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RSS Feed"Biofuels for Transportation" Report Findings - Online Discussion
Worldwatch Live Online Discussion
Suzanne Hunt: Biofuels Project Manager
June 14, 2006 - 4:00pm EDT
"It is essential that government incentives be used to minimize competition between food and fuel crops and to discourage expansion onto ecologically valuable lands," says Worldwatch Biofuels Project Manager Suzanne Hunt. Submit your questions now and join Suzanne for a Web chat to discuss the prospects of sustainable development of biofuels.
Phillipsburg, NJ: Will the shift away from oil to biofuels require a completely new infrastructure for supplying the public, or can existing gas stations be retrofitted for the purpose?
Suzanne Hunt:
No it will not require a completely new infrastructure, and yes gas stations can be retrofitted. One of the important advantages of biofuels over other potential alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuel is that they don’t require an entirely new transport infrastructure.
In the U.S. it is often possible to find at least one type of fuel option at a gasoline/diesel refueling station that can be replaced with a biofuel pump, entailing relatively low costs for changing over an existing pump/storage tank to accommodate biofuel storage (costs for this type of retrofit are estimated to be around €830, or $1,000). For those refueling stations where it is felt that an existing petroleum product cannot be dropped to accommodate a biofuel, costs will be distinctly higher if new underground storage tanks must be installed—for example, this cost is estimated to be around €18,000 ($22,000) for an 11,000-liter underground storage tank.
Brazil provides an example of a large-scale distribution biofuels infrastructure. The state oil company, Petrobras, has extensive experience with ethanol logistics, including pipeline transport, truck, rail and via their fleet of oil tankers, some of which are dedicated to ethanol.
Aibonito, Puerto Rico: What efforts are being made to establish an infrastructure to collect used vegetable oil (fast food/residential)for the manufacture of biodiesel?
Suzanne Hunt:
Most restaurants pay oil collection services to remove their grease and the waste grease is sold for use in cosmetics, dog food, and other products. Many of the large fast-food restaurant chains like McDonalds and Burger King have their own collection systems in place. There are a number of community coops and individuals who collect grease from restaurants in the U.S. but there is not nationwide coordinated effort to collect it for fuel generation purposes. Not all of it is suitable for conversion to biodiesel. Waste grease can have water and cleaning agents in it as well as high fatty acid levels which makes conversion to good quality fuel more difficult and costly.
Another interesting example is the US navy which is apparently converting waste grease from its kitchens to biodiesel.
Carp, Ontario, Canada: What about the net energy question of biofuels?
Suzanne Hunt:
There is great variation in the energy balance of biofuels but today virtually all biofuels have a positive energy balance. Energy balance was more of an issue in the early years of the biofuels industry. Efficiency gains and other technological advances have improved the E balance of most biofuels.
See response to question #2 for more specific information.
Redlands, CA: Is anyone developing a sustainability index to label biofuels to insure as the market grows, rainforests are not destroyed for palm kernel plantations and soybean farms. I understand Indonesia is already suffering from this as demand for biodiesel grows in Europe? I have personally been using biodiesel since 2002 and am cognizant of the impacts of feedstock selection and would appreciate a labeling protocol so that my fuel is made sustainably.
Suzanne Hunt:
Yes. There are a number of different initiatives under way. The Dutch government has legislation in place requiring that all imported bioenergy be certified sustainable. They are in the process of creating a system to carry this out. The EU is currently revising their biofuels policy and are considering requiring some form of sustainability certification that would be applied to all biofuels produced within the EU and to all imports.
A number of groups working on laying the groundwork for a sustainable biofuel certification system. There are a number of certification systems that can be used to build from including the WWF-lead sustainable palm and soy initiatives, the FSC forest certification system, etc. However, because there is such a wide array of different feadstocks and production systems for biofuels – including agricultural, forestry as well as waste products – developing this system will be a challenge. Another important issue that further complicates the process is that most of the current generation feedstocks for biofuels can be used for food or fuel purposes, so if certification of palm oil for biofuels production is required but not food purposes, this creates problems.
To be done properly, broad stakeholder consultation must be carried out and this can take years. Because the industry is growing so quickly there are calls for the establishment of basic standards that can then be gradually improved upon.
Landenberg, PA: Is pyrolytic reformation of biomass competitive with other types of biofuel production?
Suzanne Hunt:
Pyrolysis oils are not currently used for transportation. Several challenges must be overcome before biomass pyrolysis can become a commercially viable means to produce energy on a large scale. Pyrolysis oils have several undesirable characteristics that necessitate downstream processing. For instance, they contain suspended char and alkali metals that can damage engines. They are acidic, temperature-sensitive, and highly viscous, which can also cause storage and engine problems. They also typically contain
20–25 percent water (contributed by the water in the initial biomass and from the conversion process). With proper treatment, however, pyrolysis oils can be used in many applications, such as combustion in boilers, stationary diesel engines, industrial combustion turbines, and Stirling engines (which are external combustion engines used to produce heat and power). The comparative option of upgrading these oils for vehicle engine use does not appear promising.
It has been suggested that in the future that pyrolysis could be used to transform biomass into liquid form (which is much more easily transported and more energy dense and thus more efficiently transported). This liquid could then be gasified or otherwise converted to useable fuels.
Linköping, Sweden: I believe that we have focused too much on the exchange of fuels and too less on our dependency on unsustainable transportations. Do you really believe that food crops can compete with fuel crops in a transportation addicted society?
Suzanne Hunt:
By ‘we’ I assume you are referring to policy makers and the press. Surely there are a number of reasons for this, one of them being that this is what is available now. The supply of food crops that can be dedicated to biofuels production is indeed limited.
In all of our communications on this topic we stress the need to speed the commercialization of next generation biofuels that do not rely on edible feedstocks, and we always stress the need for dramatic improvements in efficiency, increased investment in public transportation, etc.
There is now a growing push for the acceleration of commercialization of next gen biofuels techs which do not use food crops, but much more abundant and sustainable biomass and waste streams.
By ‘we’ I assume you are referring to policy makers and the press. Surely there are a number of reasons for this, one of them being that this is what is available now. The supply of food crops that can be dedicated to biofuels production is indeed limited.
In all of our communications on this topic we stress the need to speed the commercialization of next generation biofuels that do not rely on edible feedstocks, and we always stress the need for dramatic improvements in efficiency, increased investment in public transportation, etc.
There is now a growing push for the acceleration of commercialization of next gen biofuels techs which do not use food crops, but much more abundant and sustainable biomass and waste streams.
Islamabad, Pakistan: First,would it be sustainable and cheaper than oil?second,at present, the report says,the production is one percent of totale consumption,how much time it can take to produce 80%or more? would it be economical than oil? what would be its impact on the environment? both positive or negative.
Suzanne Hunt:
We spent a year with input from dozens of experts around the world in public, private civil society and academia trying to answer these questions. It is not publicly available yet, but in the meantime you can read a 30 page summary on the website.
