Dynamic Fuels Plant Produces 5.4 Million Gallons of Synthetic Fuel in July 2011

Dynamic Fuels LLC is a 50/50 joint venture of Syntroleum and Tyson. Unlike the ethanol and biodiesel industries, which use food ingredients such as corn and soybean oil to produce fuel, Dynamic Fuels uses non-food-grade animal fats and greases.

...To date, the Geismar plant has manufactured renewable diesel with a cloud point as low as minus-26 degrees Fahrenheit and cetane as high as 88, more than twice that of the ASTM petroleum diesel specification. The facility’s renewable diesel fuel product meets all ASTM D975 specifications for diesel fuel.

Gary Roth, chief executive officer of Syntroleum, said, “Our U.S. plant is producing some of the highest quality diesel fuel in the world, and best of all, it is renewable with a carbon footprint 75 percent below that of petroleum diesel. We can also make renewable, high value specialty distillate products that can be used in a wide variety of applications such as dry cleaning, ink cartridges and drilling fluids, and we are actively pursuing these markets.” _ReliablePlant

Turkey king Tyson Foods is helping to turn tonnes of waste chicken, beef, pork, and turkey fat into a better diesel than most oil refineries produce. 5.4 million gallons of high quality synthetic fuels were produced last month, with the potential to produce roughly 7.5 million barrels a month from the one plant.

Syntroleum Corporation reported that the Dynamic Fuels plant in Geismar—its 50/50 joint venture with Tyson Foods (earlier post)—produced 5.4 million gallons (20.4 million liters) of drop-in synthetic fuel in July, a production level representing 87% of the plant’s design capacity.

The 5.4 million level implies an annual run rate of 65 million gallons per year, Syntroleum noted. The Geismar Plant was designed to produce 75 million gallons per year and the plant has demonstrated production rates of 120% of its design basis.

We have focused 100% of our energy since last October on bringing our first of a kind advanced biofuels plant up to commercial production rates. Now that we have accomplished this, we intend to focus our efforts on optimizing the plant’s performance enabling us to produce more and more of the drop-in renewable fuels needed to meet the growing demand for biofuels.

—Gary Roth, CEO

...Syntroleum Corporation owns the Syntroleum Process for Fischer-Tropsch (FT) conversion of synthesis gas derived from biomass, coal, natural gas and other carbon-based feedstocks into liquid hydrocarbons, the Synfining Process for upgrading FT liquid hydrocarbons into middle distillate products such as synthetic diesel and jet fuels, and the Bio-Synfining technology for converting animal fat and vegetable oil feedstocks into middle distillate products such as renewable diesel and jet fuel using inedible fats and greases as feedstock. _GCC

The venture has lost money during the ramping up phase, of course. But as production approaches 100% -- and perhaps 120% -- of designed capacity for the one plant in Geismar, Louisiana, the profit picture should improve. Tyson is also hoping for more government subsidies such as the renewable diesel tax credit which expired in December, 2009. But if Tyson cannot make a profit without government handouts, perhaps it should stick to its core business and let others take over the synthetic fuels line.

Waste Plastic to Fuel Ratcheting Up

JBI, Inc. has entered into an agreement with Rock-Tenn Company to convert mill by-product waste into fuel using JBI’s Plastic2Oil technology. The products of the P2O process are naphtha, fuel oil, and an off-gas similar to natural gas. Naphtha is similar in many respects to gasoline, and fuel oil is similar in many respects to diesel fuel.

...RockTenn’s paper mills and MRFs currently produce thousands of tons of plastic per day. To handle the plastic waste stream, RockTenn has been storing this by-product in company-owned plastic-only monofill sites for several years. The agreement gives JBI the exclusive rights to mine plastic from these sites. _GCC

Rather than looking at used plastics as garbage, an increasing number of industrial companies are beginning to look at waste plastic as the starting point for producing valuable fuels and chemicals. JBI's process is said to be clean and economical, and time will tell.

JBI’s P2O process converts waste plastic into fuel without the need of further refinement. JBI scaled a 1kg process to a 20MT commercial processor in less than one year...The Plastic2Oil conversion process is similar to pyrolysis, and involves the cracking of plastic hydrocarbon chains at ambient pressure and low temperature using a reusable catalyst.

In addition to liquid fuel, the P2O process produces off-gas, which is similar to natural gas. In order to avoid having to flare the off-gas, JBI uses a gas compression system that buffers and regulates the off-gas and then feeds the off-gas into the P2O processor’s furnace, creating a closed loop operating system.

Excess off-gas is stored in mobile tanks and can be sold or used to cold-start the P2O processor’s furnace. In other words, the P2O process requires minimal external energy to operate since the processor can operate on its own captured and stored off-gas, according to JBI.

To most efficiently load the P2O processor, the plastic feedstock is passed through a shredder and granulator. A hopper is loaded with approximately 1,800 pounds of waste plastic using a forklift. The plastic is loaded into the processor by a continuous conveyor belt between the hopper and reactor. The plastic is then fed into the processor chamber where it is heated by burning off-gas produced from the conversion process.

In the reactor, plastic hydrocarbons are cracked into various shorter hydrocarbon chains and exit in a gaseous state. Any residue or non-usable substances remain in the processor chamber and must be removed periodically. From the processor, the gasses containing fuel oil and naphtha are condensed and separated, then proceed into temporary fuel tanks.

...A 20 MT capacity P2O processor at the Niagara Falls Facility resides in an approximately 10,000 square foot building and is about 24 feet high at its highest point. Operations and general maintenance for this processor requires approximately 3,000 square feet of space. The process is automated, and the machine is equipped with 63 different sensors. General operations involve monitoring the display screen to track the machine’s operating parameters, and the loading of plastic onto the machine’s in-feed system. _GCC

Waste plastics can be high value feedstocks for producing fuels, chemicals, and other products if industrial engineers are clever enough. Once clean and efficient processes are developed, the key for economical reclamation of wastes is a strong cooperation between the producers of waste plastics and the industrial consumers of those waste plastics.

Civilian Marine Nuclear Propulsion

The 22,000 tonne US-built NS Savannah, was commissioned in 1962. It had a 74 MWt reactor delivering 16.4 MW to the propeller.
The 1960s era US civilian nuclear power vessel, Savannah, functioned as both a cargo and a passenger ship.

For a few brief years during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, the vessel was a nautical superstar, touring the world as an ambassador for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and playing host to royalty. In May 1964, it drew more than 13,000 visitors during a call here.

...Still owned and maintained by the Federal Maritime Administration and regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the ship is occasionally opened to visitors. Groups can arrange tours by request, as long as they don't expect too much in the way of air conditioning, elevators or other modern comforts. _LATimes

The German-built 15,000 tonne Otto Hahn cargo ship and research facility sailed some 650,000 nautical miles on 126 voyages in 10 years without any technical problems. It had a 36 MWt reactor delivering 8 MW to the propeller.

The 8000 tonne Japanese Mutsu was the third civil vessel, put into service in 1970. It had a 36 MWt reactor delivering 8 MW to the propeller. It was dogged by technical and political problems and was an embarrassing failure. These three vessels used reactors with low-enriched uranium fuel (3.7 - 4.4% U-235).

In 1988 the NS Sevmorput was commissioned in Russia, mainly to serve northern Siberian ports. It is a 61,900 tonne 260 m long LASH-carrier (taking lighters to ports with shallow water) and container ship with ice-breaking bow. It is powered by the same KLT-40 reactor as used in larger icebreakers, delivering 32.5 propeller MW from the 135 MWt reactor, and it needed refuelling only once to 2003.

