Transforming biomass to Dieselfuel by catalytic depolimerization.Low pressure, low temperature, low costs. The KDV-method from Alphakat, Germany. Edwin Krzesinski AVBP, Sweden ABSTRACT Soaring prices for crude oil during the last years with tops over 70 US $ per barrel have directed attention to the oil sector. Problems in supply are often explained with natural disasters and political turmoil in Nigeria and Iran. There is also rising concern about the peaking of total world oil production. Especially the transportation sector is relying on liquid fossil fuels. In order to mitigate future shortfalls of crude oil supply people all over the world are looking for technologies to replace fossil fuels with alternative fuels like RME, DME and Ethanol. The KDV-method from Alphakat produces ready-to-use synthetic Diesel in one step by catalytic depolimerization. Keywords: BTL (Biomass to Liquid), catalytic depolimerization, synthetic mineral diesel fuel. INTRODUCTION In the 1950s the American geologist King M. Hubbard predicted the peaking of the American oil production for 1970. The oil crisis in the beginning of the1970s ought to have been a wake-up call for governments around the globe to start preparing for alternatives to crude oil. But when supply went up and prices down, many countries went back to business as usual. Today we know that most oil producing countries have reached their peak and are declining. In the fall of 2005 a Swedish Oil Commission headed by Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson started with the aim to break Sweden’s dependency of fossil oil until the year 2020. Several public hearings have been arranged and the commission is expected to present a plan for alternatives in June 2006. As recently as April 27 this year the Secretary General for the Oil Commission, Mr Stefan Edman, expressed his views in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. He described a vision of planting trees on 500 000 hectares of arable land in order to produce enough bio mass for conversion processes to bio diesel. And he stated: “If we replace car motors for gasoline with new diesel motors, we can break fossil oil dependence, even if we may not make it to the year 2020. In my opinion it is possible to replace two thirds of fossil gasoline and diesel with renewable diesel.” Liquid fuels for transportation remain the area where progress with alternatives is slow. Research in Gasification of biomass (Fischer-Tropsch) is carried out and research reports of full scale plants have been published by the Biofuel region.² SWEDEN After the oil crisis in the early 70s Sweden started to replace oil for heating purposes and power generation with domestic alternatives. During 2005 yet another program with subsidies was decided on for heating purposes with wood chips replacing central oil heating. Also efficiency programs for the use of energy have been carried out and are going on. One important lesson from the past should not be forgotten: Whenever there was a new technical solution with better energy efficiency the total use of energy increased over time.¹ WORLD BIOENERGY 06 1 This presentation describes a new and innovative process to produce Diesel fuel without pressurizing and at a maximum of 350º Celsius using a catalyst. INTERNATIONAL Especially interesting in this context is the “Hirsch report” that was published in February 2005 in the US.³ Hirsch is pointing out the importance of starting as early as possible before the global peak of oil production is reached. His conclusion is that three decades before the peak would be a minimum of time to adjust society to a decreasing supply of oil. And there are concerns from ASPO (4) (Association for the Study of Peak Oil) that the peak of oil production will occur in the next 10 years. Another by-product is distilled water produced from the oxygen which binds hydrogen. The rest consists of chlorides / crystal minerals which can be used in other industrial processes as input material. INVESTMENTS / YIELD PER HECTARE FOR ENERGY CROPS Investments for KDV compared to F/T-plants are estimated to be only a quarter. Production costs per liter Diesel fuel are less than half the costs of F/T-Diesel from a large plant. RME-diesel uses only rape seeds. The KDV-process extracts the hydro carbons from entire plants. An interesting choice for annual crops seems to be energy hemp with a yield of dry substance between 10 and 30 tons per hectare that produces between 4 and 10 tons of ready-to-use synthetic Diesel. THE KDV-METHOD Dried substance of input material from any biomass (forest residues, energy crops etc.) is fed into an oil suspension which is preheated to about 350º C. The oil is circulated without pressurizing through the plant. The hydrocarbons of the input material are split under the impact of a catalytic converter inside a fluidity rotation unit. The Diesel steam is separated in a distillation column and led to a storage tank. Remaining substances are a carbonate paste consisting of pure carbon, residues and minimal parts of oil. The paste can be dried and pressed into pellets with higher energy content than pellets of wood chips. QUALITY The quality of the synthetic mineral diesel fuel is better than ordinary fossil diesel with a cetane number of 52. Super diesel has a cetane of 56 and KDV-diesel a cetane above 60. The synthetic diesel fuel has an almost unlimited durability and will not cause any engine problems from viscous organic substances, as may be the cause with RME. Under tax considerations the KDV-diesel is a bio diesel and receives tax benefits in many countries. MATERIAL BALANCE Tons per year Input Biomass, example forest residues Residues as dry substance Catalyst, additives Diesel fuel Process energy (gaseous) Process energy losses Steam/CO2 Coal substance Waste, incl. used additives Total balance 10000 200 3400 900 700 2400 2200 600 10200 10200 Density 0.85 kg/l Output Remarks Explanations: CO2 is bound in the diesel fuel. Steam is distilled to water. The carbon paste can be dried and pressed into pellets. 