Biofuels & novel fuels News
Below are links to stories about aviation biofuels.
EU – Double counting for cooking oil biodiesel approved in Germany
France and the Netherlands already double count biofuels made from used cooking oil, and Germany also does this, backdated to January 2011. This is all fuels, for aviation as well as for road transport. It means products are counted twice towards the national quota of the amount of supposedly low carbon fuel being used by that country. They get this double countin because of their reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The German biofuels quota stipulates that the use of tallow-based products for biodiesel production be phased out completely from 2012. SkyNRG in Holland provides aviation biofuel based on used cooking oil to several airlines.
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US Navy buys another 450,000 gallons biofuel for practice exercise
The US Navy has bought 450,000 gallons of biofuel - its largest purchase - in order to try and reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuel oil. It is costing the Navy about $15 per gallon, compared to $4 for ordinary jet fuel. The oil came partly from Dynamic Fuels (in Louisiana) made from used cooking oil and animal fat, and from Solarzyme which produces algal fuel. Solarzyme has already sold the Navy bout 150,000 gallons of their fuel. It will be used in 50% mixture in planes and ships, for a practice "green strike group" Naval exercise off Hawaii in 2012
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Making cellulosic biofuels out of wood chips and grass just loses money
One of the possible sources of so-called "sustainable" biofuels for aviation is cellulosic biofuel - derived from plant material like wood chips, woody waste or various grasses. Several companies have been given large government grants in the USA to work on this, but it has proved to be too costly and fraught with problems. Tar production in the equipment is a problem that has proved hard to solve, especially at scale. One company has now failed and had to auction off its assets. Another is turning to corn (= maize) as that can make money, though the realise it competes with food and so affects food prices.
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Thai Airways conducts biofuel test flight
Thai Airways has flown a 20 minute flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, for the media, airline representatives etc, using partly biofuels, provided by Dutch company SkyNRG. It used 50% ordinary jet fuel and 50% recycled cooking oil from the US. SkyNRG says "SkyNRG does not commit to one single feedstock or technology. The sustainability of alternative aviation fuels depends on many factors and has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis." There will be the first passenger flight tomorrow.
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Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand sign agreements with Australian company Licella to develop aviation biofuels
Australian biofuel company Licella (in Somersby, NSW) has signed a MOU with both Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand on their technology to convert ligno-cellulosic biomass such as wood waste, agricultural or farm waste, into jet biofuel. Their process uses a Catalytic Hydro Thermal Reactor (CAT-HTR) that breaks down pulverised biomass to produce high-quality bio-crude oil.
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The inevitability of traceability in the oil and gas sector
In many sectors, such as consumer goods, food, etc, products have to be traceable and show their country of origin. Attention is now turning to oil and gas. With the current controversy in the UK over the European fuel quality regulation there will be growing demand for greater transparency. There are already some companies that have pledged to avoid using unconventional oil from oil sands. Pressure to disclose is increasing and the technology to trace crude oil back to its origin is emerging.
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Qantas to fly first biofuel flights in early 2012
Qantas is planning Australia’s first biofuel commercial flight in early 2012, according to its CEO. More details are likely to be released in the new year. They aim to make 1.5% cuts annually in emissions by various savings, but believe only biofuels will enable them to make significant cuts. Qantas has signed agreements with Solazyme and Solena. Boeing is working with Hawai’i BioEnergy to see if biojet fuels can be made from sorghum (so much for not competing with food) and eucalyptus, to keep their tourists flying in.
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Committee on Climate Change Review on future UK use of bioenergy
The Committee on Climate Change have produced their review on bioenergy. On aviation it says: Biofuels could play a role through the 2020s and beyond in supporting emission reductions from aviation, but this should not be seen as a ‘silver bullet’. It says as well as bioenergy, "efficiency improvements and constrained demand growth will also be required. The findings of the bioenergy review will feed in to the Government’s new bioenergy strategy and to the Committee’s advice on the inclusion of international aviation and shipping in carbon budgets which will be published in Spring 2012."
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Branson hoping for 50% “sustainable” aviation fuels by 2020 (8 years ahead)
Guardian article about Richard Branson and his hopes for aviation being able to use biofuels for perhaps 50% of their fuel by 2020. This is based on the hope that biofuels, from algae in particular, will be very low carbon. There is a lot of unfounded optimism about what biofuels' carbon emissions will be, now cheap they will be, and how fast they can be scaled up to industrial quantities. Branson's aim is not to cut overall emissions, but get cheap fuel for airlines, so they can continue to grow - and thus postpone the day when the industry acutually starts to be responsible for its environmental impact.
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Water for microalgae cultivation has significant energy requirements
A report into the energy used in production of algal biodiesel finds that the water needed is significant, and there are often high energy costs in providing this water for the process. There are also energy costs in providing nutrients for the algae, and other parts of the process. This means - for algae being cultivated in ponds in the USA - that life cycle energy consumed in the cultivation process sometimes, depending on various local conditions etc. - exceeds the amount of energy recovered from the algal biomass