A more powerful Russian icebreaker of 110 MW net and 55,600 dwt is planned, with further dual-draught ones of 32,400 dwt and 60 MW power at propellers. The first of these third-generation icebreakers is expected to be finished in 2015 at a cost of RUB 17 billion. _WorldNuclearNews

The Russians are devoting a good deal of effort to the development of a floating nuclear infrastructure that can be used to develop rich Arctic energy resources. To this point, no other nation's industries are as devoted to the development of non-military nuclear marine propulsion.

The world's naval forces have a good safety record with regard to nuclear marine propulsion. More from Rod Adams:

No Western nuclear ship has been lost because of a power failure.

Nuclear propulsion is clean. A nuclear engine can push a sealed submarine for months at a time without affecting the atmosphere in the ship.

Nuclear engines can be very powerful for a given total propulsion plant weight. Though the exact numbers are classified, it is obvious that an engine that can drive an 80,000 ton aircraft carrier at 35 knots into the wind while launching aircraft with steam driven catapults has a significant power capacity.

Based on the amount of payload on nuclear carriers compared to fossil fuel driven carriers, the nuclear engines require less space and weight than the oil fired steam turbines that they replaced.

Purely on capability, nuclear power is worth a look. Cost is a hurdle, however, since aircraft carriers and large submarines are several billion dollar machines. _RodAdams

High cost is a problem for civilian applications, and the highly-enriched nature of the fuel used in marine reactors could also be a problem.

they deliver a lot of power from a very small volume and therefore run on highly-enriched uranium (>20% U-235, originally c 97% but apparently now 93% in latest US submarines, c 20-25% in some western vessels, 20% in the first and second generation Russian reactors (1957-81)*, then 45% in 3rd generation Russian units, 40% in India's Arihant)

...The long core life is enabled by the relatively high enrichment of the uranium and by incorporating a "burnable poison" such as gadolinium - which is progressively depleted as fission products and actinides accumulate. These accumulating poisons would normally cause reduced fuel efficiency, but the two effects cancel one another out.

However, the enrichment level for newer French naval fuel has been dropped to 7.5% U-235, the fuel being known as 'caramel', which needs to be changed every ten years or so. This avoids the need for a specific military enrichment line, and some reactors will be smaller versions of those on the Charles de Gaulle. In 2006 the Defence Ministry announced that Barracuda class subs would use fuel with "civilian enrichment, identical to that of EdF power plants," which may be an exaggeration but certainly marks a major change there. _NWN

The French use of 7.5% U-235 is a promising development, which could help open the way to easier approval for civilian marine reactors.

Another promising trend for civilian nuclear marine power is the development of factory-built and transportable small modular reactors (SMRs), which are being designed to provide power anywhere between 25 MW and 250 MW. Many of these smaller designs could be fitted onto a large ship, perhaps in multiple-reactor configurations.

One other application for civilian nuclear marine propulsion which should be mentioned, is the civilian seastead. A seastead is a permanent floating workplace and residence for large numbers of people. Well designed seasteads could float the open oceans, performing many jobs which require long periods of time offshore. Nuclear power is a natural fit for such floating cities.

Most naval reactors can go 10 years or more without re-fueling. This is a definite advantage for extended cruises. And nuclear fuel is relatively inexpensive, in comparison with fossil fuel costs. It is the up-front costs for nuclear power which represent the greatest expense. And those up-front costs represent enormous opportunities to the innovative engineer.

Looking at Algal Energy

A new study from the University of Virginia compares 4 different energy-from-algae approaches by VKT -- vehicle kilometres traveled.

In this new study, reported in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, Clarens et al. assess four algae conversion pathways resulting in combinations of bioelectricity and biodiesel:

1. Anaerobic digestion of bulk algae biomass to produce methane-derived bioelectricity;
2. Production of biodiesel from algae lipids with anaerobic digestion of residual algae biomass to produce methane-derived bioelectricity;
3. Production of biodiesel from algae lipids with direct combustion of residual algae biomass to produce bioelectricity;
4. Direct combustion of bulk algae biomass to produce bioelectricity.

_GCC

Images from GCC

...their results suggested that conversion pathways involving direct combustion for bioelectricity production generally outperformed systems involving anaerobic digestion and biodiesel production, and they were found to generate four and fifteen times as many vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) per hectare as switchgrass or canola, respectively. _GCC

Among the many findings:

Algae EROI values computed in the study ranged from 0.65 to 4.10. Previously reported EROI for corn ethanol has been on the order of 1.25. It has been suggested, the authors noted, that the minimum sustainable EROI is roughly 3 but that values from 5 to 10 will be required to maintain quality of life in the absence of readily abundant fossil energy.

Direct combustion of algae to produce bioelectricity is seemingly more efficient than anaerobic digestion regardless of whether or not algae lipids are extracted to make biodiesel.

Selected algae systems dramatically outperform the terrestrial crop systems in terms of VKT production per hectare. Algae generates, on average, 4.2 times and 15.7 times more VKT than the switchgrass and canola systems, respectively.

Misalignment of system boundaries precludes direct comparison with corn ethanol, the authors note, but they estimate that the average algae VKT is roughly nineteen times greater than could be derived from corn ethanol (27,000 km/ha-yr) even when accounting for ethanol coproducts. 29

In terms of VKT, algae bioelectricity systems outperform algae combined biodiesel/bioelectricity systems.

Algae biodiesel and bioelectricity systems exhibit higher net energy use but lower water use and GHG emissions per km than their respective terrestrial benchmarks.

...the tremendous demand for transportation energy, increasing fuel prices, and a lack of mechanisms for monetizing environmental performance in the US make it reasonable to expect that algae’s excellent land use efficiency could render it financially attractive over the next several decades. For this reason, environmental and economic LCA studies will be key tools for improving the overall sustainability of algae-derived transportation energy systems. _GCC

Once again we see the benefits of cellulosic electricity -- or biomass to electric power -- when compared to most current methods of creating biofuels from biomass.

The authors of the study missed a prime opportunity to compare efficiencies from pyrolysis of algal biomass, and gasification of algal biomass via IGCC and CHP, with the 4 approaches analysed.

Anaerobic digestion of algal biomass to produce methane is unlikely to be economical for at least the next 50 years, as the global shale gas bonanza works its way through the markets.

One of the biggest problems with public perception of biomass energy and biofuels, is the expectation that if biofuels cannot replace all other forms of energy, then there is no use pursuing their production. That type of magical thinking, with its hair-trigger relapse to utter futility, is profoundly destructive.

There are no magic bullets. A wide range of approaches will have to be taken before humans can emerge from their fossil fuels Earth-bound economies to more sustainably abundant and widespread economies of the future.

US Gas for Canadian Oil

Energy and Capital
Canada needs US natural gas to help produce its bitumen oil sands. As oil sands production ratchets up from 1.5 million barrels per day to 5 mbpd by 2020, Canada's demand for US gas should continue to rise.

The emergence of shale gas over the last six years has fueled our hopes that we'll be able to safely transition away from our oil addiction.

Not only do we have an abundance of it trapped in the various shale formations across our country, but developing that resource is inevitable, because we're not the only ones counting on that future supply...

You see, it's not just the United States that's depending on U.S. gas production. Remember Canada's trouble with peak natural gas?

It turns out natural gas exports to Canada have doubled in just five years!

