Potential for Liquid Biofuels in Fiji
Potential for Liquid Biofuels in Fiji March 2009
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Community Lifelines Programme Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission
This publication is the result of a team effort by Ivan Krishna, Lala Bukarau, Paul Fairbairn and Rupeni Mario of the SOPAC Secretariat.
Coconut plantation on Rotuma, Fiji. Source: SOPAC.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
This report has been prepared as a contribution to the Community Lifelines Programme Output CL1.8 Technical Advice and Information on new and developing energy technologies
POTENTIAL FOR LIQUID BIOFUELS IN FIJI March 2009
Community Lifelines Programme Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
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Table of Contents Executive Summary.................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction and Background............................................................................... 7 2. Types of Biofuels................................................................................................ 9
2.1 Ethanol................................................................................................................................ 9 2.2 Butanol................................................................................................................................ 10 2.3 Biodiesel.............................................................................................................................. 10 2.4 Synthetic diesel.................................................................................................................... 11
3. Potential Biofuel Feedstock................................................................................. 12 3.1 Coconuts.............................................................................................................................. 12 3.1.1 Other Uses for Coconuts.............................................................................................. 13 3.1.2 Coconut oil use as Diesel Substitute............................................................................. 14 3.2 Sugarcane............................................................................................................................ 14 3.3 Cassava............................................................................................................................... 15 3.4 Alternative (Non-food) Feedstock........................................................................................... 16 3.4.1 Jatropha..................................................................................................................... 16 3.4.2 Pongamia................................................................................................................... 17 3.4.3 Algae......................................................................................................................... 18
4. Production of Biofuels........................................................................................ 19 4.1 Ethanol Production................................................................................................................ 19 4.1.1 Cassava Ethanol.......................................................................................................... 19 4.1.2 Sugarcane Ethanol....................................................................................................... 20 4.2 Biodiesel Production............................................................................................................ 22 4.2.1 Coconut Biodiesel....................................................................................................... 22 4.3 Alternative Fuel Production from Waste.................................................................................. 24 4.3.1 AlphaKat’s KDV Process............................................................................................... 24 4.3.2 ST1’s Etanolix............................................................................................................. 26
5. Economic Scenarios of Biofuels and Fossil Fuels................................................. 28
5.1 Pricing Structure of Fossil Fuels............................................................................................ 28 5.2 Cassava Ethanol Production Viability...................................................................................... 30 5.3 Cost Effectiveness of Using Coconut Oil versus Diesel Fuel..................................................... 32 5.4 The Use of Waste Material to Produce Fuel............................................................................. 34
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
6. Biofuels and Food Security................................................................................. 36
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7. Conclusions....................................................................................................... 38 Bibliography............................................................................................................. 39 ANNEXES
Annex 1: AlphaKat KDV500 plant schematic……...…...…………..………....................................41 Annex 2: Rapidity and efficiency of response of selected social protection programmes....................42
List of Figures 1
Relative components of an average coconut................................................................................. 12
2
Sugar and bagasse data.............................................................................................................. 15
3
Jatropha seed............................................................................................................................. 16
4
Pongamia seeds......................................................................................................................... 17
5
Ethanol production process from cassava and sugarcane............................................................... 20
6
AlphaKat’s KDV500 plant............................................................................................................ 25
7
Overview of St1’s distributed bio-ethanol production.................................................................... 26
8
Etanolix plant............................................................................................................................. 27
9
Fiji’s unleaded petrol price structure............................................................................................ 29
10 Fiji’s diesel price structure.......................................................................................................... 29 11 Cassava farming cost breakdown................................................................................................. 30 12 Cost breakdown of ethanol production.......................................................................................... 31 13 Map of Nacamaki Village............................................................................................................. 33 14 Operating cost to produce coconut oil in Nacamaki....................................................................... 34 15 Biofuels and food security........................................................................................................... 37
1
Properties of ethanol, butanol and gasoline................................................................................. 9
2
Comparisons between the common method and supercritical methanol method for biodiesel
production from rapeseed oil...................................................................................................... 11
3
2007 coconut production in Pacific Island Countries..................................................................... 13
4
Energy from components of an average coconut........................................................................... 13
5
Coconut oil versus diesel properties............................................................................................ 14
6
2007 cassava production in Pacific Island Countries..................................................................... 15
7
Expected diesel yields for AlphaKat KDV500 plant........................................................................ 25
8
Prices of copra oil at various copra prices.................................................................................... 34
9
Lautoka landfill solid waste classification..................................................................................... 35
10 Potential annual synthetic diesel production from Lautoka landfill.................................................. 35
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
List of Tables
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Executive Summary
The Government of Fiji after the fifth increase of the year in fuel prices in November 2005 considered itself ‘forced’ to focus on the exploration of developing renewable energy sources, including those from agricultural by-products. In early 2006, the largely Government-owned Fiji Electricity Authority (FEA) unveiled an intensive and ambitious ($350 m) capital investment programme to be a 100% renewable energy power utility in 2011. The investment programme included the production of energy from bagasse and ethanol fuel from sugar [1], to involve the Fiji Sugar Corporation and during the course of 2006 approved both a National Energy Plan; and Sugar National Adaptation Strategy to usefully revive the sugar industry by changing its primary focus to that of extracting a locally-produced alternative to the expensive imported diesel fuel. As in the larger Pacific Island Countries (PICs), Fiji initially identified coconut, sugarcane and cassava as suitable feedstock for biofuel generation, but the fact that all of these items are on the menu of foods consumed by islanders; required an approach that would balance out the use of agricultural land for food and fuel. Alternative non-food feedstock (jatropha, pongamia and algae) have been tested successfully in other parts of the world and Fiji could explore these plants at a point in the future, if and when food security became a critical issue when the switch to biofuels gains traction. Coconut oil has already had economic success in the world market in the 1980’s and 1990’s; however, the consistent drop of world prices in the past 20 years [2] has kept PIC producers struggling endlessly in this industry. Biodiesel from coconut oil therefore is considered a viable conversion to address two major problems in small Pacific island economies: (1) overdependence on petroleum fuel; and (2) the near demise of the coconut oil industry. It should be noted that the common catalysis process used in the conversion of coconut oil into biodiesel requires harmful and relatively expensive chemicals (methanol and sodium hydroxide) while the supercritical methanol method requires complex equipment not suitable for remote or rural application. Ethanol or butanol could be produced from either cassava or sugarcane. Butanol is considered to be a better fuel than ethanol; however it is yet to be produced on a large scale, economically. The production of cassava ethanol is profitable when crude oil prices are over US$100 a barrel.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The use of waste biomass is also an alternative to food crops for biofuel production as it provides a unique opportunity to reuse waste to produce fuel. The Katalytische Drucklose Verolung (KDV) process utilises the catalytical depolymerization method to turn waste biomass into high quality diesel. Projection made according to data from a land fill in Fiji, showed that 90.6 percent of the rubbish being dumped could be used by the KDV process. Similar technology have been developed and are in use elsewhere, for example the award-winning Etanolix-technology developed by St1 Biofuels Oy in Finland is apparently portable in being able to bring small production plants close to the waste raw material stockpile.
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In Fiji, crude oil makes up about 30-40% of the retail price for unleaded and diesel fuels. More importantly almost 40-45% of the cost of unleaded and diesel fuels are determined in the world markets, with the remaining 55-60 % being controlled by the local economy. The potential for competition for agricultural land between crops for food security and crops for biofuels needs to be managed. Land use, water and labour will need to be shared among them; however small-scale biofuel production in particular should be compatible with food production. Significant Government input in terms of policies, incentives and finance will be required for major replanting and industry restructuring. SOPAC estimates the current regional potential in 2010 for biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) is about 30% of all transport fuels [2].
1. Introduction and Background
In recent years, there has been an average annual increase in the cost of oil of ten dollars a barrel. This has had a significant impact on Pacific Island Countries (PICs), who are most vulnerable to changes in world oil prices due to their high dependence on imported oil-based fuels, which are by far the largest component of total imports. In Pacific islands, fuel imports as a percentage of GDP, has in many cases doubled over the past four years. High oil prices are eating into national income, which is demonstrated by the fact that an increase in the price of a barrel of oil of $40 can be translated into 5 years of lost growth in certain countries. In order to reduce the impact that high oil prices are having on PICs, diversifying energy sources, improving the efficiency in fuel procurement and distribution by improving energy infrastructure such as storage facilities; and creating a competitive environment in order to reduce fuel costs, are some of the measures being pursued [3]. The Government of Fiji after the fifth increase of the year in fuel prices in November 2005 considered itself ‘forced’ to focus on the exploration of developing renewable energy sources, including those from agricultural by-products. The Government considered it the only way to go given that the increase in international fuel prices was something beyond its control. In early 2006, the largely Governmentowned Fiji Electricity Authority (FEA) unveiled an intensive and ambitious ($350 m) capital investment programme to be a 100% renewable energy power utility in 2011. The investment programme included the production of energy from bagasse and ethanol fuel from sugar [1], to involve the Fiji Sugar Corporation and alleviate the expected stress on Fiji’s sugar industry when the EU preferential pricing regime would end. The Government of Fiji, in the course of 2006 approved both a National Energy Plan; and Sugar National Adaptation Strategy to help achieve development goals that would prevent the complete collapse of an industry that had grown inefficient due to the subsidies; but which could be usefully revived by changing its primary focus to that of extracting a locally-produced alternative to the expensive imported diesel fuel. On the 11th of July 2008, oil prices hit a record high of US $147.27 a barrel. This has been documented as the highest in oil production history and even though the oil prices have considerably fallen since then, there are very real fears that prices would rise again in the future. Former oil industry scientific advisers to SOPAC, presented a case in 2003 for moving completely away from reliance on fossil fuels as an energy source because, according to their calculations, what is left of oil reserves and what is yet to be discovered would go to the highest bidder [4].
Sixty percent of the world’s energy demand is for transportation. This amounts to billions of dollars of investment in petroleum fuel infrastructure already on the ground that cannot be eliminated overnight. Biofuel has already been introduced into the energy mixes in countries that have adopted an aggressive approach to securing alternative fuel sources via various percentage mixes with gasoline to produce new fuel hybrids like E10 (sometimes called gasohol is 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline) E85 (85% anhydrous ethanol and 15% gasoline), which while contributing to reducing over-reliance on fossil fuels, would also continue to utilise existing petroleum networks and infrastructure.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Fortunately for PICs, many of them have abundant natural resources that can form the basis for the move to bio-energy, which is crucial to breaking the stranglehold that the overdependence on imported petroleum product has on their fragile economies. Pacific island leaders affirmed in their 37th Pacific Islands Forum Communiqué (2007), that their future prosperity depended on energy security.”
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In terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, biofuels as the renewable green fuel should be the preferred fuel and to all intents and purposes the conversion to it by the PICs should be a win-win situation for their largely agro-based economies. Australian delegates at the last meeting of Pacific Energy Ministers in 2007, stated that the “PIC footprint as GHG emitters was barely measurable”, and advised against the imposition of “unrealistic economic barriers for the development of their countries.” While fossil fuels have continued to remain an important aspect of all PICs; it is the key cost component in regard to food where it is required in most countries for production, processing and transportation. Biofuels are defined as solid, liquid or gaseous fuels derived from relatively recently-dead biological material and are distinguished from fossil fuels, which are derived from long-dead biological material. Theoretically, biofuels can be produced from any (biological) carbon source; although, the most common sources are photosynthetic plants. Agriculture is the main industry that would support biofuel production utilising biomass which is converted into mainly ethanol, butanol, biodiesel and synthetic diesel. Concerns have been raised on the sustainability of biofuels that use food crops as feedstock. Land used for food production diverted to produce energy biomass will undoubtedly influence food prices as both compete for the same inputs; however, the Fiji Government dismissed the threat to food security on the grounds that more than half of Fiji’s nearly 2 million hectares of land lay idle according to FAO 2006 figures and that all it needed was that both biofuel and food production be managed in a sustainable and responsible manner. The Fiji Government was aware that a combined and concerted effort was required by all stakeholders to sustain the country on both fronts. Fiji energy officials are confident that the country was well placed to succeed in providing alternative fuel for transport needs and also contribute to the national power generation demand [5]. This report will focus on liquid biofuels and discuss the potential biofuel feedstock applicable to Fiji and the Pacific, as well as the processes and infrastructure. Further it will consider the economics of biofuels compared to fossil fuels and the impact of biofuel production.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Unless otherwise attributed, the primary source for the information compiled in this report is the online encyclopedic Wikipedia.
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2. Types of Biofuels
2.1 Ethanol Ethanol is best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and in modern thermometers. It also has widespread use as a solvent of substances intended for human contact or consumption. In chemistry, it is both an essential solvent and a feedstock for the synthesis of other products [6]. Table 1:Properties of ethanol, butanol and gasoline [7-8]. Ethanol
Gasoline
Butanol
C2H6O
C8H18
CH3(CH2)3OH
colorless liquid
colorless liquid
clear liquid
Molar Mass (g/mol)
46.07
114.23
74.12
Density(g/cm )
0.789
0.703
0.8057
Melting point (°C)
-114.1
-57
-89
Boiling point (°C)
78.3
125.52
118
Viscosity (10 Pa • s)
1.078
0.542
2.593
Energy Content (MJ/L)
23.5
34.8
29.2
Octane rating (AKI)
116
87-92
87
Molecular formula Appearance 3
-3
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Ethanol has been used as a fuel since the production of the first mass-produced automobile was made, called the Model T Ford and was able to run on pure anhydrous ethanol. The production process to produce ethanol may differ for each feedstock; however, they all use the fermentation pathway. Anhydrous ethanol (ethanol with less than 1% water) can be blended with gasoline in varying quantities up to pure ethanol, and most spark-ignited gasoline style engines will operate well with mixtures of 10% ethanol. Hydrous ethanol (ethanol with more than 1% water) cannot be blended with gasoline because of phase separation occurring between the gasoline and ethanol.
Ethanol has a much higher octane rating than gasoline meaning that ethanol can support higher compression ratio in a gasoline engine without pre-ignition. This dramatically increases thermal efficiency, meaning a greater percentage of fuel input is converted to actual work than with gasoline. Engines tuned to make use of ethanol only, can get more mileage per gallon than gasoline because more of the fuel actually produces useful work.
i
AKI- Anti-knock index (RON+MON/2)
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Ethanol has more oxygen in the chemical make up than gasoline. This is why ethanol is added to gasoline to reduce pollutants, it retards the burn rate and allows more complete combustion in the cylinder chamber allowing the fuel to be completely burned and produces less unburned pollutants in the exhaust. Since ethanol has lower energy content than petroleum, the amount of fuel injected into the cylinder must increase compared to gasoline.
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2.2 Butanol Butanol is mainly used as a solvent for a wide variety of textile processes and chemical synthesis. It is also used as paint thinner and a solvent in other coating applications where it is used as a relatively slow evaporating latent solvent in lacquers and ambient-cured enamels. It can be found as a component of hydraulic and brake fluids, as well as a base for perfumes [9]. Ethanol production is more economically viable and has seen widespread commercial implementation; however, recent improvements in butanol production technology have improved yields and have made it competitive with ethanol. Butanol is considered to be a superior fuel to ethanol because of its given advantages which include: • • • • •
The tendency to repel water making it less likely for phase separation. Possessing an energy content equivalent to that of 80% of gasoline. It can be mixed with both gasoline and diesel at all concentrations. Less corrosive on engine components. Able to utilise the existing gasoline pipeline infrastructure.
Butanol can be produced in a similar way to ethanol utilising the same feedstock; however, instead of using yeast for fermentation, a bacterium called clostridium acetobutylicum would be used. Unlike yeast, which can digest sugar only into alcohol and carbon dioxide, clostridium acetobutylicum and many other clostridia can digest whey, sugar, starch, lignin, cellulose fiber, and other biomass directly into butanol, propionic acid, ether and glycerin. Butanol was first produced using the Acetone Butanol Ethanol (ABE) process, however the industry opted for more-efficient processes based on hydrocarbon cracking and petroleum distillation techniques driven by low oil prices. There has been renewed interest in the ABE process for the production of biofuels. Apart from the need for temperature control, the ABE synthesis process is relatively simple with the desired end products formed in layers that are easy to separate. Table 1 summarises the properties of ethanol, butanol and gasoline.
2.3 Biodiesel
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Biodiesel, also known as long chain methyl esters, is formed by trans-esterification of vegetable oils. There are two pathways for producing biodiesel; the most common process involves reacting vegetable oils with an alcohol and a catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide. The products formed consist mainly of glycerin, which can be used in soap production, and vegetable oil methyl ester (biodiesel). The other process utilises supercritical methanol to convert vegetable oil to biodiesel.
