BioDiesel for all

These days, everyone is looking for ways to curb energy usage by dimming the lights in their homes, letting heated pools cool down, and by combining errands when out driving. Collectively, the US has seen energy usage plummet to where we're using billions of gallons less fuel every month.

Alternative energy is gaining steam as windmill power grows in importance, solar energy is ramping up, and geothermal sources are being considered. Add in nuclear power, clean coal, ethanol, and a host of other methods for generating power and America's new found zeal for energy efficiency is likely to take hold.

Some uncommon ways to save or make fuel are also big in the news including the following:

Hypermiling – This practice involves extending your car's fuel range through a host of controversial tactics including shutting down the engine and coasting when traveling down a hill, following in the wake of a truck to reduce wind drag, and removing unnecessary objects from the car, including rear seats, door paneling, or anything else that adds to the weight of the car.

Running on Water – I'm not sure how many people have ruined their engines this way, but kits promising to make it possible to help your car run on water are now being sold. Clearly, this technology isn't doing what it has promised to do, gumming up engines and wrecking cylinder heads in the process.

Biodiesel – Making your own fuel is possible if you don't mind messing around with restaurant grease. Provided your car already runs on diesel, this method does work, though the amount of work needed to convert grease into fuel is amazing. Is that French fries coming from that Volkswagen Jetta diesel whizzing down the street?

Chicken Poop – No joke, animal waste is now being used to produce energy. Chicken manure is currently being used in the Netherlands to fuel as many as 90,000 homes. Will a savvy entrepreneur think of a way to take farm excrement and produce fuel for your Volkswagen? That day cannot be far away!

While the various ways of producing alternative fuel sources or realizing fuel gains is intriguing, go with the proven methods only. Likely we'll begin to hear complaints from unsuspecting consumers who tried a controversial scheme and it failed, rendering their vehicle warranty null and void.

Don't put you and your car in a compromising position; think each project through and save on fuel now by limiting your driving and combining trips.

Joining the throng of car makers dedicated to help ease the world’s dependence on fossil fuels is DaimlerChrysler, the largest truck manufacturer in the world. At the National Biodiesel Board Annual Conference, Deb Morrissett, the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the said company, persuades the growing biodiesel industry to carry on their commitment to develop a natural standard for B20 as car makers are focusing their attention on developing and producing vehicles that will use run on alternative fuels.





The challenge to create a national specification for biodiesel is issued by Morrissett while stating that doing so would speed up the adoption of biodiesel. He further added that doing so would also help in the harnessing and directing the diverse research and investment efforts put into the development of such alternative fuel. He said that biodiesel should have a national fuel specification just like other fuels. “I’m looking forward to the time when anyone can fuel up with B20, but we’re not there yet,” he also added.





Morrissett also encouraged the industry to stay tuned for the company is intending to build on their diesel engine leadership for the coming future. They would do this with help from their partners like Cummins. As a sign of the company’s dedication to produce vehicles that will run on more environment friendly fuel, they have unveiled their Dodge Ram 2500 and 3500 vehicles which come equipped with a 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel engine. This engine can run on B5 and B20 biodiesel. The said vehicles will become available in the market in March this year. The two trucks already meet emission standards that will be implemented in 2010 and this simply shows the company’s dedication to make their trucks not only to be high performance vehicles but are also safe just like EBC brake pads.





The company’s dedication to lessen the dependence on fossil fuel does not end in their use of efficient and clean diesel engines but they are also one of the car manufacturers which are developing the use of alternative fuels on their vehicles. A concrete example of this is the usage of B5 fuel of their Jeep Liberty and Jeep Grand Cherokee models. Both vehicles are approved for regular use of the B5 biodiesel fuel. Furthermore, their 2007 Dodge Ram can run on B20 biodiesel fuel and can be used for commercial, government, and military fleets.





Their support for the alternative fuel industry does not end there either. The company is planning to develop and produce cars that would be equipped with efficient gasoline engines, hybrid cars, flex-fuel vehicles which can run on gasoline as well as alternative fuel like bio-ethanol, electric vehicles and a test fleet of more than 100 fuel cell powered vehicles.





Their commitment to produce flexi-fuel vehicles will see them producing 250,000 units of the said vehicle which can run on E85 fuel - a fuel that is a mixture of gasoline and bio-ethanol. The 85 in the E85 stands for the percentage of bio-ethanol in the fuel which means that the E85 is 85 percent bio-ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The flexi-fuel vehicles that DaimlerChrysler will produce can also run on conventional gasoline efficiently. The company aims to double the production of their FFV fleet to 500,000 units in 2008.





During the conference, Loren Beard, manager of Fuel Legislation, Regulation and Policy, along with Scott Schramm, Manager of Regulatory and Technical Affairs, also tackled engine warranty issues, OEM experience with alternative fuels and how to deal with new regulations. The National Biodiesel Board Conference was held last February 5 in San Antonio, Texas.

The market of alternative fuel sources is larger today than it has ever been before. Alternative fuels are materials that are rich in energy and that can be used instead of traditional gasoline. Biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen, methanol and propane can be used as alternative fuels as they contain much less harmful substances.

Using various types of alternative fuels can also help to reduce dependence on imported gasoline and improve air quality.

Alternative Fuel Conversion and Fuel Economy

Alternative fuel conversion system means both fuel economy and environmental benefits. Exceptional technical characteristics of alternative fuel converter AutoFFV allow your car to operate using ethanol fuel, gasoline or a mix of a both (E85 fuel).

The Benefits of Using Alternative Fuel Conversion System:

Savings on fuel costs.

Reduced engine corruption and servicing costs.

Vehicle originality is kept.