We may be relying heavily on an ever-increasing amount of Canadian crude to meet our oil fix, but Canada's natural gas troubles will only worsen as production from the oil sands grows to more than five million barrels per day in the coming decade. (Natural gas plays a vital role in the extraction process of deeply-buried bitumen.)

Remember, more than three-quarters of Alberta's oil production comes from oil sands operations.

As if that weren't enough, Canada isn't the only country crossing her fingers for more U.S. natural gas. South of the border, Mexico is also relying more on our supply.

U.S. exports to Mexico have also jumped significantly. Prior to 2000, we barely exported any natural gas to either Canada or Mexico. Today's a different story.

Just like Canada, Mexico can't get enough of it...

Last year, natural gas production from the Marcellus averaged 1.3 Bcfe/d. By the start of 2011, production was around two billion cubic feet per day. And this is only the beginning.

Within the next eight years, production is expected to jump more than 775% to 17.5 billion cubic feet per day. In the process, it'll add at least 250,000 jobs and tack on over $20 billion in revenue to Pennsylvania's economy.

We're also expecting the drillers to have a field day. Even though natural gas prices have been lackluster since crashing in 2008, drilling more than doubled in 2010. There are more rigs drilling the formation than ever before...

_EnergyandCapital

Canada has plenty of shale gas too, but for now it is more lucrative to produce oil than gas, given current price spreads. Once the nascent gas to liquids (GTL) industry revs up, prices should slowly converge, and gas will become a more lucrative product.

Cross-posted from Al Fin blog

Korea's 330 MW SMART Reactor Hoping for Commercial Approval in 2011

SMART is a 330MWth pressurized water reactor (PWR), designed to generate up to 100MWe for thermal applications such as seawater desalination.

MEST believes that SMARTs are more cost-effective and safer than the current generation of conventional reactors. _Nuclear Energy Insider

Korea's Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology has developed a 330 MW modular reactor that it hopes to get approved for commercialisation this year. It hopes to begin exporting the reactor beginning next year.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has succeeded in developing a system-integrated modular advanced reactor (SMART) by investing 170 billion won ($160 million) since 1994. The reactor is likely to receive approval for commercialization this year, opening the way for exporting the model as early as next year.

SMART is a small-sized reactor with a generating capacity of 330 megawatts. Just as other modular reactors, SMART is manufactured at a plant and brought to the site fully built. This reactor can be constructed on smaller sites to provide stable power to towns with around 100,000 residents.

The ministry is making efforts to help export the SMART model to some 20 countries needing small-sized reactors. The model has already received a positive evaluation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). _KoreaTimes

The main threat to implementation of Korea's SMART reactor strategy is competition from another Korean ministry, the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy, which wants to develop its own reactor design. Best not to dig too deeply into this governmental internecine competition to determine winners and losers in large industrial designs and contracts. They could tell you, but then they'd have to kill you. ;-)

Nuclear power is under siege on many fronts internationally, particularly since the Japanese earthquake and tsunami - caused nuclear meltdown. There are many ways to make nuclear power safer, cheaper, and potentially cleaner in terms of waste products. But as long as governments are making it difficult or impossible for new designs to be properly tested and developed, it will be difficult for nuclear to realise its potential.

New Forbes Blog: The Future of Energy by Kirk Sorensen

Kirk Sorensen has operated the Energy from Thorium blog for over 5 years now, and has recently begun to blog for Forbes magazine in "The Future of Energy". Here is an excerpt from one of Kirk's recent TFoE postings:

In 10000 atoms of natural uranium, only 72 of them will be uranium-235. If the red marbles represented uranium-235 and the white marbles represented uranium-238, then the picture above (taken with my wife’s cake pan) would be a pretty good depiction of how rare uranium-235 is in natural uranium.

As I mentioned, uranium-235 is the only naturally-occuring fissile material in the world. It’s really too bad that there isn’t some way to release all of that energy from the rest of the uranium, right? Well, it turns out that there is.

Uranium-238 will transmute into plutonium-239 over the course of a few days if it absorbs a neutron. Plutonium-239 is fissile, uranium-238 isn’t. But uranium-238 is cheap and abundant, accounting for 9927 of 10000 atoms of natural uranium. So there’s a way to make uranium-238 into fissile material, but it takes a neutron.

...Most fissions release two or even three neutrons and that opens up an exciting possibility. Like the Midas touch, these neutrons can turn worthless uranium-238 nuclei which aren’t fissile into plutonium-239 nuclei which are fissile. And this new fissile material that has been made is even better than turning lead to gold–made from something cheaper than lead into something worth six times more than gold.

There’s another way to exercise this Midas touch, using natural thorium. If thorium is struck by a neutron it will turn into uranium-233 over a period of about 40 days. Uranium-233 is fissile and will release energy too.

...So unlike gold that can only be sold for money once, fissile material if properly used has the Midas touch–it can keep turning worthless uranium-238 or thorium into fissile material indefinitely.

The bad news is that we are not using fissile material properly in today’s nuclear reactors. We’re wasting its Midas touch. The good news is that we can build new reactors that will be able to exercise this amazing ability. They will change the world. They will be the future of energy. _KirkSorensen

This excerpt allows you to get the feeling of Kirk's approach on his Forbes blog. Oriented toward the general public, the language is non-technical and easy to understand. The mood is extremely up-beat -- a refreshing change from the general doom and gloom approach to energy taken by mainstream journalists.

For those who are interested in thorium energy and require a more technical information fix, the Energy from Thorium blog contains an immense repository of technical downloads and links, as well as videos. We should all hope that Kirk's Forbes blog captures a large public following, for the sake of future energy supplies.

Underground Coal Gasification: One Path to Clean Coal Power?

The reserve limits for coal, for China as well as the rest of the world, can be postponed for several generations if the technology to gasify coal underground can be commercialized. Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) enables the access of deeper coal layers hitherto unavailable through conventional mining. Several modern pilot projects have been successfully completed in recent years and commercial projects are underway. _Rembrandt

The writer known as "Rembrandt" provided a very useful article on underground coal gasification at the Oil Drum blog. The images shown below are all taken from Rembrandt's article.

The technology has gained substantial interest in the last ten years as fossil fuel prices increased and concerns over rising fossil fuel imports in Europe have grown. There are now over 30 pilot projects either operating or in the planning stage in more than 25 countries, including the U.K., Australia, the U.S., South Africa, and China. Of special importance are:

• The 1 km deep 5 MW coal pilot carried out by ENN in China that ran for 26 months. The Chinese government last month signed a 1.5 billion USD commercial partnership with the UK government for commercial development of the technology to be deployed in Inner Mongolia.

• The Swan Hills project supported by the government of Alberta in Canada that should start in 2012 and become operational in 2015. The 300 MW syngas electricity plant is intended to be equipped with a carbon capture and storage facility. The commercial project follows a trial project in the region which successfully gasified coal in-situ at 1.4 km’s of depth.

• The Chinchilla project in Australia operated by Linc Energy which since 2008 was combined with a Gas-to-Liquids plant to produce 20 barrels per day from the UCG syngas. The company is presently finalizing the engineering aspects to begin construction of a 20.000 barrels of oil equivalent per day UCG-GTL plant in 2012. Linc Energy claims it can commercially produce a barrel of oil equivalent at a price of 30 dollars. _Rembrandt

The latest standard of the technology incorporates horizontal directional drilling. To obtain the gas two wells are drilled, an injection well which brings steam and oxygen or air underground to ignite the coal seam and maintain the process, and a production well which pumps out the raw syngas. Previously vertical wells were used which are difficult to connect and limit control over the formation of the underground cavity as they cannot be steered. Today's horizontal wells can be connected using a magnetic target and detector positioned in the tip of the wells. The injection well is retracted along the borehole to gasify the coal which flows to the production well. The process is monitored above ground based on measurements of pressure, temperature, gas flow rates, gas composition at the wells. These are informed by simulations carried out to model the process. The control of the process comes from the injection of the oxidant, as too low or a halting of flows will stop the process.