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Table 2 summarises the comparison of the supercritical methanol process to the common catalysed method. The supercritical process is free of catalyst; is a simpler purification; and produces a slightly higher yield of methyl ester; however, the initial equipment cost is much greater compared to the common catalysed method [10]. Biodiesel has better lubricating properties than lower viscosity diesel fuels. In addition, it reduces engine wear increasing the life of the fuel injection equipment that relies on the fuel for its lubrication, such as high pressure injection pumps, pump injectors and fuel injectors [11]; however, the quality of the biodiesel will play an important part, as poor quality biodiesel could be detrimental to a diesel engine.
Table 2: Comparisons between the common method and supercritical methanol method for biodiesel production from rapeseed oil [10]. Reaction time Reaction condition Catalyst Free fatty acids Yield Removal for purification Process
Common method
SC Methanol method
1 - 6 hrs
240 sec
0.1 MPa, 30 - 65°C
35 MPa, 350°C
Acid or alkali
none
saponified products
methyl esters
97 % (normal)
98.5 % (higher)
methanol, catalyst and saponified products
methanol
Complicated
simple
2.4 Synthetic Diesel Synthetic diesel has the same characteristics as fossil fuel-based diesel, except it is produced from biomass. Biomass to liquids (BTL) is a multi-step process that produces liquid biofuels from biomass such as the Fischer Tropsch process and catalytic depolymerization. While biodiesel and bio-ethanol production so far only use parts of a plant, i.e. oil, sugar or starch; the BTL production, on the other hand, uses the whole plant. The result of BTL is that less land area is required per unit of energy produced compared with biodiesel or bio-ethanol [12]. The Fischer-Tropsch process is a catalysed chemical reaction in which synthesis gas comprising a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is converted into liquid hydrocarbons of various forms. The synthesis gas is produced by gasification of biomass. The principal purpose of this process is to produce a synthetic petroleum substitute [13].
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Catalytic depolymerization is a process that occurs at relatively low temperature and low pressure for the reduction of complex organic materials usually waste products of various sorts into light crude oil. It mimics the natural geological processes thought to be involved in the production of fossil fuels. Under pressure and heat, long-chain polymers of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon decompose into short-chain petroleum hydrocarbons with a maximum length of around 18 carbons. Due to the low temperature being used, a catalyst is required to crack the hydrocarbon molecule [14].
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3. Potential Biofuel Feedstocks
In the Pacific the available crops that could be used are coconuts, sugarcane and cassava. These agricultural crops have their own established markets and industries. Some of these industries, for example, sugarcane produces wastes or by-products such as molasses and bagasse. These could also be used as biofuel feedstock along with other agricultural residue (biomass). Possible alternative to food crops as feedstock are algae, pongamia and jatropha.
3.1 Coconuts The principal components of an average coconut are shown below. Pacific Island Countries contribute about 4% of the total world production of coconut oil [15]; but due to decreasing world prices and low returns on labour, countries such as Samoa, Tonga and Fiji have almost ceased copra and coconut oil production. Therefore a potentially large but untapped source of renewable energy from coconuts still exists [16].
Coconut [100%] (1.2kg)
Meat [30%] (0.36kg)
Shell [15%] (0.18kg)
Husk [33.3%] (0.40kg)
Coco-water [21.7%] (0.26kg)
Non-oil [20%] (0.24kg) Protein [1.05%]
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Carbohydrates [3.925% ]
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Oil [10%] (0.12kg)
Minerals [0.025%] Moisture [15%]
Figure 1: Components of an average coconut. Source: United Coconut Association of the Philippines – UCAP
Coconuts are a permanent crop, once planted there is no need to re-prepare the land with consequent expenditure of energy. It is non-seasonal and provides a continuous supply of nuts practically month after month, giving it an advantage in maintaining a processing plant in full operation throughout the year. Also it is unique in having other components such as the shell and husk, which are potentially large energy sources. Minimal labour is required to maintain a coconut plantation with the more labour intensive activities being the harvesting of nuts and processing of copra. Table 3: 2007 Coconut yield in Pacific Island Countries [17]. Coconut Production (tonnes)
Area Harvested (hectares)
Coconut Yield (tonnes/ hectare)
Coconut oil Production (tonnes)
American Samoa
4,700
2,200
2.14
65
Cook Islands
2,000
730
2.74
0
Fiji
140,000
50,000
2.80
9,500
French Polynesia
87,000
20,000
4.35
4,300
Guam
53,200
9,600
5.54
1,200
Kiribati
110,000
29,000
3.79
1,900
F.S.M
41,000
16,600
2.47
2,950
New Caledonia
16,500
2,800
5.89
90
Papua New Guinea
677,000
203,000
3.33
57,000
Samoa
146,000
21,700
6.73
4,550
Country
Tokelau
3,000
600
5.00
30
Tonga
58,500
8,300
7.05
1,100
Tuvalu
1,700
1,700
1.00
20
Vanuatu
322,000
76,000
4.24
12,500
Table 4: Energy from components of an average coconut [18]. Component
Kg
KJ/kg
Energy (KJ) Percent of Total Energy (%)
Coconut oil
0.12
37,681
4,522
27.7
Carbohydrates and proteins
0.06
16,747
942
5.7
Shell
0.18
23,027
4,145
25.4
Husk
0.40
16,747
6,699
41.1
Total
0.76
94,202
16,308
99.9
3.1.1 Other Uses for Coconuts
The coconut husk fibers are extensively used as raw materials for making mattresses, rugs, doormats, and ropes. It is also a good potential energy source because of the high heating values. There is also an interest in the high lignin content of the husk for the manufacture of plastic sheets [19]. The coconut shell can be produced into exportable home decorative items such as handicraft. In its finely pulverized form also known as coconut shell flour, it is regularly used as a primary ingredient in the manufacture of glue with applications in the plywood industry. Charcoal produced from coconut shell
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Coconut water from the tender young fruit is a delicious and nutritious beverage which can be sipped straight from the fruit. Its high sugar content makes it readily fermentable to yield both coconut vinegar and coconut wine. Coconut water can replace dextrose as an intravenous fluid when taken straight from the unopened fruit in its uncontaminated state. It also can serve as the raw material for producing industrial alcohol [19].
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can be used as a fuel or used in the manufacture of activated carbon. Further processing of the coconut shell charcoal in the presence of oxidizing agents, such as steam and carbon dioxide, will yield activated carbon. This product has a high adsorptive capacity due primarily to the large surface area available for adsorption (500 to 1500 square metres per gram of activated carbon), hence it is used extensively in water filtering applications [19]. Coconut oil is commonly used in cooking, especially when frying and is commonly used to flavor many South Asian curries. Virgin coconut oil is used in the making of margarine, soap, body oils and cosmetics. Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated coconut oil is often used in non-dairy creamers, and snack foods. Coconut oil is also an important component of many industrial lubricants, for example in the cold rolling of steel strip [20].
3.1.2 Coconut oil use as Diesel Substitute Coconut oil has very similar properties to diesel fuel and short term testing has indicated that it can be used directly or in blends with diesel fuel. However, long term testing has shown that engine reliability is compromised with higher blends of coconut oil [16]. Deposits are formed from the incomplete combustion of coconut oil which is due to its high viscosity and the quality of oil used. Preheating coconut oil before it is burnt helps reduce its viscosity while filtering down to 1 micron improves oil quality. Trans-esterification is the process where coconut oil is reacted with methanol and catalysis or supercritical methanol. The resulting product (biodiesel) has improved combustibility. Table 5: Coconut oil versus diesel properties [21-22]. Fuel
Specific Energy (MJ/kg)
Density (Kg/l)
Cetane Number
Kinematic Solidification Viscosity Point (c/S) at 40°C (°C)
Petroleum Diesel
45.3
0.85
45-55
4
–9
–
Biodiesel
39-42
0.86-0.90
46-70
3.7-5.8
(– 11) – 16
60-135
Coconut Oil
34-38
0.92
60
20
24
10
Iodine Value
Specific Energy – indication of the fuel’s energy released when it is burned. Cetane Number (CN) – indication of the fuel’s willingness to ignite when it gets compressed. Higher number ignites easier. Viscosity – indication of the fuel’s ability to atomize in the injector system. Higher viscosity will cause poor volitization of the fuel. Solidification Point – indication of the temperature at which the fuel will turn solid. Iodine Value (IV) – indication of the ability of the fuel to polymerize due to the fuels’ degree of bonds available.
3.2 Sugarcane
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Sugarcane is primarily grown to produce sugar and molasses which are then used to produce other high value commodities. Figure 2 provides sugar and bagasse data in terms of their percentage constituents. It is noted that moisture dominates sugarcane, averaging 72.5% of its mass.
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Fiji is the largest grower of sugarcane followed by Papua New Guinea among PICs. The bulk of the sugar is exported to the European Union, with sugar accounting for about 25% of the total value of exports from Fiji. Sugar, molasses and bagasse can be used as feedstock to produce ethanol and butanol. This is done through fermentation by yeast in the case of ethanol and bacteria for butanol. Bagasse, a by-product of sugarcane crushing is used to generate power for sugar mills through combustion in boilers. The amount of bagasse compared to sugar in production is quite substantial and provides useable biomass for either biofuel production or electricity generation in addition to heat required for the milling process.
Sugarcane (100%) Products and by-products Cane constituent Sugar (11%)
Fibre (12.5%)
Molasses (4.5%)
Sucrose (12.5%)
Bagasses(25%)
Impurities (2.5%)
Water (59%)
Water (72.5%)
Mill mud (0.5%) Figure 2: Sugar and bagasse data. Source: [23].
3.3 Cassava Cassava as a food root crop in the Pacific does not accord the same level of interest and importance as sweet potato, taro and yam which usually come ahead of cassava in terms of culinary preference; however, cassava remains an important dietary supplement and is often produced in greater quantities than preferred root crops [24]. Table 6 shows the cassava yield in PICs for the year 2007. Cassava has the ability to grow on marginal land where other crops do not grow well; it can tolerate drought and grow in low-nutrient soils. Cassava roots can be stored in the ground for up to 24 months, and some varieties for up to 36 months, therefore harvest may be delayed until conditions are favorable.
Cassava Production (tonnes)
Area Harvested (hectares)
Cassava Yield (tonnes/hectare)
100
15
6.66
Cook Islands
1,500
60
25.00
Fiji
34,500
2,500
13.80
French Polynesia
4,300
240
17.92
F.S.M
12,000
1,200
10.00
New Caledonia
3,200
420
7.62
50
10
5.00
125,000
12,500
10.00
370
30
12.33
Solomon Islands
2,500
150
16.67
Tonga
9,700
770
12.60
Country American Samoa
Niue Papua New Guinea Samoa
Cassava roots contain a high content of starch, but with low quantity of impurities such as protein and lipid which make it an excellent source of pure starch suitable for a wide range of applications. Starch from cassava has unique characteristics such as being odorless, having paste clarity, and stickiness. These remarkable characteristics enable it to be conveniently and readily blended with other flavoring and coloring agents. It also serves as a source of chemical reagent, feed stock of all fermentation processes, and adhesive substance.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Table 6: 2007 Cassava yields in Pacific Island Countries [17].
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3.4 Alternative (Non-Food) Feedstock 3.4.1 Jatropha
Figure 3: Jatropha seed. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatropha
Jatropha is a drought-resistant deciduous shrub that grows on almost any terrain, even on gravelly, sandy and saline soils. In addition, it can be intercropped with many cash crops such as sugar, fruit and vegetables, with jatropha offering fertilizer and protection against livestock. Currently it is used as a host plant for vanilla crops in Rotuma and Tonga [25]. Jatropha thrives in a tropical and sub-tropical environment, occurring mainly in lower altitudes, needing at least 250 mm of rain annually and it can survive three years of drought by shedding most of its leaves to reduce transpiration loss. Only during its first two years does it need to be watered in the closing days of the dry season. The use of pesticides and other polluting substances are not necessary, due to the pesticidal and fungicidal properties of the plant [26].
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The jatropha plant produces non-edible seeds with an oil content of 37%. Yields range from 6 to 8 metric tonne/hectare when a plantation reaches its maximum output within 2-5 years, depending on the environment. Based on the oil content the seed produces 1.9 up to 2.6 metric tonnes/hectare of oil. The oil is a one-stage conversion to biodiesel or can be used directly as a fuel in adapted engines which could be used for biodiesel. The by-product is press cake which is a good organic fertilizer [25].
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The challenge facing jatropha is the lack of research and development invested into improving upon wild varieties. Jatropha has not yet been domesticated as a crop with reliable performance. Further research is needed on suitable varieties and on yields under different conditions, and markets need to be established to promote sustainable development of the crop. Because jatropha seeds are toxic, they are harmful and even lethal when consumed by livestock. As a result, it was recently banned in Western Australia. This may pose some questions for small holder farmers who maintain livestock in close proximity to jatropha.
Box 1: Air New Zealand Test Flight with Jatropha Oil (30/12/2008) During a two-hour flight to and from Auckland International Airport, the Air New Zealand crew sought to test how the fuel, made from jatropha plants and blended 50:50 with Jet A1 fuel in the tank of one of four Rolls-Royce engines on a 747-400, stood up to use at high altitudes and in other demanding conditions. The crude jatropha oil was first deoxygenated and then went through a process of selective cracking and isomerization to produce synthetic paraffinic kerosene, or SPK, which is then blended with conventional jet A1 fuel. The test flight by Air New Zealand was successful, having passed all ground and in-flight performance tests. Source: Terasol Energy
3.4.2 Pongamia
Figure 4: Pongamia seeds. Source: http://news.mongabay.com /bioenergy/2007_05_09_archive. html
It can be found growing from the coast line to the hilly slopes and grows very well along water ways. It can be grown in different types of flood-free soil and matured trees can withstand water logging. Its propagation is by direct seedlings or nursery raised seedlings. Each pod bears single seed with an average fresh weight of 1.2 grams. From the 5th year it starts flowering and fruiting. Commercial production of seed start after 10 years and a full-grown tree may yield up to 100 kg or more fresh seeds per annum for up to 60-70 years. It is very easy to grow and needs little care [28]. Pongamia is often used for landscaping purposes as a windbreak or for shade due to the large canopy and showy fragrant flowers. The bark can be used to make twine or rope and it also yields a black gum that is used to treat wounds caused by poisonous fish. The flowers are used by gardeners as compost for plants requiring rich nutrients. Although all parts of the plant are toxic and will induce nausea and vomiting if
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Pongamia (also known as Indian Beech, Pongam, Honge, Ponge, and Karanj) is a tree thought to have originated in India and is found throughout Asia. The tree is well suited to intense heat and sunlight due to its dense network of lateral roots, making it drought-tolerant. The dense shade it provides slows the evaporation of surface water and its root nodules promote nitrogen fixation [27].
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eaten, the fruit and sprouts, along with the seeds, are used in many traditional remedies. Juices from the plant, as well as the oil, are antiseptic and resistant to pests. In addition the tree has the rare property of producing seeds containing 25-35% oil. The seed oil is an important asset of this tree having been used as lamp oil, in soap making, and as a lubricant for thousands of years. This oil is rapidly gaining popularity as a source of feedstock for biodiesel production as it is rich in oleic acid which makes up 50% of the oil extracted [27].
3.4.3 Algae Algae are a large and diverse group of simple organisms, ranging from unicellular to multi-cellular forms. They are able to conduct photosynthesis just like plants but do not have roots, stems, and leaves. They can be found in both fresh and ocean water and in moist environments on land. Algae are known to have high growth rates and are able to propagate extremely quickly in the presence of abundant nutrients. The main components required to sustain growth are sunlight, carbon dioxide and nutrients. Normally beneficial to aquatic life; however a bloom (a large and sudden growth in the population) can cause the death of many fish. In most cases fish die because the decomposition of large amounts of algae depletes the oxygen in the water. Most blooms occur in bodies of water that have been polluted with sewage or with runoff containing organic substances such as fertilizers. Algae strains have been found to contain up to 80 percent of their body weight as oil lipids. The potential for producing oil has been estimated from 50,000 - 1,250,000 litres per hectare, however in reality a maximum of 300,000 litres per hectare has been reached to date [29]. Studies have shown that the influence of light intensities, temperature, nutrient concentration and carbon dioxide input could substantially increase the growth rate as well as oil content of certain algae species [30, 31]. Current production of algae on a commercial scale is for the manufacture of bioplastics, dyes and colorants, feedstock, pharmaceuticals and for pollution control.
