Category Archives: Biofuel

Biofuel, Food Security, Zero Waste

Drop-In Biofuels; A Model That Could Work For Farmers

Mahalo to Senator Inouye for having the foresight to fund Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (PBARC). This might be the game changer for food and energy security for Hawai‘i.

Sign

I wrote before that PBARC has been working on a “zero waste” program for the Hamakua Coast.

It’s an impactful and multifaceted program that ultimately ends up supporting both food security and energy security for Hawai‘i. Food security involves farmers farming, and if farmers make money, farmers will farm.

I support this program because utilizing waste products helps farmers make money.

Here I’m writing here about the biofuel (energy) component, which has support from the Department of Defense. One of the fundamentals of making biofuel involves acquiring appropriately priced feedstock. In this model, the feedstock comes from farm waste that is now thrown away. Or it comes from a process such as crop rotation, which enhances primary farming operations.

In the Hamakua Zero Waste Program’s demonstration model, the farm waste will be papaya. Papaya farmers sell 65 percent of what they deliver to the processer, and 35 percent is thrown away. The other product is sweet sorghum, which is used in rotation with a primary crop such as sweet potato.

A very significant part of this program is the use of oil-producing microbes. BioTork LLC specializes in breeding microorganisms that make oil.

Kate1Evolved algae, from BioTork LLC, having just arrived at PBARC in the mail. This is Kate Nishijima, a PBARC researcher.

Eudes de Crecy, the CEO of BioTork, states:

A variety of different microorganisms—such as heterotrophic, fungi and bacteria—are capable of converting sugars and other organic compounds into triglycerides oils suitable for conversion to advanced drop-in fuels like green diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. Since these oil-producing microorganisms are heterotrophic, they can be grown inside large fermentors or bioreactors in any climate 24/7 and do not require significant amounts of water for growth. Moreover, oil-producing heterotrophs can produce significantly more triglycerides than phototrophic microorganisms—up to 70% of the dry weight. To date, few enterprises use oil-producing microorganisms like to produce biofuel because the carbon sources necessary for robust growth are more expensive (e.g., glucose, fructose) than the resulting biofuel.

However, BioTork has used experimental evolution to produce proprietary oil-producing microorganisms that are capable of growing on low cost streams of organic material. Indeed, we have already adapted oil-producing microorganisms to grow on low value by-products and even noxious wastes that are derived from agricultural or industrial processes.

Kate2Transferring algae to growing media

Hawai‘i-grown papaya was sent to BioTork prior to Christmas 2010, and first generation, oil-producing strains that grow on papaya puree and sweet sorghum juice have already been developed and sent for testing in PBARC’s labs. In addition, preliminary results for the development of an oil-producing microbe that can grow on the less accessible carbon sources in sweet sorghum bagasse looks promising.

DennisDennis Gonsalves, PBARC Director, examining a vial of specialized, oil-producing algae

The demonstration project is designed to show whether this will or won’t work within 12 months in a cost effective manner in real world conditions. As a farmer, I believe that if this works cost effectively, it can work on a sustainable basis because it will help farmers make money. And as we all know, if the farmers make money, the farmers will farm.

Rivertop Solutions, LLC, whose CEO is David Rus and whose president and chief media officer is Amy Fernandez, is an important partner of the Hamakua Zero Waste project. Rivertop Solutions works alongside communities and organizations to assist with the planning, systems design, and implementation of economically and socially viable development programs based on maximizing the potential of indigenous resources. The company is moving its headquarters from Reston Virginia to Hilo in the summer of 2011.

Together with PBARC’s other programs that support and enhance farming operations, we can build a resilient food security system for Hawai‘i.

Biofuel

Pyrolysis Oil From Biofuels Has Known Carcinogens As Compounds

The biofuel process they are doing in Ka‘u results in pyrolysis oil. There are safety and other concerns associated with this oil.

