After years of existing largely as an environmentalist’s fantasy, commercial production of biofuels for the world civil aviation industry is slowly becoming a fact, with production starting up across three continents.

The leading contenders for biofuel feedstocks are jatropha and camelina, both of which have their fervent supporters. While currently neither is capable of production at a price approaching that of Jet A1 civil aviation fuel derived from hydrocarbons, research and extensive investment are nevertheless investigating the possibilities.

While little is certain in the emerging picture, it is increasingly clear that despite the United States being one of the leading producers currently of renewable energy in the form of ethanol, that the United States nevertheless will be an also-ran in these developments.

In January 2010 Qatar Airways revealed plans to work with Airbus and other Qatari state entities to draw up “a detailed engineering and implementation plan for economically viable and sustainable biofuel production.” At an event marking the launch of the Qatar Advanced Biofuel Platform consortium, airline chief Akbar al Baker hailed its European project partner as “more proactive than Boeing in experimenting with alternative fuels.”

Fast forward to this March, when a European consortium of Airbus, Romanian state-owned airline Tarom, Honeywell’s UOP and CCE (Camelina Company España) announced plans to establish a bio-fuel production center in Romania to manufacture civil aviation fuel, using camelina as a feedstock.

Farther east, last month China National Petroleum Corp. announced that it had delivered 15 tons of jatropha oil to help Air China operate the country’s maiden biofuel-powered test flight, tentatively scheduled for later this year. According to a posting on its website, CNPC, Asia’s largest oil producer, is proving that it has the ability to produce biofuel from non-grain feedstocks to clean up the environment.

On Monday, Mozambique’s Agencia Informacao Mocambique news agency announced that Sun Biofuels Mozambique, a subsidiary of U.K.-based Sun Biofuels, has exported the first batch of 30 tons of jatropha oil produced from its fields in the central Mozambican province of Manica to Germany’s Lufthansa airline.

The biggest single impetus to the development of biofuels for civil aviation occurred on 8 June, when the international standards certifying body ASTM International announced its approval of its BIO SPK Fuel Standard, to be made official later in the year, allowing the use of hydro-treated renewable jet (HRJ) Jet A-1 fuel in commercial aviation.

Currently these biofuels are “drop ins,” and must be blended in a 50-50 mixture with Jet A-1 fuel derived from traditional fossil fuel kerosene.

The biggest single independent meant at present to a wide scale production of jet biofuel is its inordinate cost. Biojet fuel delivered last year to the U.S. armed forces for evaluation cost more than $70 a gallon to produce, a price which obviously makes it at present supremely uncompetitive with fuel derived from traditional hydrocarbon sources. Supporters of biofuel production argue that processing costs will decrease in direct proportion to rising volumes of production.

Both Brazil and the United States have viable biofuel production in the form of ethanol, in the case of Brazil derived from sugar cane, in the United States, produced from corn.

Ironically it is the very success of this production in the United States that will limit the near term growth of an alternative renewable fuels industry, because the ethanol lobby has ensured the farmers not only receive significant subsidies, but crop insurance as well, neither of which is available to other farmers wishing to dabble in the production of biofuel from camelina or other assorted feedstocks. These limitations exist despite the fact that the U.S. is the world leader in camelina research.

What is clear at this juncture however is the fact that renewable biojet fuels have been certified, and furthermore, that production is beginning, albeit at on a limited scale with relatively high production costs.

As noted earlier in this article, a critical momentum is building on three continents to advance production of biofuels, and when major players such as Airbus become involved, the viability of such projects is no longer in question, only the timeline. Last but not least, an additional benefit of biofuels in a world concerned about global warming and emissions of greenhouse gases is that biofuels reduce carbon emissions by jet aircraft by up to 80 percent.

The technology is in place, the product has been certified, and at the end of the day, one is talking about an agricultural product which, depending on where it is sown, can produce one or even two harvests a year.

While discussion rages about the production of biofuels in poorer nations having the possibility of diverting land needed for food production, in terms of energies impact on the environment, biofuels are certainly more benign than other more traditional forms of energy as evidenced in the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, or more recently, in the March nuclear debacle in Japan.

Written by John Daly Wednesday, 27 July 2011.

Biofuels are clean, green, and… for the moment, expensive. By. John C.K. Daly of OilPrice.com.