Box 2: Japan Airlines Biofuels Flight Test Japan Airlines became the fourth airline to successfully flight test biofuels on 30th January 2009. The airline conducted a one-hour 747-300 flight test using a B50 blend of camelina, jatropha and algae based biofuel in the number 3 engine. The biofuel was 84 percent camelina, 16 percent jatropha, and less than one percent algae. The fuel was processed by Honeywell’s UOP subsidiary, and supplied by a joint venture of UOP and JGC, Nikki Universal.
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In ground tests conducted, the pilots reported that the biofuel was more fuel efficient than 100 percent traditional jet-A fuel (kerosene), a finding consistent with the Continental Airlines test which used a blend of 50% traditional jet A fuel and a bio-fuel mixture of 47% jatropha and 3% algae oils. Indicating biofuels may not only be a carbon-neutral option, but also a more fuel efficient one.
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Pratt & Whitney, manufacturer of the engines used in the test, confirmed that the biofuel exceeded performance criteria established for commercial aviation jet fuel. Boeing Japan president, Nicole Piasecki, said that the company is hopeful of flying revenue passenger flights within 3-5 years using biofuels. Source: [32]
4. Production of Biofuels
Biofuel production has to be financially and economically feasible because the end product has to compete with fossil fuels in price. The major component of the production cost is associated with the feedstock; however, the production technologies used to process the feedstock also add to the final price of the biofuel product. It also has to operate in an environmentally friendly manner so that the products are contributors to a cleaner environment along with the process to produce it. The production plants discussed below will focus on Fiji’s potential to produce biofuel.
4.1 Ethanol Production Ethanol can be produced from either cassava or sugarcane. The process for producing ethanol for both feedstocks is similar, i.e. by way of fermentation. The only exception is they have differing pre-treatment phases before fermentation. The ethanol industry is seen as an economic ‘savior’ wherein more jobs would be created and the fuel import bill would be reduced. For the year 2007, the Fiji Government spent FJ$95.4 million on over 78 million litres of unleaded fuel [33]. In order for ethanol to replace this quantity of unleaded fuel, in terms of energy content, about 131 million litres per annum will be needed.
4.1.1 Cassava Ethanol
The Fiji Government, along with investors have outlined plans for the establishment of a cassava ethanol plant in Fiji. The proposed FJ$40 million ethanol plant will need 360,000 tonnes of cassava annually with an expected ethanol output of 50,000 tonnes or 63 million litres [35]. The purchase price is considered to be at FJ$0.30 a kilogram of cassava, creating a FJ$108 million market for cassava farmers; however the lowest market price for cassava according to Fiji agricultural trade statistics in 2008 was FJ$0.68 per kg [25]. The cassava ethanol project above could displace about 80 per cent of unleaded fuel imports; however, with the optimum ethanol/unleaded fuel blend for use in unmodified gasoline engines being at 10 per cent ethanol and 90 per cent unleaded fuel, a mere saving of FJ$9.54 million can be made from a potential of FJ$76.32 million [33, 35].
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The process of ethanol production from cassava can be in the form of either dried chips or fresh roots. The chips and roots after being prepared into a slurry with water are then cooked to gelatinize the starch for facilitating enzyme hydrolysis. Liquefying enzymes are used to prevent the high viscosity of the mash induced by starch gelatinization and swelling of small particles. Other viscosity reducing enzymes can also be applied to improve mixing and cooking efficiency. After fermentation by yeast, the ethanol is concentrated by steam distillation, dehydration and then finally by a molecular sieve to a concentration of 95 percent ethanol [34].
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The waste stream emitted from the production plant consists of two parts: (1) solids and (2) liquids. The solid waste can be used to produce biogas via the biomethylation process. Alternatively, semi-dried solid can be used as fuel by direct burning. Liquid waste could also be used to produce biogas. In China cogeneration of biogas obtained from wastewater treatment in the ethanol factory operating with cassava is reported to be able to cover all electricity needs in the ethanol production process and still have some excess amounts to supply to the grid [34].
Sugarcane
Treament/ Processing
Cassava
Treament/ Processing
CO2
Enzymes + Water
Hydrolysis + Cooking
Fermentation + Saccharification
Distillation
Steam
Yeast
Slop
Electricity Production
Animal Feed
Ethanol
Biogas
Bio digester Figure 5: Ethanol production process from cassava and sugarcane.
4.1.2 Sugarcane Ethanol
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The sugarcane ethanol production process begins with cultivating and harvesting sugarcane at a cane field. The cane is then processed at a sugar mill, where the cane stalks are shredded and crushed to extract the cane juice. Sugarcane molasses is the by-product of the sugar making process and is used in the production of alcohol beverages. Bagasse is also a by-product and can be used to produce steam and generate electricity within the plant. Excess electricity produced can be sold to utility grids [36].
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After the juice is extracted at the mill, it is then transformed into alcohol by way of a fermentation process using yeasts. The fermentation process takes four to twelve hours and generates a significant amount of carbon dioxide and heat. Fermentation can be conducted in batches or continuously, using open or closed fermentation tanks. Cooling is applied to maintain the resulting fermented wine mixture. Much of the carbon dioxide that is generated during the fermentation process can be captured and converted into marketable products, such as dry ice, liquid carbon dioxide for soft drinks, fire-fighting foams, filtration products and various industrial uses [36].
After fermentation, the sugarcane ethanol is distilled from other by-products, resulting in a level of purity of approximately 95%. This mixture is often referred to as “hydrous sugarcane ethanol” because it contains 5% water. Hydrous sugarcane ethanol can be commercially used, but cannot be blended with gasoline. An additional reactant, such as cyclohexane, is needed in order to dehydrate the sugarcane ethanol, by forming a tertiary azeotropic mixture with water and alcohol. Anhydrous sugarcane ethanol is nearly 99% pure and can be blended with gasoline [36]. The Fiji sugar industry had embarked on a reform programme to ensure its long-term viability in light of its poor past performance and the reform of the EU sugar regime which is leading to a significant decline in protocol sugar prices. As part of this reform programme, the sugar industry is considering production of ethanol as part of the revival programme with a view to enhancing the profitability and returns from the otherwise marginal sugar manufacturing business [37]. In 2007, sugar exports were worth FJ$185 million with Fiji’s average domestic sugar consumption at about 47,000 tonnes from 540,000 tonnes of sugarcane. If the production of sugar is limited to domestic consumption only, this would leave (as of 2007 sugarcane production statistics) 1,938,000 tonnes of sugarcane which could produce 135 million litres of ethanol. This would be adequate to replace unleaded fuel imports; however it is not economic as a loss of FJ$89.6 million in Government revenue (from sugar exports under the EU preferential pricing) would likely occur. In the highly likely event when the export of sugar becomes unattractive; then production of ethanol should become extremely viable [38]. The Fiji Sugar Cane Growers Council, Fiji Sugar Corporation and Sojitz (Japan) have formed a joint venture to produce 50,000 litres of sugar cane ethanol, with production capacity reaching 100,000 litres at full operation. The FJ$36.5 million project is expected to ultimately generate FJ$20.2 million in annual revenue for the local economy [39]. Box 3: The Brazilian Ethanol Experience The Brazilian biofuels programme has been one of the most successful in the world. By law, all petrol used in Brazil must be blended with ethanol. The National Fuel Alcohol Programme (Proálcool) began as a government initiative in the mid-1970s. The aim was to make use of Brazil’s massive annual sugar production of up to 13 million tonnes to meet the national goal of reducing dependence on imported energy sources, as well as to address a crushing balance-of-payments crisis. By comparison the Fijian sugar industry is much smaller, but general lessons can still be drawn. The real impetus toward the creation of Proálcool came when very high market prices for petrol (due to the OPEC price shocks) coincided with very low sugar prices. It is interesting to note that these price scenarios are now recurring for Fiji.
A recent development is the advent of ‘flex-fuel’ vehicles that can run on any combination of petrol and ethanol. These now represent over 50 per cent of all new car sales and penetration is still increasing. This, as well as price differentials between petrol and ethanol, is pushing up demand for ethanol after a period in which sales were declining or flat. Domestically, even though there are far fewer ethanol-powered cars on the road than there used to be, the cost of ethanol is still 25–50 per cent lower than that of petrol for travel over the Continued next page
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The original Brazilian programme involved various forms of Government support, such as subsidies, and quickly became spectacularly successful. By 1980, ethanol had a larger market share than ordinary petrol. By the mid-1980s, three-quarters of all new cars sold ran on pure ethanol. At its peak, market penetration of ethanol-engine cars stood at 92 per cent, and even in 1990 they made up 50 per cent of the national fleet; however, high sugar prices and a consequent shortage of ethanol in the early 1990s reduced consumer confidence in pure ethanol cars.
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same distance. Brazil’s national savings on fuel have been impressive. Between 1975 and 2002, ethanol use reduced the use of petrol by around 210 billion litres, amounting to US$52 billion in savings. But it has not always been plain sailing. Now largely free of subsidy, the programme in the past required heavy support. Over its first decade, it barely turned a profit – from 1975 to 1987 saving US$10.4 billion but costing US$9 billion, at which point it collapsed when falling oil prices, rising sugar prices, and a national economic crisis meant that the cost of subsidies became too great to bear. The ethanol programme has been an important factor in creating job opportunities, in both more and less developed regions of Brazil. In some regions, it has been remarkable at evolving from lower- to higher-quality jobs, reducing seasonal unemployment, increasing wages and social benefits, and introducing new technologies in a timely way. The fact must be taken into account that Brazil is not facing serious threats to its sugar production, as is Fiji, and that the Brazilian ethanol programme is simply immense; however, large biomass systems on a national level can have strong impacts on job creation and quality. The experience of Brazil illustrates that biofuel programmes are an expensive business. Not only is considerable capital investment required, but biofuels require financial support in order to remain viable. Source: [40, 41]
4.2 Biodiesel Production Biodiesel production could utilize either individually or combinations of coconut oil, jatropha oil, pongamia oil and algae oil. Coconut oil has the advantage that it is already plentiful in the Pacific and has been for some time cultivated extensively. Jatropha, pongamia and algae have not been cultivated commercially. In 2007, the Government of Fiji spent FJ$62 million for the purchase of 62 million litres of automotive diesel and FJ$417 million for the purchase of 375 million litres of industrial diesel [33].
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4.2.1 Coconut Biodiesel
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Coconut oil could be either used in its natural form or be further processed through trans-esterification for biodiesel production. Coconut oil can be produced by either wet milling or dry milling. Wet milling can be accomplished through coconut milk or direct micro expelling. With the coconut milk method, the oil is extracted from fresh coconut meat without drying. Coconut milk is expressed first by pressing and then the oil is separated from the water. Methods which can be used to separate the oil from the water include boiling, fermentation, refrigeration, enzymes and mechanical centrifuge. The direct micro expelling process extracts the oil from fresh coconut meat after the adjustment of the water content. Dry milling consists of drying the coconut meat, the dried meat is called copra, and then the oil is extracted [42]. Fiji produced 9,657 tonnes of coconut oil in 2007 with 5,100 tonnes of it being exported, generating over FJ$4 million in revenue. The remaining 4,557 tonnes was used domestically. Fiji’s highest coconut oil production was recorded in 1977 with 18,502 tonnes, if this value is taken as our maximum possible yield and subtracted from the current export and local consumption; this would result in 8,845 tonnes available for biodiesel production. If used as a direct substitute for diesel, a displacement of only 15% of automotive diesel import could be possible with a saving of FJ$9.6 million, when compared to diesel statistics for 2007 [43-46]; however, many coconut plantations have aged since then and are producing lower yields.
Biodiesel through trans-esterification is seen to be the only reliable option to utilize coconut oil effectively on a national scale [16]. The location of such a plant would be restricted to urban areas due to the use of hazardous chemicals in the production process and the resulting by-products. Hence, additional production costs for transportation of the coconut oil from rural areas to the production plant. Rural Electrification schemes that employ a special generator able to run directly on coconut oil are seen as potentially the most viable; however, there has been no success so far in sustaining such operations. The majority of the coconut plantations are rural based and coconut oil production can be achieved on site and directly used to provide electricity to the community.
Box 4: Coconut Oil Rural Electrification in Fiji In 2001, two biofuel projects were implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Fiji Department of Energy. Two villages that produced significant amounts of copra received a generator that had a dual-fuel system, able to run on both diesel and copra oil. In 2006, Fiji Department of Energy requested Partners in Community Development Fiji (PCDF) and SOPAC to evaluate the socio-cultural aspects and the techno-economic aspects respectively. The PCDF report concludes amongst others: “The project could be regarded as unsuccessful because the generators are not operating as intended (with diesel and not coconut oil), in Lomaloma’s case not operating at all; there was little interaction amongst stakeholders and communication breakdowns were experienced; the technology was complicated and not understood by the community, operators or technicians; and running the generators was labour intensive. However, the advantages of the biofuel project to the communities so far out weighs these factors. These advantages include better social services, for example the division of labour and nighttime activities (studying, social functions), economic advantages (small businesses starting) and health (better light for studying). Also the generator uses coconut oil, a commodity that is a common local resource and has become valuable again in the eyes of the community, including some neighboring islands where coconuts are the main source of income.” The SOPAC report concludes amongst others: “The biofuel projects in Taveuni and Vanua Balavu have successfully demonstrated the technical possibility to use coconut oil as a fuel for rural electrification. They have however not resulted in the expected socio-economic development as anticipated. Provision of reliable and affordable electricity services to the remote communities of Taveuni and Vanua Balavu is a highly valued service to improve standard of living. Diesel has been found the most appropriate and lowest-cost fuel option for the provision of electricity at both sites.
Even though the technology worked to some degree, the socio-economic embedding could have been further optimized to have both communities reap the full benefits of biofuel electrification. In one village, there was no mill included in the project as during the planning stages, an oil mill was still operating, but ceased shortly before the generator was installed. In the other village, after the generator was operating, the revenues from the dalo plantation belonging to the community were much higher than from copra production, leading to a shift of activities away from copra production. The copra milling with a small mill turned out to be very labour intensive. These factors led the villagers purchasing diesel from dalo revenue instead of using copra biofuel. Source: [16]
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Even though thorough feasibility studies on technology and socio-economics have been carried out before the implementation of the projects, the expectations of the villagers and the results of the projects have not been in line with each other. “
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4.3 Alternative Fuel Production from Waste Various alternative fuel technologies are already operational in developed countries like Germany and Finland that have been innovative in their approach to diversifying their energy sources, reducing dependence on petroleum-based fuel and responding to environmental concerns. Two innovations are summarised in this section, which tackle fuel generation and waste management. In Fiji, as indeed it is in most PICs, a serious litter problem has been recognised by national and local government authorities, and numerous attempts at overcoming the problem has had limited success. Use of alternative fuel technologies is an option that can be considered [58].
4.3.1 AlphaKat’s KDV Process [47] A German company, AlphaKat has developed a plant that uses the catalytic depolymerization process to convert organic materials into diesel fuel. The catalyst used is an alkali-doped aluminum silicate. When doped with sodium, the aluminum silicate can perform catalytic cracking of hydrocarbon molecules from a variety of organic feedstocks. The silicate catalyst is not active below 250°C; however, once the temperature exceeds 250°C, the catalyst crystallizes and becomes active. The catalyst is mixed with a feedstock that is in liquid form. The mixture is heated to 250°C with a block heater to activate the catalyst. Once active, the mixture is heated within the reactor to near 400°C. The higher temperature speeds the reaction time but does not produce the toxic byproducts that appear with depolymerization above 400°C. The mixture requires approximately three minutes within the reactor for complete conversion of the feedstock to diesel. Inorganic materials such as minerals and salts settle to the bottom of the reactor where they are later removed. The energy required for cracking is typically provided in the form of heat. The heat energy is also required for the evaporation of the diesel from the mixture. One way to provide the heat is with heaters placed on the outer walls of the reactor. Due to laws of thermodynamics, the temperature on the wall must be larger than the reaction temperature. As a result coke is formed on the wall of the reactor interior. Over time, the coke reacts with the catalyst and forms a hard residue on the wall. This residue impedes the flow of heat into the reactor making heating in this manner uneconomical over time.
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The approach used in the plant is to heat the reactor internally with the fluid itself. The fluid mixture is forced through a series of Venturi constrictions by several pumps working in parallel. Heat is generated by the well-known process of viscous dissipation, which results in the rise in fluid temperature due to the friction between the viscous fluid and pipe. The pumps also act as agitators that enhance the mixing of the catalyst and the feedstock, reducing time required for a complete conversion. The pumps are electrically driven and are powered by a diesel generator. About 10% of the diesel produced is required to power all the electrical devices used by the plant.