2 WORLDBIOENERGY 06 CENTRALIZED VERSUS DECENTRALIZED PRODUCTION In future it will become important to figure out investments both in money and energy terms. EROEI (Energy returned on energy invested) is an entity that is more and more considered in the production of crude oil. Until 1950 EROEI was 50:1 and has today decreased to 10:1 or even 3:1 according to some sources. (5) If you look at an investment only in money terms you will find that a large production plant has a low price per unit (liter Diesel fuel). But in order to feed this plant with input material you will need more and longer transportation which will use up a considerable amount of the fuel you produce. The distribution of the final product from a few large production facilities will also require longer transportation distances (and thus even more fuel). Decentralized production and consumption in the vicinity require a minimum of transportation and are more energy efficient (and less polluting). The definition of Sustainability as economically, environmentally and socially sustainable would suggest that a decentralized production is more beneficial from a holistic point of view. Another advantage with decentralized production of diesel fuel with the KDV is about the choice of input material. Additionally to biomass from forests and energy crops the KDV can process household waste, all kinds of waste products containing hydro carbons like used motor oil, vegetable oil, plastics, used tires, lignite and sludge. So for each region of about 50 km in diameter you can determine the kind of input material that exists in abundance or that you need to get rid of in a controlled way. In terms of energy safety this could guarantee an orderly way of basic community and society services as police, fire brigades, social services, supply of food and so on even in case of interruptions in fossil oil supply. This would also mean a lot to rural areas which could become self-reliant with fuel in order to be able to work the fields and forests. In economic terms diesel production plants could be considered as a motor for local development and economic growth. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS With a relatively low temperature the KDV technology is a closed process with no emissions. This is valid for all kinds of input material, even waste from PVC-plastics are bound in crystal form. Depending on local circumstances a CHP (Combined Heat and Power station) is required mainly for drying and processing the input material, delivering the process heat and the electric power to be independent from the grid. The CHP will emit some CO2 depending on the heating material. The CO2 from the diesel fuel is released first when burnt up in a diesel motor. When using household waste as input material in a KDV-plant it is important to know that no gases as furan and dioxin are produced which is the case in waste incineration plants with high temperatures. Also the amount of waste to be deposited is substantially lower and less toxic than the ashes from incineration plants. FROM LAB TESTS TO PILOT PLANTS AND FULL SCALE PLANTS It has taken the inventor Dr Christian Koch more than 30 years of research to complete the KDVprocess. Since 2004 there is a full scale facility in Mexico. Several new plants are under construction right now and two full scale plants will start production in June 2006. ADVANTAGES WITH THE ALPHAKAT PROCESS One of the main advantages with decentralized production of synthetic bio diesel is the continued use of existing diesel motors and equipment. You don’t have to develop a new fuel and at the same time replace the vehicles with new ones to adjust to the new fuel. There will be time to do so in a planned and controlled way. CONCLUSIONS When facing a situation with decreasing liquid fossil fuels, many countries will try to make up for the supply gap with alternative fuels. As the Hirsch report states it is never too early to start and industry and society will need at least 30 years for a change. WORLD BIOENERGY 06 3 After evaluating various techniques I am convinced that the KDV-process right now is the most effective method to produce ready-to-use diesel fuel from biomass or any other input material containing hydro carbons. In fact, I am so convinced that AVBP became the commercial representative for Sweden and Finland. REFERENCES ¹ HINTON, S (2006). POWERDOWN White Paper, AVBP, 2006. http://www.avbp.net ² FRAMTIDSBRÄNSLEN AB, SUNDSVALL DEMONSTRATION PLANT, En förstudie av en pilotanläggning för tillverkning av Fischer-Tropsch diesel från biomassa http://www.framtidsbrans- len.se/bilder/forstudie.pdf http://www.projectcensored.org/newsflash/ The_Hirsch_Report_Proj_Cens.pdf 4 ³ HIRSCH, Robert L, SAIC, PEAKING OF WORLD OIL PRODUCTION: IMPACTS, MITIGATION, & RISK MANAGEMENT http://www.peakoil.net/ 5 ASPO, Association for the Study of Peak Oil. VISALLI, D (2006). Getting a decent return on your energy investment. In: Partnership for a Sustainable Method. Published in Energy Bulletin, 2006-04-13: http://www.energybulletin. net/14745.html 4 WORLDBIOENERGY 06 WORLD BIOENERGY 06 5 6 WORLDBIOENERGY 06 WORLD BIOENERGY 06 7