Google Ventures has made its first biofuels investment. On Thursday afternoon, the venture arm of the search giant announced it has invested in a startup called CoolPlanetBioFuels, which makes what the company calls “negative carbon fuels.” CoolPlanetBiofuels has also raised funding from another group of well-known strategic investors recently: Energy Technology Ventures, which is made up of GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips.

Out of all Google Venture’s investments, biofuels seem like the farthest from the company’s core business. Yes, you could probably run backup power diesel generators for data centers with CoolPlanetBioFuel’s biofuel, but the technology isn’t as applicable to the Internet and computing as, say, Transphorm’s energy-efficient power electronics, a startup Google Ventures recently backed. But Google Ventures has maintained it’s looking for financial returns like other venture investors, and not only participating in strategic backing.

Google’s biofuel investment is its latest bet in the auto space; Google Ventures has also invested in neighbor-to-neighbor car sharing startup RelayRides, and Next Autoworks (a struggling company looking to make energy-efficient cars, previously called V Vehicle). RelayRides CEO Shelby Clark will be speaking at our Green:Net event on April 21 in San Francisco.

CoolPlanetBioFuels now has four of the most famous strategic backers in cleantech. It has developed a technology which aims to take non-food biomass (plant waste, energy crops, etc.) and turn it into a drop-in replacement for gas and diesel. The company calls its tech a “biomass fractionator.”

It sounds similar to what KiOR is doing, using a catalyst to carbonize biomass (called its Biomass Catalytic Cracking Process), which was originally developed to help the oil industry break down heavy crude oil into more easily refined products for the oil industry.

Update: Bill Maris, managing partner of Google Ventures, emailed us more on how biofuels could be used strategically for Google.

As a company, Google Inc [sic] is interested in reducing all aspects of its environmental footprint.  As a firm, Google Ventures is interested in contributing to this effort both on Google’s behalf and for the benefit of positive global impact. While petroleum does not constitute a large percentage of Google’s emission profile, we are enthusiastic about supporting technologies that can help us economically reduce our carbon footprint while simultaneously contributing to our domestic energy security.  Google Ventures considers a host of factors before making an investment, in the case of CoolPlanet Biofuels [sic], we are enthusiastic to leverage our efforts in the energy space as well as resources at Google, Inc. to help the company scale and ultimately have an impactful difference on the world.

SOURCE: REUTERS

The awards, first established in 2008, recognize excellence in the research, development and commercialization of biofuels, renewable chemicals and bio-based products. The awards are voted by the Biofuels Digest editorial board, based on nominations submitted by the Digest’s readership.

This year’s honoree for Company of the Year, went to Solazyme. “Solazyme made the decision several years ago to grow heterotrophic algae in the dark and harvest renewable oils – and have become the unquestioned leader in the quest to make an integrated biorefinery commercially successful in the production of renewable oils for fuels, foods and other bio-based products,” noted Digest editor Jim Lane. “Along the ways they’ve racked up an impressive array of partners, and won contracts to supply biofuels to the US Department of Defense. More importantly, in every way, they have personified throughout their organization what it means to be an advanced bio-based company – in the ways that they have triumphed, and in the ways they have faced adversity.”

The award for Product of the Year (fuels) went to Amyris for its farnesane molecule, which it is now producing in Brazil. Made by adding hydrogen to farnesene (itself produced via Amyris’s novel modified yeast fermentation technology), it can be utilized as a drop-in replacement for fossil-based diesel fuels.

Product of the Year (renewable chemicals) went to OPX Biotechnology for its work in reducing the production cost of bioacrylic by more than 85 percent in its pilot production process, using sugars and syngas as feedstocks.

Product of the Year (bio-based products) went to Genencor for its development of bioisoprene and, in partnership with Goodyear, the development of renewable technology for the production of tires, using a novel fermentation process based on  an engineered molecule.

Project of the Year went to Neste Oil for the completion and start-up of its massive 240 million gallon renewable diesel plant in Singapore.

Technology of the Year Awards went to LanzaTech, the partnership of Rentech and ClearFuels Technology, the partnership of Taurus Energy and SEKAB, and Renewable Energy Group. These awards recognized pre-pilot, pilot, demonstration-scale and commercial-scale installations.

