Back to the - Future Biofuels

In the future our vehicles may indeed be fitted with a "Mr Fusion" and our transport needs will be powered by the contents of roadside waste bins but "We're Running OUTATIME"; no matter your views on Climate Change, there's no escaping the fact that the age of easy and cheap oil is over. Using biofuel isn’t a silver bullet due to sheer quantity of oil consumed but is a crucial step in the right direction.

Unlike options for power generation, there are fewer transport solutions, especially heavy vehicles and aircraft. Converting the UK’s waste biomass to liquid fuels could contribute up to 10% of the UK’s petrol and diesel fuel requirements. However complete conversion to a hydrocarbon fuel is still several years away at commercial scale. In the mean time 2G BioPOWER has developed a number of project propositions that use emergent commercial-scale conversion technologies but deliver a viable project in the short to medium term.

Gasification and pyrolysis are the most effective solutions currently available that convert all the primary constituents of biomass (cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin). The intermediate products of pyrolysis oil and syngas can be used for power generation or conversion to simple liquids such as methanol. Adopting these solutions also allows the investor potential access to multiple energy markets, not just power or fuels.

For each of 2G BioPOWER's propositions, a number of scenarios have been considered and sensitivies to key parameters modelled using the tools and methods outlined under 2GB Consulting.

This solution uses either waste wood and/or Cellmatt from Graphite Resources' (GRL) waste separation process to produce pyrolysis oil using UOP-Envergent's Rapid Thermal Process.

Pyrolysis oil applications considered and modelled included:co-firingheatingCHPpower generation via diesel engines

Sensitivities to a wide range of key parameters have been modelled, including:feedstock pricesconversion efficienciesheat ratepower priceseffects of ROC and RHI incentives

Carbo-V is an advanced biomass gasification technology developed by CHOREN and now owned by Linde Engineering. The high quality syngas it produces is ideally suited to producing diesel fuel via Fischer Tropsch.

Other applications have been evaluated:power generation via CCGTcatalytic production of bio-methanolfurther conversion of bio-methanol to MTBEfermentation of syngas using LanzaTech's solution to produce ethanol and use of hydrogen for power generation

Sensitivities considered included the following:Feedstock pricesConversion efficienciesOil priceEthanol priceROC & power prices

Tyre disposal is a major issue and subject to many studies and developments. The thermal conversion of small tyre crumb has been proven at commercial scale as has the refinement of carbon char into valuable re-usable materials. In addition changes in EU and UK legislation offer the opportunity to achieve a higher value from the oil products. These factors have been taken into account in assessing this solution.

Products comprise:Fractionated hydrocarbon oil containing a proportion of bio-genic carbonRefined carbon black for re-use in tyre manufacture and other applications

Sensitivities considered included the following:Gate Fees / Feedstock costConversion efficiencyOil priceCarbon black price
The diagram shows a kiln pyrolysis solution.