Biofuels Review

The inaugural Biofuels International expo & conference 2008 was held in June, with great success.

It coincided with Neste Oil's announcement of a $1 billion, 800,000 t/a biodiesel plant to be built in the Maasvlakten area in the western part of the Port of Rotterdam.

This latest plant adds to Rotterdam's status of being Europe's largest centre for petroleum products, and made the region an ideal location for the event.

The show was opened by Jan Åke Jonsson, MD of Saab Automobile AB, who gave delegates hope for the future of the biofuels industry by providing details on the strong biofuels situation in Sweden.

Here, unlike other countries where biofuels are perceived in a less positive light, consumers are actively encouraged to use biofuel-powered cars by offering various incentives such as free and longer parking in cities, no congestion charging and queue cutting.

Other morning sessions covered growth opportunities in Europe, the need for bio-ethers and factors affecting import/export trade.

The Dutch environmental protestors that dangled themselves on the outside of the conference venue did little to perturb delegates, but did serve to bring about discussions on the need for sustainability in biofuels and a debate over the similarities between the biofuels industry and that of GM foods.

Only a few years ago GM foods seemed the answer to the challenges of food shortages, by increasing yields and reducing the need for pesticides and fertilisers, but strong public opinion had a dramatic effect on this.

Ian Waller, MD of FiveBarGate Consultants, stressed the need for the industry to work together on the issue of sustainability in his presentation, and come up with acceptable sustainability standards.

Afternoon sessions on day one focused on future feedstock options and were split into biodiesel and bioethanol streams.

For biodiesel comparisons were drawn between using algae, jatropha or waste vegetable oil and a panel discussion discussed the merits of each. For ethanol, miscanthus, sugarcane and biobutanol were similarly examined, to ascertain which might become the most superior and viable second generation alternative to corn.

These sessions were followed by a fresh, unique look at storage and handling issues within the biofuels market. Biofuels were examined throughout the supply chain to determine storage challenges, blending needs, infrastructure developments and stock control.

Paul Hinkle from Additive System's presentation on the different options for blending biofuels into traditional fuel streams, once again brought up the issue of splash 'n' dash and the effect this is having on the European market.

In the US the bill to prevent splash 'n' dash has just been rejected by a further vote in the Senate, leading to discussions over whether future attempts will be made to change this legislation.

The morning of the second day looked at the future potential of biofuels in Europe in a fairly unstable climate.

Eastern Europe is an area which presents a significant opportunity for producers currently struggling with tight profit margins. Peter Brown, international sales director at Greenline Industries looked more closely at Romania, the Ukraine and Bulgaria. Advantages include increased land availability, export possibilities and reduced labour costs.

The afternoon sessions once again split into bioethanol and biodiesel streams and topics covered second generation production methods and new technology designed to increase product quality and efficiency.

In the biodiesel stream two of the major players in biomass-to-liquid (BTL) market, Choren and Lurgi spoke on their second generation technology, feedstock sourcing strategies and critical success factors for the BTL sector.

This was followed by a lively panel discussion on how long it will be until this technology is available and the differences between the two key companies' second generation approaches.

The event finished with more technical presentations on topics such as ensuring oxidative stability of biodiesel, solid catalysts for converting high free fatty acid feedstocks to biodiesel and model-based strategies to improve ethanol production efficiency.

During lunch and refreshment breaks delegates were given the opportunity to browse the exhibition to view equipment from suppliers such as Aesseal, C.C.Jensen and Foss.