Most of gasoline cars can be converted to alternative fuels with no need for a new or replacement engine. Other benefits include total elimination of smoke. It also contributes to a quieter and smoother running engine. Besides the environmental benefits, combines high performance with economy, making it the best current alternative to gasoline fuels.

Alternative fuel converter will suit most of vehicles with digital multipoint electronic injection, including imported ones. It can also be removed anytime.

Make your car more valuable and powerful using alternative converter system.

What is E85?

E85 is the term for motor fuel blends of 85 percent ethanol and just 15 percent gasoline. E85 is an alternative fuel as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy. Besides its superior performance characteristics, ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline; it is a completely renewable, domestic, environmentally friendly fuel that enhances the nation's economy and energy independence.

Today, the U. S. imports more than half of its oil and overall consumption continues to increase. By supporting ethanol production and use, U.S. drivers can help reverse that trend. 85% ethanol can reduce pollution. Government tests have shown that E85 vehicles reduce harmful hydrocarbon and benzene emissions when compared to vehicles running on gasoline. E85 can also reduce carbon dioxide (CO2), a harmful greenhouse gas and a major contributor to global warming.

Although CO2 is released during ethanol production and combustion, it is recaptured as a nutrient to the crops that are used in its production. Unlike fossil fuel combustion, which unlocks carbon that has been stored for millions of years, use of ethanol results in low increases to the carbon cycle.

Ethanol also degrades quickly in water and, therefore, poses much less risk to the environment than an oil or gasoline spill.

These days the state of our environment is forcing people and manufacturing companies to do what they can to protect it. There are many ways to protect the environment such as recycling, using less energy, creating less pollution and whatever else you can think of.

There is a Japanese environmental equipment manufacturer and supplier called Fuji Energy Co. who have created a compact processing device used to transform used engine oil or other waste oils into fuel oil.

What this device does is it mixes already used engine oil and Type A fuel in a 40 to 60 ratio, heats it up to 60 degrees Celsius and then it takes away the solids using a centrifuge. After this process, the oil goes through a precision filter roughly six or seven times, which breaks it down to micron-sized units. When these units are emulsified, you then get an alternative fuel for boilers with basically the same composition as Type A fuel oil.

There has already been a model of this processing device built by the company Fuji Energy and they are testing it at a hot bath facility in Ehime Prefecture. The company states that the device gets rid of exhaust gas regulations. This machine can process around 100 liters of oil a day and costs around US $8.70 a month to operate.

The compact version which is priced at $48 000 is 80 x 80 x 130cm and can be installed beside and connected to a Type A fuel oil boiler. Fuji Energy is trying to ship fifty of these a year to transportation companies and food factories, using the selling point that this device has the ability to reduce fuel expenses by 30%.

Companies keep creating new unimaginable ways to help the environment hopefully soon all companies will take part and use these devices to help save the environment and make our planet a better place.

The market of alternative fuel sources is larger today than it has ever been before. Alternative fuels are materials that are rich in energy and that can be used instead of traditional gasoline. Biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen, methanol and propane can be used as alternative fuels as they contain much less harmful substances.

Using various types of alternative fuels can also help to reduce dependence on imported gasoline and improve air quality.

Alternative Fuel Conversion and Fuel Economy

Alternative fuel conversion system means both fuel economy and environmental benefits. Exceptional technical characteristics of alternative fuel converter AutoFFV allow your car to operate using ethanol fuel, gasoline or a mix of a both (E85 fuel).

The Benefits of Using Alternative Fuel Conversion System:

Savings on fuel costs.

Reduced engine corruption and servicing costs.

Vehicle originality is kept.

Most of gasoline cars can be converted to alternative fuels with no need for a new or replacement engine. Other benefits include total elimination of smoke. It also contributes to a quieter and smoother running engine. Besides the environmental benefits, combines high performance with economy, making it the best current alternative to gasoline fuels.

Alternative fuel converter will suit most of vehicles with digital multipoint electronic injection, including imported ones. It can also be removed anytime.

Make your car more valuable and powerful using alternative converter system.

What is E85?

E85 is the term for motor fuel blends of 85 percent ethanol and just 15 percent gasoline. E85 is an alternative fuel as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy. Besides its superior performance characteristics, ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline; it is a completely renewable, domestic, environmentally friendly fuel that enhances the nation's economy and energy independence.

Today, the U. S. imports more than half of its oil and overall consumption continues to increase. By supporting ethanol production and use, U.S. drivers can help reverse that trend. 85% ethanol can reduce pollution. Government tests have shown that E85 vehicles reduce harmful hydrocarbon and benzene emissions when compared to vehicles running on gasoline. E85 can also reduce carbon dioxide (CO2), a harmful greenhouse gas and a major contributor to global warming.

Although CO2 is released during ethanol production and combustion, it is recaptured as a nutrient to the crops that are used in its production. Unlike fossil fuel combustion, which unlocks carbon that has been stored for millions of years, use of ethanol results in low increases to the carbon cycle.

Ethanol also degrades quickly in water and, therefore, poses much less risk to the environment than an oil or gasoline spill.

1.0 Introduction

This 21st century has become an age of recycling where a lots of emphasize is placed on reuse of material to curb current environmental problems and maximize use of depleting natural resources and energy conservation. Modern day sustainable use and management of resource recommend need to incorporate recycling culture in our ways of life including technological process. Biomass is not left behind in this; the use of biomass energy resource derived from the carbonaceous waste of various natural and human activities to produce electricity is becoming popular. Biomass is considered as one of the clean, more- efficient and more-stable means of power generation. And it has become imperative for marine industry to tap this new evolving power generation mode especially the use of micro generation approach considering the mobile nature of ships.

