Transport biofuels in Ireland

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Transport biofuels in Ireland
Bernard Rice
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Medium-term transport biofuel options

• Pure plant oil (rape-seed oil in modified
  engines)
• Biodiesel from vegetable oils, animal fats
• Ethanol from sugar/starch
• Biogas from animal manures, other organic
  wastes, energy crops (to CNG standard
• for vehicle use)

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Alternative fuels for I.C. engines

• What defines a good fuel?
• How does the fuel affect engine performance?
• What aspects of engine performance does it affect?

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Important fuel properties

• Calorific value
• Combustion properties (Cetane, octane)
• Viscosity
• Lubricating properties of fuel
• Effects on engine oil
• Low-temperature behaviour
• Emissions - particulates, NOx, CO, HC etc
• Other environmental issues
• Storage stability

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Pure plant oil

• Four plants in Ireland
• Few quality problems
• Good demand from hauliers
• But limited uptake due to
• Rape-seed price and supply
• Oil price fluctuations
• Lack of acceptance by most car makers
• Need to modify engine

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Engine modification for veg oil
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Draft DIN 51605Oil quality for engine use

• Suspended solids (lt24 mg/kg)
• Water content (lt 0.075)
• Acid value (lt2.0 mg KOH/g)
• P content (lt12 mg/kg)
• Ash content (lt0.01)
• Oxidation stability (lt6 hours)

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Uses of pure plant oil

• Rape-seed oil only (no other oil)
• Up to 100 blends in suitably modified engines
• Use of lt50 blends in unmodified engines
  practiced, but not recommended by anyone
• No acceptance by vehicle industry

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Biogreen pure plant oil crushing/filtering unit
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Glanbia plant, Gorey
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Fuel economy with biodiesel in routine work
Vehicle Fuel Distance travelled Fuel
economy (km) (km/l) Peugeot
306 100 biodiesel 5,753
16.3 100 Mineral 16,268
16.9 Isuzu Trooper 100 biodiesel
7,037 11.0 100 Mineral
8,915 11.2
4 reduction with biodiesel
2 reduction with biodiesel
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Biodiesel

• Green Biofuels Ireland, New Ross
• Capacity 30M litres/year
• One year in operation
• Producing high quality biodiesel
• Three other small producers from RVO
• Other developers on hold

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GREEN BIOFUELS biodiesel plant, New Ross

• Feedstocks
• Rape-seed oil
• Beef tallow
• Recovered veg oil

Capacity 30 million litres/annum
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Pure plant oil vs biodiesel

• Biodiesel
• Some acceptance by vehicle industry
• Wider feedstock range
• No engine mods needed
• More expensive process
• Pure plant oil
• Smaller scale
• Lower start-up capital
• More local involvement
• No official acceptance by vehicle industry

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Ethanol
Carbery Milk Processors 10,000 t/year from
whey Cooley Clearpower excess capacity for
potable alcohol Two more projects under study
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2. BIO-ETHANOL from starch/sugar Fuel
extender/octane booster for petrol engines

• Current Irish possibilities
• Produce from cereals or beet
• Add 5 to petrol (no engine mods)
• Replace MTBE or lead
• Add up to 80 in FFV engines

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Outline of multi-feedstock ethanol plant
Distillation
Preparation
Fermentation
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Ethanol yields

• From wheat
• 350 litres per tonne
• 3000 litres per ha
• From sugar beet
• 90 litres per tonne
• 4500 litres per ha

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Ethanol from wheat, beet

• For 2 substitution
• 15,300 ha beet
• or
• 23,000 ha wheat
• Needs
• Large scale
• Excise relief
• Investor/promoter interest
• Involvement of feedstock suppliers, oil importers

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Wheat-ethanol plant proposal, Waterford
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The Irish cereals market

• Future threatened by
• Low and fluctuating prices
• Fall in cattle numbers?
• Declining poultry industry?
• Threats to pig industry?
• Ethanol plant needed to sustain, rather than
  increase cereal production

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Biogas for transport, CHP or big boilers
Electricity
Heat
Animal manure ( food wastes?) ( energy
crops?) ( grass?)
Fuel cell
Upgrade
Biogas
Gas grid
Digestate
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Biogas as vehicle fuel
Neue Nutzungsmöglichkeiten, hohe Effizienz
In the future, up to 200,000 km/ha will be
attainable from biogas,with higher-yielding crops
and more efficient conversion
Biodiesel 11.885 kWh/ha
23.770 km
Bioethanol 14.825 kWh/ha
29.650 km
BTL (Biomass-to-Liquid) 30.252 kWh/ha
60.500 km
Biomethan 47.000 kWh/ha
94.000 km
Kraftstofferträge in kWh / ha
km-Umrechnung in Bezug auf Diesel-äquivalent
rund 10 kWh/l und 5 l/100 km
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Medium-term production potential(1st-gen
biofuels)
Diesel Pure plant oil 10-30,000
t Biodiesel 40-60,000 t Petrol From
whey 10-15,000 t From cereals 100,000
t Total 200,000 t Substitution 3
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Motor Oil Tax Relief (2007) allocations
Fuel No. of producers 5-year volume (million litres)
Bioethanol 4 306
Blended biodiesel 4 290
Biodiesel (captive fleets) 5 48
Pure plant oil 3 21
Most is being imported
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What next!

• Obligation system to replace excise relief
• National Bio-energy Action Plan

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How would it work?
Change to a biofuel obligation system

• Fuel suppliers given biofuel substitution target
• Certificates issued for biofuel sales
• Biofuel producers can sell certificates
• Fuel suppliers can either sell biofuels, buy
  certificates or pay buy-out penalty

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Next-generation transport biofuels

• Ethanol from cellulosic biomass (e.g. wood)
• 2. Thermo-chemical biomass conversion (BtL)
• 3. Biogas from manures, food wastes, energy
  crops, municipal/industrial sludges
• 4. Bio-hydrogen use in engines, fuel cells
• 5. Bio-refineries (fuel other non-food
  products)

Still in development, potential in Ireland not
clear
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Renewable Energy Directive

• By 2020 -
• 20 of consumed energy renewable
• 10 of transport energy renewable
• National Action Plans by June 2010, to include
• Sector targets
• Measures to achieve targets
• National policies for existing and new resources
• Not a re-hash of existing schemes

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Conclusions (1)

• We should aim to
• expand liquid ppo and biodiesel production to
  maximum agronomic extent
• Promote native ethanol production from arable
  crops
• Develop biogas production from animal manure,
  food wastes and energy crops
• Expand cellulose crop production, initially for
  heat/electricity, later for liquid biofuels or
  bio-refineries

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Conclusions (2)

• To achieve these targets, and to maximise home
  production of biofuels, we need
• Long-term policies and support programmes to
  reassure farmers and investors
• Transport biofuel supports sensitive to the needs
  of small-scale producers