The Energy Blog

FYI: Petrosun to Start Commercial Operation of 4.4 MGY Algae Oil Plant

PetroSun, Inc (PINK: PSUD) announced that their Rio Hondo, Texas algae farm will commence operations on April 1, 2008 as PetroSun's initial commercial algae-to-biofuels facility. The current algae farm consists of 1,100 acres of saltwater ponds that the company projects will produce a minimum of 4.4 million gallons of algal oil and 110 million pounds of biomass on an annual basis. The company has dedicated 20 acres of ponds for a proposed algae derived JP8 jet fuel research and development program.

The Rio Hondo algae farm will be expanded in the future to provide the feedstock required by present or proposed company owned or joint ventured biodiesel and ethanol refineries. The Company plans to construct or acquire additional plants in the Gulf Coast region that are reachable via barge up the Mississippi River and its tributaries. The previously announced Bridgeport, Alabama refinery will receive algal oil feedstock from this distribution program.

"Our business model has been focused on proving the commercial feasibility of the firms' algae-to-biofuels technology during the past eighteen months Whether we have arrived at this point in time by a superior technological approach, sheer luck or a redneck can-do attitude, the fact remains that microalgae can outperform the current feedstocks utilized for conversion to biodiesel and ethanol, yet do not impact the consumable food markets or fresh water resources."

-- Gordon LeBlanc, Jr., CEO of Petrosun

Petrosun plans to establish algae farms and algal oil extraction plants in Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Mexico, Brazil and Australia during 2008. The algal oil product will be marketed as feedstock to existing biodiesel refiners and planned company owned refineries.

I don't think any other algae producing firms have reached this milestone. The production of algae oil is the critical step in producing biofuels from algae.  Algae has the potential to produce all the petroleum needs for transportation on 2% of the land area of the US, which could be located on desert or semi-arable land. (see previous post)

9MWe CHP Jatropha Bio-oil Plant Being Developed in Belgium

Thenergo, a Belgian developer and operator of decentralized sustainable energy projects using biomass, biogas, bio-oil and cogeneration has announced that it has commenced development of a 9MWe, 6MWth CHP bio-oil to energy plant in Merksplas (Belgium).

The project, named Greenpower, representing a total investment of €11 million will run on bio-oil extracted from the seeds of the jatropha plant (previous post). The jatropha seeds are a non-edible, high energy fruit grown on semi-arid or waste land in South East Asia.

”The Greenpower bio-oil project is a prime example of Thenergo’s multifuel approach to the production of sustainable energy. Our strategy to diversify our feedstock base,namely biogas, natural gas, bio-oil, woody biomass and secondary fuels, ensures long term procurement security, better management of fuel costs, while allowing us to be more reactive to market driven opportunities”.

-- Kurt Alen, Thenergo CEO

This is one of a few projects that I have seen using jatropha bio-oil as a feedstock. CHP plants are much more efficient than pure electricity or motor fuel projects.  Because jatropha can be grown on semi-arid or waste land it can use land that is not suitable for growing food seeds  This advantage is claimed to be being abused because the jatropha seeds bring in more cash than food seeds in some cases and land that formerly was used for growing food crops is already being used to grow jatropha.  It seems that biofuel projects can become controversial wherever the feedstock comes from.  Eventually market forces will sort out how much land is used for food and how much is used for growing biofuel feedstocks.  The continued high price of oil favors more use of biofuels. The development of cellulose based biofuels will lessen this problem somewhat and the development of electrically powered vehicles that can get most of their energy from renewable energy will eventually mitigate this problem to a great degree, but not for a long time. 

Bio-crude Turns Cheap Waste into Valuable Fuel

CSIRO and Monash University announced that they have developed a chemical process that turns green waste into a stable bio-crude oil.

Bio-crude works in much the same way as crude oil, making it economical to produce bio-crude in local areas for transport to a central biorefinery for further processing, rather than transporting bulky green waste to the refinery.