It surprises me that HECO was willing to rush this process, after having ignored geothermal for years.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, published a technical report on pyrolysis oil:

Large-Scale Pyrolysis Oil Production: A Technology Assessment and Economic Analysis

M. Ringer, V. Putsche, and J. Scahill

Pyrolysis is one of a number of possible paths for converting biomass to higher value products. As such, this technology can play a role in a biorefinery model to expand the suite of product options available from biomass. The intent of this report is to provide the reader with a broad perspective of pyrolysis technology as it relates to converting biomass substrates to a liquid “bio­oil” product, and a detailed technical and economic assessment of a fast pyrolysis plant producing 16 tonne/day of bio-oil.  Read more

Here is some information from that report. (The bold and underlining is my emphasis.)

3. Properties of Bio-oil 

The properties of bio-oil can encompass a broad range of parameters because of the complex nature of this material. Even if one is able to perfectly reproduce all of the processing conditions necessary to produce bio-oil, the biomass feed, itself, can influence the nature of the final product. Not only are there differences between types of biomass species but also where a particular species is grown can affect things such as the composition of mineral matter present. Given this non-uniformity in the starting material and the high temperature reactive environment to which the prompt biomass vapor fragments are exposed during pyrolysis, it is not unusual to see variations in many of the physio-chemical properties of bio-oil. For some applications, the small variations will be of little consequence, but in situations where it is desirable to use bio-oil in devices that have been designed to operate on hydrocarbon fuels, some of these properties will make operation difficult or simply not feasible.

3.4 Environmental / Health 

Given the large number of compounds in bio-oil, it obviously raises concerns about the human health and environmental effects of this material. As reported earlier in this document, more than 300 specific compounds have been identified in biomass pyrolysis oil and some of those compounds are known carcinogens such as benzene and phenanthrene. In addition there are many compounds in bio-oil that have not been identified and their toxicity or health effects are not known by the research community developing biomass fast pyrolysis technologies.

Click to watch a video with background of the microfuel “biomass to fuel” technology.

Biofuel

The Story Behind Biofuels

The non-performance of cellulosic biofuels has cost us taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

The EPA has drastically lowered its estimate of 2011 cellulosic biofuels production from 250 million gallons to just 6.5 million gallons. It’s an enormous difference.

Robert Rapier’s recent blog post is called The Media Served as a Vehicle to Promote Hype. It refers to biofuels.

The Media Served as a Vehicle to Promote Hype

…In fact, not only were the claims not challenged, the media played a big role in helping establish the Range Fuels hype. Khosla was given a platform in many outlets to promote his companies. There were high profile (and uncritical) pieces on Range Fuels in The New York Times and in Forbes. Discover Magazine published a story on Range called Anything Into Ethanol. Given their previous gushing story on Changing World Technologies called Anything Into Oil — followed by CWT’s bankruptcy, perhaps Discover should stop trying to tell readers about the next big renewable fuel breakthrough. They don’t appear to have reporters assigned to these stories who know how to differentiate hype from reality.

Why should the media have sensed earlier that something was amiss? If they had simply applied the “it seems too good to be true” rule, perhaps some challenging questions would have been asked. I believed something was amiss because their claims ran strongly counter to what I knew about gasification and subsequent conversion into liquid fuels. They ran strongly counter to what I knew about the cost and length of time to build a plant. So I started to raise questions — but I also asked “why the mainstream media has completely missed this story.” Read the rest

It’s worth a read.

 

Big Island, Biofuel, Geothermal, Peak Oil

‘Ignorance Does Not Inspire Confidence’

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Biofuels in Ka‘u

…To be blunt, there are big gaping holes in their business model as far as their agricultural/harvesting expertise. They really don’t know what they are doing, especially in respect to the actual physical costs of growing and re-growing biomass. It’s not something I hold against them very much. Ignorance of biological reality is rampant. On the other hand, ignorance does not inspire confidence. Is it okay for them to blunder into our neighborhood armed with a HECO contract, federal funding, and an amorphous plan? I really don’t know.…. Read the rest 

On the mainland, biofuel guys are paying $100 per ton for feedstock (which includes $45/ton of subsidies). But farmers in Hawai‘i are making $75 for a bale of hay now, each of which weighs 500 lbs. So right now, farmers are making $300/ton. The biofuel guys want to pay $100/ton.