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The plant utilises any type of organic material to produce high-quality diesel, for example: 1. municipal Waste Material (household – no cans or glass); 2. plastic; pet bottles, shopping bags, food containers; 3. paper, cardboard; 4. animal renderings, carcasses, innards, fats; 5. tires, rubber-based items, mats, inner tubes; 6. sewer sludge (less than 10% moisture), cake; 7. sawdust, wood chips, lumber, timber scraps; 8. livestock manure – including foul droppings; and 9. restaurant brown & yellow grease, meat fats; 10. automobile, truck and aircraft waste oil/grease; and 11. industrial paper.
The standard AlphaKat plant (Figure 6) is known as the KDV500 which has the capability to produce 500 litres/hour of high quality diesel and has a retail price of about 2.5 million. The plant is built for continuous operation with maintenance scheduled after 8,000 hours of operation. This would give a production capacity of 4 million litres for a single operating period of 8,000 hours and a feedstock input of 2000-8000 tonnes depending on the material used [48]. The expected diesel yields from different waste materials are shown in Table 7. See Annex 1 for a schematic of the KDV500 plant.
Minimum Diesel Yield
Residual material out
Waste oil from vehicles
80%
10% ashes, salt
Waste organic oil (from deep-frying)
70%
10% ashes, salt
Plastic mixed waste
80%
10% ashes, salt
Slaughter house waste
40%
42% carbon dioxide + water
Wood chips
30%
57% carbon dioxide + water + 3% ashes
Bagasse
35%
50% carbon dioxide + water + 5% ashes, salts
Glycerin
19%
70% carbon dioxide + water +1% ashes
Municipal Waste material
50%
Unpredictable
PET bottles
80%
10% ashes, salt
Paper – newsprint-cardboard
30%
57% carbon dioxide + water +3% ashes
Feedstock
Figure 6: AlphaKat’s KDV500 plant. Source: AlphaKat.
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Table 7: Expected diesel yields for AlphaKat KDV500 plant [48].
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4.3.2 ST1’s Etanolix [49] Etanolix technology developed by St1 Biofuels based in Finland is a method of producing ethanol from organic waste, eliminating competition for land with food crops. St1 launched its decentralized ethanol production concept in September 2007, when it commissioned its first small-scale Etanolix plant. The plant runs on bakery waste and is the first anywhere to produce ethanol from waste for commercial use in motor fuel. St1’s technology separates the production of bio-ethanol from dehydration of the end product, enabling small, modular units to be located as close as possible to waste sources, making waste a commercial commodity and reducing transport costs. Plant capacity can be downsized significantly and still remain competitive in terms of production costs and energy efficiency when only producing between 1,500 and 2,000 cubic metres of absolute ethanol a year. Production costs compare very favorably with conventional first-generation bio-ethanol plants, which can be 20 to 200 times larger. The Etanolix process is based on continuous fermentation and associated evaporation, and generates an 85% ethanol/water mixture. Depending on the raw material used, by-products are suitable for use as animal feed, fertilizer, or feedstock for anaerobic digestion. An on-site dewatering unit can be installed to further refine the ethanol produced to 99.8% purity, or this can be done separately at a higher-capacity facility. The resulting pure ethanol can be blended with petrol at an oil terminal for onward distribution to service stations. While St1’s current technology enables waste containing starch, sugars, or low concentrations of ethanol to be processed, product development is being pushed ahead to extend the range of feedstock to include household bio-waste, waste paper, municipal waste, and other manufacturing waste.
Farm
Food industry
2 1 Site 85%
3
Etanolix
5
TM
4 99.8%
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Dehydration
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Terminal
Figure 7: Overview of St1’s distributed bio-ethanol production. Source: www.st1.eu.
1. “CO2 good” bioethanol is produced from waste material and industrial by-products using Etanolix processing plants. 2. The process creates a by-product to be used as animal feed, liquid fertilizer or solid fuel. 3. The 85% bioethanol produced is then sent for dehydration for water removal. 4. Produced bioethanol is blended- as a bio component - to make final biofuel. 5. Biofuel is distributed to service stations.
The dispersed Etanolix production concept has won the Finnish Chemical Industry Innovation Award in 2006, the national INNOFINLAND 2008 award patronised by the President of the Republic of Finland, and second place in the European Environmental Press Award 2008 contest [50]. St1 was founded in 1997 and, following the acquisition of Exxon Mobil’s Finnish subsidiary in 2007, now has an estimated turnover of some 1 billion (2008). St1 operates more than 400 service stations in Finland, over 40 in Sweden, as well as eight distribution units in Poland. The company also sells electricity to consumers and smaller companies, and is a large vendor of heating oil across Finland [49].
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Figure 8: Etanolix plant. Source: [49]).
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5. Economic Scenarios of Biofuels and Fossil Fuels The marketplace forces of supply and demand determine the price of fuel. If demand grows or if a disruption in supply occurs, prices increase. Vice versa, if demand falls or there is an oversupply of product in the market, there will be decrease in prices.
5.1 Pricing Structure of Fossil fuels The petroleum market in Fiji is divided into two segments, a price-controlled segment and a non pricecontrolled segment. The non price-controlled segment would include Government and substantial industrial users like Fiji Electricity Authority (FEA), Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC), Emperor Gold Mines, and the bus companies. A number of these industrial users receive different rates of subsidy from the Government in the form of a lower specific rate of fiscal duty and also different wholesale prices from individual negotiated supply arrangements. In the price-controlled segment, the price fixing formula called the petroleum pricing template (PPT), developed by the petroleum advisory services of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in consultation with the Government of Fiji and the oil companies, provides the price fixing mechanism. PPT quantifies all supplier costs:
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• • • • • • • • • •
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‘free onboard’ (FOB) prices based on Singapore world price; Freight; Insurance; exchange rate effects; demurrage and losses; operating costs; headquarters costs for oil companies; fiscal duty and tax paid to government; distribution costs; and return on investment for the oil companies.
In Fiji, crude oil makes up about 30% of the retail price for unleaded fuels and 40% for diesel. More importantly almost 40% of the cost of unleaded fuel and slightly more than 45% for diesel are determined in the world markets, with the remaining 55-60 % being controlled by the local economy [51]. Figures 9 & 10 clearly indicate that one of the largest components of the price structure is taxation (fiscal duty and the value-added taxation) and crude oil. Altogether, close to 70% of the price of unleaded fuels and 65% for diesel is crude price plus government taxation. The fiscal duty for unleaded fuel in Fiji is FJ$0.44 per litre and FJ$0.18 per litre for diesel fuel as of 2009.
Taxation 40%
Residual 12% Crude Oil 30% Refinery/distribution/ Retail Mark up 18% Figure 9: Fiji’s unleaded petrol price structure. Source: [51].
Taxation 25% Crude Oil 40%
Refinery/distribution/ Retail Mark up 19%
Residual 16%
The residual component in the Figure 9 & 10 includes the share that accrues to the oil companies. It is inclusive of all special charges relating to the acquisition and shipping of the fuel apart from the cost of fuel and transport costs from the refineries to the destination countries, port and wharf charges, administrative costs of the firm, company tax, headquarters expenses, return on assets and other smaller charges [51].
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Figure 10: Fiji’s diesel price structure. Source: [51].
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5.2 Cassava Ethanol Production Viability Fiji has initiated its plans for a cassava ethanol industry to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels; however, with the fluctuating oil prices, determining if the production of ethanol from cassava is still viable when oil prices are really low is a concern to the sustainability of such an industry. The retail cost of cassava ethanol is yet to be known, but it is possible to estimate production costs and retail prices by using data from present industries to date such as the Thailand cassava ethanol industry. Box 5: Cassava Ethanol in Thailand In Thailand, though the promotion for ethanol to enter the energy market had started in the past 20-30 years, its popularity was first recognized in 2001. With the government’s biofuel policy, ethanol is being distributed to consumers in the form of gasohol, a mixture of ethanol and gasoline at a ratio of 9:1. At present, ethanol in the country is mainly produced from molasses; however, the main disadvantages of molasses-based ethanol lie in supply versus demand and seasonal operation. Recently, after molasses-based ethanol producers raised their product’s prices to cope with sharp increased feedstock prices, cassava-based ethanol became an attractive commodity for Thai oil traders. The production costs of cassava roots estimated by farmers are in the range of Bt 980 (US$26) to Bt 1,140 (US$30) a tonnei (see also Figure 11). Selling their product to processing plants, farmers get an average profit of about Bt 183 (US$5) to Bt 427 (US$11) a tonne depending on product market price. The market price of cassava roots in the last few months of 2006 has fluctuated from Bt 1,250 (US$33) to Bt 1,500 (US$40) a tonne. An unstable market is the reason why some time farmers earn nothing or even lose money after nearly one year working hard for their farm produce. If a stable ethanol market for cassava is set up, hopefully, a great number of cassava farmers in rural Thailand can be benefited. The magnitude of the income depends on the area that farmers own. A cassava farmer owning 20 rai* (3.2 ha) and getting an average yield of 3.4 tonnes per rai can earn Bt 12,400 (US$329) – Bt 29,000 (US$763) after 8-10 months, i.e., Bt 1,240 (US$33) – Bt 2,900 (US$76) per month. Fortunately, living expenses in rural Thailand are not too high so that small cassava farmers can survive on this income. The total production cost of cassava chips is Bt 3,300 (US$87) per tonne; 95% of this cost is due to the cost of 2.5 tonnes of cassava roots, whereas processing cost makes just 5%. But the price of cassava chips ranges between Bt 3,700 (US$97) and Bt 4,000 (US$105) a tonne on the open market after adding profit margin, taxes, etc. Another factor is market demand. The feedstock cost of ethanol conversion is the cost of cassava chips on the open market plus transportation cost. It amounts to Bt 3,900 (US$103) to Bt 4,200 (US$110) a tonne of raw material. This brings the cost of raw material to the Bt 11.71 (US$0.31) − Bt 12.61 (US$0.33) range per litre of ethanol produced, given a conversion rate of about 333 litres of ethanol per tonne of cassava chips.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Planting 17%
30
Herbicide 15%
Land Preparation 12%
Fertilizer 25%
Harvesting 20%
Transportation 11%
Figure 11: Cassava farming cost breakdown. Continued next page i
In 2006, 1 USD was equivalent to approximately 38 Bt
The cost of the ethanol product leaving the ethanol factory is termed ex-distillery price. It represents production cost (Bt 18.08 [US$0.48]) plus distillery profit margin (Bt 3.62 [US$.010]). The detailed ex-distillery cost breakdown for ethanol production from cassava chips based on the floor price of feedstock (Bt 11.71 [US$0.31] a litre) is presented in Figure 12. Before being distributed to gas stations, ethanol is transported to oil refineries for blending with gasoline. At gas stations, the retail price of ethanol in the form of gasohol is formulated as: retail price = ex-refinery price + oil fuel + taxes + marketing margin + VAT , in which ex-refinery price is a sum of ex-distillery price and transportation/distribution cost. To encourage consumers to use gasohol, the Thai Government provides fuel subsidies and tax incentives that make gasohol 1.5 baht-a-litre (US$0.03/L) cheaper than 95 octane gasoline (ULG 95). Wages, salary and insurance 7%
Depreciation 4% Chemicals 6% Utilities 11%
Profit margin 17% Feedstock 54% Repair and maintenance 1% Figure 12: Cost breakdown of ethanol production. Adding transportation/distribution costs to ethanol ex-distillery cost results in the ethanol exrefinery price of Bt 22.2 (US$0.58) a litre. It is Bt 3.22 (US$0.08) more costly than gasoline. The ex-refinery price of ULG 95 posted at www.eppo.go.th/info/ in the first seven months of 2006 was Bt 18.98 (US$0.50) a litre. Calculated per MJ energy content, these prices become Bt 1.05 (US$0.03) and Bt 0.60 (US$0.02), respectively. It seems that ethanol costs customers 75% more than ULG 95.
To make gasohol competitive with gasoline at current prices, ethanol ex-refinery price has to drop below Bt 16.95 (US$0.45). As shown in Figure 12, feedstock price is the dominant cost factor in cassava ethanol production; it represents 54 % of ethanol ex-distillery cost, whereas ethanol conversion contributes about 46%. This is due to the fluctuations in the unregulated price of cassava in Thailand. A reduction in cassava price would be a possible way to reduce ethanol production cost. In the conversion phase, utilization of ethanol by-products would help offset ethanol production cost. *1 rai = 0.16 hectares Source: [52]
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Although ethanol has lower energy content than gasoline but its higher octane value allows higher compression ratios and more efficient thermodynamic operation in internal combustion engines. In other words, the heating value of ethanol should not be used as an indicator of its performance in a motor vehicle engine. According to the tests conducted by PTT Research and Technology Institute, a car (Toyota 1.6 L/2000) runs about 13.46 km per litre of gasoline whereas it runs 13.31 km per litre of gasohol E10, higher than a value of only 13.02 km estimated based on fuel energy content. Per km driven, E10 costs customers Bt 1.45 whereas ULG costs only Bt 1.41. Thus, based on fuel economy, the increment in E10 ex-refinery price over ULG95 becomes narrower than based on fuel energy content. However, though cheaper than molasses-based ethanol, the ex-refinery price of which at present (September 2006) is Bt 27.6 (US$0.73), cassava ethanol is still more costly than ULG95.
31
In Fiji on the other hand, cassava price for ethanol production is expected to be fixed at FJ$0.30 a kilogram. Assuming similar cost breakdown affecting production in Fiji as those in Thailand (Figure 11 in Box 5), the retail price for a litre of cassava ethanol would be around FJ$3.30-$3.90/ litrei. This would be equivalent to the price of unleaded fuel when crude oil prices are at US$84-$100 a barrelii.
5.3 Cost Effectiveness of Using Coconut Oil versus Diesel Fuel Coconut oil based rural biofuel systems are an effective way to provide medium-range electrical power needs to a small community, provided sufficient supply of copra is available and the community has a high degree of organisation. At what point however, does producing biofuel from coconut oil become unfeasible. A feasibility study in Fiji on rural electrification conducted in Nacamaki Village on Koro Island may provide some insight on the cost effectiveness of coconut oil as a biofuel.
Box 6: Conclusions of Nacamaki Village Feasibility Study Experience with other biofuel electrification projects show that copra oil can provide for sustainable energy if the all socio-economic and cultural factors are taken into account. Copra production is part of the way of life in Nacamaki. It is a way to pay dues for community obligations, can also be used to supply personal income for groceries if required. Copra production is organised around a co-op that also runs the village shop. The co-op is in a very good position to run a copra mill in the village as it has both the respect of the villagers, the technical and business experience. If copra is expelled locally, there is a significant added value to the product at the village level. The village produces sufficient amounts of copra to supply itself with fuel and other coconut oil added value products. It is also in a position to sell some coconut oil to neighbouring villages, if that market would be tapped.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
For sustainable electrification of Nacamaki Village, the village should move away from flat fees to metering and billing actual electricity use. Even though it is possible to calculate the most appropriate cost per kWh and to introduce metering in the community of Nacamaki, its implications need to be discussed at the community level before it is introduced. It is however the only way to secure financial sustainability of the electrification scheme.
32
The feasibility study shows that making copra oil on a small scale on a remote island like Koro is not a normal viable business proposal. Only when the additional benefits of increased productivity, increased diversity of incomes and the use of renewable energy are taken into account, ‘donating’ the coconut oil mill is a favourable proposition for the villagers. Taking into account their investment versus benefits, they will have earned back their outlay in 2-7 years, depending on the amount of copra oil milled.
i
6-7 kg of cassava to produce 1 litre of ethanol
ii
a barrel of oil is equivalent to 159 litres
VANUA LEVU
MACUATA Rabi Natewa
YASAWA GROUPS
Buca
BUA
Somosomo TAVEUNI
Savusavu
Naviti
Vanuabalavu
VITI LEVU
KORO RA
Ba Lautoka
Ovalau Levuka
Vetata COLO
Nadi
Lomaloma Mago
LOMAIVITI
Tuvuca
Nairai
Korolevu-i-colo
Cicia
Rewa
SUVA
Korolevu Sigatoka
CAKAUDROVE
Nayau Gau
Lakeba
Beqa Ekubu
Ono
VATULELE
Moala
LAU Moce
KADAVU Totoya Matuku
Kabara
Namuka
Fulaga
Figure 13: Nacamaki Village.
Compared to for example wind energy or solar energy, biofuels provide much more cost-effective solutions in terms of investment cost per kWh. However, they come at a significant expense of labour input and continuous commitment by the community. If this commitment does not come with a return on time spent, it can hardly be sustainable in a Pacific context, as other experiences have shown. The case for Nacamaki looks promising as the community has indicated it has very few other options. Source: [53]
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The direct costs related to copra oil production in the village of Nacamaki are FJ$1.12 per litre, fuel equivalent. This is significantly lower than diesel and therefore it is attractive for the village to engage in local oil production. In order to benefit more and be able to replace the equipment at the end of its economic lifetime, it is required that the community utilises the oil mill as much as possible, for example through diversification into body oil production, soap and cooking oil.
