Market penetration of ethanol

This research examines in detail the technology and economics of substituting ethanol for gasoline. This endeavor examines three issues. First, the benefits of ethanol/gasoline blends are examined, and then the technical problems of large-scale implementation of ethanol. Second, ethanol production possibilities are examined in detail from a variety of feedstocks and technologies. The feedstocks are the starch/sugar crops and crop residues, while the technologies are corn wet mill, dry grind, and lignocellulosic fermentation. Examining in detail the production possibilities allows the researchers to identity the extent of technological change, production costs, byproducts, and GHG emissions. Finally, a U.S. agricultural model, FASOMGHG, is updated which predicts the market penetration of ethanol given technological progress, variety of technologies and feedstocks, market interactions, energy prices, and GHG prices.FASOMGHG has several interesting results. First, gasoline prices have a small expansionary impact on the U.S. ethanol industry. Both agricultural producers’ income and cost both increase with higher energy prices. If wholesale gasoline is $4 per gallon, the predicted ethanol market penetration attains 53% of U.S. gasoline consumption in 2030. Second, the corn wet mill remains an important industry for ethanol production, because this industry also produces corn oil, which could be converted to biodiesel. Third, GHG prices expand the ethanol industry. However, the GHG price expands the corn wet mill, but has an ambiguous impact on lignocellulosic ethanol. Feedstocks for lignocellulosic fermentation can also be burned with coal to generate electricity. Both industries are quite GHG efficient. Finally, U.S. government subsidies on biofuels have an expansionary impact on ethanol production, but may only increase market penetration by an additional 1% in 2030, which is approximately 6 billion gallons.     

Potential of fat,oil and grease (FOG) for biodiesel production: A critical review on the recent progress and future perspectives

Wastewater discharges from restaurants, kitchens, food processing plants and slaughterhouses contain high proportion of fat, oil, and grease (FOG). Critical overview on the attractive features, current state, and needed advancements are timely essential for FOG-derived biodiesel production. Although FOG conversion into biodiesel does not compete with human food, the high contents of moisture and free fatty acids (FFAs) are the main challenges for FOG efficient utilization. The present review discussed the various methods of high FFAs-lipidic feedstocks pretreatment including acid esterification, steam stripping, nanocatalytic technology, biological conversion, glycerolysis, supercritical esterification, and simultaneous in situ conversion. Comparing to other feedstocks, FOG-derived biodiesel showed better characteristics concerning oxidative stability, flash point, cetane number, and total emissions. In addition, most of the FOG-derived biodiesel fuel met the recommendations of the international standards as well as conventional diesel. Due to its lower price, the economic analysis showed that FOG is a strong competitor to other biodiesel feedstocks. The decrease in feedstocks availability, continuous rise in the crude oil prices, life threatening environmental deterioration, and food-versus-fuel debate support FOG to be a potential biodiesel feedstock in the near future. However, the cost of FOG-biodiesel production is still far away from the acceptable ranges to compete fossil diesel. Lastly, this paper suggested a number of future perspectives in order to enhance the economy and feasibility of FOG-derived biodiesel including developing new methods for efficient conversion of brown grease, integrated approaches for sequential production of biofuels from FOG, and co-esterification of FOG with other lipidic feedstocks.     

Characterization of beef tallow biodiesel and their mixtures with soybean biodiesel and mineral diesel fuel

Tallow is a raw material for biodiesel production that, due to their highly centralized generation in slaughter/processing facilities and historically low prices, may have energy, environmental, and economic advantages that could be exploited. However beef tallow biodiesel have unfavorable properties due the presence of high concentration of saturated fatty esters. One way to overcome these inconveniences is using blending procedures. In this way, blends of beef tallow biodiesel with soybean biodiesel and with conventional mineral diesel fuel were prepared and the quality of the mixtures was monitored with the purpose to study ideal proportions of the fuels. By measurement of the viscosity, density, cold filter plugging point, and flash point, it was demonstrated that tallow biodiesel can be blended with both mineral diesel and soybean biodiesel to improve the characteristics of the blend fuels, over that of the tallow.     