LanzaTech is commercializing the fermentation of waste steel gases into ethanol and other bio-based chemicals, with a pilot in New Zealand and a forthcoming demonstration of its technology in China. Rentech and ClearFuels have combined on a gasification and Fisher-Tropsch processing of biomass into synthetic jet or diesel fuels, in a project that will be built at Rentech’s Product demonstration Unit in Colorado, and has been supported by a $23 million grant from the US Department of Energy.  Taurus Energy and SEKAB have combined on a cellulosic ethanol process, using Taurus Energy’s yeast strains and SEKAB’s demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Sweden. Renewable Energy Group was honored for its novel continuous-flow, multi-feedstock processing technology that has allowed the company to pioneer the acquisition of a wide variety of hard-to-process, low-cost feedstocks such as tallows and yellow grease.

The town of Emmetsburg, Iowa was recognized as Community of the Year for the transformation of the small local community’s economy through corn and cellulosic ethanol. The town is the site of POET’s Project LIBERTY, a 20 million gallon cellulosic ethanol demonstration, bolted onto an existing corn ethanol plant, which also is home to advanced work by POET BIOMASS in corb cob and agricultural residue harvest and logistics.

For Project Structure, Biofuels Digest recognized ZeaChem, for creativity in financial structure, as well as BlueFire Renewables, for off-take and feedstock contracting. Sapphire Energy received the “Plan for Scale” award for its design of its  algal biofuels system with planned demonstration scale facility in 2014 and first commercial facility in 2018.

The Digest recognizes Iowa State University as Institutional Research Facility of the Year, the Joint BioEnergy Institute as Government-Institutional Research Facility of the Year, and the Energy Biosciences Institute as Public-private Research facility of the Year. JBEI’s researchers have been notably active in the development of novel technologies utilized by, among others, Amyris and LS9, while EBI has lately funded research that resulted in a newly engineered yeast strain, that can simultaneously consume glucose, a six-carbon sugar that is relatively easy to ferment; and xylose, a five-carbon sugar that has been much more difficult to utilize in ethanol production. Iowa State’s BioCentury Research Farm provides researchers with the opportunity to integrate harvesting, transportation, storage, and processing, as well as test plant breeding, genomics, cropping systems, soil conservation and nutrient management.

Partnerships were recognized in several awards this year. The Corporate partnership of Boeing, Air China and PetroChina is recognized for pioneering the testing and availability of jatropha-based aviation biofuels for the key China aviation market. Algenol and Lee County (Florida) were recognized for Public private partnership (county) of the Year, a partnership which has resulted in a state-of-the-art algal biofuels research center in southwest Florida as well as a future pilot-scale algal farm. Enerkem and the US state of Mississippi were recognized for Public private partnership (state or province) of the Year for their work in developing the Pontotoc, MS cellulosic ethanol project using municipal solid waste. Ineos BIO and the US Department of Energy are recognized as Public private partnership (National) of the Year for their cooperation in bringing the Vero Beach, Florida cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant to fruition on schedule. The US Department of Agriculture and the US Navy are recognized for Public-public partnership of the Year for their cooperative work in developing advanced biofuels for naval onshore and fleet operations. Finally, Cosan and Shell are recognized as Joint Venture of the Year for their $14 billion combination of ethanol, advanced biofuels, sugarcane and fuel distribution assets in Brazil.

In Feedstock development, Ceres is recognized as Feedstock research project of the year (new feedstock or traits) for its development of seawater-tolerant energy grasses. SG Biofuels is recognized as Feedstock domestication project of the Year (new feedstock or traits) for its development of the JMax platform for jatropha in Cehtral America. Genera Energy is recognized as Feedstock grower development project of the year for its work in developing a switchgrass-grower network in Tennessee.

The Bio-XCell project in Iskandar, Malaysia is recognized as Multi-project (co-location, or symbiosis) development of the Year, for its custom-built biotechnology park and ecosystem being developed by Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation and UEM Land Holdings, which will become home to the GlycosBio demonstration-scale project among other tenants in 2012.

Statoil was recognized as Downstream partner of the Year for its work with Inbicon, Bioarchitecture Lab and other partners in creating investment and distribution for advanced biofuels.

Bunge was recognized as Strategic Investor of the Year for its investments in Solazyme, Renewable Energy Group, and its strategic alliances with Verenium, and SG Biofuels.