Biofuels exist in solid, liquid or gas form thereby potentially affecting three of our core markets. Solid biofuels or biomass tend to be used in external combustion, however its use in the shipping industry has been limited to liquid biofuel due to lack of appropriate information economics forecasts, Sources of biomass include by-products from the timber industry, agricultural crops, raw material from the forest, major parts of household waste, and demolition wood, all things being equal using pure biomass that do not affect human and ecological chain make it suitable energy source. Biomass has low sulfur content means biomass combustion therefore considered much less acidifying than with coal, for example. Also, the ashes from biomass consumption, which are very low in heavy metals, can be recycled.

One advantage of biomass compared to other renewable-based systems that require costly advanced technology (such as solar photovoltaics) is that biomass can generate electricity with the same type of equipment and power plants that now burn fossil fuels. Many innovations in power generation with other fossil fuels may also be adaptable to the use of biomass fuels. Various factors have hindered the growth of the renewable energy resource, however. Most biomass power plants operating today are characterized by low boiler and thermal-plant efficiencies; both the fuel's characteristics and the small size of most facilities contribute to these efficiencies. In addition, such plants are costly to build.

Biomass remains potential renewable energy contributor to net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by offsetting CO2 from fossil generation. The current method generating biomass power is biomass fired boilers and Rankine steam turbines. Recent research work in developing sustainable, and economic biomass focus on high-pressure supercritical steam cycles , use of feedstock supply system, and conversion of biomass to a low or medium gas that can be fired in combustion turbine cycles, resulting in efficiencies one-and-a-half times that of a simple steam turbine. biofuels has potential to influence marine industry, and it as become importance for designers and ship owners to accept their influence on the world fleet of the future especially the micro generation concept with co generation for cargo and fuel for  ships.

The paper discuss conceptual work, trend , sociopolitical driver, economic, development, and future of biomass with hope to bring awareness to local, national and multinational bodies making biofuels policies as well as maritime multidisciplinary expertise in regulation, economics, engineering, and vessel design and operation. The paper also discusses how the shipping industry can take advantage of growing tide to tap benefit promised by waste use power generation system.

2.0 Biomass developmental trend

The concept of use of Biofuels for energy generation has has been existing concept, and in the face of challenges posed by environmental need, its growth is likely to dominate renewable energy market. Following the advent of peanut oil diesel engines developed by Rudolf Diesel in 1911 the production and use of biofuels worldwide has grown significantly in recent years. The current world biofuels market is focused on: Bioethanol blended into fossil motor gasoline (petrol) or used directly and biodiesel or Fatty Acid Methyl Ester diesel blended into fossil diesel. However the use of The Fischer-Tropsch model that involve catalyzed chemical reaction to produce a synthetic petroleum substitute, typically from coal, natural gas or biomass, for use as synthetic lubrication oil or as a synthetic fuel seem promising and negate risk posed by food based biomass. This synthetic fuel runs only in diesel engines and some aircraft engines. Oil, product and chemical tankers being constructed now are likely to benefit much more from use of biomas. However use on gasoline engines ignites the vapors at much higher temperatures, which pose limitation to inland water craft.

Biomass generation and growing trend can be classified into 3 generation types:

• first generation’ biofuels relate to biofuels made from sugar or starch, producing bioethanol, and vegetable oil or animal fats producing biodiesel. First generation biofuels provoke increasing criticism through their dependence on food crops and issues over biodiversity, land use and human rights. Hybrid technology for percentage blending is being employed to mitigate food production impact.
• Second generation biofuels mitigate problem posed by the first generation biofuels. They do not affect food crops because they are made from waste biomass from agricultural and forestry, fast-growing grasses and trees specially grown as so-called "energy crops". With technology, sustainability and cost issues to overcome, second-generation biofuels are still several years away from commercial viability and many second generation mass produced biofuels are still under development including the biomass to liquid. Fischer-Tropsch production technique.
• third generation biofuels are green fuels like algae biofuel made from energy and biomass crops that have been designed in such a way that their structure or properties conform to the requirements of a particular bioconversion process. They are made from such as sewage, and grown on ponds.

Just like tanker revolution influence on ship type, demand for biomass will bring, will bring capacity, bio -material or completed product from source to production area and then to the point of use, will bring technological, environmental change will require ships of different configuration, size and tank coating type. As well as impact on the tonne mile demand will change accordingly.

Effect on shipping is likely to follow shipping large scale growth on exports and seaborne trade from key exporting regions, particularly South America. Brazil has a key role. Brazil has already been branded to be producing en-mass ethanol from sugar cane since the 1970s with a cost per unit reportedly the lowest in the world. And it is currently exploring ethanol

Table 1 - World ethanol consumption 2007

Consumption

World ethanol consumption -

51 million tones, 2007

Us and brazil

68%

EU and China –

17% - surplus of 0.1 million tones

US deficit –

1.7mt

EU deficit -

1.3 mt

World – deficit

1mt

Recent year is also witnessing  emerging trade on biofuel product between the US, EU, and Asia and whilst Brazil exports the most ethanol globally at about 2.9 million tonnes per year, the top importers of the US, EU,Japan and Korea have increasing demand that will have to be satisfied by increased shipping capacity. Seaborne vegetable oil supply is increasingly growing

Table 2 - Biofuel growth

Vegetable oil

33 mt in 2000 to 59 mt in 2008

Palm oil

13 mt in 2000 to 32 mt forecast in 2008.

a 7.5% p.a growth rate

Soya bean

7 mt to some 11.5 mt in 2008,

EU

imports - 5.7 mt in 2001 to an expected 10.3 mt for 2008

8.9%.