Environmental and economic assessment of producing hydroprocessed jet and diesel fuel from waste oils and tallow

Animal fats and waste oils are potential feedstocks for producing hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) jet and diesel fuels. This paper calculates the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and production costs associated with HEFA jet and diesel fuels from tallow, and from yellow grease (YG) derived from used cooking oil. For YG, total CO₂ equivalent (CO₂ eq.) GHG emissions of jet and diesel were found to range between 16.8–21.4 g MJ⁻¹ and 12.2–16.9 g MJ⁻¹ respectively. This corresponds to lifecycle GHG emission reductions of 76–81% and 81–86% respectively, compared to their conventional counterparts. Two different system boundaries were considered for tallow-derived HEFA fuels. In System 1 (S1), tallow was treated as a by-product of the rendering industry, and emissions from rendering and fuel production were included. In System 2 (S2), tallow was considered as a by-product of the meat production industry, and in addition to the S1 emissions, cattle husbandry and slaughtering were also included. The lifecycle emissions (CO₂ eq.) from HEFA jet fuel for S1 and S2 were estimated to be 25.7–37.5 g MJ⁻¹ and 67.1–83.9 g MJ⁻¹ respectively. HEFA diesel lifecycle emissions were found to be 21.3–33.3 g MJ⁻¹ for S1 and 63.4–80.5 g MJ⁻¹ for S2. Production costs for these fuels were calculated using a discounted cash flow rate of return model. The minimum selling price was estimated to be 880 $ m⁻³–1060 $ m⁻³ for YG-derived HEFA, and 1050–1250 $ m⁻³ for tallow-derived HEFA fuels.     

Prospects of biodiesel from Jatropha in Malaysia

The increasing energy demands along with the expected depletion of fossil fuels have promoted to search for alternative fuels that can be obtained from renewable energy resources. Biodiesel as a renewable energy resource has drawn the attention of many researchers and scientists because its immense potential to be part of a sustainable energy mix in near future.This report attempts to compile the findings on current global and Malaysian energy scenario, potential of biodiesel as a renewable energy source, biodiesel policies and standards, practicability of Jatropha curcas as a biodiesel source in Malaysia as well as impact of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas. Final part of this report also describes the development of biodiesel market in Malaysia.The paper found that Jatropha curcas is one of the cheapest biodiesel feedstock and it possesses the amicable fuel properties with higher oil contents compared to others. Being non edible oil seed feedstocks it will not affect food price and spur the food versus fuel dispute. Jatropha can be substituted significantly for oil imports. Jatropha biodiesel has potential to reduce GHG emission than diesel fuel and it can be used in diesel engine with similar performance of diesel fuel. Jatropha curcas has an immense contribution to develop rural livelihoods too. Finally biodiesel production from Jatropha is eco-friendly and offers many social and economical benefits for Malaysia and can play an increasingly significant role to fulfill the energy demand in Malaysia.     

The impact of the life cycle analysis methodology on whether biodiesel produced from residues can meet the EU sustainability criteria for biofuel facilities constructed after 2017

This paper considers biodiesel production from residues; tallow and used cooking oil (UCO). The tallow system is more complex involving two processes. The first process is rendering in which tallow (animal fat) and Meat and Bone Meal (MBM) are produced from the slaughter of cattle. MBM is assumed as a thermal energy source for cement manufacture and thus is not used for biodiesel production. The second process is biodiesel production from tallow. Three methodologies are employed to examine sustainability of the biodiesel. The no allocation approach assigns all the parasitic demands to the tallow; thus all energies required to make both MBM and tallow are associated with the tallow biodiesel. The resulting energy balance is negative. The substitution approach allocates the energy in MBM (used to produce cement) to tallow biodiesel. This results in the net energy being greater than the gross energy. The allocation by energy content method divides the parasitic demands of the rendering process between tallow and MBM by energy content. The parasitic demands of the biodiesel process are divided by energy content of the biodiesel, glycerol and K-fertiliser. For tallow biodiesel this yielded a net energy value of 38.6% of gross energy. The same method generated a net energy value of 67% for UCO biodiesel. More importantly the recommended method (allocation by energy content) generated a value of 54% greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings for tallow and a value of 69% for UCO. Plants commencing after 2017, need to have a 60% GHG emission savings, to be considered sustainable. Thus a facility treating both feedstocks would need to treat a maximum of 60% tallow to be considered sustainable after 2017.     

