Jatropha, few years ago people ignore these plant because the beneficial use hasn't been found yet. Now it could be one of the source of fuel that substitutes fossil diesel.





The hardy jatropha, resilient to pests and resistant to drought, produces seeds with up to 40 per cent oil content.
When the seeds are crushed, the resulting jatropha oil can be burnt in a standard diesel car, while the residue can also be processed into biomass to power electricity plants.

Even Bob Geldof has stamped his cachet on jatropha, by becoming a special adviser to Helius Energy, a British company developing the use of jatropha as an alternative to fossil fuels. Lex Worrall, its chief executive, says:
“Every hectare can produce 2.7 tonnes of oil and about 4 tonnes of biomass. Every 8,000 hectares of the plant can run a 1.5 megawatt station, enough to power 2,500 homes.”

Biodiesel to be stopped?

Malaysian local biodiesel producers rely on government own diesel engine vehicles to consume their stocks. Until when? We should look at the mass consumers as well.

Biodiesel programme at the crossroads

By HANIM ADNAN @ theStar

HAMPERED by poor offtake and excalating cost of subsidy, the Government’s highly promoted B5 mandate – the blending of 5% biodiesel with 95% diesel – now stands at the crossroads.

Seen initially as one of the national strategic measures for better palm oil stock management with full implementation by January 2010, the B5 mandate is now being closely scrutinised by the Government for a possible reduction to B3 mandate soon.

This latest decision however does not “blend” well with local palm oil biodiesel producers which have long suffered in silence over the snail phase progress of the B5 mandate.

Despite making huge investments in their biodiesel plants here, many felt that their plight were overlooked.

Some quarters says the poor take-up rate on average of about 40 tonnes per month by initial target group – diesel-powered government vehicles in the Klang Valley – itself speaks for the lack of attention by the Government to boost the B5 mandate.

At the same time, local biodiesel players are facing tough times trying to market their product overseas especially in the United States and the EU which impose tough legislations on imported biodiesel as means to protect their home-grown biodiesel feedstocks and biodiesel players.

The reduction from B5 to B3 itself is seen as a new stumbling block for local biodiesel producers to operate economically in the domestic market amid the current competitive environment.

Local players, however, stand to wait a bit longer for the final decision on B3 mandate as the important Cabinet Committee on Palm Oil Competitiveness (CCPO) meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak scheduled on Nov 24 had to be postphoned to Jan 12 next year.

It is believed that Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok will be submitting a proposal on the reduction from B5 to B3 at the CCPO meeting to be attended by high powered palm oil government officials including the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and Malaysian Palm Oil Council and Malaysian Palm Oil Association.

Malaysian Biodiesel Association (MBA) vice-president U.R. Uunithan maintains that ideally, the B5 mandate should remain.

“The biodiesel fraternity so far had invested over RM2.2bil for 27 plants nationwide.

“It will be a sad situation if the B5 mandate is reduced to B3 as this translate into a usage reduction to 300,000 tonnes of biodiesel per year versus the targeted 500,000 tonnes per year under B5,” he tells StarBizWeek.

Uunithan says MBA has met up with the relevant authorities including MPOB, Finance Ministry and Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry to voice out its concern over the poor progress in the usage of biodiesel in the country.

“We are already at the losing end. Currently, only five plants are in operation and some had to stagger their production due to poor takeup rate in Malaysia and overseas market,” he adds.

He also questions the Government’s proposal for B3. Of the 2.7 million tonnes installed capacity for biodiesel in Malaysia, using just 300,000 tonnes or less than 10% of the capacity per year is not acceptable, he says.

“The volume itself is too small for biodiesel producers to operate. It does not have the economies of scale, let alone allowing producers to make decent margins,” adds Uunithan.

He says that given the trend in biodiesel mandates in other countries are mostly government-led, local biodiesel producers will not have the final say and need to abide by the Government’s decision should it plan to introduce the B3 mandate next year.

