Why Biodiesel?

• Produced locally

• Improved air quality

• Renewable resource

• Simple production process

• Works in existing infrastructure– Today’s diesel cars and trucks

– Today’s distribution system

– Today’s filling stations

• Brevard Biodiesel seeks to promote the availability and use of clean-burning, renewable biodiesel fuel as a replacement for petroleum by raising public awareness of its environmental, economic, and national security benefits.

• Brevard BioDiesel was formed in 2004 in Brevard County, Florida.

• Web site: BrevardBiodiesel.org

Making Biodiesel•Convert “3-headed” Oils into HydroCarbon chains similar to petroleum diesel…

Typical Oil, three fatty acid chains attached to glycerol.

(Trilinoleic Ester, typical of soy oil)

Cetane – typical of petro-diesel

+Methanol

H3C-OH

=Typical “Biodiesel”Methyl-Ester +

Byproduct: Glycerol aka Glycerine

Making Biodiesel

Inputs:

– Vegetable Oil (“Feedstock”)

– Methanol/Ethanol

– Catalyst - “Lye” (Sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide)

– Water

Outputs:– Biodiesel

– Dirty Water

– Glycerine

Filter

Glycerin

Methanol Recovery Wash

Transesterification Reactor

Holding/Settling Tank

FEEDSTOCK: Low-FFA Waste Vegetable Oil

Screen

TriglyceridesFree Fatty Acids (FFA)

WaterCatfish & French Fries

Catfish & French Fries

TriglyceridesFFA

Water

TriglyceridesFFA

Water

NaOH or KOH

Methyl Esters(biodiesel)

SoapsDiglycerides

MonoglyceridesExcess Methanol

GlycerinExcess Methanol

Heat & Time

Heat & Agitation

Methyl Esters(biodiesel)

Settling & Separation

Compost(KOH only)

Waste Water

Pump & Drive

SoapsDiglyceridesMonoglyceridesExcess Methanol

Reversible ReactionEquilibrium @ ~60%?Boost using: Excess Methanol Heat (<148ºF) Pressure Remove some

glycerin & biodiesel

BiodieselProduction

(Batch type)

Copyright 2007 Brevard Biodiesel

Methanol

Distillation

Feedstock Choices

• Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO)

• Virgin Vegetable Oil

– Soy

– Canola (variety of Europe’s Rapeseed)

– Palm

– Other: Hemp, Sunflower, Camelina

• Tallow

– Human?

• Algae

Oil Feedstock Yields per Acre per Year

• Corn – 15 gallons

• Hemp – 31 gallons

• Soybeans – 38 gallons

• Camelina – 50 gallons

• Sunflowers – 82 gallons

• Rapeseed/Canola – 102 gallons

• Jatropha – 162 gallons

• Oil palm – 508 gallons

• Algae - 20,000 gallons? (LiveFuels Inc.)

GreenFuel Inc:Algae in smokestack filter stack

Valcent: Vertigro algae

Other feedstock considerations

• Sustainable source?Palm Oil – Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil: rspo.orgSustainable Biodiesel Summit – sustainable-biodiesel.org

• Will increased biofuel usage minimize human food production?(Consequently, the 498 million gallons of biodiesel that will be produced between 2006 and 2015 will increase farm level soybean prices nearly 10 percent by 2015. Using the USDA 2006 Long-Term Baseline forecast for soybean prices as a starting point, soybean farmers can expect increased biodiesel demand to increase average soybean prices $0.58 per bushel by 2015.)

• Chemical properties differ – for example palm oil based B100 biodiesel will start to gel at about 55 degrees F!

• Is there enough? In the US we use 30-40 billion gallons of diesel on our highways each year. We produce ~5 billion gallons of vegetable oil per year. Another datapoint - New York City could produce 53 million gallons of biodiesel annually from its waste greases … That is about 5x the annual diesel fuel consumption of its public transit system.