Biodiesel production from inedible animal tallow and an experimental investigation of its use as alternative fuel in a direct injection diesel engine

In this study, a substitute fuel for diesel engines was produced from inedible animal tallow and its usability was investigated as pure biodiesel and its blends with petroleum diesel fuel in a diesel engine. Tallow methyl ester as biodiesel fuel was prepared by base-catalyzed transesterification of the fat with methanol in the presence of NaOH as catalyst. Fuel properties of methyl ester, diesel fuel and blends of them (5%, 20% and 50% by volume) were determined. Viscosity and density of fatty acid methyl ester have been found to meet ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 specifications. Viscosity and density of tallow methyl esters are found to be very close to that of diesel. The calorific value of biodiesel is found to be slightly lower than that of diesel. An experimental study was carried out in order to investigate of its usability as alternative fuel of tallow methyl ester in a direct injection diesel engine. It was observed that the addition of biodiesel to the diesel fuel decreases the effective efficiency of engine and increases the specific fuel consumption. This is due to the lower heating value of biodiesel compared to diesel fuel. However, the effective engine power was comparable by biodiesel compared with diesel fuel. Emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NO_x), sulphur dioxide (SO₂) and smoke opacity were reduced around 15%, 38.5%, 72.7% and 56.8%, respectively, in case of tallow methyl esters (B100) compared to diesel fuel. Besides, the lowest CO, NO_x emissions and the highest exhaust temperature were obtained for B20 among all other fuels. The reductions in exhaust emissions made tallow methyl esters and its blends, especially B20 a suitable alternative fuel for diesel and thus could help in controlling air pollution. Based on this study, animal tallow methyl esters and its blends with petroleum diesel fuel can be used a substitute for diesel in direct injection diesel engines without any engine modification.     

Comparison of performance characteristics of agricultural tractor diesel engine operating on home and industrially produced biodiesel

Owing to unstable diesel fuel prices in the world market, many farmers have been looking for alternative fuels. Vegetable oils are one of the alternatives, which can be used as fuel in diesel engines either in the form of straight vegetable oil or in the form of biodiesel. This study aims to present experimental data by utilization of home and industrial biodiesel as fuel in an agricultural tractor diesel engine. The home biodiesel production was made from different vegetable oils (crude rapeseed, edible sunflower and waste oil) with the process of one‐stage‐based catalyzed transesterification. A commercially available agricultural tractor ZETOR 7745 was employed. Measurements were taken on the power take‐off shaft by electrical dynamometer FROMENT XT200. According to the results, agricultural tractor diesel engine operating on home biodiesel fuels had better performance characteristics related to industrially produced biodiesel and similar to conventional diesel fuel. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can sunflower provide biofuel for inland demand? An integrated assessment of sustainability at regional scale

Biofuels could reduce reliance on fossil oil, while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promoting rural development. This study assessed the viability of using local biodiesel production from sunflower in Tuscany (Italy) to meet inland demand for diesel fuel in compliance with the European Directives. A crop growth model, GIS and geostatistics were used to identify suitable areas for biodiesel production, considering potential sunflower yields alongside essential sustainability criteria: energy efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHG) savings throughout the supply chain. Simulation results indicate that biodiesel potential, estimated at 95,000 t/year, corresponds to 104,400 tCO₂ eq/year of GHG saved and to 26,500 TOE/year of fossil energy saved. Two scenarios of biodiesel requirement, derived from EU targets, were evaluated. The results of the evaluation indicated that the 2010 target of replacing 5.75% of transportation diesel fuel can be met, while the 2020 target (reaching a 10% of replacement) cannot be met, since local biodiesel production could replace only 4.78% of diesel fuel requirement. A third scenario considered replacing diesel fuel currently used in the agricultural sector. Results showed that the fuel requirement of this sector cannot be fulfilled since biodiesel could cover only approximately 36% of the expected demand.     