The produced syngas varies in composition depending on the coal quality and for a standard horizontal two well retractable injection point technique (CRIP) includes hydrogen (11-35%), carbon monoxide (2-16%), methane (1-8%), carbon dioxide (12-28%) and other smaller components. Specific alteration of the gasification system can also result in a variance of the syngas composition. Yang et al. (2008) published about a field test to manufacture hydrogen using a two stage gasification process with multiple steam injection points to raise the temperature. In the test syngas was succesfully produced with on average 50%+ hydrogen content with a range between 40% to 73%, and both CO and CH4 contents of over 6%. _Rembrandt

Costs for Production and Electricity Produced

Costs for Natural Gas per MMBTU for Comparison
Several estimates have been made of the cost of an electricity plant based on UCG syngas. The main physical variables are the quality of the coal, depth and thickness of the coal seam, linking distance of the injection and production well, distance between the cavities, and sweep efficiency. The calculations based on theoretical and actual operations point to a cost range of 1 to 8 USD per GJ of produced syngas. The main cost variation is the usage of air or enriched oxygen for injection, the thickness of the coal seam, and the depth of drilling. The later two factors determine the number of wells that need to be drilled and their required length. Oxygen-blown gasification is preferred in case of adding Carbon Capture and Storage technology.

• The estimate of Marc Mostade of Clean Coal is a production cost of 2.5 to 4.5 USD per GJ of syngas, based on a 800 meter deep 500 MW thermal size UCG plant and a coal seam of 4 to 6 meters thickness at 800 meters of depth. The difference is caused by the usage of air-blown or oxygen-blown syngas. Information about the variables underlying his calculation can be found in his ASPO 9 presentation.

• Based on the Chinese ENN Pilot a total cost of 0.9 to 1.7 USD cents per cubic meters of syngas was documented, which translates into 1 to 1.9 USD per GJ of syngas assuming a higher heating value of 9 MJ/Nm3

• In 2007 GasTech carried out an analysis of costs based on coal in the US Powder River Basin using air-blown and oxygen-blown gasification. These were estimated at a cost of 1.5 to 2.4 USD per GJ of syngas.

• In 2011 the School of Public and Environmental Affairs of Indiana University calculated the production costs for air-fired syngas via UCG in the state of Indiana in the US at 4.6 to 7.7 USD per GJ of syngas for respectively syngas produced via enriched or air, assuming a coal seam thickness of 2 to 3.5 meters at 200 meters of depth or more.

These cost levels are when averaged equal to or below the present day price of natural gas in the US, EU and Asian markets, as shown in figure 4 below. The lower cost range is on par with today’s coal price on a GJ energy basis. _Rembrandt

Until the potential problem groundwater contamination with coal tars can be worked out, widescale adoption of this technology near populated zones is unlikely to take place outside of China and perhaps Africa. But it is quite likely that a variant of in situ coal gasification will be adopted within the next 20 years -- if crude oil prices continue to trend upwards and if national governments continue with their suicidal anti-nuclear policies and general policies of energy starvation.

The general technology approach is not that difficult to implement, and with further refinements over time it should be possible to prevent groundwater contamination. In selected locations where environmental concerns are not as widespread as in most western nations, this technology is apt to go forward within the next few years.

Ethanol to Isobutene Direct Conversion from PNNL

With increased availability and reduced cost of bio-ethanol, conversion of this particular bio-based feedstock to highly valuable fuels and chemicals has been an especially important research goal. Currently, research on bio-ethanol conversion to value-added chemicals focuses mainly on ethanol dehydration to ethylene, or ethanol dehydrogenation to acetaldehyde and then to acetone via Aldol-condensations pathways...

Research on direct bio-ethanol transformations to other types of highly valuable fuels and chemicals has not been carried out. In large part, this is due to the fact that such a process requires catalysts with multiple functions in order to yield more valuable chemicals such as isobutene. Isobutene is of special interest because it is widely used as an intermediate for the production of a variety of industrially important products. _GCC

Ethanol to Isobutene_via_ACS
The biofuels market could become overloaded with ethanol as more producers worldwide jump into the game, and as more bio-feedstocks -- including cellulosic biomass -- can be efficiently converted to ethanol. But ethanol may well be more valuable as a chemical feedstock than as a fuel. A growing substitution of bio-ethanol for petroleum in the production of chemicals, plastics, fuels, lubricants, etc. will only extend the world's supply of petroleum that much further.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Washington State University (WSU) have developed a new nanosized ZnxZryOz mixed oxide catalyst for the direct and high-yield (83%) conversion of bio-ethanol to isobutene, a widely used intermediate chemical used for the production of fuel additives, rubber and solvents.

...The PNNL and WSU researchers had been trying to make hydrogen from ethanol. To improve on a conventional catalyst, they had taken zinc oxide and zirconium oxide and combined both into a mixed oxide—the zinc and the zirconium atoms woven through a crystal of oxygen atoms. Testing the new material, PNNL postdoctoral researcher Junming Sun found not only hydrogen, but unexpectedly quite a bit of isobutene.

Investigating the catalyst in greater depth, the researchers found that a catalyst made from just zinc oxide converted the ethanol mostly to acetone; if the catalyst only contained zirconium oxide, it converted ethanol mostly to ethylene. Isobutene only arose in useful amounts when the catalyst contained both zinc and zirconium.

Zirconium oxide is capable of converting acetone into isobutene; for the isobutene yield found, however, something would have to prevent zirconium oxide from turning ethanol into ethylene.

The team reasoned the isobutene probably arose from zinc oxide turning ethanol into acetone, then zirconium oxide—influenced by the nearby zinc oxide—turning acetone into isobutene. At the same time, the zinc oxide’s influence prevented the ethanol-to-ethylene conversion by zirconium oxide. Although that’s two reaction steps for the catalyst, it’s only one for the chemists, since they only had to put the catalyst in with ethanol and water once.

To get an idea of how close the reactions had to happen to each other for isobutene to show up, the team combined powdered zinc oxide and powdered zirconium oxide. This differed from the mixed oxide in that the zinc and zirconium atoms were not incorporated into the same catalyst particles. These mixed powders turned ethanol primarily into acetone and ethylene, with some amounts of other molecules and less than 3% isobutene, indicating the high isobutene selectivity of their catalyst came from the microstructure of the mixed oxide material.

The researchers explored the microstructure using instruments and expertise at EMSL, DOE’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory on the PNNL campus. Using transmission electron microscopes, the team saw that the mixed oxide catalyst was made up of nanometer-sized crystalline particles.

A closer look at the best-performing catalysts revealed zinc oxide distributed evenly over regions of zirconium oxide. The worst performing catalyst—with a 1:1 zinc to zirconium ratio—revealed regions of zinc oxide and regions of zirconium oxide. This suggested to the team that the two metals had to be close to each other to quickly flip the acetone into isobutene. _GCC

If PNNLs catalyst can provide high enough yields at economic prices, commercial producers should be willing to license the technology.