33
Copra 62% Writeoff 21%
Fuel consumption 5% Maintenance 6%
Labour 6%
Figure 14: Operating cost to produce coconut oil in Nacamaki. Source: [53]. Through commodity price changes, the break-even point of coconut oil fuel versus diesel fuel has changed since the 2007 feasibility study. As of April 2008, copra commanded a price of FJ$ 826 per tonne which proves to be not viable for producing biofuels. Table 8 shows the break-even points for different copra prices. Table 8: Prices of copra oil at various copra prices [53] Copra price [FJ$/tonne]
Copra oil price [FJ$/l]
Diesel Equivalenti [FJ$/l]
460
1.35
1.46
500
1.43
1.54
600
1.61
1.74
700
1.79
1.93
800
1.97
2.13
Table 8 demonstrates that there will be scenarios where the village will have to decide on which fuel would be most viable economically to run in the generator. High copra prices will favour diesel usage while low copra prices will promote biofuel production.
5.4 The Use of Waste Material to Produce Fuel The major cost component in producing biofuels is the feedstock. Finding cheap feedstock that can be produced into large quantities of fuel, which does not adversely affect food security would be the ideal situation. Waste material has the advantage of costing close to nothing and being abundant in supply. A solid waste classification survey was conducted on a landfill in Fiji, Table 9 shows the findings.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The data shown in Table 9 is based on a week of input of garbage to the landfill of about 381 tonnes,translating to an annual input of around 20,000 tonnes of material of which 90.6 percent could be used to produce synthetic diesel using the KDV method [54]. Correlating data from Tables 7 and 9, results in production projection as shown in Table 10.
34
The projected synthetic diesel production could displace as much as 11.8% of imported automotive diesel and a saving of FJ$7.3 million compared to 2007 automotive diesel imports for Fiji [44]. The resulting by-products can be used in many industrial applications. Carbon dioxide is used by the food industry for chilling, quick freezing, and refrigeration during food transport [55]. It is also used in fire extinguishers and carbonation of soft-drinks. Water can be used in many applications after being purified, as it is clean and free of any contaminants. The ash could be used in the making of concrete blocks whereas the salt which contains inorganic material is sent back to the landfill. i
1 liter of diesel is equal to 1.08 litres of coconut oil in terms of energy content
Table 9: Lautoka landfill solid waste classification [54]. Primary Waste Classification
Secondary Waste Classification
Average Percentage (wt%)
Cardboard boxes
3.5
Other – magazines, newspaper, office, tetrapak, packaging
10.1
Sanitary
1.1
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
1.1
Plastic
Rigid High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
0.4
Flexible HDPE and other plastics
6.6
Glass
All glass
2.7
Aluminum cans
0.3
Other metals
2.9
Biodegradable
All organic
67.8
Textiles
All textiles including clothing, carpets and curtains
3.0
Potentially Hazardous
All
0.2
Construction and Demolition
All
0.0
Other
Including rubber and other
0.2
Paper
Metals
Total
100
A possible waste reduction of 89.8 percent could be achieved and the resulting product and by-products hold substantial economic value. Projection such as those in Table 10 may vary with actual operation but the underlying benefits are still the same, waste reduction and energy security. Table 10: Potential annual synthetic diesel production from Lautoka landfill. Waste Material
Quantity (tonnes)
Paper
2,940 (14.7% of Total)
Diesel (30%) carbon dioxide (57%) Water (10%) Ash (3%)
-
Organic
13,560 (67.8% of Total)
Diesel (30%) carbon dioxide (57%) Water (10%) Ash (3%)
- 4,068 - 7,729.2 - 1,356 - 406.8
Plastic
1,620 (8.1% of Total)
Diesel (80%) Ash (10%) Salt (10%)
- 1,296 - 162 - 162
Diesel (34.5%) carbon dioxide (51.9%) Water (9.1%) Ash (3.6%) Salt (0.9%)
- 6,246 - 9,405 - 1,650 - 657 - 162
882 1,675.8 294 88.2
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Total
18,120 (90.6%)
Output (tonnes)
35
6. Biofuels and Food Security
The use of agricultural crops for energy needs is an emerging issue, which has attracted a lot of attention from the world with a lot of finance behind it. There is a perceived threat that the demand for food crops that can be used for biofuel production will lead to price rises that could eventually impact the poor [16]. The current sustained trend of rising world commodity prices and oil prices will inevitably bring food security stresses to the remote and poorer areas of the Pacific; however, the effects will be felt unevenly, as those countries which produce significant export earnings from crop commodities will be gaining benefits from the higher world prices. On the other hand, the higher prices paid for imported foods (rice and wheat) may also act as a spur for the production of locally-produced staples such as cassava [56]. The World Bank in a note on its response to rising food prices recommended policy intervention by governments where these could be divided into the following three broad classes: (i) (ii) (iii)
Interventions to ensure household food security by strengthening targeted safety nets. Interventions to lower domestic food prices through short-run trade policy measures or administrative action. Intervention to enhance longer-term food supply.
Annex 2 summarises the main policy options and ranks them according to the extent to which they meet the desirable criteria.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Biofuels are not entirely responsible for the increase in food prices, a number of other factors also contribute to this rise. Examples are listed below:
36
• Shifting consumption patterns – as incomes increase in emerging markets, people are eating more meat and dairy products. • Rising oil prices, which push up the costs of inputs such as fertilizers as well as transport and storage costs. • Climatic events such as the drought in Australia, which lost 60 per cent of its wheat crop in 2007 and almost 98 per cent of its rice crop [57]; and the recent floods in Fiji which devastated many farms, restricting food supply. • Speculation in commodities markets.
Biofuels do play a significant role in the food crisis and have been identified as a major culprit by the UN, World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF estimates that for 2007 they accounted for almost half of the increase in demand for major food crops. Biofuel production does not just consume food crops directly; they compete with it for land, water, and other inputs, pushing up prices further. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has commented that support for biofuels, which incentivises the diversion of crops and agricultural land away from food production and into fuel production, acts as a tax on food, a tax that is felt most by poor people [40]. A risk for many developing countries is that a rapid shift in domestic agriculture away from food production to biofuel production may increase food insecurity at both the household and national levels; however small-scale biofuel production in particular should be compatible with food production. For instance in a coconut plantation due to the tall nature of coconut trees, food crops can be planted in between the coconut trees. Promoting diversification and setting aside land for food production is one strategy, however governments may also need to take national-level decisions regarding for example to what extent staple crops may be used for biofuel production or where energy feedstocks may be grown. There are likely to be winners and losers from such decisions, so considerations of equity will be vital [40]. Alternatively, other sources for biofuel feedstocks such as waste biomass can be used to create a balance. With newer technology being developed constantly, many waste streams now have the potential to provide for energy demands. Such examples are waste lubricating oil; waste cooking oil, waste agricultural residue and sewage which are all found in abundant supply and can be converted to synthetic diesel using the already available technology, see Section 4.3.
Figure 15: Biofuels and food security. Source: http://www.biomassauthority.com/archives/2008/07/what-is-biodiesel.html
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
It is important to move cautiously with biofuel development to avoid precipitating a rush from food to fuel production. Biofuel strategies should be fully integrated with other relevant policies on food security and poverty reduction, and be consistent with governments’ obligations under international law to ensure the right to food.
37
7. Conclusions
Liquid biofuels refer mainly to ethanol, butanol, biodiesel and synthetic diesel. Ethanol and butanol are biofuel options for larger Pacific Island Countries that can support sufficient amounts of sugary or starchy crops; however the production of biodiesel and synthetic diesel is applicable to any country that has a supply of oil-bearing crops. On the other hand synthetic diesel production is most effective when waste materials are used as feedstock. Biodiesel can either be produced by the common alcohol catalysis method or the supercritical methanol method. The supercritical methanol method is superior to the common catalysis method because it is free of catalyst with a simpler purification process and has a higher yield of methyl ester; however the initial equipment cost is much greater compared to the common catalysed method. The major feedstock options for biofuel among Pacific Island Countries would be sugarcane, cassava and coconuts; however there are others such as jatropha, pongamia and algae which show promise and more research would be required on such before extensive cultivation. The trickle-down effect of any rise in crude oil price on other commodities has become quite substantial to the point where countries are forced to reduce over reliance on it as an energy source. The move to diversify into other fuel sources should not solely be focused on energy security but also consider the impact on food security. Sugarcane and coconuts are already being used in commercial industries; however declining world sugar and coconut oil prices have made biofuel production a more viable option for these crops that are already extensively cultivated in PICs. Both these feedstocks will have little impact on food security when compared to cassava which is a staple in many people’s diets. Cassava ethanol production in Fiji was estimated to be only feasible when crude oil prices were above US$100 a barrel. Coconut oil based rural biofuel systems are an effective way to provide medium-range electrical power needs to a small community, provided sufficient supply of copra is available and the community has a high degree of organisation; however, world market copra prices above FJ$800 might make the local production of biofuel unattractive.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Fuel production plants that utilise biomass particularly waste biomass are an alternative to using food crops. The KDV and Etanolix technologies have great potential with respect to waste reduction and biofuel production. Biomass and plastics present in the Lautoka landfill located in Fiji was calculated to be able to replace 7.3 million litres of diesel imports using the KDV process. Government policies will play an important role in managing biofuel production and food security. Factors that affect vulnerable groups should be an important consideration in any policy making decision.
38
Having largely agro-based economies, the Pacific’s biofuel advantage is very much due to the rich endowment of natural resources in the region. A colonial heritage of dedicated coconut tree plantations gives the islands the edge to make biofuel a real economic and environmental alternative. While all fossil fuels are impossible to replace in the near future, biofuels provide part of the solution and should therefore be pursued vigorously by governments in partnership with the private sector. Biofuels would then decrease island states’ over-dependence on fossil fuels and build greater confidence in the Pacific assets [2]. SOPAC estimates the current regional potential in 2010 for biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) is about 30% of all transport fuels [2].
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Rogers, T.S; “Food Security and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Pacific Island Countries: Development Partners Mapping Study”; FAO May 2008
[57]
“Another Inconvenient Truth: How biofuel policies are deepening poverty and accelerating climate”; Oxfam briefing paper June 2008
[58]
Integrating environmental considerations into economic policy making processes. UNESCAP DRPAD Report 2008.
Annex 1:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.
high power mixing chamber input vaccum tube of the mixing chamber Separator venture nozzle conic part of the separator solid residue output valve pressing snail filter wall product steam recycling tube residue cake heating snail nozzle inorganic products tank product steam recycling tube middle distillate steam bottle distillate bottom recycling canal electrical heating insulation exhaust gas tube generator condenser cooling cycle separator wall overflow water separator
29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56.
water and pH-bottle pH-meter conductivity meter outlet valve tube for diesel vacuum pump heating oil cycle circulation evaporator tube circulation pump distillation clock ball bottom condenser product of the generator final product connection to the generator reflux valve product recycling higher level of the distillation column input of the raw material and waste tube for the input dosing for the catalyst dosing for the neutralization material input liquid waste input solid waste big-bag dosing system temperature measurement for the high power mixing chamber Level meter measurement
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
AlphaKat KDV500 plant schematic
41
42
Emergency food aid distribution
Food for work / public works
Conditional Cash Transfers
(Unconditional means-tested cash transfers)
Targeted cash Transfers
Intervention
A few weeks, but lack of food availability may lengthen the delivery time.
Three to six months.
9-12 months.
Three to six months minimum, depending on the accuracy of targeting.
Minimum time required to set up the program
A few days minimum (pending food and transport availability).
One to two months.
To increase the payment, 1 payment cycle; to expand the set of beneficiaries, 1-2 months.
To increase the payment, 1 payment cycle; to expand the set of beneficiaries, 1-2 months.
Minimum time required to expand an existing program
In Argentina’s Jefes program, 80 percent of the participants were from the poorest 40%. To achieve good targeting, it is crucial to maintain compensation below the market rate.
Usually high. Information on poverty and local prices can however improve targeting.
In Argentina’s Trabajar and Jefes workfare programs, the share of wage costs relatively to project costs varied from 30 to 40%, and administrative costs were less than 2%.
High. Transport and distribution make up the largest share of costs, which are expected to be at least as high as private costs. In countries with poor infrastructure, administrative costs could amount to half of the budget.
In September 1998, Bangladesh was inundated by a large flood, which caused 10% rice production losses. The first intervention was an immediate relief effort designed to provide emergency food aid to disaster victims. The second was a medium-term program that distributed 16 kilograms of grain per month to poor households selected by local committees. Finally, in December 1998, when the soil was dry enough to permit manual construction of earthworks, the government initiated a Food for Work program.
In early 2002, over 50% of Argentina’s urban population had fallen below the poverty line. In April 2002 the government launched Jefes, a massive workfare program targeting unemployed household heads with at least a minor below the age of 18. In May 2003, nearly 2 million workers were enrolled in Jefes, which had a budget of 1% of GDP.
As above.
When it lowered the fuel subsidy, the Indonesian government put in place a targeted cash transfer in less than three months. Local authorities were responsible for initial targeting, and transfers are distributed directly to beneficiaries via the post office system. Haste led however to higher leakages.
Country examples
The median administrative cost of CCT programs is 8%.
The accuracy of targeting depends on time and resources invested. In Indonesia, only 60% of the Unconditional Cash Transfers went to the poorest 40%, while in Brazil’s Bolsa Familia, 94% of the funds went to the poorest 40%.
Leakages
Mexico spends 0.4% of GDP on Oportunidades, a CCT program that covers approximately 18% of the country’s total population. Beneficiaries are poor households with children under 18 years, and it has been estimated that 68% of the payments go to the poorest 20%. Brazil’s Bolsa Familia targets poor families with a per capita income of less than US$60 per month (approximately 11.1 million families).
The median administrative cost of cash transfer programs is 10% of the total budget; costs however vary significantly with coverage and the level of the payments.
Costs
Rapidity and efficiency of response of selected social protection programmes
Annex 2:
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
43
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44
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Community Lifelines Programme Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission
This publication is the result of a team effort by Ivan Krishna, Lala Bukarau, Paul Fairbairn and Rupeni Mario of the SOPAC Secretariat.