Company of the Year SOLAZYME

Technology of the Year (pre pilot) RENTECH, CLEARFUELS

Technology of the Year (pilot) LANZATECH

Technology of the Year (demonstration state) TAURUS ENERGY, SEKAB

Technology of the Year (commercial stage) RENEWABLE ENERGY GROUP

Product of the Year (fuel) AMYRIS – FARNESENE

Product of the Year (renewable chemicals) GENENCOR – BIOISOPRENE

Product of the Year (bio-based products) OPX BIOTECHNOLOGY – BIOACRYLIC

Project of the Year NESTE OIL, SINGAPORE

Project Structure of the Year (off-take and feedstock contracting) BLUEFIRE RENEWABLES

Project Structure of the Year (creativity in financing) ZEACHEM

Community of the Year EMMETSBURG, IOWA

Institutional Research Facility of the Year IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Government Research Facility of the Year JOINT BIOENERGY INSTITUTE

Public-private Research Facility of the Year ENERGY BIOSCIENCES INSTITUTE

Corporate partnership of the Year BOEING, AIR CHINA, PETROCHINA

Public private partnership (county) of the Year ALGENOL – Lee County, FL

Public private partnership (state) of the Year ENERKEM

Public private partnership (federal) of the Year Ineos BIO, US Department of Energy

Public-public partnership of the Year US Department of Agriculture, US NAVY

Joint venture of the Year COSAN, SHELL

Plan for Scale SAPPHIRE ENERGY

Feedstock research project of the year (new feedstock or traits) CERES

Feedstock domestication project of the Year (new feedstock or traits) SG BIOFUELS

Feedstock grower development project of the year GENERA ENERGY

Multi-project (co-location, or symbiosis) development of the Year BIO-XCELL – ISKANDAR, MALAYSIA

Downstream partnership of the Year STATOIL

Top Strategic Investor BUNGE

SOURCE: BIOFUELS DIGEST

The soybean checkoff has been a driving force behind the biodiesel industry from its inception, culminating in 2008, when the industry produced nearly 700 million gallons. In that time, the biodiesel industry became a powerful economic engine. According to a report by consulting firm LECG, LLC, the biodiesel industry supported nearly 52,000 jobs in 2008.

In 2009, however, production declined to 545 million gallons and all but stopped toward the end of the year as the industry awaited announcements of the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) and extension of the federal blenders’ tax credit. This drastic drop in production led to the loss of nearly 29,000 of those jobs, according to the LECG report. Still, the industry added $4.1 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product and generated $828 million in local, state and federal tax revenue in 2009, according to the report.

“The soy biodiesel industry remains vitally important to any community and state where a soy biodiesel plant exists,” says USB Domestic Marketing Chair Jim Schriver, a soybean farmer from Montpelier, IN. “There are large groups of people whose livelihoods either directly or indirectly depend on a profitable soy biodiesel industry. Biodiesel plants represent good, high-paying jobs for thousands of people as well as millions of dollars in tax revenue to our local, state and national economies.”

The federal blenders’ tax credit allows a biodiesel producer or fuel supplier to acquire 1¢ for every percentage of biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel, making soy biodiesel even more cost-competitive. Schriver says the reinstatement of the federal biodiesel tax credit should enable more U.S. biodiesel manufacturers to resume production of large quantities of this homegrown, renewable fuel and to recharge efforts to make biodiesel more available to diesel users on a greater basis.

“Smaller plants can get started back up right away, but larger plants will need more time to get everything back in place,” Schriver says. “I think, in time, more of the biodiesel industry will return to profitability and be able to provide the economic benefits of job creation and tax revenue to our communities.”

Biodiesel became the first domestically produced fuel to qualify as an advanced biofuel under the RFS2 because it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% over petroleum diesel. The RFS2 called for 1.15 billion gallons of biodiesel to be used in the U.S. by the end of 2010 and ensures the domestic use of at least 1 billion gallons of biodiesel annually beginning in 2012. By 2022, when the RFS2 will be fully implemented, the Environmental Protection Agency expects biofuels production to increase U.S. net farm income by $13 billion, or more than 36%.

Soybean oil remains the dominant feedstock for U.S. biodiesel production, and the soybean checkoff funds a large portion of the biodiesel research and promotion conducted by the National Biodiesel Board.

SOURCE: CORNAND SOYBEAN DIGEST/united soybean board.

World grain demand will double by 2035, he said — not just due to population growth but because the United States is shifting its maize (70 percent of world output) to biofuels, pushing up soy and other grain prices in the process, because Chinese meat consumption has shot up from seven to 60 kilos per capita (three-quarters pork) in a couple of decades and because urbanization (a majority of world population since 2006) is eating up land.