Did you notice from the excerpt above, that the researchers were initially working on a grant to turn ethanol into hydrogen, when they unexpectedly discovered the isobutene by-product? Only then did they proceed to fine-tune the catalyst to maximise isobutene production. "Accidental science" is one of the most prolific producers of new tools, technologies, and scientific theories in existence. That is one reason it is so difficult to predict future discoveries and breakthroughs.

How to Double the World's Supply of Diesel -- And Make It Better!

GCC
Researchers at Annamalai University in India have discovered how to blend ethanol and dimethyl ether -- both potentially renewable chemicals -- with diesel to produce a significantly improved fuel. The graphic above shows the results of comparative testing with pure petro-diesel, a 50:50 emulsion of diesel and ethanol, and a mix of 93% 50:50 diesel:ethanol and 7% DME. The best results were obtained from the mixture containing 46.5% diesel. Widespread use of such a mixture could result in doubling the effective supplies of diesel.

In a study published in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels, M. P. Ashok of Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India reports that adding dimethyl ether to an ethanol/diesel emulsion results in an increase in brake thermal efficiency and a decrease in specific fuel consumption (SFC), particulate matter, smoke density, and oxides of nitrogen compared to either the emulsion or a base diesel fuel.

...Ashok added DME on a 7% by volume basis with the selected emulsified fuel ratio of 50D/50E and carried out performance, emission, and combustion tests, along with performance and emission tests with diesel no. 2 and emulsified fuel 50D/50E.

Testing was done in a one-cylinder, four-stroke 5.2 kW engine with a compression ratio of 17.5:1. Speed was constant 1500 rpm, injection timing was 23 ° before TDC, and injection pressure was 220 kgf/cm2 (215 bar). _GCC

Much more at the link above.

Engineers and scientists worldwide have barely begun to discover how to extend the supplies and effectiveness of the Earth's finite supplies of fossil fuels. As the price of oil edges upward by fits and starts, booms and busts, our facility for substituting additives and fuels for petroleum will only get better.

Brian Wang Hosts the 63d Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers

Here are some excerpts from the 63d Carnival of the Nukes:

1. Margaret Harding goes over the realities of Entergy’s bet on fuel for Vermont Yankee (VY). Neither the naysayers, nor the supporters had it right. The fuel can be moved, but not easily. The fuel can be used in another reactor, but not easily. In any case, the cost probably will outweigh the benefits and Entergy is betting they will get to operate at least one fuel cycle of Vermont Yankee (VY).

3. Atomic Power Review has Nuclear Energy in Japan: The Scandal Widens Atomic Power Review reports on the growing list of questions about Japan's nuclear regulatory body, NISA (Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency - Japan's nuclear regulatory agency), and its apparent attempts to influence public opinion in less than up front ways.

4. Rod Adams at Atomic Insights has Build baby build - new nuclear power plants

CBS News aired a short piece that reminds people how vital reliable electricity is. That knowledge is reinforced when power grids are stressed and when people die due to complications associated with heat exposure. Nuclear plants have a far better chance of being available when needed than the wind turbines that were AWOL during a recent heat wave that blanketed about 1/4 of the US land mass.

When the heat domes hover, the air is still and muggy. If there was a reliable breeze we would not be so dependent on our air conditioners!

5. ANS Nuclear Café entry: Is the NRC on target with its call to redefine nuclear safety?

A report by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff task force calls for sweeping regulatory change, yet acknowledges that information about the Fukushima accident is unavailable, unreliable, or ambiguous.

What should be the response in the United States to the events in Japan? Dan Yurman asks a diverse group of nuclear energy professionals for their views on the NRC 90-day task force report.

6. Dan Yurman at Idaho Samizdat has Did Canada give away the store in sale of AECL?

Reactor refurbishment service will be a cash cow for SNC Lavalin with limited options for sales of new reactors. On June 29 the government of Canada finally put an end to industry uncertainty about how it would dispose of its nuclear crown corporation, Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. (AECL).

The administration of Stephen Harper signed away the company’s CANDU reactor division to SNC Lavalin as a re-branded entity, CANDU Energy, at the bargain-basement price of C$15 million in cash, plus $285 million in future royalties earned through the sale of new reactors. That final price of $300 million had been kicked around in on-and-off negotiations for nearly two years.

10. Amelia Frahm announces that Nutcracker Publishing Company is getting ready to release Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works.

It's the first children's picture book about nuclear power plants that, as Dr. Theodore Rockwell put it, "kids can learn the basic facts about nuclear energy without first being scared witless."

I had just sent the book to my illustrator when the nuclear emergency in Japan occurred. As far as I can determine, this is the first such book that is not anti-nuclear.

Check out our video of journalist, Birderson Cooper interviewing our chubby rat character, as he explains and demonstrates a fission chain reaction. Or, as the esteemed rodent put it, “What makes a nuclear power plant NU-CLE-AR.”

11. Nextbigfuture - Unit 1 at the Wolsong nuclear power plant in South Korea has been restarted following the completion of a refurbishment of the pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR). It marks the first time that a Candu-6 reactor has been successfully dismantled, retubed and restarted. The 679 MWe reactor to operate for a further 25 years. It took 839 days to refurbish (started in 2009).

AECL has completed the retubing of unit 2 and received regulatory approval on 30 June 2011 to start reloading fuel into the reactor. It is expected to be reconnected to the grid by the end of the year. Refurbishment work of unit 1 is also nearing completion and that unit is expected to be reconnected to the grid in early 2012... _NBF #63 Nuke Carnie

The Sanmen nuclear power plant in China received its first AP 1000 nuclear reactor vessel

The Turks and the Japanese are in talks regarding construction of Turkey's second nuclear power plant

Japan's government is risking its $5 trillion economy, and more, as it takes steps to abandon its nuclear power infrastructure.

Advanced nations such as Japan and Germany cannot afford to abandon nuclear power -- particularly now when their core populations are shrinking. It would make far more sense for these nations to move toward small modular reactors for the sake of safety and reduction of personnel requirements. The "energy starvation" approach to national energy agendas is an ominous trend.

Canadian OilSands: A Cleaner More Bountiful Bitumen

Canadian oilsands producers are making progress on many fronts, to produce a cleaner and more environmentally friendly product, in ever greater quantities. Brian Wang discusses the N-Solv Process, an in situ bitumen extraction process that does not require water and uses 85% less energy.

NSolv Image via NBF

In N-Solv, heated solvent vapour is injected at moderate pressures into the gravity drainage chamber. The vapour flows from the injection well to the colder perimeter of the chamber where it condenses, delivering heat and fresh solvent directly to the bitumen extraction interface. The N-Solv extraction temperature and pressure are very gentle compared to in situ steam processes. The use of solvent also preferentially extracts the valuable components in the bitumen while the problematic high molecular weight coke forming species (asphaltenes) are left behind. The condensed solvent and oil then drain by gravity to the bottom of the chamber and are recovered via the production well.

The in situ solvent deasphalting is very selective and leaves the asphaltenes evenly dispersed throughout the extracted portion of the chamber. Post extraction core analyses show that the residue contains 60 to 70% asphaltenes. By leaving the majority of the asphaltenes behind the produced oil contains less sulphur, heavy metals (zinc, vanadium, iron) and carbon residue. This partially upgrades the oil to 13-16°API from a value of approximately 8°API for the raw bitumen. The produced oil is also less viscous, thus it requires less diluent for pipeline transportation to the refinery. _NSolv_via_NBF

Another promising water-free approach to the clean extraction of oil sands bitumen, is the ionic liquid approach. This process was developed by scientists at Penn State.

Oilsands producers are also making progress in cleaning up oil sands tailings, with the formation of the Oil Sands Tailings Consortium. More information here.