Farmers would rather make $300/ton than $100/ton. Duh! Somebody will have to pay the farmers more.

On the other hand, geothermal is very straightforward. It is inexpensive, 7 to 10 cents per kWh, and it is steady. It does not emit greenhouse gases, it is proven technology and requires no subsidies.

We hope that for electricity generation, biofuels do not crowd out geothermal.

For each unit of energy in, biofuels yield 1.2 or less units of net energy out. This puts us in mind of Easter Island.

In comparison, for each unit of energy in, geothermal yields 10 units of energy out, and that will continue for as long as one can imagine.

With that sort of cheap, stable electricity, capital would rush here from all over the world. And everyone would have jobs!

It is estimated that the Big Island will be over the “hot spot” that gives us our geothermal for 500,000 to 1 million years.

Biofuel, Geothermal, Peak Oil

HEI’s Flurry of Announcements

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I hear there’s somebody out there investigating me; making phone calls and asking questions about me and such.

To that person: Please feel free to call me directly. There’s nothing to hide and I’d be happy to answer any of your questions. Anybody with questions, in fact, I invite you to call me. My cell number is 808 960-1057.

Maybe what we should be investigating is what’s going on over at Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI).

Since it was announced that Ku‘oko‘a is attempting to buy HEI in order to retire its old, oil-fired plants, the electric utility has issued a flurry of announcements:

1. The Star Advertiser reported an HEI deal with a large, wind farm operation. But it will not result in any oil-fired plants being shut down.

2. It was announced that there will be a large biofuel operation in Ka‘u on the Big Island. Its purpose will be to provide liquid fuel for HECO’s oil-fired plants.

But the EPA just announced that it was revising its 2011 estimate of cellulosic biofuels from 250 million gallons down to only to 6.5 million gallons. All the millions and millions of dollars that have been spent? They have not resulted in a single industrial-scaled production plant.

Maybe those folks in Ka‘u will be the first in the entire U.S. to be successful. We are rooting for them. But they are not farmers; they say they may grow sorghum or guinea grass. Farmers just shake their heads at that.

The real question is, How much will it cost Big Island citizens to subsidize this crop? And for how long would we be subsidizing it?

3. Maybe HEI will soon announce that the 8 MW geothermal contract is done. I thought it would have been done a year ago.

HEI should be putting more geothermal on line faster, rather than slower. They should be aggressively bringing more geothermal on line. They’re wasting valuable time. How come we’ve got this geothermal resource but are not using more of it? We know that if we use more of that cheap geothermal resource, it will really benefit us here in Hawai‘i.

HEI says they are for geothermal, but we know they truly are not, because they cannot shut down their oil-fired plant. They’re trying to make us believe they can and will, but they cannot, because they have to keep their stock value high for shareholders.

It’s why we’re looking for a new model.

Geothermal is the least expensive of all the base power alternatives for electricity, and its costs will be stable for as far to the future as we can see – unlike oil and biofuels, the costs of which will continue to go up.

Biofuel, Geothermal, Peak Oil

Stocking Up On Toilet Paper

What will happen when we hit Peak Oil? Probably the same thing that happens every time we hear about a dock strike: People will run out and buy three shopping carts of toilet paper.

I think that when we realize world oil supplies are starting to decline, never to recover, prices will become very volatile. Lloyds of London recently published a white paper that warns of $200 oil by 2013.

Inexpensive geothermal for electricity is something that makes sense.

Biofuels-to-electricity is not a good idea. One would have to pay a steep premium to get farmers to grow biofuels.

Next time you hear or see folks talking up biofuels, count the number of farmers in the room. Farmers know the numbers do not come out. This is not rocket science; just plain old common sense.