Coconut plantation on Rotuma, Fiji. Source: SOPAC.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
This report has been prepared as a contribution to the Community Lifelines Programme Output CL1.8 Technical Advice and Information on new and developing energy technologies
POTENTIAL FOR LIQUID BIOFUELS IN FIJI March 2009
Community Lifelines Programme Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
3
Table of Contents Executive Summary.................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction and Background............................................................................... 7 2. Types of Biofuels................................................................................................ 9
2.1 Ethanol................................................................................................................................ 9 2.2 Butanol................................................................................................................................ 10 2.3 Biodiesel.............................................................................................................................. 10 2.4 Synthetic diesel.................................................................................................................... 11
3. Potential Biofuel Feedstock................................................................................. 12 3.1 Coconuts.............................................................................................................................. 12 3.1.1 Other Uses for Coconuts.............................................................................................. 13 3.1.2 Coconut oil use as Diesel Substitute............................................................................. 14 3.2 Sugarcane............................................................................................................................ 14 3.3 Cassava............................................................................................................................... 15 3.4 Alternative (Non-food) Feedstock........................................................................................... 16 3.4.1 Jatropha..................................................................................................................... 16 3.4.2 Pongamia................................................................................................................... 17 3.4.3 Algae......................................................................................................................... 18
4. Production of Biofuels........................................................................................ 19 4.1 Ethanol Production................................................................................................................ 19 4.1.1 Cassava Ethanol.......................................................................................................... 19 4.1.2 Sugarcane Ethanol....................................................................................................... 20 4.2 Biodiesel Production............................................................................................................ 22 4.2.1 Coconut Biodiesel....................................................................................................... 22 4.3 Alternative Fuel Production from Waste.................................................................................. 24 4.3.1 AlphaKat’s KDV Process............................................................................................... 24 4.3.2 ST1’s Etanolix............................................................................................................. 26
5. Economic Scenarios of Biofuels and Fossil Fuels................................................. 28
5.1 Pricing Structure of Fossil Fuels............................................................................................ 28 5.2 Cassava Ethanol Production Viability...................................................................................... 30 5.3 Cost Effectiveness of Using Coconut Oil versus Diesel Fuel..................................................... 32 5.4 The Use of Waste Material to Produce Fuel............................................................................. 34
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
6. Biofuels and Food Security................................................................................. 36
4
7. Conclusions....................................................................................................... 38 Bibliography............................................................................................................. 39 ANNEXES
Annex 1: AlphaKat KDV500 plant schematic……...…...…………..………....................................41 Annex 2: Rapidity and efficiency of response of selected social protection programmes....................42
List of Figures 1
Relative components of an average coconut................................................................................. 12
2
Sugar and bagasse data.............................................................................................................. 15
3
Jatropha seed............................................................................................................................. 16
4
Pongamia seeds......................................................................................................................... 17
5
Ethanol production process from cassava and sugarcane............................................................... 20
6
AlphaKat’s KDV500 plant............................................................................................................ 25
7
Overview of St1’s distributed bio-ethanol production.................................................................... 26
8
Etanolix plant............................................................................................................................. 27
9
Fiji’s unleaded petrol price structure............................................................................................ 29
10 Fiji’s diesel price structure.......................................................................................................... 29 11 Cassava farming cost breakdown................................................................................................. 30 12 Cost breakdown of ethanol production.......................................................................................... 31 13 Map of Nacamaki Village............................................................................................................. 33 14 Operating cost to produce coconut oil in Nacamaki....................................................................... 34 15 Biofuels and food security........................................................................................................... 37
1
Properties of ethanol, butanol and gasoline................................................................................. 9
2
Comparisons between the common method and supercritical methanol method for biodiesel
production from rapeseed oil...................................................................................................... 11
3
2007 coconut production in Pacific Island Countries..................................................................... 13
4
Energy from components of an average coconut........................................................................... 13
5
Coconut oil versus diesel properties............................................................................................ 14
6
2007 cassava production in Pacific Island Countries..................................................................... 15
7
Expected diesel yields for AlphaKat KDV500 plant........................................................................ 25
8
Prices of copra oil at various copra prices.................................................................................... 34
9
Lautoka landfill solid waste classification..................................................................................... 35
10 Potential annual synthetic diesel production from Lautoka landfill.................................................. 35
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
List of Tables
5
Executive Summary
The Government of Fiji after the fifth increase of the year in fuel prices in November 2005 considered itself ‘forced’ to focus on the exploration of developing renewable energy sources, including those from agricultural by-products. In early 2006, the largely Government-owned Fiji Electricity Authority (FEA) unveiled an intensive and ambitious ($350 m) capital investment programme to be a 100% renewable energy power utility in 2011. The investment programme included the production of energy from bagasse and ethanol fuel from sugar [1], to involve the Fiji Sugar Corporation and during the course of 2006 approved both a National Energy Plan; and Sugar National Adaptation Strategy to usefully revive the sugar industry by changing its primary focus to that of extracting a locally-produced alternative to the expensive imported diesel fuel. As in the larger Pacific Island Countries (PICs), Fiji initially identified coconut, sugarcane and cassava as suitable feedstock for biofuel generation, but the fact that all of these items are on the menu of foods consumed by islanders; required an approach that would balance out the use of agricultural land for food and fuel. Alternative non-food feedstock (jatropha, pongamia and algae) have been tested successfully in other parts of the world and Fiji could explore these plants at a point in the future, if and when food security became a critical issue when the switch to biofuels gains traction. Coconut oil has already had economic success in the world market in the 1980’s and 1990’s; however, the consistent drop of world prices in the past 20 years [2] has kept PIC producers struggling endlessly in this industry. Biodiesel from coconut oil therefore is considered a viable conversion to address two major problems in small Pacific island economies: (1) overdependence on petroleum fuel; and (2) the near demise of the coconut oil industry. It should be noted that the common catalysis process used in the conversion of coconut oil into biodiesel requires harmful and relatively expensive chemicals (methanol and sodium hydroxide) while the supercritical methanol method requires complex equipment not suitable for remote or rural application. Ethanol or butanol could be produced from either cassava or sugarcane. Butanol is considered to be a better fuel than ethanol; however it is yet to be produced on a large scale, economically. The production of cassava ethanol is profitable when crude oil prices are over US$100 a barrel.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The use of waste biomass is also an alternative to food crops for biofuel production as it provides a unique opportunity to reuse waste to produce fuel. The Katalytische Drucklose Verolung (KDV) process utilises the catalytical depolymerization method to turn waste biomass into high quality diesel. Projection made according to data from a land fill in Fiji, showed that 90.6 percent of the rubbish being dumped could be used by the KDV process. Similar technology have been developed and are in use elsewhere, for example the award-winning Etanolix-technology developed by St1 Biofuels Oy in Finland is apparently portable in being able to bring small production plants close to the waste raw material stockpile.
6
In Fiji, crude oil makes up about 30-40% of the retail price for unleaded and diesel fuels. More importantly almost 40-45% of the cost of unleaded and diesel fuels are determined in the world markets, with the remaining 55-60 % being controlled by the local economy. The potential for competition for agricultural land between crops for food security and crops for biofuels needs to be managed. Land use, water and labour will need to be shared among them; however small-scale biofuel production in particular should be compatible with food production. Significant Government input in terms of policies, incentives and finance will be required for major replanting and industry restructuring. SOPAC estimates the current regional potential in 2010 for biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) is about 30% of all transport fuels [2].
1. Introduction and Background
In recent years, there has been an average annual increase in the cost of oil of ten dollars a barrel. This has had a significant impact on Pacific Island Countries (PICs), who are most vulnerable to changes in world oil prices due to their high dependence on imported oil-based fuels, which are by far the largest component of total imports. In Pacific islands, fuel imports as a percentage of GDP, has in many cases doubled over the past four years. High oil prices are eating into national income, which is demonstrated by the fact that an increase in the price of a barrel of oil of $40 can be translated into 5 years of lost growth in certain countries. In order to reduce the impact that high oil prices are having on PICs, diversifying energy sources, improving the efficiency in fuel procurement and distribution by improving energy infrastructure such as storage facilities; and creating a competitive environment in order to reduce fuel costs, are some of the measures being pursued [3]. The Government of Fiji after the fifth increase of the year in fuel prices in November 2005 considered itself ‘forced’ to focus on the exploration of developing renewable energy sources, including those from agricultural by-products. The Government considered it the only way to go given that the increase in international fuel prices was something beyond its control. In early 2006, the largely Governmentowned Fiji Electricity Authority (FEA) unveiled an intensive and ambitious ($350 m) capital investment programme to be a 100% renewable energy power utility in 2011. The investment programme included the production of energy from bagasse and ethanol fuel from sugar [1], to involve the Fiji Sugar Corporation and alleviate the expected stress on Fiji’s sugar industry when the EU preferential pricing regime would end. The Government of Fiji, in the course of 2006 approved both a National Energy Plan; and Sugar National Adaptation Strategy to help achieve development goals that would prevent the complete collapse of an industry that had grown inefficient due to the subsidies; but which could be usefully revived by changing its primary focus to that of extracting a locally-produced alternative to the expensive imported diesel fuel. On the 11th of July 2008, oil prices hit a record high of US $147.27 a barrel. This has been documented as the highest in oil production history and even though the oil prices have considerably fallen since then, there are very real fears that prices would rise again in the future. Former oil industry scientific advisers to SOPAC, presented a case in 2003 for moving completely away from reliance on fossil fuels as an energy source because, according to their calculations, what is left of oil reserves and what is yet to be discovered would go to the highest bidder [4].
Sixty percent of the world’s energy demand is for transportation. This amounts to billions of dollars of investment in petroleum fuel infrastructure already on the ground that cannot be eliminated overnight. Biofuel has already been introduced into the energy mixes in countries that have adopted an aggressive approach to securing alternative fuel sources via various percentage mixes with gasoline to produce new fuel hybrids like E10 (sometimes called gasohol is 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline) E85 (85% anhydrous ethanol and 15% gasoline), which while contributing to reducing over-reliance on fossil fuels, would also continue to utilise existing petroleum networks and infrastructure.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Fortunately for PICs, many of them have abundant natural resources that can form the basis for the move to bio-energy, which is crucial to breaking the stranglehold that the overdependence on imported petroleum product has on their fragile economies. Pacific island leaders affirmed in their 37th Pacific Islands Forum Communiqué (2007), that their future prosperity depended on energy security.”
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In terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, biofuels as the renewable green fuel should be the preferred fuel and to all intents and purposes the conversion to it by the PICs should be a win-win situation for their largely agro-based economies. Australian delegates at the last meeting of Pacific Energy Ministers in 2007, stated that the “PIC footprint as GHG emitters was barely measurable”, and advised against the imposition of “unrealistic economic barriers for the development of their countries.” While fossil fuels have continued to remain an important aspect of all PICs; it is the key cost component in regard to food where it is required in most countries for production, processing and transportation. Biofuels are defined as solid, liquid or gaseous fuels derived from relatively recently-dead biological material and are distinguished from fossil fuels, which are derived from long-dead biological material. Theoretically, biofuels can be produced from any (biological) carbon source; although, the most common sources are photosynthetic plants. Agriculture is the main industry that would support biofuel production utilising biomass which is converted into mainly ethanol, butanol, biodiesel and synthetic diesel. Concerns have been raised on the sustainability of biofuels that use food crops as feedstock. Land used for food production diverted to produce energy biomass will undoubtedly influence food prices as both compete for the same inputs; however, the Fiji Government dismissed the threat to food security on the grounds that more than half of Fiji’s nearly 2 million hectares of land lay idle according to FAO 2006 figures and that all it needed was that both biofuel and food production be managed in a sustainable and responsible manner. The Fiji Government was aware that a combined and concerted effort was required by all stakeholders to sustain the country on both fronts. Fiji energy officials are confident that the country was well placed to succeed in providing alternative fuel for transport needs and also contribute to the national power generation demand [5]. This report will focus on liquid biofuels and discuss the potential biofuel feedstock applicable to Fiji and the Pacific, as well as the processes and infrastructure. Further it will consider the economics of biofuels compared to fossil fuels and the impact of biofuel production.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Unless otherwise attributed, the primary source for the information compiled in this report is the online encyclopedic Wikipedia.
8
2. Types of Biofuels
2.1 Ethanol Ethanol is best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and in modern thermometers. It also has widespread use as a solvent of substances intended for human contact or consumption. In chemistry, it is both an essential solvent and a feedstock for the synthesis of other products [6]. Table 1:Properties of ethanol, butanol and gasoline [7-8]. Ethanol
Gasoline
Butanol
C2H6O
C8H18
CH3(CH2)3OH
colorless liquid
colorless liquid
clear liquid
Molar Mass (g/mol)
46.07
114.23
74.12
Density(g/cm )
0.789
0.703
0.8057
Melting point (°C)
-114.1
-57
-89
Boiling point (°C)
78.3
125.52
118
Viscosity (10 Pa • s)
1.078
0.542
2.593
Energy Content (MJ/L)
23.5
34.8
29.2
Octane rating (AKI)
116
87-92
87
Molecular formula Appearance 3
-3
i
Ethanol has been used as a fuel since the production of the first mass-produced automobile was made, called the Model T Ford and was able to run on pure anhydrous ethanol. The production process to produce ethanol may differ for each feedstock; however, they all use the fermentation pathway. Anhydrous ethanol (ethanol with less than 1% water) can be blended with gasoline in varying quantities up to pure ethanol, and most spark-ignited gasoline style engines will operate well with mixtures of 10% ethanol. Hydrous ethanol (ethanol with more than 1% water) cannot be blended with gasoline because of phase separation occurring between the gasoline and ethanol.
Ethanol has a much higher octane rating than gasoline meaning that ethanol can support higher compression ratio in a gasoline engine without pre-ignition. This dramatically increases thermal efficiency, meaning a greater percentage of fuel input is converted to actual work than with gasoline. Engines tuned to make use of ethanol only, can get more mileage per gallon than gasoline because more of the fuel actually produces useful work.
i
AKI- Anti-knock index (RON+MON/2)
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Ethanol has more oxygen in the chemical make up than gasoline. This is why ethanol is added to gasoline to reduce pollutants, it retards the burn rate and allows more complete combustion in the cylinder chamber allowing the fuel to be completely burned and produces less unburned pollutants in the exhaust. Since ethanol has lower energy content than petroleum, the amount of fuel injected into the cylinder must increase compared to gasoline.
9
2.2 Butanol Butanol is mainly used as a solvent for a wide variety of textile processes and chemical synthesis. It is also used as paint thinner and a solvent in other coating applications where it is used as a relatively slow evaporating latent solvent in lacquers and ambient-cured enamels. It can be found as a component of hydraulic and brake fluids, as well as a base for perfumes [9]. Ethanol production is more economically viable and has seen widespread commercial implementation; however, recent improvements in butanol production technology have improved yields and have made it competitive with ethanol. Butanol is considered to be a superior fuel to ethanol because of its given advantages which include: • • • • •
The tendency to repel water making it less likely for phase separation. Possessing an energy content equivalent to that of 80% of gasoline. It can be mixed with both gasoline and diesel at all concentrations. Less corrosive on engine components. Able to utilise the existing gasoline pipeline infrastructure.
Butanol can be produced in a similar way to ethanol utilising the same feedstock; however, instead of using yeast for fermentation, a bacterium called clostridium acetobutylicum would be used. Unlike yeast, which can digest sugar only into alcohol and carbon dioxide, clostridium acetobutylicum and many other clostridia can digest whey, sugar, starch, lignin, cellulose fiber, and other biomass directly into butanol, propionic acid, ether and glycerin. Butanol was first produced using the Acetone Butanol Ethanol (ABE) process, however the industry opted for more-efficient processes based on hydrocarbon cracking and petroleum distillation techniques driven by low oil prices. There has been renewed interest in the ABE process for the production of biofuels. Apart from the need for temperature control, the ABE synthesis process is relatively simple with the desired end products formed in layers that are easy to separate. Table 1 summarises the properties of ethanol, butanol and gasoline.
2.3 Biodiesel
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Biodiesel, also known as long chain methyl esters, is formed by trans-esterification of vegetable oils. There are two pathways for producing biodiesel; the most common process involves reacting vegetable oils with an alcohol and a catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide. The products formed consist mainly of glycerin, which can be used in soap production, and vegetable oil methyl ester (biodiesel). The other process utilises supercritical methanol to convert vegetable oil to biodiesel.
10
Table 2 summarises the comparison of the supercritical methanol process to the common catalysed method. The supercritical process is free of catalyst; is a simpler purification; and produces a slightly higher yield of methyl ester; however, the initial equipment cost is much greater compared to the common catalysed method [10]. Biodiesel has better lubricating properties than lower viscosity diesel fuels. In addition, it reduces engine wear increasing the life of the fuel injection equipment that relies on the fuel for its lubrication, such as high pressure injection pumps, pump injectors and fuel injectors [11]; however, the quality of the biodiesel will play an important part, as poor quality biodiesel could be detrimental to a diesel engine.
Table 2: Comparisons between the common method and supercritical methanol method for biodiesel production from rapeseed oil [10]. Reaction time Reaction condition Catalyst Free fatty acids Yield Removal for purification Process
Common method
SC Methanol method
1 - 6 hrs
240 sec
0.1 MPa, 30 - 65°C
35 MPa, 350°C
Acid or alkali
none
saponified products
methyl esters
97 % (normal)
98.5 % (higher)
methanol, catalyst and saponified products
methanol
Complicated
simple
2.4 Synthetic Diesel Synthetic diesel has the same characteristics as fossil fuel-based diesel, except it is produced from biomass. Biomass to liquids (BTL) is a multi-step process that produces liquid biofuels from biomass such as the Fischer Tropsch process and catalytic depolymerization. While biodiesel and bio-ethanol production so far only use parts of a plant, i.e. oil, sugar or starch; the BTL production, on the other hand, uses the whole plant. The result of BTL is that less land area is required per unit of energy produced compared with biodiesel or bio-ethanol [12]. The Fischer-Tropsch process is a catalysed chemical reaction in which synthesis gas comprising a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is converted into liquid hydrocarbons of various forms. The synthesis gas is produced by gasification of biomass. The principal purpose of this process is to produce a synthetic petroleum substitute [13].
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Catalytic depolymerization is a process that occurs at relatively low temperature and low pressure for the reduction of complex organic materials usually waste products of various sorts into light crude oil. It mimics the natural geological processes thought to be involved in the production of fossil fuels. Under pressure and heat, long-chain polymers of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon decompose into short-chain petroleum hydrocarbons with a maximum length of around 18 carbons. Due to the low temperature being used, a catalyst is required to crack the hydrocarbon molecule [14].