Current oil sands production is roughly 1.5 mbpd, with projects online slated to ramp production up to 7.5 mbpd -- a significant contribution to global oil production.

The United States is coming to rely on the growing supply of bitumen sourced oil, although the Obama government has been trying to shut down US importation and consumption of oil sands from its earliest days in power. If Obama's regime rejects Canadian oilsands, the Chinese market is more than willing to take up the slack. Either way, the future for Canada's oil provinces appears very promising, both economically and environmentally.

Shale Oil & Gas Bonanza: The Energy Wealth Keeps on Coming

A few years ago every geologist involved in Appalachian Basin oil and gas knew about the Devonian black shale called the Marcellus. Its black color made it easy to spot in the field and its slightly radioactive signature made it a very easy pick on a geophysical well log.


However, very few of these geologists were excited about the Marcellus Shale as a major source of natural gas. Wells drilled through it produced some gas but rarely in enormous quantity. Few if any in the natural gas industry suspected that the Marcellus might soon be a major contributor to the natural gas supply of the United States - large enough to be spoken of as a "super giant" gas field. _Marcellus Shale Geology

But now, all that has changed. The Devonian black shale that could never get any respect, is now becoming a big star.

USGS Geologic Time
You can find the Devonian period in the chart above. Marcellus shale formed in the Devonian, but other shales formed in other geologic periods, at other sedimentary depths. It is important to keep the Earth's age in mind when thinking about possible hydrocarbon deposits.

Marcellus shale oil & gas have been lying in wait, waiting for humans smart enough and hungry enough to come down and get them. Some humans are willing -- and they are beginning to reap the rewards. Other humans are frightened of phantoms and their own shadows. They are drowning in debt and avoidable human misery.

The Marcellus shale formation—65 million acres running through Ohio, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and southern New York—offers one of the biggest natural gas opportunities. Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, recognized that potential and set up a regulatory framework to encourage and monitor natural gas drilling, a strategy continued by Republican Tom Corbett.


More than 2,000 wells have been drilled in the Keystone State since 2008, and gas production surged to 81 billion cubic feet in 2009 from five billion in 2007. A new Manhattan Institute report by University of Wyoming professor Timothy Considine estimates that a typical Marcellus well generates some $2.8 million in direct economic benefits from natural gas company purchases; $1.2 million in indirect benefits from companies engaged along the supply chain; another $1.5 million from workers spending their wages, or landowners spending their royalty payments; plus $2 million in federal, state and local taxes. Oh, and 62 jobs.


Statistics from Pennsylvania bear this out. The state Department of Labor and Industry reports that Marcellus drilling has created 72,000 jobs between the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2011. The average wage for jobs in core Marcellus shale industries is about $73,000, or some $27,000 more than the average for all industries.


The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue says drillers have paid more than $1 billion in state taxes since 2006—and the numbers are swelling. In 2011's first quarter, 857 oil and gas companies and affiliates paid $238 million in capital stock and foreign franchise taxes, corporate income taxes, sales taxes and employer withholding. This exceeds by some $20 million the total payments in 2010.


The revenue department also identified some $214 million in personal income taxes paid since 2006 that can be attributed to Marcellus shale lease payments to individuals, royalty income and asset sales. And all of this with no evidence of significant environmental harm.


***


Then there's New York. The state holds as much as 20% of the estimated Marcellus shale reserves, but green activists have raised fears about the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing and convinced politicians to enact what is effectively a moratorium.


The Manhattan Institute study shows that a quick end to the moratorium would generate more than $11.4 billion in economic output from 2011 to 2020, 15,000 to 18,000 new jobs, and $1.4 billion in new state and local tax revenue. These are conservative estimates based on a limited area of drilling. If drilling were allowed in the New York City watershed—which Governor Andrew Cuomo is so far rejecting—as well as in the state's Utica shale formation, the economic gains would be five times larger. _GWPF: Pennsylvania vs New York

The State of New York is practising energy starvation on its own citizens and industry. The people will necessarily suffer as a result. The federal government of the United States is also practising energy starvation on its own citizens and industry, but on a much larger scale. More on that in another posting.

Another rich deposit of shale is the Utica formation, found at deeper levels than the Marcellus shale. The Utica is found in the Ordovician layers (see chart above).

An energy exploration company active in Ohio has declared the Utica Shale formation ''liquid rich'' in eastern Ohio, meaning the geological formation contains oil.


Utica Shale is a geological formation found several thousand feet below sea level, much deeper than the commonly discussed Marcellus Shale, a natural gas-rich formation that is now being explored in eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania.


On Thursday, Chesapeake Energy, based in Oklahoma City, released its quarterly earnings report, including in it references to this latest mineral find. Chesapeake, which holds 18 of the 24 permits to drill into Utica Shale in the state, said results of recent drilling indicate oil in eastern Ohio.


''Chesapeake is announcing the discovery of a major new liquids-rich play in the Utica Shale,'' the report said, noting that the finding was based on two years of ''proprietary geoscientific, petrophysical and engineering research.''


Chesapeake's report indicated that the discovery could be worth a $15 billion or $20 billion increase in company value.


"The company believes the Utica Shale will be characterized by a western oil phase, central wet gas phase and an eastern dry gas phase," the report said. _TribToday

New technologies for exploiting rich shale deposits have overturned conventional wisdom on North American oil & gas reserves and production capacity. Expect the same to happen around the world.

More:  EOG's Big Shale Oil Gamble Pays Off
The Bakken : Williston shale formation lies within the upper Devonian and lower Mississippian layers. See chart at top -- click for enlarged version.

Joule Unlimited Aims for 25,000 gal/acre Ethanol, 15,000 gal/acre Diesel

Bioengineering startup Joule Unlimited Technologies, utilises highly engineered photosynthetic micro-organisms to produce fuels and high value chemicals from CO2 and sunlight. Joule intends to eventually produce its fuels and chemicals without the need for biomass or biomass sugars for feedstock.

Joule Unlimited Technologies, a bioengineering startup leveraging highly engineered photosynthetic organisms to catalyze the conversion of sunlight and CO2 to fuels and chemicals, has been awarded its first two US patents covering its fundamental method for producing ethanol at volumes and efficiencies surpassing biomass-dependent processes.

...These two latest patents relate to methods for increasing the ethanol production capability of a photosynthetic microorganism. Joule’s platform microorganism is engineered to produce and secrete ethanol in a continuous process, converting more than 90% of the CO2 it consumes directly to end product, with no reliance on biomass feedstocks....

...Joule claims that these innovations, together with its advances in bioprocessing and solar capture and conversion, will help it achieve an ultimate target of 25,000 gallons per acre annually—a rate that is 10X greater than that of cellulosic ethanol and 100X greater than corn ethanol—while requiring no depletion of food crops, agricultural land or fresh water. Joule is now producing ethanol at pilot scale, and has achieved nearly 50% of its ultimate productivity target in the lab, it says.

In addition, by eliminating the need for biomass, Joule avoids the burden of fluctuating feedstock cost and supply, as well as the energy-intensive, multi-step conversion of biomass to product. At full-scale commercial production Joule expects to produce ethanol for as little as $0.60/gallon.

In an open access paper published earlier this year in the journal Photosynthesis Research, a Joule team concluded that its direct, single-step, continuous process for the production of solar hydrocarbon fuels could produce the areal equivalent of up to 15,000 gallons of diesel per acre annually. _GCC

As Al Fin industrial engineers have pointed out previously, it is easy to get high yields per "acre" if one builds photobioreactors vertically, essentially multiplying growing area while maintaining the same building footprint area. Joule has a lot of work to do if it is to achieve its production targets without utilising such tricks.