From the Post Carbon Institute:

It’s Official: The Economy Is Set To Starve

Posted Nov 24, 2010 by Chris Martenson

Part I: It’s the End of the Oil As We Know It…

Once a year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) releases its World Energy Outlook (WEO), and it’s our tradition here at ChrisMartenson.com to review it.  A lot of articles have already been written on the WEO 2010 report, and I don’t wish to tread an already well-worn path, but the subject is just too important to leave relegate to a single week of attention. 

Because some people will only read the first two paragraphs, let me get a couple of conclusions out right up front.  You need to pay close attention to Peak Oil, and you need to begin adjusting, because it has already happened.  The first conclusion is mine; the second belongs to the IEA. 

Okay, it’s not quite as simple as that; there are a few complexities involved that require us to dig a bit deeper and to be sure our terms and definitions are clear so that we are talking about the same things. Read the rest

Biofuel, Geothermal, Peak Oil

California’s New Move Re: ‘Climate Law’

California has just adopted a “cap-and-trade” system to cap greenhouse gases.
Sooner or later, Hawai‘i will also need to address the problem of the greenhouse gases emitted by our electric utilities. They emit greenhouse gases whether they burn fossil fuel or biofuel.
Geothermal power emits no greenhouse gases.

California Scheduled To Adopt Cap-And-Trade Rules

By Cassandra Sweet Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES  
SAN FRANCISCO -(Dow Jones)-California regulators are scheduled Thursday to adopt the nation’s first large-scale cap-and-trade program for greenhouse-gas emissions as part of the state’s four-year-old climate law. 

Under the proposed rules, scheduled to start in 2012, the state Air Resources Board would place a limit, or cap, on greenhouse-gas emissions for the state that would decline over time. Power plants, refineries and other industrial facilities that emit carbon dioxide and can’t cut their emissions by the required amount could obtain pollution allowances from the state or buy them from other emitters with excess allowances…. Read the rest here
Biofuel, Geothermal, Renewable Energy Sources

Why We Need Geothermal

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I just returned from Detroit, where I attended the NH3 conference.

NH3 is ammonia, and it’s “the only realistic energy solution that makes sense,” according to Matt Simmons of the National Petroleum Council, the Council on Foreign Relations and founder of the Ocean Energy Institute.

Guy Toyama, chair of the Hawaii County Energy Commission; Mitch Ewan, of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute at UH Manoa; Roald Marth, venture capitalist, and I were the others from Hawai‘i who attended. Guy gave a talk and pretty much convinced them to hold next year’s conference on the Big Island.

What I learned:

• NH3 is more practical than H2, because there are three Hs in its molecule, rather than two. Therefore, it’s a third more energy dense when transporting. And it can be moved around through the propane infrastructure at relatively low temperature and pressure.

I am a farmer and I like things that are practical. NH3 is the practical person’s hydrogen. H2 is very impractical.

• With a little help, NH3 can be used to run internal combustion engines without much modification. The largest company in the world that converts engines for propane use is now working on commercially modifying engines so that they can use NH3. They focus on fleet vehicles, like BlueBird school buses, etc.

I like this company’s approach. They take care of everything so it is simple for the operator.

• Rather than using hydrocarbons to make NH3, as is done now, we can use electricity for hydrolysis to separate out the hydrogen and oxygen from plain water; then take “N” (nitrogen) from the air to make NH3. Cheap electricity from “off peak” geothermal power would make this cost-competitive as oil prices rise. Considering the recent Lloyd’s of London white paper telling its business clients to be prepared for $200/barrel oil by 2013, it is prudent to be self-reliant.

So the ingredients for NH3 are:

  • Geothermal for cheap electricity
  • Water for the hydrogen, and
  • Air for the nitrogen.

We have all that in abundant supply on the Big Island.