It is reported that should the Government keeps the B5 mandate, it will need to fork out about RM250mil per year in terms of subsidy to blend and distribute the biodiesel.

Until now, many petroleum companies are not showing full commitment to assist the Government in terms of cooperating to set up blending facilities for biodiesel.

Meanwhile, MPOB director-general Datuk Dr Mohd Basri Wahid said at the recent International Palm Oil Congress 2009 that the Government was set on extensively promoting the usage of palm methyl ester (PME) biodiesel for the domestic market.

In fact, the PME biodiesel and oil palm replanting activities are the strategic measures identified by the Government to ensure reliable national palm oil stock management and act to a certain extent as a CPO pricing mechanism.

“It is a challenge to promote B5 but given the high cost of subsidy involved, the Government will consider B3 instead,” adds Basri.

So far, there is no full decision on B3 until the CCPO meeting to be held in January next year. Malaysia currently produces almost two milllion tonnes of palm biodiesel per year.

However, production volume so far this year was under 10% of the total installed capacity of the local biodiesel plants in operation, says Basri.

‘’Despite the approved 91 biodiesel licences, the number of plants built and in operation is still low given the high feedstock costs.”

As at end-August, some 167,846 tonnes of local palm biodiesel had been exported compared with a total of 182,108 tonnes exported in the whole of 2008.

Synthetic Gas???

I stumbled on this article....its quite good as another alternative fuel source

What is Syngas

Syngas is the abbreviation for Synthesis gas. This is a gas mixture that comprises of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The syngas is produced due to the gasification of a carbon containing fuel to a gaseous product that has some heating value. Some of the examples of syngas are as follows – gasification of coal, waste to energy gasification, steam reforming of natural gas to generate hydrogen.

The name syngas is derived from the use as an intermediate in generating synthetic natural gas and to create ammonia or methanol. Syngas is also an intermediate in creating synthetic petroleum to use as a lubricant or fuel.

Syngas has 50% the energy density of natural gas. It can be burnt and is used as a fuel source. The other use is as an intermediate to produce other chemicals. The use of syngas as a fuel is accomplished by the gasification of coal or municipal waste. In these reactions, carbon combines with water or oxygen to give rise to carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide combines with carbon to produce carbon monoxide.

Syngas is used as an intermediate in the industrial synthesis of hydrogen and ammonia. During this process, methane (from natural gas) combines with water to generate carbon monoxide and hydrogen. As a residue of energy gasification, syngas is produced and this is used as a fuel to create electricity.

If syngas consists of a considerable quantity of nitrogen, this nitrogen must be separated. Both carbon monoxide and nitrogen have similar boiling points and thus, recovering pure carbon monoxide by cryogenic processing is very difficult.

The gasification process is used to convert any material that has carbon to a syngas that is made up of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. One of the uses of this syngas is as a fuel to manufacture steam or electricity. Another use is as a basic chemical building block for many users in the petrochemical and refining industries. Gasification is a very vital process. It raises the value of low value feedstocks by transforming them to marketable products and fuels.

The general raw materials used for gasification are coal, petroleum based materials or other materials that would be rejected as waste. From these materials, a feedstock is prepared. This is inserted to the gasifier in dry or slurry form. In the gasifier, this feedstock reacts in an oxygen starved environment with steam and oxygen at elevated pressure and temperature. In this way, syngas is manufactured. This syngas comprises of 85% of carbon monoxide and hydrogen and small amounts of methane and carbon dioxide.

The syngas so produced may contain some trace elements of impurities. These are removed from the syngas. Further, they are recovered or redirected to the gasifier. For example, sulfur is recovered in the elemental form or as sulfuric acid and both of these can be marketed.

If the syngas is to be put to use to generate electricity, then it is generally used as a fuel in an IGCC (integrated gasification combine cycle) power generation configuration. There are commercially available technologies to process syngas to generate industrial gases, fertilizers, chemicals, fuels and other products.