The bio-crude oil can be used to produce high value chemicals and biofuels, including both petrol and diesel replacement fuels.

“By making changes to the chemical process, we’ve been able to create a concentrated bio-crude which is much more stable than that achieved elsewhere in the world,”

-- Dr Steven Loffler of CSIRO Forest Biosciences.

The process uses low value waste such as forest thinnings, crop residues, waste paper and garden waste, significant amounts of which are currently dumped in landfill or burned.

According to Biopact bio-crude oil is a next-generation biofuel obtained from the fast pyrolysis of any type of biomass including waste. Fast pyrolysis is a process in which the organic materials are rapidly heated to 450 - 600 °C at atmospheric pressure in the absence of air. Under these conditions, organic vapours, pyrolysis gases and charcoal are produced. The vapours are condensed to bio-oil. Typically, 70-75 wt.% of the feedstock is converted into oil.

This process is similar to the process used by Dynamotive.

Khosla Ventures, BIOeCON Form KiOR for Catalytic Production of Biooil

BIOeCON press release:

Khosla Ventures and BIOeCON have announced the formation of their joint venture KiOR Inc., which will use BIOeCON's ‘Biomass Catalytic Cracking Process' (BCC) technology to converts lignocellulosic biomass, found in grass, wood, and various agricultural and forestry wastes, into a bio-oil product that can be further upgraded to transportation fuels.  The conversion of cellulosic biomass to bio-oil represents a significant commercial opportunity that also offers important benefits, including using post-harvesting waste rather than competing with food crops; promoting environmental sustainability; reducing reliance on fossil fuels such as crude oil; and enabling economic development and job creation in rural areas.

Khosla Ventures, will provide the Series A funding, whereas BIOeCON will bring its knowledge and intellectual property for the ‘Biomass Catalytic Cracking Process' (BCC). KiOR Inc. will focus on the further development and commercialization of the BCC technology as well as prepare for raising significantly more capital in the next two to three years.

"The key technical problem in the conversion of cellulosic biomass into usable fuels is how to open up the inaccessible solid fibrous 'woody' material, so that it can be effectively transformed. Most of the existing processes to unlock the woody structures are quite costly and intensive of energy or chemicals," says Paul O'Connor, founder and president of BIOeCON.  "BIOeCON has developed a simple non-energy intensive way to make the woody biomass accessible to catalysts and convert to a bio-oil product with significantly improved product properties compared to other thermal-chemical processes.

Oil from Algae Could Ease Energy Woes

Algae-Based Fuels Set to Bloom 

Kevin Bullis, MIT Technology Review, Feb. 5, 2007

Relatively high oil prices, advances in technology, and the Bush administration's increased emphasis on renewable fuels are attracting new interest in a potentially rich source of biofuels: algae. ...

Kathe Andrews-Cramer, ... at Sandia National Laboratories [says] ... "We could replace certainly all of our diesel fuel with algal-derived oils, and possibly replace a lot more than that."

Raw algae can be processed to make biocrude ... at existing oil refineries to make just about anything that can be made from crude oil. ...

The use of algae for liquid fuels has been studied extensively in the past, including ... a program at ...NREL that ran for nearly a decade. At the time, the results were not encouraging. ...  enough has changed that NREL researchers expect to restart the program within the next six months to a year.

The cheapest way to grow algae is in open ponds. But open ponds full of nutrients invite other species to take over, competing with the algae and cutting down production. LiveFuels ... hopes to create algal ecosystems that resist such invaders by ensuring that all the nutrients are converted to forms the algae can easily use.

GreenFuel's John Lewnard, ...  says the company thinks it can reach competitive prices without carbon taxes.

Dynamotive Headed for China, Expands West Lorne Facility

Dynamotive (OTCBB: DYMTF),  disclosed that China's National Development and Reform Commission (‘NDRC’)  recommended, after a year long review, the promotion of Dynamotive’s fast pyrolysis BioOil technology as a means to increasing energy security and independence.