NH3 does not burn well by itself, so it can be used to stretch hydrocarbons to hedge our bets. This conference was interesting because folks reported on using oxygen to strengthen the flame. It just so happens that oxygen is produced, along with hydrogen, during the hydrolysis process.

If we do more geothermal, we can get cheap electricity for all us. And as the NH3 technology develops, we put ourselves and future generations in a position to win.

NH3 is simply ammonia and its safety issues are easily overcome. Catalytic converters can take care of greenhouse gases. Folks are working on making the combustion more efficient.

Guy Toyama said he believes we should be burning H2 in the engine and using NH3 as the H2 carrier. That’s why it it’s important to have an ammonia cracker, like Shaun Grannell was demonstrating outside. That engine was running on pure H2. The pipe on the outside stripped the NH3 to H2 + NO, NO2. Hydrogen flame speed is quicker, so you can more easily convert an Internal Combustion Engine to run on H2.

Cracker

This is a small engine with the H2 cracker wrapped in tin foil. It ran on straight ammonia.

It was amazing to see. I felt like I was witnessing a historical event.

As we all know, the folks on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder are the ones who will get their lights turned off first, and too often they will be Hawaiians. Geothermal can help to prevent this from happening.

In the uncertain future ahead, we need to take care of each other. Not, No Can. CAN!

Can you folks help us advocate for geothermal?

Biofuel, Geothermal

HECO Says: ‘Let Them Eat Cake!’

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I remember that in the 7th grade we read about a French royal, who – when told that the peasants didn’t have bread and were hungry – is said to have stated, “Let them eat cake.”

I have come to the stark realization that the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) has a duty to keep the stock price of its parent company, Hawaiian Electric Industries (HEI), healthy.  It’s not HECO’s mission to take care of Hawai‘i’s people.

But its strategy of raising the cost of electricity to its white-haired stockholders, in order to keep up HEI’s stock price, is as “brilliant” as its strategy of raising electricity rates of farmers so it can pay the farmers the high price they will need to raise biofuel crops.

Cynics have described it as putting money into one pocket
while taking it out of the other.

I just attended the 2010 Hawaii Ag Conference at the Ihilani
Resort and spa at Ko Olina on O‘ahu, which was very well attended.

Although the conference covered many topics, I was most interested in the Hawai‘i Biomass and Bioenergy workshop, which was held all day on Friday. It asked: “What’s the buzz, and what’s in it for agriculture?”

I was encouraged because Diane Ley, the State Executive
Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency, explained that at the end of the day, there would be a facilitated discussion with farmers and Sarah Bittleman, USDA Office of the Secretary.

There were 21 speakers, starting from 8:45 in the morning until 3:15 p.m., when the facilitated discussions began. It was very good and valuable information, covering topics from the USDA Biofuel roadmap supporting President Obama’s plan to transition America’s energy economy, by Sarah Bittleman, to the explanation of Fuel Purchasing – who is doing the “pulling” in the military.

Chris Tindall, Director for Operational Energy, Deputy
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy Office, told us that the Navy is interested in buying very large amounts of advanced fuels that can be used directly to power its Great White Fleet. I can absolutely understand the national security concerns. I found him very clear and persuasive.

Early on in the morning presentations, during the Q&A, I
made the statement that Food Security is about farmers farming, and if the farmers make money, farmers will farm. I pointed out that simple math shows that farmers can not expect to get more than 7 cents per pound to grow feedstock for biodiesel, and that no farmer will farm biofuel feedstock for 7 cents per pound.

Farmers all agree with me, though we would be happy to be proven wrong about this price. I have been saying this for several years, and have not had a single rebuttal to date.

Many folks gave presentations in their area of expertise and
it was all very useful and informative. But the question left unanswered was “How much will farmers get paid for growing biofuels?” All the farmers in the room knew that the answer was: “Not enough.”

The facilitated discussions were very useful. Sarah Bittleman told everyone that it is not for the federal government to decide energy policy for Hawai‘i; that we need to decide that for ourselves.