3.1 mt in 2001 to 5.2 mt forecast for 2008

39%

Production capacity- 1.9 mt in 2002 to 11 mt in 2007, with 2007.

50% of total capacity.

Recently biofuel is driving a new technology, Worldwide; the use of biofuels for cars and public vehicles has grown significantly. With excess capacity waiting for source material it seems inevitable that shipping demand will increase.

3.0 Inter industry Best Practice

3.1 Land based use - 

• UK pumps mandate at least 2.5% biofuels. This target will rise to 5% by 2010. Also in the UK, the first train to run on biodiesel went into service in June 2007 for a six month trial period. The train uses a blended fuel, which is 20% biodiesel and the operator, Virgin Trains, is confident the mix can be increased to at least a 50% mix with the further possibility to run trains on fuels entirely from non-carbon sources.
• On January 15, 2006- Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA lunch a program to test a 20% blend of biodiesel (B20) in its buses. In two months they used approximately 45,000 gallons of B20. As a result of the test, in April 2006 they began using biodiesel fleet-wide. In addition to using B20 in the winter months, COTA has committed to using 50-90% biodiesel blends (B50 - B90) during the summer months. This is projected to decrease regular diesel fuel consumption by over one million gallons per year.
• 26th of October 2007. buses in the UK running on B100 was launched on  In a pilot project. Argent Energy (UK) Limited is working together with Stagecoach to supply biodiesel made by recycling and processing animal fat and used cooking oil.
• For power stations, B&W have orders in the EU for 45 MW of two-stroke biofuel engines with a thermal efficiency of 51-52%. Specifically, these operate on palm oil of varying quality, and in the future, it is expected that more engines, whether stationary or marine, will be developed to run on biofuels.

·         US DOE has funded five new advanced biomass gasification research and development projects beginning in 2001(Vermont project)

·         2008 - Ford announced a £1 billion research project to convert more of its vehicles to new biofuel sources. The first trial oft, Last year. BP Australia has now sold over 100 million liters of 10% ethanol content fuel to Australian motorists, and Brazil sells both 22% ethanol petrol nationwide and 100% ethanol to over 4 million cars, It is a trend that is gathering momentum.

• In a program initiated by the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development in Stockholm, several Swedish universities, companies, and utilities are collaborating to accelerate the demonstration of the advanced EVGT for natural-gas firing, especially in small-scale units. A natural-gas-fired EVGT pilot plant (0.6 megawatts of power output for a simple gas-turbine cycle) should start operation in Lund, Sweden, in 1998.

·         AES Corporation is a leading company in biomass conversion internationally. At AES Kilroot in Northern Ireland, the team recently completed a successful trial to convert the plant to burn a mixture of coal and biomass. With further investment in the technology, nearly half of Northern Ireland’s 2012 renewable target could be met from AES Kilroot alone.

3.2 Aero industry–

• Virgin Atlantic - Air transport is receiving increasing attention because of environmental concerns linked to CO2 emissions, air quality and noise. Virgin Atlantic in collaboration with Boeing and General Electric aircraft alternative fuels project for aircraft. A successful test flight from London to Amsterdam flight took place on 24th February of this year, running one of the four jumbo jet engines on a mixture of 20% coconut oil and babassu nut oil, with 80% conventional jet fuel. This fuel was specifically chosen due to its performance at low operating temperatures. The test was successful, with no noticeable difference in performance. Except that; imitation that biofuel mix used was in no way sustainable in the quantities required by the demands of the aviation industry. In a way to mitigate this Virgin is looking to us use of Algae based fuels as it is predicted that they may be suitable for use at low temperature.

3.3  Maritime industry 

• The use of land based transportation, is growing, however the use for sea based transportation need to be explored. Biofuels  for ship will be advantageous. In recent UK pilot project where Buses are run on B100 Argent Energy (UK) Limited is working together with Stagecoach to supply biodiesel made by recycling and processing animal fat and used cooking oil. Marine engines with their inherent lower speed and more tolerant to burning alternative fuels than smaller, higher speed engines tolerance will allow them to run on lower grade and cheaper biofuels.
• Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) unveiled a palm oil-based biodiesel since 2005.Optimistic outcome of the trial made RCCL confident enough to sign a contract in August 2007 for delivery of a minimum 15 million gallons and for the four years after, a minimum of 18 millions gallons of biodiesel for its cruise ships fleet. The contract marked the single largest long-term biodiesel sales contract in the United States.
• In early 2007, United States Coast Guard indicated that their fleet will augment increase use of biofuels by 15% over the next four years.
• In the marine industry, beside energy substitute advantage, biolubricants and biodegradable oil  are particularly advantageous from an environmental and pollution perspective. Bio lubrication also offer higher viscosity, flash point and better technical properties such as increased sealing and lower machine operating temperature advantageous use in ship operation.

Time has gone when maritime industry could afford nitty gritty in adopting technology, other industry are already on a fast track preparing themselves technically for evitable changes driven by environmental problem, Global energy demands and political debate add further pressures to find alternative energy especially bio energy  because of hybridization of old and new system advantage it offer. The implication is that shipping could be caught ill prepared for any rapid change in demand or supply of biofuel. Thus this technology is in the early stages of development but the shipping industry need top be prepared for the impacts of its breakthrough because Shipping will eventually required be at the centre of this supply and demand logistics chain again. Table 3 shows the projection for the main present players.