Biodiesel vs Biofuel

Is there a difference between biofuel and biodiesel

What is the different between biofuel and biodiesel? Both sound similar, but the reality is not. Many people thought that biofuel is the biodiesel itself.

As biofuel is the fuel which directly derived from biomass, biodiesel needs a special process to transform its source from the biomass to a fuel.

Let see what the definition of both that I excerpt from various sources from the internet:

Biodiesel

1. Palm Biodiesel is an alternative fuel derived from palm oil and can be used in compression ignition engines i.e. diesel engines without any modifications. It refers to methyl esters derived from palm oil through a process known as ‘transesterification’. Source: Carotino

2. Biodiesel, however, is an alternative fuel to petroleum-based diesel, which can be manufactured from vegetable oils such as palm, rapeseed (canola), soy, linseed, jatropha and coconut oil. Biodiesel can also be manufactured from animal fats (including tallow) and used cooking oils.

The use of Biodiesel does not require any major changes in the fuel distribution system, avoiding the need for expensive additional infrastructure.

In many instances, Biodiesel is mixed with petroleum-based diesel to create a Biodiesel blend, which can then be sold into the general diesel market. Source: Mission Biofuels

Biofuel:

1.Biofuel is any fuel that derives from biomass — recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. It is a renewable energy source, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal and nuclear fuels. A better definition of Biofuel is any fuel with an 80% minimum content by volume of materials derived from living organisms harvested within the ten years preceding its manufacture.[citation needed] Agricultural products specifically grown for use as biofuels include corn and soybeans, primarily in the United States, as well as flaxseed and rapeseed, primarily in Europe.

Much research is currently in progress into the utilization of microalgae as an energy source, with applications being developed for biodiesel, ethanol, methanol, methane, and even hydrogen. On the rise is use of hemp, although current politics currently restrains it. Waste from industry, agriculture, forestry, and households can also be used to produce bioenergy; examples include straw, lumber, manure, sewage, garbage and food leftovers.

Most biofuel is burned to release its stored chemical energy. The largest advantage of biofuel in comparison to most other fuel types is that the energy within the biomass can be stored for an indefinite time-period and without any danger. Source: Wikipedia

Both of biodiesel and biofuel posses their own advantages as well as disadvantages.

While biofuel can be directly derived from any vegetable oil and needs no any chemical process to allow it to flow in any diesel engine, the biodiesel fuel are mostly consist of vegetable oil mixed with the diesel and some chemical subtances.

The use of Biofuel however require minor changes in the fuel distribution system adding some components such as fuel filters,heater, changing valves and extra oil tanks.

In the opposite side, the benefits of Biodiesel are:

a. Biodiesel produces approximately 80% less carbon dioxide, and almost 100% less sulphur dioxide;

b. Biodiesel, when used as an additive, improves the lubricity of ultra low sulphur diesel. In the next articles we will discuss the properties and qualities of both oils.

CO2 to Gasoline or Diesel

CO2 emitters need to store these gases they emitted and it can be turned into gasoline and diesel

df-logoBig emitters of carbon dioxide are faced with a big problem. Industries and utilities will soon have to capture that CO2 and store it … somewhere. That where Carbon Sciences comes in. The California-based company has come up with a way that takes the captured greenhouse gas and turns it into gasoline and diesel … the exact same fuels that we put into our tanks today.

Byron Elton, who explains how this process works. Basically, it’s the exact same process that changed carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons all those eons ago far beneath the surface of the Earth. But this is much more efficient and faster and could be the solution for those CO2 emitters looking for something to do with their newly sequestered product and a planet hungry for energy.

Biofuel or clean alternative energy

What is biofuel? Where it comes from?

Biofuels are produced from living organisms or from metabolic by-products (organic or food waste products). In order to be considered a biofuel the fuel must contain over 80 percent renewable materials. It is originally derived from the photosynthesis process and can therefore often be referred to as a solar energy source. There are many pros and cons to using biofuels as an energy source. This page contains articles that explore the many biofuel technologies.