Two centuries of declining food prices have been reversed in recent years.

With agriculture thousands of years old, Mercosur has half the world’s arable land still awaiting cultivation and is capable of doubling its grain output to a half-billion-ton harvest. Brazil with 50 million hectares (against 30 million for Argentina) could expand to 90 or even 150 million to take its harvest from 150 to 350 million tons while Argentina could improve from 100 to 150 million without much land expansion, provided there were better policies and more investment in technology.

This technology takes the form of biotech and genetics — here Argentina was well placed with excellent human capital but not “condemned to success,” especially with not only one of the lowest investments in research and development (R&D) in the world but two-thirds of that investment made by the state, as opposed to a third elsewhere in the world.

Co-ordination between Argentina and Brazil should take the form of macro-economic convergence and smoother trade negotiations, Grobocopatel proposed. He also recommended his pool model as the best way to overcome the “tension” within globalization as to whether its logic led to more diversification or specialization.

The Herald asked the soy king (with the bulk of his activities now in Brazil) about how the Mercosur giant spends the 35 percent of soy earnings which are taxed here as export duties — does it go on profits, taxes, investments, costs or what? Mostly costs, replied Grobocopatel, with much longer freight distances and infrastructural lags — profitability in Brazil ends up being similar to here.

Given that India has replaced China as Argentina’s chief soy oil market this year, the Herald invited the pool tycoon to compare China and India as clients with Indian Ambassador R. Viswanathan not only looking on but making a lively contribution to the subsequent debate. Both men agreed that India was a market for soy oil (buying 1.5 million tons up to August, chipped in the Indian envoy) rather than the soybeans themselves (which India exports) or the flour but India has become a market for lentils (three million tons, reports Viswanathan) and sugar, buying half a million tons from Tucumán (and a million from Brazil). The soy king boasts that he is an honorary Indian because Patel is an extremely common Gujerati surname.

Grobocopatel answered a question about nationalist resistance to foreign land ownership by saying he considered the question of ownership relative because he has no property — everything is leased. He also considered the ritual importance given to added value to be relative in the wake of the commodity boom.

While not obsessive on the subject, the soy king criticized export duties in a few scathing sentences, claiming they made poor farmers poorer and disrupted the natural crop rotation to which Argentine farmers were traditionally inclined. There was also implied criticism of the current administration when he defined a business as a sum total of its contracts, which must be respected.

Apart from Viswanathan, the lunch was attended by his ambassadorial colleagues from the Netherlands, Vietnam and Canada, the French counsellor and by Radical politician Elva Roulet, former lieutenant-governor of Buenos Aires province.

SOURCE: http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/011010/argentina___great_idea_from_soy_king_.aspx

The project is being developed by Bioscan in the region of Antofagasta, with co-financing InnovaChile. (Photo: CORFO)

A new project, which is financially supported by the Chilean government, will promote the diversification of energy through the production of biofuels from microalgae.

The main objective of the initiative is to develop algae production which captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and also creates competitively priced biodiesel fuels.

The project is being developed by Bioscan in the region of Antofagasta, with co-financing from InnovaChile which is part of the Corporation for the Promotion of Production (CORFO), which facilitated CLP 323 million (USD 647,000).

After selecting effective strains of microalgae to produce lipids and optimised growth conditions in the laboratory, the technologically innovative project is now entering its second and final stage.

Agnes Cadavid, Project Director, explains that the goal is to create a technological solution to develop a quality product in sufficient quantity so that there is interest in the liquid biofuels industry.

The application uses biotechnology to produce fuel from algae grown in photobioreactors, pools, and then transform these fuels into biodiesel, an alternative fuel to pertrol.

The initiative will have a trial period, which is stipulated to be in 24 months time.

 Source: FIS

“Biofuels could break the tyranny of oil and lift millions from poverty along with providing a sustainable fuel source for aviation,” Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association said.

Bisignani told an industry conference on aviation and the environment that the oil industry had huge multibillion dollar earnings yet little is being done to prop up biofuels made from non-food crops.

Governments had invested “peanuts, and what have the oil companies done? Peanuts.” he said.

“It’s a wake up call for them, we need to get them on board.”

The civil aviation industry has laid out a range of emissions cutting targets for the coming years and decades aimed at tackle climate change, with about half of IATA’s ultimate target of a 50 percent cut in emissions by 2050 relying on biofuels.