Table3  – projection

Region

Growth (1990-1994)

Projection (2020)

United states

7%

15%

Europe

2%

15%

4.0 Sources of biomass

North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) region. Supply has classified biofuel into the following four type’s vizs: agricultural residues, energy crops, forestry residues, and urban wood waste/mill residues. A brief description of each type of biomass is provided below:

• Agricultural residues from the remaining stalks and biomass material left on the ground can be collected and used for energy generation purposes this include residues of wheat straw and corn stover.
• Energy crops are produced solely or primarily for use as feedstocks in energy generation processes. Energy crops includes hybrid poplar, and switchgrass, grown on idled, or in pasture, and in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
• Forestry residues are composed of logging residues, rough rotten salvageable dead wood, and excess small pole trees.
• Urban wood waste/mill residues are waste woods from manufacturing operations that would otherwise be landfilled. The urban wood waste/mill residue category includes primary mill residues and urban wood such as pallets, construction waste, and demolition debris, which are not otherwise used.

The most important agricultural commodity crops being planted in the United States are listed in Table 4. Corn, wheat, and soybeans represent about 70 percent of total cropland harvested.

Table 6 shows representative characteristics for different subcategories of urban wood waste and mill residues.

5.0 Risk and Uncertainties

Although a significant amount of effort has gone into estimating the available quantities of biomass supply, the following risk and uncertainties that need to be incorporated into design and decision work on biodiesel use are:

• Risk to land use - Our planet only have 295 land, for example Brazil has some 200 million acres of farmland available, more than the 46 million acres of land,  required to grow the sugarcane needed to satisfy the projected 2022
• Evolving competing uses of biomass materials, the large market consumption, pricing and growing need.
• In agricultural waste, the impact of biomass removal on soil quality pose treat to agricultural residues that need to be left on the soil to maintain soil quality could result in significant losses of biomass for electric power generation purposes.
• Impact of changes in forest fire prevention policies on biomass availability could cause vegetation in forests to minimize the potential for forest fires could significantly increase the quantity of forestry residues available.
• Potential attempt to recycle more of the municipal solid waste stream might translate into less available biomass for electricity generation. \
• Impact on the food production industry as witness in recent food scarcity crisis

5.1 Regulatory impact

The EU has stated that by 2020 a target of 20% of community wide energy will be renewable. Further to this, all member states are to achieve a mandatory 10% minimum target for the share of biofuels in transport petrol and diesel consumption by 2020.. The legislation provides a phase-in for biofuel blends, including availability of high percentage biofuel blends at filling stations.  The United States Congress passed the Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS) in February 2008, which will require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2022. In parallel to this, work is continuing to reduce emissions further in vehicles. Political drivers in Asia vary according to region. In Southeast Asia, the centre of world production for palm oil, coconut oil, and other tropical oils, political support for farming is the key driver.

The issue affecting shipping is whether to refine and use biodiesel locally, or export the unrefined oil for product production elsewhere. In the short term the economics have favored the exports of unrefined oil - which is good news for us. Over the next ten years, with the cost of oil rising, and strict emission reductions in place, the need for increased biofuel production is likely to increase. as well as creating a net positive balance fuel. According to the IEA, world biofuels demand for transport could increase to about 3% of overall world oil demand in 2015 and double by 2030 over the 2008 figure. This does not sound so significant but as we show later it has a significant impact on the specialist fleet capacity demand. As we said before, predicting the trade pattern of biofuels adds a layer of complexity to the overall  nergy supply picture and our oil distribution system.

We also believe that this forecast will be the minimum seen as the political pressures will cause the level to rise beyond 3%. To put the scale in context, the current oil tanker fleet of vessels 10,000 dwt or larger comprises of some 4,600 vessels amounting to 386 million dwt. These include about 2,560 Handysize tankers. Additionally, there are some 4,400 more small tankers from 1,000 to 10,000 dwt accounting for 16 million dwt. Our projections show a significant role for seaborne transport, even using conservative bases with high proportions of locally supplied biofuels. This is a significant fleet segment that poses technical and regulatory challenges. As we have discussed, the requirements cannot be fully defined because many market factors remain uncertain, but ship owners who are building new vessels or operating existing vessels should consider this future trade through flexible design options that we will introduce later.

5.3  Potential Impacts to Shipping

The key political drivers for biofuels are environmental concerns, energy security and agricultural policy. The tonne mile demand for future tankers will be greatly affected by national, regional or global policy and political decision making in these areas. There is a greater flexibility in the sourcing of biofuels than there is in hydrocarbon energy sources and this may be attractive to particular governments. Once the regulatory framework is clear, economics will determine how the regulations will best be met and seaborne trade will be at the centre of the outcome. In many parts of the world, environmental concerns are the leading political driver for biofuels. Reflecting these concerns, the global Kyoto Protocol, was negotiated in 1997, and this further provides a driver for the use of biofuels.

5.4  Shipping Routes and Economics Impacts

The above trend analysis discussed indicate potential capacity requirement from shipping, so far  North America, Europe and South East  Asia are the key importing regions where this growth is concentrated. This includes the Latin American counties of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay and Southeast Asia's Indonesia and Malaysia will remain key suppliers for the palm oil, Philippines and Papua New Guinea have potentials for vegetable oil and agricultural while Thailand has potential for sugarcane. This trade potential will determine future trade route from Malacca Straits to Europe, ballast to Argentina, to load soybean oil to China, and then make a short ballast voyage to the Malacca Straits, where the pattern begins again, a typical complicated fronthaul / backhaul combinations that can initiate, economies of scale need top reduce freight costs and subsequent push for bigger ship production and short sea services like recent experience of today’s tankers.  According to plateau case study the following regional impact can be deduced for shipping.