Bill Gates' TerraPower On Track for 2016 Build, 2020 Startup

The radical new nuclear reactor design being financed by Bill Gates, is in the middle of intensive design changes to make the reactor easier to build. Most of the design and engineering is taking place in the US. The company will need to find a building site overseas, due to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's obstinate inability to approve new reactor builds and licenses within the United States. More from Technology Review (h/t Brian Wang)

In the new design, the reactions all take place near the reactor's center instead of starting at one end and moving to the other. To start, uranium 235 fuel rods are arranged in the center of the reactor. Surrounding these rods are ones made up of uranium 238. As the nuclear reactions proceed, the uranium 238 rods closest to the core are the first to be converted into plutonium, which is then used up in fission reactions that produce yet more plutonium in nearby fuel rods. As the innermost fuel rods are used up, they're taken out of the center using a remote-controlled mechanical device and moved to the periphery of the reactor. The remaining uranium 238 rods—including those that were close enough to the center that some of the uranium has been converted to plutonium—are then shuffled toward the center to take the place of the spent fuel.

...In this system, the heat is always generated in about the same area within the reactor core—near the center. As a result, it's easier to engineer the systems to extract and use the heat to generate electricity.

One challenge with this design is ensuring that the steel cladding that contains the fuel in the fuel rods can survive exposure to decades of radiation. Current materials aren't good enough: for one thing, they start to swell, which would close off the spaces between the fuel rods through which coolant is supposed to flow. To last 40 years, the materials would need to be made two to three times more durable, Terrapower says.

The company is using computer models to anticipate how currently available materials would change over time, and is developing reactor designs that anticipate these changes. For example, if it's known that a material would swell in the conditions inside the reactor, the spaces between the fuel rods would be designed to accommodate this swelling, says Doug Adkisson, director of operations at Terrapower.

Terrapower has also developed designs for a passive cooling system. Like many other advanced reactor designs, Terrapower's uses molten sodium metal as the coolant. Sodium takes much longer to boil than water, which gives plant operators more time to respond to accidents. It would also be possible to use natural convection and air cooling in the event of a power outage—coolant wouldn't have to be continuously pumped into the reactor, as was the case at Fukushima. One danger of using sodium, however, is that it reacts violently when it's exposed to air or water.

Terrapower's next steps include finalizing the design and finding partners to build the plants. It's been in talks with organizations in China, Russia, and India. Gilleland says the company expects to have an announcement about partners within the next few months. _TechnologyReview

After all the work and investment done in the US, the company will be forced to go to China, Russia, or India to build an actual demonstration plant. Just one of many signs that the US government is bloated and sclerosed almost beyond repair, unless drastic changes are made.

Brief Energy News

The Weizman Institute announced a new synthesis route for the production of methanol from carbon dioxide. More details from Chemical & Engineering News

East SF Bay biotech company Amyris is opening another plant to produce renewable farnesene.

[Farnesene] may be sold directly into industrial applications or put through simple chemical finishing steps to form a broad range of renewable products including squalane, base oil and finished lubricants and diesel.

Global Bioenergie and Synthos are partnering to produce bio-butadiene -- a $30 billion annual market, as noted briefly earlier. Such biological substitutes for petroleum feedstocks will eventually reduce the demand for petroleum and other mined hydrocarbons in the chemicals, plastics, fiber, dye, lubricants and other vital industries.

Brookhaven National Lab scientists are using computer modeling in an attempt to increase the production of seed oil in rapeseed -- an important crop in biodiesel production.

Ethanol acccounts for nearly 10% of the US "gasoline fuel supply."

Nuclear power cannot be written off -- it is here for the long haul

South Korea and India are collaborating to expand civilian nuclear technology

China has connected a new generation 20 MW "fast breeder reactor" to the electrical grid. Most news reports skate around the issue of plutonium proliferation associated with the uranium to plutonium breeder. Most current western approaches to breeder reactors are looking at the thorium to uranium 233 breeding, which has far less weapons proliferation risk.

Converting Waste Petcoke from Oilsands Production to Methanol

The bitumen upgraders in the Fort McMurray area of Alberta and the refineries in the Edmonton area are large producers of petroleum coke (petcoke), which, historically, has had essentially zero market value in Alberta.

Petcoke, however, can be converted to methanol, which can be used as a gasoline blending component or marketed as chemical-grade material. _OGJ

OGJOnce you have converted waste petcoke and low grade sub-bituminous coal to methanol, what should you do with it? That depends upon the economic factors at that moment in time. Methanol can be used on its own as fuel or in fuel cells. Methanol can be converted to gasoline via F-T. Methanol can be blended with gasoline or used in the production of biodiesel. Etc.

The potential conversion of methanol to gasoline (MTG) deserves a few words. The first commercial MTG unit was licensed by Mobil Oil in New Zealand in 1985.1

The anticipated yield from 50,000 b/d of methanol could be 20,500 b/d gasoline (rvp 9 psia, before ethanol blending; 0.73 sp gr; RON 92, benzene 0.3 vol %). And it produces about 5,500 b/d of C3-C4 LPG.

On this basis, it is difficult to see any rationale in converting methanol to gasoline if the option of methanol-gasoline blending is available. According to information from the US Environmental Protection Agency, methanol blending into gasoline is not banned in the US.

Given the investment in MTG facilities and the shrinkage in energy content (8-9%), and energy consumed by the MTG plant, the cost of the MTG gasoline would be significantly above the cost of energy in the methanol.

In this context, it is worth adding that conversion of syngas to hydrocarbon liquids by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is technically proven and produces high-quality diesel.2 At the same time the coproduced naphtha is very paraffinic, with an octane value of perhaps 35 to 40 and is essentially nonreformable for octane elevation. Further, no steam cracker for ethylene production in Alberta is adaptable for liquid naphtha feed. _OGJ

The infrastructure for proper treatment of wastes from Canadian oilsands production is not entirely in place. But the longer that oil prices remain relatively high, the greater the motivation for development of infrastructure such as ethylene crackers, F-T catalytic synthesis plants, and fermentation (of syngas) bioreactors for advanced chemicals and fuels. Algal and microbial bioreactors for conversion of the massive CO2 effluent to biomass, fuels, and high value chemicals should eventually come into the mix.

The CO2 produced may be used for many other purposes including EOR.

Here is a comparison of cost per gallon for various fuel liquids:

OGJNotice the high octane value and low cost of methanol -- helpful for blending with gasoline.

Chinese Company Cathay Jumps Into Growing Bio-Butanol Game

Images from GCC
Butanol is valued as a solvent, a fuel, a fuel additive for gasoline or diesel, and a feedstock for chemical synthesis. Cathay's fermentation approach to biobutanol from Clostridium bacteria, also produces co-products including acetone, ethanol, and methane. The company currently uses corn starch as feedstock, and is continuously working on lowering production costs and raising efficiencies.

The biobutanol production facility in Jilin Province has an annual production capacity of 100,000 metric tons of biobutanol and co-products, including 65,000 metric tons (21 million gallons), of biobutanol and utilizes multiple continuous fermentation bioreactors, designed and constructed by its in-house team, at a scale of 1.8 million liters (475,000 gallon), per bioreactor.