I thought this was a very important statement, because it
has been my distinct impression that the movement toward biodiesels in Hawai‘i is running because of inertia, and is not going to be overcome by simple common sense.

Ms. Bittleman authorized folks to use common sense.

Several speakers said that we could do both food and fuel. But I wonder about that. It seems to me that if biofuel prices were subsidized enough, then farmers would quit growing food to instead grow fuel. Why shouldn’t farmers strive for a better life for their kids?

It is no longer just me asking why geothermal is not
mentioned. Many, many folks are asking that same question and it can no longer be ignored, because there is just too much at stake. Saying that “People were against it 20 years ago” is just a lame excuse.

Geothermal solves so many of the crucial issues Hawai‘i
faces that we must be looking for ways to maximize its usage. Every single farmer I talk to agrees, and is incredulous that we aren’t doing just that.

I notice that Indonesian palm oil prices are very high compared to fossil fuel oil. If local farmers don’t produce biofuels, then HECO will probably buy expensive palm oil from Malaysia. But HECO will say that it’s okay because it is green.

Biofuel, Geothermal, Peak Oil

There is a Big Island Solution to Rising Oil Prices

Lloyds of London warns its business clients to be prepared for $200/barrel oil by 2013.

Why? This video explains.

These folks are international oil experts. Watch the video again until you understand what they are saying.

The most important piece of information you need to understand is that the decline rate of aging oil fields is about 4 million barrels per day annually. This is due to aging oil fields. Every two years or so, we need to find the equivalent of a Saudi Arabia just to stay even with the natural decline rate. In order to keep up with demand, we need to make up for that and then also produce extra.

If one looks at a graph of HEI’s stock price over the last several years, one sees that after a slight lag, HEI’s stock price dropped like a rock in July 2008 when the oil price spiked.

The same thing will happen, but worse, when oil prices hit $200. Local HEI stockholders will face a loss of value of their stock while their electricity prices steadily rise. How is that being good to your stockholders?

It was my nightmare – where they send all the white-haired people away to go look for new land. The white-haired folks are the ones that depend on HEI stock for their retirement years.

There is a solution:

  • First, say unequivocally that HECO will not put expensive biofuels into its Big Island generating units. We don’t have the luxury of time to play games.
  • Second, commit to geothermal and get down to business figuring out how we are going to replace HECO’s oil-fired units. Don’t worry about community outreach, because we are taking care of that. And certainly do not send folks from O‘ahu to do what is our kuleana.

The higher the fraction of the base load we place in geothermal, the more we protect ourselves from volatile oil prices. We need to get serious about this. Now! We do not have the luxury of time.

When oil hits $200 per barrel, it will devastate our tourist industry and hurt American Savings Bank if we have not inoculated them from volatile oil prices.

We all know the benefits of geothermal; we don’t have to keep preaching about them.

We on the Big Island know that if we start to implement geothermal and work with the local people in an honest and respectful way, then we can have a discussion about shipping power to O‘ahu. But not before we take care of our business here first. If we do things in the right way, I am confident that we can ship geothermal power to O‘ahu.

HECO should have a Plan B, instead of betting everything on wind and the cable to Lana‘i and Moloka‘i. If we do this right, geothermal can be the stabilizing force that saves our economy. Price volatility prevents business from investing. Businesses need stability, and geothermal gives us that.

If HECO insists on putting expensive electricity-making solutions into its Big Island grid, it will be taking the wrong fork in the road and we don’t want to follow them there. I wrote about all the reasons we should go to geothermal after my second Peak Oil conference.  That was seven long months ago and time is ticking by.

If we move down the road toward geothermal, we will be moving toward stability and cheap energy.

I asked the folks at the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization if it is fair to say that were we to get most of our base power from cheap geothermal, then we would be relatively more competitive to the rest of the world; and that our standard of living would rise, compared to the rest of the world. Carl Bonham, who is currently working on a formal analysis of $200/barrel oil, told me that it’s fair to say that.