The report concluded that: “There is strong potential for using (Dynamotive’s) BioOil to substitute (for) fuel oil. Analysis shows that if one-third of China’s agricultural and forestry waste could be used to produce BioOil, 15 million tons of fuel oil could be substituted, and half of imported fuel oil by China could be theoretically displaced.”

Arundo donax for electricity

Florida-based Biomass Investment Group (BIG), is embarking on a project using Arundo donax as an energy crop that will be grown on 20,000 acres (8000ha). The biomass will be converted into bio-oil, a heavy fuel oil, via a fast-pyrolysis process (for more on this process see previous post). This carbon-neutral oil will then be used in a power plant that will provide electricity to some 80,000 Floridian households.

The following points summarize the project:

Dynamotive Breaks Ground for MegaCity Plant

Dynamotive broke ground on October 7^th for the MegaCity Recycling, 200 tonnes per day BioOil plant on a 22 acre site in Guelph, Ontario.  The plant is expected to be producing BioOil in Q1 2007 as it ramps up through its commissioning process.

Dynamotive President and CEO, Andrew Kingston, said that equipment deliveries to the site are expected early in November with all major components to be on site by year end. The plant will incorporate important technological advances we gained through operating the West Lorne plant.

Dynamotive's carbon/greenhouse gas neutral fast pyrolysis technology uses medium temperatures and oxygen-less conditions to turn dry waste biomass and energy crops into BioOil for power and heat generation. BioOil can be further converted into vehicle fuels and chemicals. The fast pyrolysis process takes less than two seconds to produce BioOil, char, and non-condensable gases. There is zero waste as the BioOil and char have significant commercial application and value and the non-condensable gases are recycled and produce approximately 75% of the energy required for the pyrolysis process. 

Dynamotive Sells Plants in Ukraine

DynaMotive Energy Systems Corporation (OTCBB: DYMTF.OB) announced that it has licensed a 200 tpd pyrolysis plant with an option for two further plants of similar size to Rika Ltd, Latvia.

The pants will use patented technology that can convert forest and agricultural wastes such as bark, sawdust and sugar cane bagasse into a liquid fuel. Unlike fossil fuels, BioOil is renewable, clean burning, low in emissions and is greenhouse gas neutral. It can be used as a clean fuel for power generation in gas turbines, diesel engines and boilers. The West Lorne Facility, the first BioOil cogeneration plant that was built has provided the demonstration platform for the commercialization of the technology.

The plant will be located at one of Rika’s farm operations in the Ukraine which covers 8,700 hectares of land. The farm would be capable of supporting the three plants envisaged under the licensing agreement. Under the Agreement, Rika has the option to order two further plants and will be guaranteed fabrication slots in 2007 if such option is exercised within 12 months of the signature date.

More Information about Dynamotive and its process can be found here.

Technorati tags: biofuels, pyrolysis, bio-oil, energy, technology

The Energy Blog: Dynamotive Sells Plants in Ukraine

Dynamotive Reaches Marketing Understanding

DynaMotive Energy Systems Corporation (OTCBB:DYMTF) announced today that the Company and Mitsubishi Canada Ltd., have entered  into a  wide-ranging Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") which expresses their mutual intentions to develop definitive agreements for marketing and distribution of DynaMotive's patented technology in Canada and internationally. 

Mitsubishi Canada Ltd. and DynaMotive agreed to explore collaboration in the
following areas of interest:

• International trade, market development, logistics and sales and
  distribution of DynaMotive's technology and products
• Financial services including, but not limited to, development of
  financial models, financial resources and risk management capabilities
• Equipment fabrication, distribution and leasing
• Corporate investment in DynaMotive Energy Systems Corp.(potential
  interest).

DynaMotive is an energy systems company focused on the development of innovative
energy solutions based on its patented fast pyrolysis system, previous post.

DynaMotive Announces MOU with Mitsubishi Canada Limited for Marketing and Distribution of
Dynamotives Fast Pyrolysis Technology, Press release, December 20, 2005

Dynamotive, Vancover, BC, CA

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