Biofuel

Demand

North America

ethanol

33 million tons

Europe

ethanol and biodiesel.: 50:50

30 million tons

Asia

ethanol and biodiesel.: 50:50

18 million tons

North America demand – policy work support biofuel use in the us and 32 Handysize equivalent tankers will be needed to meet US demand in 2015. with technological breakthrough there will be need for 125 vessel 2030.

European demand - Due to environmental requirement and energy security believed to be politically acceptable in the EU but economics may drive a different outcome.80 Handysizes with some due to the growth in trade and longer voyage distance.  With technological breakthrough for 2nd and 3rd generation biofuel growth will need growing to 145 in 2030 Aframax vessels if the technical issues can be overcome.

Asia demand  - In plateau case  50 Handysize equivalents are required in 2015 and 2030 with forecast vessel sizes being Handysizes with some Panamax vessels 162 vessels total in the three regions.

By adding up all the regions, with biofuels as only 3% of world transport demand, we are looking at a fleet of about 400 Handysize vessels to accommodate the demand and supply drivers by 2030 and 162 by 2015. The total vessel forecast for 2030 could means 2,560 vessels of 81 million deadweight tons.

As regions identify these growth markets and recognize the economies of $/tonne scale that can be achieved, as shown here, with bigger tonnage, we are seeing natural investment occurring. New port developments in concerned trade rout will be required to accommodate large Panamax vessel and parcel size for palm oil exports. on the long haul routes.

5.5  Biomass  Ship Technologies Impacts

Generation

A variety of methods could turn an age-old natural resource into a new and efficient means of generating electricity. biomass in large amounts is available in many areas, and is being considered as a fuel source for future generation of electricity. Biomass is by its nature both bulky and widely distributed and electricity from conventional, centralized power plants requires an extensive distribution network. Traditionally power is generated through centralized, conventional power plant, where biomass is transported to the central plant, typically a steam or gas turbine power plant, and the electricity is then distributed through the grid to the end users. Costs include fuel and transportation, power plant construction, maintenance, and operation, and distribution of the electric power, including losses in transmission.

Electrical efficiency

capacity

 biomass

thermal efficiency -40 %

$2,000 per kilowat

coal

45 %

$1,500 per kilowatt,

However, micro-biomass power generators located at the site of end-use seem to offer a path for new solution for energy. Recent development in towards use of micro biomass will equally offer best practice adaptation for marine power. Biomass is used at or near the site of end-use, with heat from external combustion converted directly to electricity by a biomass fired free-piston genset . Costs include fuel and acquisition and maintenance of the genset and burner. Since the electricity is used on site, both transmission losses and distribution costs are minimal. Thus, in areas without existing infrastructure to transmit power, there are no additional costs. In this case it is also possible to cogenerate using the rejected heat for space or hot water heating, or absorption cooling. Previously, option two has not been feasible, since there have been no small (less than ~50 kW) devices for directly and efficiently converting biomass energy to electricity. Micro-biomass power generation is a more cost-effective means of providing power than central biomass power generation. In particular, areas where there is a need for both power and heat - domestic hot water and space heat and absorption chilling - are attractive for cogeneration configurations of this machine. Biomass can be generated using single or ganged free-piston Stirling engines gensets. These micro-biomass generators offer a number of advantages over centralized biomass fueled power plants. They can be placed at the end-user location taking advantage of local fuel prices and do not require a distribution grid. They can directly provide electrical output with integral linear alternators, or where power requirements are larger they can be ganged and drive a conventional rotary turbine. They are hermetically sealed and offer long lives through their non-contact operation.

Biomass for electricity generation is treated in four ways in NEMS: (1) new dedicated biomass or biomass gasification, (2) existing and new plants that co-fire biomass with coal, (3) existing plants that combust biomass directly in an open-loop process,18 and (4) biomass use in industrial cogeneration applications. Existing biomass plants are accounted for using information such as on-line years, efficiencies, heat rates, and retirement dates, obtained through EIA surveys of the electricity generation sector.

Emissions offsets and waste reduction could help enhance the appeal of biomass to utilities  An important consideration for the future use of biomass-fired power plants is the treatment of biomass flue gases. Biomass-combustion flue gases have high moisture content. When the flue gas is cooled to a temperature below the dew point, water vapor starts to condense. By using flue-gas condensation, sensible and latent heat can be recovered for district heating or other heat-consuming processes; this increases the heat generation from a cogeneration plant by more than 30 percent.  Flue-gas condensation not only recovers heat but also captures dust and hazardous pollutants from flue gases at the same time. Most dioxins, chlorine, mercury, and dust are removed, and sulfur oxides are separated out to some extent. Another feature of flue gas condensation is water recovery, which helps solve the problem of water consumption in evaporative gas turbines.

Biomass open door for another way rather than competing with fossil fuel plants a substantial opportunity exists to generate micro-biomass electric power, at power levels from fractions of a kilowatts through to tens or hundreds of kilowatts, at the point of en d use. At these power levels neither small internal combustion engines, which cannot use biomass directly, nor reciprocating steam engines, with low efficiency and limited life, can offer the end user economic electric power. Free-piston Stirling micro biomass engine engines are an economic alternative. Stirling offers the following advantages over significantly larger systems:

• Stirling machines have reasonable overall efficiencies at moderate heater head temperatures (~600ƒC)
• cogeneration is simple
• large amounts of capital do not have to be raised to build a single evaluation plant with its associated technical and economic risks
• A large fraction of the value of the engine alternator can be reused at the end of its life
• Stirling systems can be ganged with multiple units operating in parallel.

United States: 1996, P1-R96-STAB-00-NTH (Washington, DC, November 1996). l.

Most American consumers have been hit hard by soaring gas prices, and many people from individuals to research firms are searching for an alternative fuel source that is renewable, economical, and environmentally friendly.