Bisignani noted that the air transport industry was overcoming the technical challenge of flying airliners on biofuels.

But it faced a huge challenge in ensuring sufficient refining, supply and distribution for the world’s airports, with air engine makers, airlines and small developers left largely alone to spur biofuels.

“It is in the self interest of government to get much more involved and support the commercialisation of biofuels with incentives to facilitate the needed investments,” he added.

IATA’s chief renewed appeals for governments to join forces and set global standards for aviation to combat global warming at the International Civl Aviation Organisation later this month, rather than an uneven regional approach.

IATA is at loggerheads with regional and national emissions trading schemes, and additional taxes imposed by some governments.

Some biofuels have been criticised for drawing on vital food crops, land and water resources.

Aviation officials insisted at the conference here that their focus was on others sources such as algae and camelina (flax) for bio jet fuel.

IATA represents some 230 airlines.

SOURCE: AFP

The catalytic material SCRO-80, which has been titled “Smart Catalyst,” facilitates the transesterification process in minutes rather than hours, said Ben Engelen, Ceimici Novel’s market developer. While Engelen was unable to disclose any information regarding the chemical structure or composition of SCRO-80, he did note that that the catalytic material “will not suffer from obsolescence.”

Unlike traditional biodiesel diesel catalysts that are consumed during the biodiesel production process, SCRO-80 can be recovered and reused.

“The transesterification is realized in a single stage and allows a full continuous operation,” said Engelen. “Smart Catalyst performs the transesterification reaction as a true catalyst should—without being consumed. It is heterogeneous, which allows for easy recycling. It has high activity, which allows for the reaction to be taken to completion in a single reactor and the glycerol produced is a 98 percent grade. Good glycerol and a recycled catalyst provide about 80 percent of the benefits in switching to Smart Catalyst.”

According to Engelen, SCRO-80 can be employed in both new and existing biodiesel plants. Most existing plants are able to use the equipment that is already in place, he said.

“Without any problem, the smart catalyst can be added to the reactor as a direct replacement for the caustic catalyst,” Engelen continued. “This requires no investment…The next stage would be to install intensive inline mixing equipment.

This is projected to cost approximately $70,000 for a 10 MMgy facility. “The loop is complete when you install further separation equipment to recycle the catalyst,” he said, noting that this cost is relatively minor.

“Existing plants can increase their production capacity a number of times without major investment,” Engelen continued. “We just have to solve possible bottlenecks in the rest of the plant, such as storage capacities.”
New plants designed specifically to utilize SCRO-80 can be built with a much lower capital investment than traditional biodiesel facilities, Engelen said.

Ceimici Novel has tested SCRO-80 on the lab and demonstration scales. “We built a semi-continuous unit pilot plant that produces 1,800 kilograms of biodiesel per hour (540 gallons per hour), Engelen said. “Now we work with a 1000 kilogram (300 gallon) batch demonstration unit in the Netherlands, where in a simple CSTR (Continuous Stir Tank Reactor) we can achieve ASTM and EN 14214 specifications in the order of 6 minutes with triglyceride levels below 0.01 percent,” he continued, noting that Ceimici Novel also has plans to perform a 10 ton (3,000 gallon) production demonstration for a group of South American-based biodiesel producers in mid-September.

According to Engelen, Ceimici Novel began to market SCRO-80 in July and recently appointed a U.S.-based distributor.

“At the moment we are working out the parameters for the savings and conditions of the technology license and royalty agreements,” he said.

[When those] agreements are in place, we will be able to do any size scale test at customer’s plants.”

Ceimici Novel currently expects its catalyst to be employed on a commercial scale by late 2010 or early 2011

By Erin Voegele

SOURCE: BIODIESEL MAGAZINE

The world’s first commercial-scale seawater-based biofuels project boosts Egypt’s aquaculture profile. (Photo: Global Seawater).

EGYPT, Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 00:40 (GMT + 9)

Houston-based energy projects development company Energy Allied International and the Seawater Foundation and Global Seawater, Inc, pioneers in the development of Integrated Seawater Agriculture Systems (ISAS), have signed an MOU to develop the world’s first commercial-scale seawater-based biofuels project in Egypt: “New Nile Co.”

It will be one of the largest biofuels investments thus far in the Middle East or Africa.

