There's an outfit in San Francisco, Incredible Adventures, that is offering day trips from San Francisco and Las Vegas to the wine country, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and various other destinations in biodiesel powered vans. It looks like they power their vans from San Francisco Biofuels, a cooperative they co-sponsor, which provides B100, pure biodiesel. It's an interesting business idea and if you're in the San Francisco or Las Vegas area you might want to check them out.
via Treehugger
A scientist from MIT has been testing an idea to clean smokestack emissions with algae while producing biodiesel, and the process results in a waste product that can be used to produce ethanol. It sounds like a triple win scenario, if not science fiction but so far the early tests are promising.
Dr. Isaac Berzin of MIT, developed the process where an algae soup contained within tubes is exposed to the emissions from a powerplant's smokestacks. After passing through the algae, the exhaust has 40 percent less CO2 and 86 percent less nitrous oxide. The algae is then collected and a combustable oil is squeezed out, biodiesel, and the remaining dried algae can then be used further in a process to produce ethanol.
GreenFuel Technologies, of Cambridge, MA has obtained venture funding to conduct field trials on a 1000 megawatt power plant followed by several other demo installations with hopes for full production by 2009.
Addressing the previous post about where the biodiesel was going to come from, calculations done by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) said 15,000 acres of algae could supply all of the nation's diesel requirements. Now that seems incredibly optimistic, however, we have not seen this study so we'll hold our comments until we have an opportunity to check the results.
If this process works as designed, it could be a very promising technology with huge benefits.
Just last week I mentioned how biodiesel was fast becoming commonplace and our attention would soon turn to where all of this biodiesel we were going to use would come from. Biodiesel, in a very short span of time, has turned from a curiousity into a booming trend and now all of those backyard biodiesel producers are finding themselves competing with the big guys for supplies of the feedstock. Sure, you can recycle your own used cooking oil but if you drive very much you'll need a bit more than leftovers from the kitchen but local restaurants will be using their own oil or selling it to companies using it to make larger quantities for sale.
Minnesota, the state producing the most biodiesel at the present time with a 2 percent biodiesel mandate, needs 18 million gallons per year, the entire nation produces 180 million gallons so Minnesota alone uses 10 percent of the U.S. biodiesel production at only a 2 percent mandated level. More production facilities are coming online but what will they make biodiesel from?
Much of the same oil used for biodiesel is currently exported so a competition for that oil would likely push up the price a bit but even if all of it were kept in the U.S., all of the canola oil for instance is 85 million gallons, soybean oil, 195 million gallons and rendered animal fats, 400 million gallons. Add those up and then compare that to the 2.5 billion gallons necessary if we went to a 5 percent biodiesel blend. B20? No way.
An article yesterday notes we will need to look at everything from a better reuse and recycling system for the oil from restaurants to corn and cottonseed oil to organic materials from the poultry industry. It's the raw material to make biodiesel that's in short supply and mandating a higher biodiesel blend at the pump can't change that.
This year, ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) will be rolling out and by October 15th, all diesel fuel sold in the U.S. must have only 15ppm (parts per million) sulfur content compared to the 500ppm that has been the standard up to this point. Sulfur, though raising emissions, helps lubricate diesel engines so a substitute additive will be necessary and advocates are hoping biodiesel will be that substitute whenever possible. Biodiesel has lubricating properties not found in regular diesel.
The problem is one of cost, chemical substitutes can be added for a fraction of a cent per gallon, while biodiesel would add 3 to 6 cents per gallon in sufficient quantities for it to perform the lubricating function. Biodiesel has government incentives promoting its use, however, and biodiesel adds power in its own right, other additives perform the lubricating function and nothing else. Adding in the fact that farmers supplying soybeans and other oil crops will also benefit, choosing biodiesel could provide a net benefit.
Stories of biodiesel filling stations and companies converting to all biodiesel fueled truck fleets continue to make the news but it won't be long before this will be about as newsworthy as crowded parking lots at a shopping mall. The occurence of these events is fast becoming so commonplace we'll soon see the coverage shift to where the biodiesel supplies are coming from.
The relative ease of converting used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel has contributed to the onrush of users while environmental concerns sparks the move for many others. Rising costs of conventional diesel and tenuous supplies from overseas producers makes it even more appealing.
The growth of biodiesel is one of the alternative fuel success stories all around the world. Though some have raised concerns about vast palm oil plantations destroying rainforests, there are a number of alternative sources of biodiesel feed stock. Used cooking oil will not go very far when widespread adoption takes place.
Jatropha is one alternative oil producing plant which can be grown on less than ideal lands, without any need for the fertile tropical environments opponents fear will be destroyed. More research in this area will not only insure greater supplies of biodiesel but will also allay some of the fears of the environmental groups.