amount of energy can be utilized in generating energy to heat more than 700 homes Apart from that, it can reduce the levels of the carbon footprints in the campus as well. The reduction of the carbon footprints by about 35,000 tonnes (per year) will help a great deal in reducing the energy costs too. This massive project is expected to produce approximately 150 jobs, tentatively starting in the second –week of June 2009. The federal and the provincial government are funding this project, which is expected to complete in a year’s time.

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