Tag Archives: alternative
Biofuel Plant Will Be Boon For Arable And Livestock Sectors
By Andrew Arbuckle Published on 09/07/2013 00:00 The official opening of the massive bioethanol Vivergo refinery on Humberside yesterday was welcomed by the English NFU not only for its planned annual consumption of more than one million tonnes of wheat but also for providing half a million tonnes of animal feed. The Vivergo company was set up six years ago by AB Sugar, the petroleum company BP and the chemical giant Du Pont. Since then some £350 million has been spent on creating the plant on the 25 acre site which will, at full production, produce some 420 million litres of bioethanol annually. The union said the refinery would not only provide an alternative to fossil fuels through its production of bioethanol but would also reduce the UK’s reliance on imports of soya from the Americas. A spokesman said the opening of the facility would come as a relief to both the arable and livestock sectors following a difficult 12 months, which saw a below average harvest, the temporary mothballing of an ethanol plant by Ensus and high animal feed prices as a result of the poor weather across the country. NFU combinable crops board member Brett Askew said: “It’s a boost to farmers to hear that Vivergo will be maximising their potential capacity in the run up to harvest. “The industry’s troubles have been well documented over the past year and the latest noises emerging from Brussels on common agricultural policy reform have done little to lighten the mood. “Multiple markets for our produce allows individual farmers the certainty we need to do what we do best and produce to satisfy market demand for food, feed and fuel. We have a responsibility to help drive a sustainable increase in production and the biofuels market can play a role in delivering the necessary economic certainty that will help us all achieve this.” But he added that policy makers had to take a really close look at the enormous benefits collaboration between the agricultural industry and biofuels sector could deliver. He hoped they would then provide the consistency in policy making that would allow farmers to not only sustainably feed the country but also to contribute towards a changing energy sector. ANDREW ARBUCKLE Continue reading
In 1776, Energy Was Rooted In Wood
In 1776, an “all of the above” approach to energy basically meant wood. The course of human events has run 237 years since then, and we’re pretty much independent of fuel from trees. The fossil fuels coal, natural gas and oil now provide about 90 percent of the energy Americans consume, according to a special Fourth of July report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But wood is getting a federal push for a comeback, this time as technically revolutionary advanced cellulosic biofuel. The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act requires refiners to blend 36 billion gallons of biofuels into gasoline and diesel by 2022 , putting pressure on oil producers to invest in alternative fuel sources, such as sugar, algae and wood chips. Cellulosic biofuels include fuels produced from wood, grasses, or the inedible parts of plants, and, more recently, algae . The Obama administration has urged the development of non-carbon resources, as an alternative to fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. And while the oil industry has challenged biofuel mandates citing lack of available cellulosic fuel , the future mandated targets still stand, with tax credits and other incentives further encouraging companies to invest. To help meet the upcoming mandates, Chevron Technology Ventures teamed with forest products giant Weyerhauser in 2008 to form Catchlight Energy. It supplies raw material to Pasadena-based Kior, which makes advanced biofuels from southern yellow pine at a plant in Columbus, Miss. The commercial scale plant, which began shipping its product earlier this year, can process 500 tons of woody biomass per day. The resulting biofuel is blended with gasoline and diesel to reduce the petroleum component and carbon emissions of those fuels. Wood chip-based fuel, however, costs about $4.50 a gallon to produce, said Desmond King, president of Chevron Technology Ventures. And on Thursday, the nationwide average retail price per gallon was $3.48 for regular gasoline and $3.82 for diesel, according to AAA. The main challenge in wood’s return as a fuel source is that there isn’t enough of it. “You can look at the cost to make a gallon, but the problem is how much biofuel you need to make a difference to the world’s oil supply,” King said. The world’s annual timber production would only generate 3 million barrels a day of biocrude, he said. Meanwhile, according the Energy Information Administration, the world is consuming about 90 million barrels of oil a day. Continue reading
Second Gen Biofuels Most Efficient Use Of EU Bioenergy
July 10, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin Bioenergy should be produced in line with EU objectives to use resources more efficiently, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA), including reducing the land and other resources needed to produce each unit of bioenergy and avoiding environmental harm from bioenergy production, extracting more energy from the same material input, and avoiding negative environmental effects potentially caused by bioenergy production. In 2010, bioenergy comprised approximately 7.5 percent of energy used in the EU and is expected to rise to around 10 percent by 2020, according to EU Member States’ National Renewable Energy Plans. According to the EEA analysis, the most efficient energy use of biomass is for heating and electricity as well as advanced biofuels or second generation biofuels. The research shows that the current energy crop mix is not good for the environment and recommends a broader mix of crops to reduce environmental impacts, including perennial crops which are not harvested annually like energy grasses or short rotation willow plantations to enhance ecosystem services such as flood prevention and water filtration. Bioenergy is often considered carbon neutral, as the carbon dioxide released in combustion is assumed to be compensated by the CO 2 absorbed during plant growth. However, the research shows that indirect land use change can negate any greenhouse gas savings from biofuel production based on energy crops due to the displacement of crop production onto previously unused land, which can lead to the conversion of forests and savannah to agriculture ultimately harming biodiversity and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. “Bioenergy is an important component of our renewable energy mix, helping to ensure a stable energy supply. But this study highlights the fact that forest biomass and productive land are limited resources, and part of Europe’s ‘natural capital,'” Hans Bruyninckx, EEA executive director, said. “So it is essential that we consider how we can use existing resources efficiently before we impose additional demands on land for energy production.” For more: – download the report Read more: Second gen biofuels most efficient use of EU bioenergy – FierceEnergy http://www.fierceene…0#ixzz2YfQfXVKy Subscribe at FierceEnergy Continue reading