In the F-1, Cathay said that in 2010 it sold more than 18,500 metric tons of biobutanol (6 million gallons) in China. As it continues to lower the production cost of biobutanol, it expect to first expand its market usage as a basic chemical building block and subsequently to sell it as a drop-in gasoline blendstock.

The company will begin pilot stage testing of its proprietary cellulosic biobutanol bioprocess technology by the end of 2011. It also plans to begin construction of a cellulosic biomass processing facility adjacent to the current biobutanol production facility to commercialize biobutanol from cellulosic biomass.


Cathay says it plans to expand the annual production capacity at the biobutanol production facility to 200,000 metric tons of biobutanol and co-products, including 130,000 metric tons, or 42 million gallons, of biobutanol, in the future. Cathay believes that using cellulosic biomass feedstock will significantly lower its production cost for biobutanol.

Cathay’s industrial biotechnology platform integrates strain development, fermentation scale-up and purification. Cathay licensed more than 200 strains of Clostridia previously used in commercial biobutanol production. It used its mutagenesis and screening techniques to develop a proprietary commercial strain capable of converting corn starch instead of dry milled whole corn to biobutanol. Use of corn starch instead of whole corn allows it simultaneously to capture all co- and by-products produced during the bioprocess including co-products bioacetone and bioethanol, and corn and biogas by-products, thereby reducing production costs and capturing additional revenues.

For the cellulosic biobutanol program, Cathay has developed a proprietary inhibitor-tolerant strain that is able to use crude biomass hydrolysate as feedstock, eliminating a key purification step while demonstrating comparable yields close to its commercial starch strain, the company says. _GCC

The microbial infrastructure for fermentation of ethanol (yeast and moulds etc) is much more efficient than the infrastructure for fermentation of butanol (clostridia etc). But the payoff for more efficient butanol production is significant, and the better microbes and processes will be pursued on multiple continents.

Just one more way that crafty scientists and technologists are engineering alternatives to petroleum from perpetually renewable feedstocks. Do not expect one magic bullet to replace petroleum. There will be thousands of magic bullets over the years, all competing against petroleum and against each other.

When humans do finally turn away from petroleum it will be because so many economical substitutes are available. In the meantime, humans need to use what oil, gas, bitumens, coal, kerogens, thorium, and other energy bearing materials that are available to them.

Plastics from Bio-Feedstocks Should Dampen Peak Oil Frenzy

Update: Technology Review has an article discussing this project. The claim is made in the article that production costs for polyethylene from sugar cane are comparable to costs for production from petroleum. As economical substitutes for petroleum come on line for most of the uses for petroleum, peak oil panic increasingly appears to be a pathology.

At a conference in Berlin, Germany in October organized by the European Bioplastics trade group, and attended by Modern Plastics, Rui Chemmes, director of Braskem’s PE operations, said the ethanol-based polyethylene has exactly the same characteristics as PE derived from petroleum. Plus, he added, it is nine times as efficient to derive ethanol from sugarcane as from corn, and four-and-a-half times as efficient compared to ethanol derived from sugar beets. “Sugarcane is a 4m-high plant” that grows quickly and with little assistance, he explained. Other environmental benefits include its work as “a real vacuum cleaner of carbon dioxide.” One pound of petroleum-based PE releases 2.5 kg of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, he said, whereas the same amount of sugarcane-based PE captures that same amount of the gas. _PlasticsToday

If modern industry continues learning to produce high value chemicals, plastics, and other materials from biomass and other biologically derived feedstocks such as bio-sugars, the move from petroleum to bio-based materials will become easier. One of the many biological substitutions being made for petroleum is in making polyethylene from bio-ethanol. Dow Chemical and Matsui are partnering for such a project in Brazil, using cane sugar as feedstock.

Dow Chemical is joining forces with Japanese trading powerhouse Mitsui to build the largest integrated bioplastics production plant in the world.

Construction on the first phase of the project in Brazil -- a 190,000 metric tons-per-year ethanol mill -- is expected to begin this fall. Ethanol will be made from sugar cane grown on estates already owned by Dow in Santa Vitória, Brazil. In the first phase of the collaboration, Mitsui is buying half ownership of the sugar cane plantation at a cost of $200 million, according to Reuters. In the next phase, starting in 2012, Dow and Mitsui will build a polyethylene plant. _DN

The move from a petroleum based economy will take time, work, and resources. But the substitution process is already underway, and will become easier as the technologies are improved.

Chemicals and plastics from bio feedstocks will have to compete in the marketplace with materials made from petroleum, gas, and coal feedstocks. The economic picture will change over time, giving the advantage to one feedstock over others. The wise society will broaden its choices so as to make substitutions easier.

High Oil Prices are Not as High as Predicted

A number of reputable analysts predicted that oil would be over $150 a barrel this year or early next, including Jim Rogers, Barrons, etc etc etc. And yet oil prices seem reluctant to go too far above $100 a barrel despite severe production cutbacks in Yemen and Libya. Perhaps someone learned a lesson from the great demand destruction of 2008?

Geoffrey Styles takes a penetrating look at the recent decision to release oil from strategic reserves. Worth a look:

The market's tepid response to the SPR release suggests that oil prices have been driven up by more than just speculators. Speculation may be playing a role, but it's more like the head on a glass of beer. [Al Fin comment: The froth on a glass of beer can occupy as much or more than 1/3 the total volume depending on how the beer is poured...] Beneath that froth lies the robust demand growth in the developing world, which has pushed global oil consumption to a record level of 89 million bbl/day this year. On the supply side, some point to incipient Peak Oil, but characterizing the crisis we're in doesn't require a grand theory. In addition to the curtailment of production from places like Libya and Yemen, and OPEC's desire to keep a lid on output to preserve their revenues, there's a fundamental mismatch between the companies that have the capital and the desire to invest in new production, and the willingness of some governments to grant access to the resources, whether in the Middle East or the US. All of this is compounded by the inherent time lags in resource development, which can range from 5-10 years, depending on the technology and permits required.

As different as the causes and symptoms of this crisis are from those of the 1970s, the broad outline of solutions remains quite similar: Reduce demand, increase supplies, and diversify our sources of energy. We have more and better options than in 1979, but still no miracle cures. _GS

Styles makes some important points in this short article. It takes from 5-10 years for the production side to respond to rapid runups in prices. The 2007-2008 runup in oil prices would have brought a much stronger response by now if the floor hadn't dropped out from under prices at the end of 2008. For a sustained response, you need a sustained price plateau.

Styles also points out that it is demand for oil which is in the price driver's seat. A lot of things can happen to alter demand for oil.

OPEC is greedy and needy, as is Russia. It is not beyond Saudi Arabia to drag its heels on expensive upgrades in production capacity, in order to enjoy higher oil prices today. Russia is certainly dragging its heels on production upgrades and oil field maintenance, but that is due as much to malignant Oblomovism and corruption as it is out of a need for higher oil prices to balance the budget.

Political corruption and greed are causing oil prices to be higher, as is political turmoil in Yemen and Libya. But lefty-Luddite Green dieoff.orgiasm in the US and Europe are likewise causing a political hike in oil and energy prices. Obama's ill-advised moratorium and slowdown of Gulf of Mexico exploration and drilling, is just one of many examples of an overall policy of energy starvation coming from the US and European governments. Anti nuclear policies are another example of the destructive influence of faux environmental politics on energy supplies.

MJPerry provides a couple of quotations which are apropos to the current situation.

The only peak oil you will likely see is political peak oil caused by government policy, greed, corruption, and war. The only true scarcity that exists in the human world is the scarcity of human intelligence, creativity, inventiveness, ingenuity, and vision.