Biodiesel made from crops such as corn and soybeans is one such alternative that most people are aware of, but another option, algae biodiesel, is one of the newest and most promising fuel sources to date. One thing is for sure, if a solution to the ever increasing gas prices is not found soon millions of people will be unable to afford their daily commute.



Many people have put their hopes in biodiesel made from crops as the solution to oil dependency. However, there are problems with biodiesel made from crops namely the displacement of food and the amount of crops it takes to produce a gallon of oil. Using food crops such as soybeans and corn to produce oil takes away from the amount crops that could have been used for food.



Using food crops to make biodiesel is also not very economical, it takes an acre of soybeans to produce about 50 gallons of biodiesel and an acre of corn to produce only about 20 gallons of biodiesel. Compared to the 5,000 or more gallons of biodieseal produced from one acre of algae, food crops are underperforming.



The fuel consumption for cars, trucks, and other transportation in the US accounts for almost 70% of total oil consumption. While this is a huge chunk of our oil needs, it would take only about 15,000 square miles of algae farms to produce enough biodiesel to meet our transportation needs.



That would be one algae farm that measured 120 miles by 125 miles or 50 algae farms that were only 300 square miles each. With the space requirements feasible, algae bio diesel just may be the fuel of the future as it is economical, renewable, and will not displace food crops.



Making biodiesel from algae is a complicated process, but it is not harder than making it from other sources such as crops or waste oil and it is even possible for consumers to make their own algae biodiesel at home. In fact, making biodiesel from algae is actually easier than from other sources such as waste oil because it does not require the level of filtering or titrating. It is possible that once consumers learn how to make algae bio diesel for themselves that they can in fact become responsible for their own energy needs and stop depending on large energy companies.



This fact has the potential to lower energy prices simply because the big energy companies would not be the only place to get gasoline and heating oil. It is becoming more and more common for individuals to make their own fuel form waste oil but as it become harder to get waste oil form commercial sources many more people will begin to turn to algae as the fuel source of choice.



Although algae biodiesel has been touted as the fuel of the future by many, one thing is for sure, if we do not find alternatives to cut our dependence on gasoline and crude oil, we will continue to struggle as gas prices rise.

In the old days it used to be that you just drove your Nissan Sentra and perhaps its brand new Nissan Sentra parts over to McDonalds to get some of those yummy French fries and Mcburgers.





Now can you imagine getting your car fueled in McDonalds? How about a fuel pump sticking out the drive thru window to gas up your car?





No? Maybe literally these scenarios are far-fetched, but, to get fuel to power your car from the world-famous food chain’s kitchen isn’t as remote a possibility as you think.





In the UK just recently, McDonalds has announced that it will be converting all of its UK delivery vans to run on cooking oil-based biodiesel. This means that aside from getting to enjoy that delicious smell of double cheeseburger ‘n’ fries as a delivery truck drives by our British friends can do so rest assured that the truck may be carrying sinful food but it isn’t at least, making the dreadful environmental transgression we call pollution.





So how does it work?





According to a report by Topgear, once the oil has been used to make your Freedom Fries turn into a tasty state of crispiness, it'll be combined with rapeseed oil to power McDonald's 155 Lorries, saving some 1,650 tonnes of carbon each year. Which is something, if you think about all the folks calling for delivery everyday, right?





Here in our shores, we are also not lacking in environmentally-sound burger-delivering companies. In 2006 it was reported that Burgerville, a Vancouver, WA-based "fast casual" restaurant chain, has begun converting its used cooking oil into biodiesel. Through an agreement with Portland company MRP Services, the used oil is picked up and transported to a processing plant where it is converted to biodiesel.





Before the two companies arranged to do good for Mother Nature, the oil was shipped to Asia and typically used in the creation of cosmetics and soap.





This isn’t the first foray into sustainable business practices for Burgerville though. Last August, the company announced it would pay for its electricity by purchasing wind power, a move that saved a staggering 17.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being released to the region annually.





About Biodiesel


Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.





Biodiesel is better for the environment because it is made from renewable resources and has lower emissions compared to petroleum diesel. It is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar. Since it is made in the USA from renewable resources such as soybeans, its use decreases our dependence on foreign oil and contributes to our own economy. (source: http://www.biodiesel.org/)

Magnesol is definitely a creative innovation in the wonderful world of biodiesel. This chemical allows you to wash your raw product without having to use any water which in return saves you money. It was created especially for use with biodiesel. There since have been many inventions made that have tried to do what it does. Unfortunately for those other pretenders, this is the only product that has been thoroughly researched and has the pedigree to truly be efficient.





One of the things you can do with magnesol is produce ultra pure biodiesel every time you wash. You are able to achieve higher fuel standards much easier than with using water to wash. You also save on two key elements which are time and money. It allows you to make a far better quality end product you can ultimately sell.





Magnesol, is what they call an adsorbent filter aid that makes sure that there is a high level of biodiesel quality by removing contaminants that are in methyl esters. Magnesol is not simply just any old magnesium silicate, it is actually the only specially formulated product for biodiesel.





Magnesol is the only magnesium silicate that has been designed by experts. The time money and effort that is put into water washing simply does not make sense once you have seen the power of Magnesol at work. It does not matter if it is smaller home producers or if it is huge biodiesel factories, Magnesol is the way to go for all of your biodiesel washing needs.





There have been many imitations that have tried to copy what Magnesol does however Magnesol is the only one that remains standing. Imitations that have not had as much money invested into them simply do not work as well as this product which has been subjected to a lot of research. At the end of the day this product keeps providing that it’s the way to go.

