BA agrees deal for UK jet biofuel plant
15.2.2010 (BBC)
By Richard Scott - Transport correspondent, BBC News
British Airways has struck a deal to build the first plant in Europe to produce jet fuel from waste matter.
Some 500,000 tonnes of waste will be used by the UK facility each year to produce 16 million gallons of fuel.
Construction of the plant in east London will start within two years. It is set to produce fuel from 2014, creating up to 1,200 jobs.
BA said the plant would produce twice the amount of fuel needed to power all its flights from London City Airport.
It would only account for about 2% of flights from Heathrow, however.
Greenhouse gas
BA argues the plant will cut the amount of waste that is sent to landfill, reducing the amount of methane that is produced.
Methane is thought to be a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. [ x23 as powerful].
The plant will be built by a US company Solena Group, with BA committing to buy all of its output.
It will be another four years before it starts producing fuel, and it is unlikely to work at full capacity straight away.
The ideal source material for the plant is waste matter that has a high carbon content.
Biofuel creation
The waste is fed into a high temperature "gasifier" to produce BioSynGas.
A chemical process called Fischer Tropsch is then used to convert the gas into biofuel.
Waste products from the process can be used to power the plant as well as supply 20MW of electricity to the national grid.
A solid waste product can be used as an aggregate in construction.
The fuel produced by the plant is certified for use in other countries, but not currently in the UK.
BA says it is confident of getting the certification by the time the plant starts producing fuel, either for use in a blend with traditional kerosene or on its own.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8515620.stm
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ARCADIS Chosen as Principle Consultant for Jet Fuel Plant Construction in Europe
ARCADIS, the international consultancy, design, engineering and management services company, announced today that it will take the role of Principle Consultant for a sustainable jet fuel plant to be developed by Solena Group in partnership with British Airways - the first of its kind in Europe....... |
http://www.azobuild.com/news.asp?newsID=9228
and http://www.solenagroup.com/about.htm
see also
When the plant becomes operational, they hope in 2014 (but there will presumably be lots of planning hurdles to cross), it will contribute, they estimate, 1% of BA's total fuel needs.
The greenhouse gas reduction will be less than that - they say "up to" 95% though the Climate Committee's report in December reckoned that while 10% of aviation fuel in 2050 would be likely to come from biofuel (making BA's aspiration the average), this would generate only a 5% reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, given the emissions that will be generated from biofuel production and land use change impacts. (A figure of biofuels generating a 50% GHG reduction comes from analysis by the industry group Sustainable Aviation.) If a new fuel could genuinely be produced creating 95% fewer emissions than a fossil fuel, which is relatively unlikely, only then might the carbon cuts approach a reduction of 10%.
15.2.2010 (Wired.co.uk)
BA promises 'Europe's first sustainable jet-fuel plant'
Biofuel produced from food and plant waste could be powering some of British
Airways' flights from London in the next four years.
The airline has signed a deal with an American company called Solena Group to establish what it claims will be "Europe's first sustainable jet-fuel plant".
Four sites in east London are currently under consideration for the plant, which
is hoped will be producing fuel from 2014.
BA says in a statement that the plant "will convert 500,000 tonnes of waste per year into 16 million
gallons of green jet fuel through a process that offers lifecycle greenhouse gas
savings of up to 95% compared to fossil-fuel derived jet kerosene."
However, Greenpeace has already pointed out to Wired that this will barely reduce
the volume of jet kerosene needed for the total of BA's flights. In fact, from
Heathrow alone it's estimated the airline requires 800 million gallons of fuel, though Wired has contacted British Airways for confirmation
on this figure, and is waiting for a response.
How does it work?
Fuel will be produced by feeding waste into a high temperature "gasifier", producing
something called "BioSynGas" -- a type of gas rich in hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
The plant will then use the Fischer Tropsch process to convert this gas into biofuels
-- specifically biojet fuel and bionaphtha -- a blending component used in petrol
and also as a feedstock for the petrochemicals industry.
There are waste products from this process but BA says that the waste gases will
be used to power the plant and supply 20MW of electricity to the national grid
while any solid waste product will be used as a building aggregate. It also adds
that the plant will be carbon neutral.
The "biomass feedstock" or waste to be converted at the plant would otherwise
be dumped in landfills, says BA, which claims that the scheme could therefore
save local authorities £36 million in landfill costs. Collection is to be co-ordinated
by the Foodwaste to Fuel Alliance, which was launched by the Mayor of London last year.
The biofuel produced will be enough to fuel all of BA's flights out of London
City Airport twice over but, as the BBC points out, this equates to just 2 % of the airline's routes out of Heathrow.
Greenpeace remains unconvinced by the plans. Aviation campaigner Vicky Wyatt told Wired: "This is more green wash from the aviation industry. Whatever BA and others claim, biofuels will not deliver big cuts in aviation emissions. The Government's own climate advisors recently agreed saying that biofuels could only play a small role.
"Instead of focussing on technology that can't deliver, the airlines need to accept that the only way to cut emissions is to stop expanding airports, like the plan for a third runway at Heathrow."
The scheme now hinges on planning permission for the plant and, more importantly, on authorities certifying the fuel that the facility will produce.
BA yet to gain official approval for biojet fuel from food scraps
Date Added: 16th February 2010
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Some quotes from the CCC report (Dec 2009)
Meeting the UK aviation target – options for reducing emissions to 2050
"The emissions reductions actually achieved by using biofuels will depend on the emissions generated in their production and their direct and indirect
impacts on land use. Biofuel feedstock production could for instance cause food production to shift to currently forested land, land with carbon rich soils, or less productive land where more intensive use of fertiliser is required.
We have assumed an average emissions savings relative to fossil fuels of 50%. (CCC report Pag 21 / 165 )
and Emissions from growing feedstock and producing biofuels The degree to which biofuels could deliver lifecycle GHG savings compared with conventional kerosene depends heavily on the type of feedstock used. Table 5.1 sets out E4tech’s assessment of possible lifecycle savings for different
aviation biofuels routes, based on a review of existing literature and abstracting
from possible land-use change effects. This shows that production from conventional oil crops has relatively high emissions compared to production from energy crops (e.g. woody crops and grasses), residues and wastes,low input oil crops, or algae. Specifically: • For biofuels based on conventional oils, emissions from the use of fertiliser
in growth of feedstock and from the production process reduce lifecycle emissions savings by around 50-80%. • Lifecycle GHG savings could be up to 95% for BTL (Biomass to Liquid), 66-89%
for new oil crops, up to 98% for algae and up to 90% for novel synthetic hydrocarbons.
Other studies suggest a figure for BTL lifecycle emissions reductions of around
85% (again, abstracting from possible land-use change effects). (CCC report
Page 104 / 165.)
The interesting part of the Solena press release is the use of the term "mixed waste". So this is not just kitchen compostables, but your usual unsorted rubbish. In some parts of the UK already, food waste is composted and then used as soil conditioning ie. the carbon is captured in the soil, and plastics are recycled (to some extent) into lower grade plastics.
being released.
So I am a little sceptical how this can release 95% less GHG's than burning kerosene. I think we need a very clear cradle-to-grave analysis from Solena!
(15th February 2010)
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