Review of biodiesel composition, properties, and specifications

Biodiesel is a renewable transportation fuel consisting of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), generally produced by transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats. In this review, the fatty acid (FA) profiles of 12 common biodiesel feedstocks were summarized. Considerable compositional variability exists across the range of feedstocks. For example, coconut, palm and tallow contain high amounts of saturated FA; while corn, rapeseed, safflower, soy, and sunflower are dominated by unsaturated FA. Much less information is available regarding the FA profiles of algal lipids that could serve as biodiesel feedstocks. However, some algal species contain considerably higher levels of poly-unsaturated FA than is typically found in vegetable oils.Differences in chemical and physical properties among biodiesel fuels can be explained largely by the fuels’ FA profiles. Two features that are especially influential are the size distribution and the degree of unsaturation within the FA structures. For the 12 biodiesel types reviewed here, it was shown that several fuel properties - including viscosity, specific gravity, cetane number, iodine value, and low temperature performance metrics - are highly correlated with the average unsaturation of the FAME profiles. Due to opposing effects of certain FAME structural features, it is not possible to define a single composition that is optimum with respect to all important fuel properties. However, to ensure satisfactory in-use performance with respect to low temperature operability and oxidative stability, biodiesel should contain relatively low concentrations of both long-chain saturated FAME and poly-unsaturated FAME.     

Biodiesel production from renewable feedstocks: Status and opportunities

The increased demand for energy, climate change, and energy security concerns has driven the research interest for the development of alternative fuel from plant origin. Biodiesel derived from plant oils, which include edible and non-edible oil have gained interest for the last two decades as alternative for diesel around the world. Among these plant origin oils more than 95% of biodiesel production feedstocks come from edible oils, because they are readily available in many regions. The major advantage of these feedstocks is the properties of biodiesel produced from them are suitable to be used as diesel fuel substitute. But the consequence is the increase demand of the feedstock for food as well as fuel. A sustainable alternative fuel should be derived from renewable non-food biomass sources. The main objective of this review is to give an overview on the synthesis of biodiesel through esterification and transesterification using non-edible oil resources which are available in India, and available processes for synthesis of biodiesel (acid-, base-catalyzed transesterification reactions (homogeneous and heterogeneous), their importance, and which is the commercial process also discussed here.     

Impact of alternative fuel properties on fuel spray behavior and atomization

In order to verify and solve the problem of NOx and PM emissions, it is necessary to directly observe the internal combustion chamber of a diesel engine. Many studies have been performed in recent years to verify the macroscopic and microscopic behavior of the injected fuel spray because observing it is not easy due to the difficulties of the experiment. Researchers have investigated the spray characteristics for various diesel injector nozzles over a wide range of temperatures and pressure, but there is lack of evaluation for the spray characteristics for biodiesel. At a time when rapid rise of fuel prices and depleting hydrocarbon resources of the world have forced us to look for alternative fuels biodiesel produced by transesterification of non-edible vegetable oils is promising to be an important additive/substitute to petro diesel. Biodiesel being an oxygenated and sulfur-free fuel leads to more complete combustion and lower emissions. But, the energy content or net calorific value of biodiesel is less than that of diesel fuel; also it has higher viscosity and density, than diesel fuel. A considerable improvement in these properties can be obtained by mixing diesel and biodiesel and then using the blends. Biodiesel and biodiesel/petro diesel blends, with their higher lubricity levels, are increasingly being utilized as an alternative. Present paper analyzed the correlation of injection parameters that will affect the spray characteristics of biodiesel. Observations for analyzing the effect of injection parameters on spray cone angle, break up length and fuel penetration were made. Finally the performance and emissions tests were studied. Atomization and vaporization of fuel are greatly influenced by viscosity and density of fuel and these properties are temperature dependent. Thus fuel inlet temperature plays a very important role in fuel atomization process. At higher temperature viscosity of fuel decreases which enhances the atomization of biofuels.     

The economics of producing biodiesel from algae

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for conventional diesel that is made from natural plant oils, animal fats, and waste cooking oils. This paper discusses the economics of producing biodiesel fuel from algae grown in open ponds. There is potential for large-scale production of biodiesel from algal farms on non-arable land; however, previous studies have failed to demonstrate an economically viable process that could be scalable to a commercialized industry. The problems include inconsistent and insufficient algal productivities, uncertain capital and operating costs, volatile market prices and unknown levels of government support. Although intensive work is being done on many technological issues, the economic studies and data are incomplete and out of date. This paper presents an updated financial analysis of the production and economic conditions that could have a profound effect on the success of this important alternative fuel production process.     