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3. Potential Biofuel Feedstocks
In the Pacific the available crops that could be used are coconuts, sugarcane and cassava. These agricultural crops have their own established markets and industries. Some of these industries, for example, sugarcane produces wastes or by-products such as molasses and bagasse. These could also be used as biofuel feedstock along with other agricultural residue (biomass). Possible alternative to food crops as feedstock are algae, pongamia and jatropha.
3.1 Coconuts The principal components of an average coconut are shown below. Pacific Island Countries contribute about 4% of the total world production of coconut oil [15]; but due to decreasing world prices and low returns on labour, countries such as Samoa, Tonga and Fiji have almost ceased copra and coconut oil production. Therefore a potentially large but untapped source of renewable energy from coconuts still exists [16].
Coconut [100%] (1.2kg)
Meat [30%] (0.36kg)
Shell [15%] (0.18kg)
Husk [33.3%] (0.40kg)
Coco-water [21.7%] (0.26kg)
Non-oil [20%] (0.24kg) Protein [1.05%]
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Carbohydrates [3.925% ]
12
Oil [10%] (0.12kg)
Minerals [0.025%] Moisture [15%]
Figure 1: Components of an average coconut. Source: United Coconut Association of the Philippines – UCAP
Coconuts are a permanent crop, once planted there is no need to re-prepare the land with consequent expenditure of energy. It is non-seasonal and provides a continuous supply of nuts practically month after month, giving it an advantage in maintaining a processing plant in full operation throughout the year. Also it is unique in having other components such as the shell and husk, which are potentially large energy sources. Minimal labour is required to maintain a coconut plantation with the more labour intensive activities being the harvesting of nuts and processing of copra. Table 3: 2007 Coconut yield in Pacific Island Countries [17]. Coconut Production (tonnes)
Area Harvested (hectares)
Coconut Yield (tonnes/ hectare)
Coconut oil Production (tonnes)
American Samoa
4,700
2,200
2.14
65
Cook Islands
2,000
730
2.74
0
Fiji
140,000
50,000
2.80
9,500
French Polynesia
87,000
20,000
4.35
4,300
Guam
53,200
9,600
5.54
1,200
Kiribati
110,000
29,000
3.79
1,900
F.S.M
41,000
16,600
2.47
2,950
New Caledonia
16,500
2,800
5.89
90
Papua New Guinea
677,000
203,000
3.33
57,000
Samoa
146,000
21,700
6.73
4,550
Country
Tokelau
3,000
600
5.00
30
Tonga
58,500
8,300
7.05
1,100
Tuvalu
1,700
1,700
1.00
20
Vanuatu
322,000
76,000
4.24
12,500
Table 4: Energy from components of an average coconut [18]. Component
Kg
KJ/kg
Energy (KJ) Percent of Total Energy (%)
Coconut oil
0.12
37,681
4,522
27.7
Carbohydrates and proteins
0.06
16,747
942
5.7
Shell
0.18
23,027
4,145
25.4
Husk
0.40
16,747
6,699
41.1
Total
0.76
94,202
16,308
99.9
3.1.1 Other Uses for Coconuts
The coconut husk fibers are extensively used as raw materials for making mattresses, rugs, doormats, and ropes. It is also a good potential energy source because of the high heating values. There is also an interest in the high lignin content of the husk for the manufacture of plastic sheets [19]. The coconut shell can be produced into exportable home decorative items such as handicraft. In its finely pulverized form also known as coconut shell flour, it is regularly used as a primary ingredient in the manufacture of glue with applications in the plywood industry. Charcoal produced from coconut shell
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Coconut water from the tender young fruit is a delicious and nutritious beverage which can be sipped straight from the fruit. Its high sugar content makes it readily fermentable to yield both coconut vinegar and coconut wine. Coconut water can replace dextrose as an intravenous fluid when taken straight from the unopened fruit in its uncontaminated state. It also can serve as the raw material for producing industrial alcohol [19].
13
can be used as a fuel or used in the manufacture of activated carbon. Further processing of the coconut shell charcoal in the presence of oxidizing agents, such as steam and carbon dioxide, will yield activated carbon. This product has a high adsorptive capacity due primarily to the large surface area available for adsorption (500 to 1500 square metres per gram of activated carbon), hence it is used extensively in water filtering applications [19]. Coconut oil is commonly used in cooking, especially when frying and is commonly used to flavor many South Asian curries. Virgin coconut oil is used in the making of margarine, soap, body oils and cosmetics. Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated coconut oil is often used in non-dairy creamers, and snack foods. Coconut oil is also an important component of many industrial lubricants, for example in the cold rolling of steel strip [20].
3.1.2 Coconut oil use as Diesel Substitute Coconut oil has very similar properties to diesel fuel and short term testing has indicated that it can be used directly or in blends with diesel fuel. However, long term testing has shown that engine reliability is compromised with higher blends of coconut oil [16]. Deposits are formed from the incomplete combustion of coconut oil which is due to its high viscosity and the quality of oil used. Preheating coconut oil before it is burnt helps reduce its viscosity while filtering down to 1 micron improves oil quality. Trans-esterification is the process where coconut oil is reacted with methanol and catalysis or supercritical methanol. The resulting product (biodiesel) has improved combustibility. Table 5: Coconut oil versus diesel properties [21-22]. Fuel
Specific Energy (MJ/kg)
Density (Kg/l)
Cetane Number
Kinematic Solidification Viscosity Point (c/S) at 40°C (°C)
Petroleum Diesel
45.3
0.85
45-55
4
–9
–
Biodiesel
39-42
0.86-0.90
46-70
3.7-5.8
(– 11) – 16
60-135
Coconut Oil
34-38
0.92
60
20
24
10
Iodine Value
Specific Energy – indication of the fuel’s energy released when it is burned. Cetane Number (CN) – indication of the fuel’s willingness to ignite when it gets compressed. Higher number ignites easier. Viscosity – indication of the fuel’s ability to atomize in the injector system. Higher viscosity will cause poor volitization of the fuel. Solidification Point – indication of the temperature at which the fuel will turn solid. Iodine Value (IV) – indication of the ability of the fuel to polymerize due to the fuels’ degree of bonds available.
3.2 Sugarcane
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Sugarcane is primarily grown to produce sugar and molasses which are then used to produce other high value commodities. Figure 2 provides sugar and bagasse data in terms of their percentage constituents. It is noted that moisture dominates sugarcane, averaging 72.5% of its mass.
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Fiji is the largest grower of sugarcane followed by Papua New Guinea among PICs. The bulk of the sugar is exported to the European Union, with sugar accounting for about 25% of the total value of exports from Fiji. Sugar, molasses and bagasse can be used as feedstock to produce ethanol and butanol. This is done through fermentation by yeast in the case of ethanol and bacteria for butanol. Bagasse, a by-product of sugarcane crushing is used to generate power for sugar mills through combustion in boilers. The amount of bagasse compared to sugar in production is quite substantial and provides useable biomass for either biofuel production or electricity generation in addition to heat required for the milling process.
Sugarcane (100%) Products and by-products Cane constituent Sugar (11%)
Fibre (12.5%)
Molasses (4.5%)
Sucrose (12.5%)
Bagasses(25%)
Impurities (2.5%)
Water (59%)
Water (72.5%)
Mill mud (0.5%) Figure 2: Sugar and bagasse data. Source: [23].
3.3 Cassava Cassava as a food root crop in the Pacific does not accord the same level of interest and importance as sweet potato, taro and yam which usually come ahead of cassava in terms of culinary preference; however, cassava remains an important dietary supplement and is often produced in greater quantities than preferred root crops [24]. Table 6 shows the cassava yield in PICs for the year 2007. Cassava has the ability to grow on marginal land where other crops do not grow well; it can tolerate drought and grow in low-nutrient soils. Cassava roots can be stored in the ground for up to 24 months, and some varieties for up to 36 months, therefore harvest may be delayed until conditions are favorable.
Cassava Production (tonnes)
Area Harvested (hectares)
Cassava Yield (tonnes/hectare)
100
15
6.66
Cook Islands
1,500
60
25.00
Fiji
34,500
2,500
13.80
French Polynesia
4,300
240
17.92
F.S.M
12,000
1,200
10.00
New Caledonia
3,200
420
7.62
50
10
5.00
125,000
12,500
10.00
370
30
12.33
Solomon Islands
2,500
150
16.67
Tonga
9,700
770
12.60
Country American Samoa
Niue Papua New Guinea Samoa
Cassava roots contain a high content of starch, but with low quantity of impurities such as protein and lipid which make it an excellent source of pure starch suitable for a wide range of applications. Starch from cassava has unique characteristics such as being odorless, having paste clarity, and stickiness. These remarkable characteristics enable it to be conveniently and readily blended with other flavoring and coloring agents. It also serves as a source of chemical reagent, feed stock of all fermentation processes, and adhesive substance.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Table 6: 2007 Cassava yields in Pacific Island Countries [17].
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3.4 Alternative (Non-Food) Feedstock 3.4.1 Jatropha
Figure 3: Jatropha seed. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatropha
Jatropha is a drought-resistant deciduous shrub that grows on almost any terrain, even on gravelly, sandy and saline soils. In addition, it can be intercropped with many cash crops such as sugar, fruit and vegetables, with jatropha offering fertilizer and protection against livestock. Currently it is used as a host plant for vanilla crops in Rotuma and Tonga [25]. Jatropha thrives in a tropical and sub-tropical environment, occurring mainly in lower altitudes, needing at least 250 mm of rain annually and it can survive three years of drought by shedding most of its leaves to reduce transpiration loss. Only during its first two years does it need to be watered in the closing days of the dry season. The use of pesticides and other polluting substances are not necessary, due to the pesticidal and fungicidal properties of the plant [26].
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The jatropha plant produces non-edible seeds with an oil content of 37%. Yields range from 6 to 8 metric tonne/hectare when a plantation reaches its maximum output within 2-5 years, depending on the environment. Based on the oil content the seed produces 1.9 up to 2.6 metric tonnes/hectare of oil. The oil is a one-stage conversion to biodiesel or can be used directly as a fuel in adapted engines which could be used for biodiesel. The by-product is press cake which is a good organic fertilizer [25].
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The challenge facing jatropha is the lack of research and development invested into improving upon wild varieties. Jatropha has not yet been domesticated as a crop with reliable performance. Further research is needed on suitable varieties and on yields under different conditions, and markets need to be established to promote sustainable development of the crop. Because jatropha seeds are toxic, they are harmful and even lethal when consumed by livestock. As a result, it was recently banned in Western Australia. This may pose some questions for small holder farmers who maintain livestock in close proximity to jatropha.
Box 1: Air New Zealand Test Flight with Jatropha Oil (30/12/2008) During a two-hour flight to and from Auckland International Airport, the Air New Zealand crew sought to test how the fuel, made from jatropha plants and blended 50:50 with Jet A1 fuel in the tank of one of four Rolls-Royce engines on a 747-400, stood up to use at high altitudes and in other demanding conditions. The crude jatropha oil was first deoxygenated and then went through a process of selective cracking and isomerization to produce synthetic paraffinic kerosene, or SPK, which is then blended with conventional jet A1 fuel. The test flight by Air New Zealand was successful, having passed all ground and in-flight performance tests. Source: Terasol Energy
3.4.2 Pongamia
Figure 4: Pongamia seeds. Source: http://news.mongabay.com /bioenergy/2007_05_09_archive. html
It can be found growing from the coast line to the hilly slopes and grows very well along water ways. It can be grown in different types of flood-free soil and matured trees can withstand water logging. Its propagation is by direct seedlings or nursery raised seedlings. Each pod bears single seed with an average fresh weight of 1.2 grams. From the 5th year it starts flowering and fruiting. Commercial production of seed start after 10 years and a full-grown tree may yield up to 100 kg or more fresh seeds per annum for up to 60-70 years. It is very easy to grow and needs little care [28]. Pongamia is often used for landscaping purposes as a windbreak or for shade due to the large canopy and showy fragrant flowers. The bark can be used to make twine or rope and it also yields a black gum that is used to treat wounds caused by poisonous fish. The flowers are used by gardeners as compost for plants requiring rich nutrients. Although all parts of the plant are toxic and will induce nausea and vomiting if
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Pongamia (also known as Indian Beech, Pongam, Honge, Ponge, and Karanj) is a tree thought to have originated in India and is found throughout Asia. The tree is well suited to intense heat and sunlight due to its dense network of lateral roots, making it drought-tolerant. The dense shade it provides slows the evaporation of surface water and its root nodules promote nitrogen fixation [27].
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eaten, the fruit and sprouts, along with the seeds, are used in many traditional remedies. Juices from the plant, as well as the oil, are antiseptic and resistant to pests. In addition the tree has the rare property of producing seeds containing 25-35% oil. The seed oil is an important asset of this tree having been used as lamp oil, in soap making, and as a lubricant for thousands of years. This oil is rapidly gaining popularity as a source of feedstock for biodiesel production as it is rich in oleic acid which makes up 50% of the oil extracted [27].
3.4.3 Algae Algae are a large and diverse group of simple organisms, ranging from unicellular to multi-cellular forms. They are able to conduct photosynthesis just like plants but do not have roots, stems, and leaves. They can be found in both fresh and ocean water and in moist environments on land. Algae are known to have high growth rates and are able to propagate extremely quickly in the presence of abundant nutrients. The main components required to sustain growth are sunlight, carbon dioxide and nutrients. Normally beneficial to aquatic life; however a bloom (a large and sudden growth in the population) can cause the death of many fish. In most cases fish die because the decomposition of large amounts of algae depletes the oxygen in the water. Most blooms occur in bodies of water that have been polluted with sewage or with runoff containing organic substances such as fertilizers. Algae strains have been found to contain up to 80 percent of their body weight as oil lipids. The potential for producing oil has been estimated from 50,000 - 1,250,000 litres per hectare, however in reality a maximum of 300,000 litres per hectare has been reached to date [29]. Studies have shown that the influence of light intensities, temperature, nutrient concentration and carbon dioxide input could substantially increase the growth rate as well as oil content of certain algae species [30, 31]. Current production of algae on a commercial scale is for the manufacture of bioplastics, dyes and colorants, feedstock, pharmaceuticals and for pollution control.
Box 2: Japan Airlines Biofuels Flight Test Japan Airlines became the fourth airline to successfully flight test biofuels on 30th January 2009. The airline conducted a one-hour 747-300 flight test using a B50 blend of camelina, jatropha and algae based biofuel in the number 3 engine. The biofuel was 84 percent camelina, 16 percent jatropha, and less than one percent algae. The fuel was processed by Honeywell’s UOP subsidiary, and supplied by a joint venture of UOP and JGC, Nikki Universal.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
In ground tests conducted, the pilots reported that the biofuel was more fuel efficient than 100 percent traditional jet-A fuel (kerosene), a finding consistent with the Continental Airlines test which used a blend of 50% traditional jet A fuel and a bio-fuel mixture of 47% jatropha and 3% algae oils. Indicating biofuels may not only be a carbon-neutral option, but also a more fuel efficient one.
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Pratt & Whitney, manufacturer of the engines used in the test, confirmed that the biofuel exceeded performance criteria established for commercial aviation jet fuel. Boeing Japan president, Nicole Piasecki, said that the company is hopeful of flying revenue passenger flights within 3-5 years using biofuels. Source: [32]
4. Production of Biofuels
Biofuel production has to be financially and economically feasible because the end product has to compete with fossil fuels in price. The major component of the production cost is associated with the feedstock; however, the production technologies used to process the feedstock also add to the final price of the biofuel product. It also has to operate in an environmentally friendly manner so that the products are contributors to a cleaner environment along with the process to produce it. The production plants discussed below will focus on Fiji’s potential to produce biofuel.
4.1 Ethanol Production Ethanol can be produced from either cassava or sugarcane. The process for producing ethanol for both feedstocks is similar, i.e. by way of fermentation. The only exception is they have differing pre-treatment phases before fermentation. The ethanol industry is seen as an economic ‘savior’ wherein more jobs would be created and the fuel import bill would be reduced. For the year 2007, the Fiji Government spent FJ$95.4 million on over 78 million litres of unleaded fuel [33]. In order for ethanol to replace this quantity of unleaded fuel, in terms of energy content, about 131 million litres per annum will be needed.
4.1.1 Cassava Ethanol
The Fiji Government, along with investors have outlined plans for the establishment of a cassava ethanol plant in Fiji. The proposed FJ$40 million ethanol plant will need 360,000 tonnes of cassava annually with an expected ethanol output of 50,000 tonnes or 63 million litres [35]. The purchase price is considered to be at FJ$0.30 a kilogram of cassava, creating a FJ$108 million market for cassava farmers; however the lowest market price for cassava according to Fiji agricultural trade statistics in 2008 was FJ$0.68 per kg [25]. The cassava ethanol project above could displace about 80 per cent of unleaded fuel imports; however, with the optimum ethanol/unleaded fuel blend for use in unmodified gasoline engines being at 10 per cent ethanol and 90 per cent unleaded fuel, a mere saving of FJ$9.54 million can be made from a potential of FJ$76.32 million [33, 35].