Algae is a major renewable fuel which can be used to manufacture Biodiesel. One of the companies in New Zealand successfully developed a system for using sewage waste as a substrate for algae and then it produce bio-diesel. An alga is considered as the highest yield feedstock for biodiesel that can produce more enough oil compared to soybeans when grew in an acre.





Actual Biomass algae produced from field trials, which is conducted during the NREL’s aquatic species program. It is being converted using the actual oil content of the algae species grown in the specific program.





There are various advantages of producing biodiesel from algae, which include rapid growth of the plant. Using Algae Biodiesel gives high per acre yield. Algae biodiesel does not used to contain sulfur, toxic materials and it is highly biodegradable. There are some species, which are ideally suited for algae biodiesel production, because their high oil contents in some species.





Algae used to develop from small, singled celled organisms to cellular organisms, some algae have complex distinguished form. Algae can be easily seen at places like damp, bodies of water. Algae are common in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. Like any other plants algae require three elements to spring up sunlight, carbon-di-oxide and water. Plant algae and some other bacteria convert sunlight to chemical energy, which process call as photosynthesis. Algae used to contain 2% and 40% of lipids or oils by weight. If algae have greater oil, it may results in lower yield annual food crops such as soybeans. Currently only 0.3% of the land of the US, it is getting utilized to produce enough biodiesel.


Species of algae with up to 50% oil content have conclude that only 28000km land getting used to produce biodiesel. Unused desert land could be used for effective growing of algae.





Following is the productions which obtained in an entire year. In the winter months algae productivity used to drop.


Metric Tons / Hectare/ Year


M. minutum alage 1989 35.8


M. minutum alage 1989 30.3


M. minutum alage 1990 38.3


Algae 1978 43.8


Sugarcane 79.2


Oil Palm 50


Arundo Donax 50


To cultivate Algae for Liquid Fuel production requires,





Gallons of Oil per Acre per year


Corn required 15


Safflower required 48


Sunflower required 83


Rapessed required 127


Oil Palm required


Micro Algae required 1850


Micro Algae required 5000-15000





Company, which produces Biodiesel from Algae





The Enhance Biofuels and Technology generate algae process which combines a bioreactor with an open pond. Here both using waste co2 from coal fired power plant flue gases as a fertilizer. Biodiesel and ethanol can be used an alternative fuel and also it is being sold.





GreenFuel Technology, where emissions to Biofuels process, photosynthesis which grows algae, it capture CO2 and it produce high energy biomass. The algae can be economically converted to solid fuel, methane or liquid transportation fuels like biodiesel and ethanol.

The fuel industry has tremendously hurt many industries.  One that it directly affects is the landscape and lawn care industry.  Especially the lawn side of the business which is the division that is able to create a strong consistent weekly income.   There is a large fuel expense that is associated with the lawn side due to the weekly commute to each job.

Most current client’s properties were bid on when fuel prices were still reasonable several years ago.  Prices have been increased but some of the lawns are spread out, which was not an issue several years ago.  The local market is competitive enough that the customer is able to receive the services from someone else if I have to factor the lengthy commute which they are not responsible for.  This is the dilemma and biodiesel may be the answer.

There are several operating costs associated the making of quality biodiesel.  They include Electricity, Methanol, Catalyst, Sulfuric Acid, Water, and the Machine.  In my case there is no rent expense.  Labor is not a factor either due to the fact that the machine requires very little attention.  There are several variable expenses such as fuel cost to pick up old oil to be able to convert it to fuel oil.  These expenses can be covered by the savings on the original fuel expense.

The machine that is being used only requires a slight amount of human interaction. There are cheaper machines but they require a more intense labor force to monitor and run the machine. The cheaper machine retails for around $3900 and the selected BioPro 190 is $9400.   The initial investment is more but in return the company will have an industrial grade machine as opposed to a home biodiesel kit.

Currently the diesel fleet consists of two trucks that have 37 gallon tanks.  On an average week both trucks will go though a tank of gas, which is a total of 74 gallons a week.  Diesel is currently 4.89 a gallon, which averages to around $360 dollars a week.  The trucks are in full use for 40 weeks out of the year which yields an annual fuel cost of around $15,000.  This does not include snow removal when the trucks are usually required to run 24 hours a day for the duration of the storm.  Recently the snow business has been so lucrative it will not be factored into the equation.

The cost of biodiesel will work out to be around .87 cents a gallon.  An Excel program was written with inputs for all expenses to determine the price.  The truck will burn slightly more biodiesel then regular diesel.  Also, the trucks will now have to work a 10 mile radius of local restaurants to collect the used cooking oil that will later be turned into biodiesel. This will up the weekly usage of fuel.  If both trucks are ran on biodiesel, 80 gallons a week should be burned. This will be a weekly expense $69.60.  If multiplied by the operating year of 40 weeks the total fuel expense will be $2784.  This yields around a $12,000 dollar a year savings in fuel expenses alone.

There are also benefits when it comes time for taxes.  There are ways for tax rebates for running cleaner burning fuel as well as disposing of the used waste oil.  “The Small Agri-Biodiesel Producer Tax Credit was established as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.  This tax credit program is a volumetric based income tax credit for the production of agri-biodiesel (biodiesel made from first-use vegetable oils and first-use animal fats).” http://www.biodiesel.org/news/taxincentive/

Biodiesel is not for everyone though.  It does require you to deal with used cooking oil which is not a very clean product to handle.  Also, there are different grades and qualities of used oil.  This is something that will have to be tested prior to using the oil.  It is a very good way to save on fuel cost but if not done for a large scale may be more of a hassle then it is worth.  If you are forced to run diesel trucks for towing or any other reason it may be a great investment.