Biodiesel production from non-edible plant oils

Because of biodegradability and nontoxicity biodiesel has become more attractive as alternative fuel. Biodiesel is produced mainly from vegetable oils by transesterification of triacylglycerols. From economic and social reasons, edible oils should be replaced by lower-cost and reliable feedstocks for biodiesel production such as non-edible plant oils. This paper reviews various methods for biodiesel production from common non-edible oils employing alcoholysis reactions. The aim of this paper is to present the possibilities of the use of non-edible oils into biodiesel production, to consider the various methods for treatment of non-edible oils and to emphasize the influence of the operating and reaction conditions on the process rate and the ester yield. The special attention is paid to the possibilities of optimization, kinetics and improvement of biodiesel production from non-edible oils.     

An investigation of using biodiesel/marine diesel blends on the performance of a stationary diesel engine

Vegetable oils are produced from numerous oil seed crops. While all vegetable oils have high-energy content, most require some processing to assure safe use in internal combustion engines. Some of these oils already have been evaluated as substitutes for diesel fuels. With the exception of rape seed oil which is the principal raw material for biodiesel fatty acid methyl esters, sunflower oil, corn oil and olive oil, which are abundant in Southern Europe, along with some wastes, such as used frying oils, appear to be attractive candidates for biodiesel production. In this paper, fuel consumption and exhaust emissions measurements from a single cylinder, stationary diesel engine are described. The engine was fueled with pure marine diesel fuel and blends containing two types of biodiesel, at proportions up to 50%. The two types of biodiesel appeared to have equal performance, and irrespective of the raw material used for their production, their addition to the marine diesel fuel improved the particulate matter, unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide emissions.     

Biodiesel from cotton seed oil and its effect on engine performance and exhaust emissions

The use of biodiesel is rapidly expanding around the world, making it imperative to fully understand the impacts of biodiesel on the diesel engine combustion process and pollutant formation. Biodiesel is known as the mono-alkyl-esters of long chain fatty acids derived from renewable feedstocks, such as, vegetable oils or animal fats, for use in compression ignition engines. Different parameters for the optimization of biodiesel production were investigated in the first phase of this study, while in the next phase of the study performance test of a diesel engine with neat diesel fuel and biodiesel mixtures were carried out. Biodiesel was made by the well known transesterification process. Cottonseed oil (CSO) was selected for biodiesel production. Cottonseed is non-edible oil, thus food versus fuel conflict will not arise if this is used for biodiesel production. The transesterification results showed that with the variation of catalyst, methanol or ethanol, variation of biodiesel production was realized. However, the optimum conditions for biodiesel production are suggested in this paper. A maximum of 77% biodiesel was produced with 20% methanol in presence of 0.5% sodium hydroxide. The engine experimental results showed that exhaust emissions including carbon monoxide (CO) particulate matter (PM) and smoke emissions were reduced for all biodiesel mixtures. However, a slight increase in oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) emission was experienced for biodiesel mixtures.     

Performance and exhaust emissions of a biodiesel engine

In this study, the applicabilities of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been investigated for the performance and exhaust-emission values of a diesel engine fueled with biodiesels from different feedstocks and petroleum diesel fuels. The engine performance and emissions characteristics of two different petroleum diesel-fuels (No. 1 and No. 2), biodiesels (from soybean oil and yellow grease), and their 20% blends with No. 2 diesel fuel were used as experimental results. The fuels were tested at full load (100%) at 1400-rpm engine speed, where the engine torque was 257.6 Nm. To train the network, the average molecular weight, net heat of combustion, specific gravity, kinematic viscosity, C/H ratio and cetane number of each fuel are used as the input layer, while outputs are the brake specific fuel-consumption, exhaust temperature, and exhaust emissions. The back-propagation learning algorithm with three different variants, single layer, and logistic sigmoid transfer function were used in the network. By using weights in the network, formulations have been given for each output. The network has yielded R² values of 0.99 and the mean % errors are smaller than 4.2 for the training data, while the R² values are about 0.99 and the mean % errors are smaller than 5.5 for the test data. The performance and exhaust emissions from a diesel engine, using biodiesel blends with No. 2 diesel fuel up to 20%, have been predicted using the ANN model.     

Biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas oil

In view of the fast depletion of fossil fuel, the search for alternative fuels has become inevitable, looking at huge demand of diesel for transportation sector, captive power generation and agricultural sector, the biodiesel is being viewed a substitute of diesel. The vegetable oils, fats, grease are the source of feedstocks for the production of biodiesel. Significant work has been reported on the kinetics of transesterification of edible vegetable oils but little work is reported on non-edible oils. Out of various non-edible oil resources, Jatropha curcas oil (JCO) is considered as future feedstocks for biodiesel production in India and limited work is reported on the kinetics of transesterification of high FFA containing oil. The present study reports a review of kinetics of biodiesel production. The paper also reveals the results of kinetics study of two-step acid–base catalyzed transesterification process carried out at pre-determined optimum temperature of 65 and 50 °C for esterification and transesterification process, respectively, under the optimum condition of methanol to oil ratio of 3:7 (v/v), catalyst concentration 1% (w/w) for H₂SO₄ and NaOH and 400 rpm of stirring. The yield of methyl ester (ME) has been used to study the effect of different parameters. The maximum yield of 21.2% of ME during esterification and 90.1% from transesterification of pretreated JCO has been obtained. This is the first study of its kind dealing with simplified kinetics of two-step acid–base catalyzed transesterification process carried at optimum temperature of both the steps which took about 6 h for complete conversion of TG to ME.     

Biofuels and their potential to aid the UK towards achieving emissions reduction policy targets

The potential of biofuels contributing to the UK emission reduction targets in the formulated UK Low Carbon Transition Plan (LCTP) and the UK’s obligation in the wider EU emissions reduction targets are assessed using four scenarios. The scenarios were evaluated using hybrid lifecycle assessment developed in a multi-regional input–output (MRIO) framework. In the hybrid MRIO LCA framework, technology-specific processes in the biofuels and fossil fuels LCA systems are integrated into a generalised 2-region (UK and Rest of the World) environmental-economic input–output framework in order to account for economy-wide indirect GHG emissions in the biofuels and fossil fuels LCA systems in addition to other indirect impacts such as indirect land use change. The lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of biodiesel (soybean, palm, rape, waste cooking oil) and bio-ethanol (sugarcane, sugarbeet, corn) were assessed and compared to fossil fuel (diesel and petrol) baseline. From one of the scenarios, biodiesel production from waste cooking oil and bioethanol from sugarbeet offer the biggest potential for emissions savings relative to fossil fuel equivalent and offering a maximum emission savings of 4.1% observed with a biofuel market share of 10% reached in 2020. It was also established that under current biofuel feedstock mix, to achieve the 6% emissions saving primarily from biofuels as proposed in the LCTP, 23.8% of the transport fuels market would be required to be held by biofuels by 2020.     

Performance and emission evaluation of a diesel engine fueled with methyl esters of rubber seed oil

Recent concerns over the environment, increasing fuel prices and scarcity of its supply have promoted the interest in development of the alternative sources for petroleum fuels. At present, biodiesel is commercially produced from the refined edible vegetable oils such as sunflower oil, palm oil and soybean oil, etc. by alkaline-catalyzed esterification process. This process is not suitable for production of biodiesel from many unrefined non-edible vegetable oils because of their high acid value. Hence, a two-step esterification method is developed to produce biodiesel from high FFA vegetable oils. The biodiesel production method consists of acid-catalyzed pretreatment followed by an alkaline-catalyzed transesterification. The important properties of methyl esters of rubber seed oil are compared with other esters and diesel. Pure rubber seed oil, diesel and biodiesel are used as fuels in the compression ignition engine and the performance and emission characteristics of the engine are analyzed. The lower blends of biodiesel increase the brake thermal efficiency and reduce the fuel consumption. The exhaust gas emissions are reduced with increase in biodiesel concentration. The experimental results proved that the use of biodiesel (produced from unrefined rubber seed oil) in compression ignition engines is a viable alternative to diesel.