ISAS is an advanced biofuels production model that uses effluent from seawater aquaculture as a natural fertilizer to grow large plantations of the halophyte (naturally salt resistant plant) salicornia, which can yield hefty volumes of high-grade vegetable oil for use as a biofuel feedstock.

“Energy Allied International’s expertise in developing large scale energy projects in the Middle East and Africa, tied with the Seawater Foundation’s and Global Seawater’s extensive knowledge of developing and operating ISAS models, is a winning combination to ensure the success of the world’s first, commercial scale, seawater-based biofuels project,” stated Dr Carl Hodges, chairman of The Seawater Foundation and co-chairman of Global Seawater.

Unlike first-generation biofuels producers that menace to displace staple foods like corn due to reliance on freshwater and nutrient-rich soil, New Nile will apply the ISAS model, thereby relying exclusively on untreated seawater and currently unproductive arid, desert and degraded lands.

“New Nile Co is poised to launch a great agricultural revolution in Egypt, by making productive use of the country’s abundant agricultural-skilled labour, unlimited access to seawater and vast desert lands,” said Mike Nassar, chairman of Energy Allied.

New Nile plans to produce tens of millions of lts of biofuels from a 50,000 ha-project site. Jointly with leading architecture design firm and the project’s lead planning advisor, Gensler, the developers are presently considering potential site locations along the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts.

Already having successfully applied the ISAS model in Eritrea after conducting broad research and development in Mexico, the developers are secure of achieving similarly favourable results in Egypt.

Besides automotive markets necessitating the use of blended biofuels, New Nile will target the European civil aviation market. The latter is put through strict European Union (EU) regulations, and aviation will enter the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in 2012.

New Nile’s developers are currently discussing potential project site locations with the Egyptian Government and intend to complete the bankable feasibility study this year and being construction in early 2011.

By Natalia Real

SOURCE: FIS

Accelergy, USAF to evaluate Camelina, liquid coal jet fuel mix
Accelergy has begun production of biojet fuel using a mix of Camelina oil and liquefied coal for evaluation by the US Air Force (USAF). Separately, Accelergy signed a Camelina oil supply agreement with an Ohio company.

US Navy to test F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet with biofuels
In 2009, Accelergy entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with USAF for testing fully synthetic fuels that meet or exceed USAF JP-8 military jet fuel standards.

USAF currently uses JP-8 fuel in all of its aircraft and has been looking for a commercially viable 100% synthetic alternative to petroleum based fuels. To date, synthetic fuels have required blending with petroleum feedstocks on a 50% basis to be suitable in aviation applications.

As reported by Recharge, USAF has issued internal requirements that 50% of its fuel needs comes from domestic and cleaner sources by 2016.

Accelergy will use its coal-biomass-to-liquids technology at a pilot facility under construction at the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) University of North Dakota.

Fuel deliveries to the Air Force Research Labs will begin in late 2010. The pilot facility will provide a valuable tool for evaluating new coal and biomass feeedstocks as the technology moves toward commercial deployment.

“Accelergy is the first to provide 100% synthetic jet fuel for the USAF with high thermal stability, increased energy density, lower environmental impact and competitive costs,” says tim Vail, company chief executive.

“The facility at EERC allows us to produce meaningful quantities of fuel, confirm our performance estimates and further refine our fuel product,” he adds. “With the test results in hand, the Air Force and defense contractors can then explore the full range of options for employment and advanced synthetic fuels in next-generation aircraft designs.”

Accelergy says its process technology maintains high overall thermal efficiency while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with comparable refining methods. It can also produce Jet-A fuel along with military JP5 and JP9 military jet fuels.

Camelina is a plant native to Northern Europe and Central Asia that has been traditionally cultivated as an oilseed to produce vegetable oil and animal feed. It does not compete with food crops as it requires little water or nitrogen to thrive, and can be grown on marginal farm land.

Among US states, Montana has been the most supportive of proposals to use Camelina as a raw material for biofuels and is also backing use of its abundant coal reserves for the same purpose..

Accelergy’s supply deal is with Great Plains Oil & Exploration – The Camelina Company , which is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Financial and other details were not released.

A Great Plains official tells Recharge that the company is already growing Camelina in Montana and will extract its oil there after it obtains a crushing plant.

“This will be a great plus for Montana, and is another step on our way to energy independence,” says Governor Brian Schweitzer, who sees creation of jobs as Camelina use becomes more widespread.

Accelergy is based in Houston.

Richard A. Kessler

Source: Recharge news