Production System Choices

• “Batch” processing vs. Continuous processing• Small Scale / Batch processing / (“Homebrewing”)

– Appleseed “Open Source” Reactor (~$200-2000)– FuelMeister (~$3000-$4000)– BioPro (50 gallons in 60 hours) (~$8000)

• Medium/Large Scale– Xenerga, Kissimmee, WVO, 5 million gallons per year

(MMgy) (~$2,000,000)– ADM, North Dakota, Canola, 85 MMgy

Appleseed Processor

• “open-source” design – improved upon by community

• Build-it yourself, $200-$500• Kits:

http://www.biodieselwarehouse.com/http://www.b100supply.com/kits.htmlhttp://utahbiodieselsupply.com/

Range from $200 for hardware less tank/vents, $700 w/tank, $2000 built on-site.

Other small processors

Small System Costs/Sources• Where/How to get

Vegetable Oil – restaurants, Prefilter WVOhttp://www.thecarycompany.com/containers/ez-strainers.htmlWater settles to bottom of waste oil, scoop from topor press oil from seeds:http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_supply.html#Oilpress

Methanol/Ethanol – racing fuelhttp://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_supply.html#methsSunoco Racing Alcohol = Methanol $205.00 for 55 gallonsSodium/Potassium HydroxideRed Devil Lye = NaOHKOH $2-$3/lb at http://www.braintan.com/ 50lbs for $96 @ http://www.chemistrystore.com/potassium_hydroxide.htm

• What to do with Glycerine…Making soap:http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x/a/tpc/f/739605551/m/520604982http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/biodieselsoap.php

Compost? – but probably not if NaOH, only KOHhttp://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_glycerin.html

Convert to Syngas?

Small System Regulations

• Zoning considerations. For example, City of Melbourne incorporates Florida Fire Prevention Codehttp://www.fldfs.com/sfm/florida_fire_prevention_code_2004.htm

• Limits on storage of material, methanol is one of most concern. Recommend talking to nearest fire station captain before starting to review your plans and configuration.

• TaxesFederal excise tax: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p510.pdfanalysis of excise tax re: biodiesel: http://www.unclefed.com/Tax-Bulls/2002/rr02-76.pdfFL State excise tax: ???

Larger Processing

Supercritical process:

•No catalyst

•High temp/pressure

•Continuous

Ultrasonic/Cavitation:

•99% conversion, 5mins

•50% less catalyst

•Higher purity glycerol byproduct

Installed Cost Estimates

• Roughly $1 per gallon – e.g. 10 Mmgy plant costs about $10,000,000

• Links to feasibility studies:http://biofuels.coop/education/#feasibility

World Biodiesel Production

Government Incentives

• Jobs Creation Act of 2004 – Up to $1.00 per gallon tax credit (to blender of biodiesel)

• Energy Policy Act Credits for using Biodiesel in fleets (EPAct)

• Minnesota requires 2% of diesel in state be biodiesel (2005+). Washington state B2/Dec2008. Brazil B2. Thailand B2.

• More:http://biofuels.coop/pdfs/13_taxes.pdf

Consumer Vehicles - US• 23% of US car buyers considering “clean diesel”, expect +15mpg gain, will

pay +$1500. Europe now > 50% diesel for new cars. (July 2007, up from 12% 2006)

Europe average mpg: 36 US average mpg: 22

Ford F-1502009

Audi Q7 and A42008

Honda Accord2009

VW Jetta TDI2008

•Also: BMW Series 3/5/6 (2008), Cadillac CTS (2009), Saturn Aura (2010), Mercedes 320 series (42 states, 2007). Hyundai SUV. Nissan. Toyota. Jeep Liberty CRD (42 states, 2007 B5). VW Touareg (42 states). VW Tiguan. VW Golf diesel/hybrid?

Looking Ahead…

• Biodiesel can be a piece of a comprehensive renewable energy solution.

• Feedstock selection can impact economic, environmental, and chemical processes.

• Traditional vegetable oil alone is very unlikely to source the transportation fuel needs of the world.

• Algae might prove an order of magnitude more important in coming years.http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html“15,000 square miles of algae ponds would be needed to replace all petroleum transportation fuels with biodiesel. ““$46.2 billion per year for all the algae farms, to yield all the oil feedstock necessary for the entire country. Compare that to the $100-150 billion the US spends each year just on purchasing crude oil from foreign countries, with all of that money leaving the US economy.”