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The process of ethanol production from cassava can be in the form of either dried chips or fresh roots. The chips and roots after being prepared into a slurry with water are then cooked to gelatinize the starch for facilitating enzyme hydrolysis. Liquefying enzymes are used to prevent the high viscosity of the mash induced by starch gelatinization and swelling of small particles. Other viscosity reducing enzymes can also be applied to improve mixing and cooking efficiency. After fermentation by yeast, the ethanol is concentrated by steam distillation, dehydration and then finally by a molecular sieve to a concentration of 95 percent ethanol [34].
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The waste stream emitted from the production plant consists of two parts: (1) solids and (2) liquids. The solid waste can be used to produce biogas via the biomethylation process. Alternatively, semi-dried solid can be used as fuel by direct burning. Liquid waste could also be used to produce biogas. In China cogeneration of biogas obtained from wastewater treatment in the ethanol factory operating with cassava is reported to be able to cover all electricity needs in the ethanol production process and still have some excess amounts to supply to the grid [34].
Sugarcane
Treament/ Processing
Cassava
Treament/ Processing
CO2
Enzymes + Water
Hydrolysis + Cooking
Fermentation + Saccharification
Distillation
Steam
Yeast
Slop
Electricity Production
Animal Feed
Ethanol
Biogas
Bio digester Figure 5: Ethanol production process from cassava and sugarcane.
4.1.2 Sugarcane Ethanol
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The sugarcane ethanol production process begins with cultivating and harvesting sugarcane at a cane field. The cane is then processed at a sugar mill, where the cane stalks are shredded and crushed to extract the cane juice. Sugarcane molasses is the by-product of the sugar making process and is used in the production of alcohol beverages. Bagasse is also a by-product and can be used to produce steam and generate electricity within the plant. Excess electricity produced can be sold to utility grids [36].
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After the juice is extracted at the mill, it is then transformed into alcohol by way of a fermentation process using yeasts. The fermentation process takes four to twelve hours and generates a significant amount of carbon dioxide and heat. Fermentation can be conducted in batches or continuously, using open or closed fermentation tanks. Cooling is applied to maintain the resulting fermented wine mixture. Much of the carbon dioxide that is generated during the fermentation process can be captured and converted into marketable products, such as dry ice, liquid carbon dioxide for soft drinks, fire-fighting foams, filtration products and various industrial uses [36].
After fermentation, the sugarcane ethanol is distilled from other by-products, resulting in a level of purity of approximately 95%. This mixture is often referred to as “hydrous sugarcane ethanol” because it contains 5% water. Hydrous sugarcane ethanol can be commercially used, but cannot be blended with gasoline. An additional reactant, such as cyclohexane, is needed in order to dehydrate the sugarcane ethanol, by forming a tertiary azeotropic mixture with water and alcohol. Anhydrous sugarcane ethanol is nearly 99% pure and can be blended with gasoline [36]. The Fiji sugar industry had embarked on a reform programme to ensure its long-term viability in light of its poor past performance and the reform of the EU sugar regime which is leading to a significant decline in protocol sugar prices. As part of this reform programme, the sugar industry is considering production of ethanol as part of the revival programme with a view to enhancing the profitability and returns from the otherwise marginal sugar manufacturing business [37]. In 2007, sugar exports were worth FJ$185 million with Fiji’s average domestic sugar consumption at about 47,000 tonnes from 540,000 tonnes of sugarcane. If the production of sugar is limited to domestic consumption only, this would leave (as of 2007 sugarcane production statistics) 1,938,000 tonnes of sugarcane which could produce 135 million litres of ethanol. This would be adequate to replace unleaded fuel imports; however it is not economic as a loss of FJ$89.6 million in Government revenue (from sugar exports under the EU preferential pricing) would likely occur. In the highly likely event when the export of sugar becomes unattractive; then production of ethanol should become extremely viable [38]. The Fiji Sugar Cane Growers Council, Fiji Sugar Corporation and Sojitz (Japan) have formed a joint venture to produce 50,000 litres of sugar cane ethanol, with production capacity reaching 100,000 litres at full operation. The FJ$36.5 million project is expected to ultimately generate FJ$20.2 million in annual revenue for the local economy [39]. Box 3: The Brazilian Ethanol Experience The Brazilian biofuels programme has been one of the most successful in the world. By law, all petrol used in Brazil must be blended with ethanol. The National Fuel Alcohol Programme (Proálcool) began as a government initiative in the mid-1970s. The aim was to make use of Brazil’s massive annual sugar production of up to 13 million tonnes to meet the national goal of reducing dependence on imported energy sources, as well as to address a crushing balance-of-payments crisis. By comparison the Fijian sugar industry is much smaller, but general lessons can still be drawn. The real impetus toward the creation of Proálcool came when very high market prices for petrol (due to the OPEC price shocks) coincided with very low sugar prices. It is interesting to note that these price scenarios are now recurring for Fiji.
A recent development is the advent of ‘flex-fuel’ vehicles that can run on any combination of petrol and ethanol. These now represent over 50 per cent of all new car sales and penetration is still increasing. This, as well as price differentials between petrol and ethanol, is pushing up demand for ethanol after a period in which sales were declining or flat. Domestically, even though there are far fewer ethanol-powered cars on the road than there used to be, the cost of ethanol is still 25–50 per cent lower than that of petrol for travel over the Continued next page
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The original Brazilian programme involved various forms of Government support, such as subsidies, and quickly became spectacularly successful. By 1980, ethanol had a larger market share than ordinary petrol. By the mid-1980s, three-quarters of all new cars sold ran on pure ethanol. At its peak, market penetration of ethanol-engine cars stood at 92 per cent, and even in 1990 they made up 50 per cent of the national fleet; however, high sugar prices and a consequent shortage of ethanol in the early 1990s reduced consumer confidence in pure ethanol cars.
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same distance. Brazil’s national savings on fuel have been impressive. Between 1975 and 2002, ethanol use reduced the use of petrol by around 210 billion litres, amounting to US$52 billion in savings. But it has not always been plain sailing. Now largely free of subsidy, the programme in the past required heavy support. Over its first decade, it barely turned a profit – from 1975 to 1987 saving US$10.4 billion but costing US$9 billion, at which point it collapsed when falling oil prices, rising sugar prices, and a national economic crisis meant that the cost of subsidies became too great to bear. The ethanol programme has been an important factor in creating job opportunities, in both more and less developed regions of Brazil. In some regions, it has been remarkable at evolving from lower- to higher-quality jobs, reducing seasonal unemployment, increasing wages and social benefits, and introducing new technologies in a timely way. The fact must be taken into account that Brazil is not facing serious threats to its sugar production, as is Fiji, and that the Brazilian ethanol programme is simply immense; however, large biomass systems on a national level can have strong impacts on job creation and quality. The experience of Brazil illustrates that biofuel programmes are an expensive business. Not only is considerable capital investment required, but biofuels require financial support in order to remain viable. Source: [40, 41]
4.2 Biodiesel Production Biodiesel production could utilize either individually or combinations of coconut oil, jatropha oil, pongamia oil and algae oil. Coconut oil has the advantage that it is already plentiful in the Pacific and has been for some time cultivated extensively. Jatropha, pongamia and algae have not been cultivated commercially. In 2007, the Government of Fiji spent FJ$62 million for the purchase of 62 million litres of automotive diesel and FJ$417 million for the purchase of 375 million litres of industrial diesel [33].
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
4.2.1 Coconut Biodiesel
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Coconut oil could be either used in its natural form or be further processed through trans-esterification for biodiesel production. Coconut oil can be produced by either wet milling or dry milling. Wet milling can be accomplished through coconut milk or direct micro expelling. With the coconut milk method, the oil is extracted from fresh coconut meat without drying. Coconut milk is expressed first by pressing and then the oil is separated from the water. Methods which can be used to separate the oil from the water include boiling, fermentation, refrigeration, enzymes and mechanical centrifuge. The direct micro expelling process extracts the oil from fresh coconut meat after the adjustment of the water content. Dry milling consists of drying the coconut meat, the dried meat is called copra, and then the oil is extracted [42]. Fiji produced 9,657 tonnes of coconut oil in 2007 with 5,100 tonnes of it being exported, generating over FJ$4 million in revenue. The remaining 4,557 tonnes was used domestically. Fiji’s highest coconut oil production was recorded in 1977 with 18,502 tonnes, if this value is taken as our maximum possible yield and subtracted from the current export and local consumption; this would result in 8,845 tonnes available for biodiesel production. If used as a direct substitute for diesel, a displacement of only 15% of automotive diesel import could be possible with a saving of FJ$9.6 million, when compared to diesel statistics for 2007 [43-46]; however, many coconut plantations have aged since then and are producing lower yields.
Biodiesel through trans-esterification is seen to be the only reliable option to utilize coconut oil effectively on a national scale [16]. The location of such a plant would be restricted to urban areas due to the use of hazardous chemicals in the production process and the resulting by-products. Hence, additional production costs for transportation of the coconut oil from rural areas to the production plant. Rural Electrification schemes that employ a special generator able to run directly on coconut oil are seen as potentially the most viable; however, there has been no success so far in sustaining such operations. The majority of the coconut plantations are rural based and coconut oil production can be achieved on site and directly used to provide electricity to the community.
Box 4: Coconut Oil Rural Electrification in Fiji In 2001, two biofuel projects were implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Fiji Department of Energy. Two villages that produced significant amounts of copra received a generator that had a dual-fuel system, able to run on both diesel and copra oil. In 2006, Fiji Department of Energy requested Partners in Community Development Fiji (PCDF) and SOPAC to evaluate the socio-cultural aspects and the techno-economic aspects respectively. The PCDF report concludes amongst others: “The project could be regarded as unsuccessful because the generators are not operating as intended (with diesel and not coconut oil), in Lomaloma’s case not operating at all; there was little interaction amongst stakeholders and communication breakdowns were experienced; the technology was complicated and not understood by the community, operators or technicians; and running the generators was labour intensive. However, the advantages of the biofuel project to the communities so far out weighs these factors. These advantages include better social services, for example the division of labour and nighttime activities (studying, social functions), economic advantages (small businesses starting) and health (better light for studying). Also the generator uses coconut oil, a commodity that is a common local resource and has become valuable again in the eyes of the community, including some neighboring islands where coconuts are the main source of income.” The SOPAC report concludes amongst others: “The biofuel projects in Taveuni and Vanua Balavu have successfully demonstrated the technical possibility to use coconut oil as a fuel for rural electrification. They have however not resulted in the expected socio-economic development as anticipated. Provision of reliable and affordable electricity services to the remote communities of Taveuni and Vanua Balavu is a highly valued service to improve standard of living. Diesel has been found the most appropriate and lowest-cost fuel option for the provision of electricity at both sites.
Even though the technology worked to some degree, the socio-economic embedding could have been further optimized to have both communities reap the full benefits of biofuel electrification. In one village, there was no mill included in the project as during the planning stages, an oil mill was still operating, but ceased shortly before the generator was installed. In the other village, after the generator was operating, the revenues from the dalo plantation belonging to the community were much higher than from copra production, leading to a shift of activities away from copra production. The copra milling with a small mill turned out to be very labour intensive. These factors led the villagers purchasing diesel from dalo revenue instead of using copra biofuel. Source: [16]
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Even though thorough feasibility studies on technology and socio-economics have been carried out before the implementation of the projects, the expectations of the villagers and the results of the projects have not been in line with each other. “
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4.3 Alternative Fuel Production from Waste Various alternative fuel technologies are already operational in developed countries like Germany and Finland that have been innovative in their approach to diversifying their energy sources, reducing dependence on petroleum-based fuel and responding to environmental concerns. Two innovations are summarised in this section, which tackle fuel generation and waste management. In Fiji, as indeed it is in most PICs, a serious litter problem has been recognised by national and local government authorities, and numerous attempts at overcoming the problem has had limited success. Use of alternative fuel technologies is an option that can be considered [58].
4.3.1 AlphaKat’s KDV Process [47] A German company, AlphaKat has developed a plant that uses the catalytic depolymerization process to convert organic materials into diesel fuel. The catalyst used is an alkali-doped aluminum silicate. When doped with sodium, the aluminum silicate can perform catalytic cracking of hydrocarbon molecules from a variety of organic feedstocks. The silicate catalyst is not active below 250°C; however, once the temperature exceeds 250°C, the catalyst crystallizes and becomes active. The catalyst is mixed with a feedstock that is in liquid form. The mixture is heated to 250°C with a block heater to activate the catalyst. Once active, the mixture is heated within the reactor to near 400°C. The higher temperature speeds the reaction time but does not produce the toxic byproducts that appear with depolymerization above 400°C. The mixture requires approximately three minutes within the reactor for complete conversion of the feedstock to diesel. Inorganic materials such as minerals and salts settle to the bottom of the reactor where they are later removed. The energy required for cracking is typically provided in the form of heat. The heat energy is also required for the evaporation of the diesel from the mixture. One way to provide the heat is with heaters placed on the outer walls of the reactor. Due to laws of thermodynamics, the temperature on the wall must be larger than the reaction temperature. As a result coke is formed on the wall of the reactor interior. Over time, the coke reacts with the catalyst and forms a hard residue on the wall. This residue impedes the flow of heat into the reactor making heating in this manner uneconomical over time.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The approach used in the plant is to heat the reactor internally with the fluid itself. The fluid mixture is forced through a series of Venturi constrictions by several pumps working in parallel. Heat is generated by the well-known process of viscous dissipation, which results in the rise in fluid temperature due to the friction between the viscous fluid and pipe. The pumps also act as agitators that enhance the mixing of the catalyst and the feedstock, reducing time required for a complete conversion. The pumps are electrically driven and are powered by a diesel generator. About 10% of the diesel produced is required to power all the electrical devices used by the plant.
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The plant utilises any type of organic material to produce high-quality diesel, for example: 1. municipal Waste Material (household – no cans or glass); 2. plastic; pet bottles, shopping bags, food containers; 3. paper, cardboard; 4. animal renderings, carcasses, innards, fats; 5. tires, rubber-based items, mats, inner tubes; 6. sewer sludge (less than 10% moisture), cake; 7. sawdust, wood chips, lumber, timber scraps; 8. livestock manure – including foul droppings; and 9. restaurant brown & yellow grease, meat fats; 10. automobile, truck and aircraft waste oil/grease; and 11. industrial paper.
The standard AlphaKat plant (Figure 6) is known as the KDV500 which has the capability to produce 500 litres/hour of high quality diesel and has a retail price of about 2.5 million. The plant is built for continuous operation with maintenance scheduled after 8,000 hours of operation. This would give a production capacity of 4 million litres for a single operating period of 8,000 hours and a feedstock input of 2000-8000 tonnes depending on the material used [48]. The expected diesel yields from different waste materials are shown in Table 7. See Annex 1 for a schematic of the KDV500 plant.
Minimum Diesel Yield
Residual material out
Waste oil from vehicles
80%
10% ashes, salt
Waste organic oil (from deep-frying)
70%
10% ashes, salt
Plastic mixed waste
80%
10% ashes, salt
Slaughter house waste
40%
42% carbon dioxide + water
Wood chips
30%
57% carbon dioxide + water + 3% ashes
Bagasse
35%
50% carbon dioxide + water + 5% ashes, salts
Glycerin
19%
70% carbon dioxide + water +1% ashes
Municipal Waste material
50%
Unpredictable
PET bottles
80%
10% ashes, salt
Paper – newsprint-cardboard
30%
57% carbon dioxide + water +3% ashes
Feedstock
Figure 6: AlphaKat’s KDV500 plant. Source: AlphaKat.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Table 7: Expected diesel yields for AlphaKat KDV500 plant [48].
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4.3.2 ST1’s Etanolix [49] Etanolix technology developed by St1 Biofuels based in Finland is a method of producing ethanol from organic waste, eliminating competition for land with food crops. St1 launched its decentralized ethanol production concept in September 2007, when it commissioned its first small-scale Etanolix plant. The plant runs on bakery waste and is the first anywhere to produce ethanol from waste for commercial use in motor fuel. St1’s technology separates the production of bio-ethanol from dehydration of the end product, enabling small, modular units to be located as close as possible to waste sources, making waste a commercial commodity and reducing transport costs. Plant capacity can be downsized significantly and still remain competitive in terms of production costs and energy efficiency when only producing between 1,500 and 2,000 cubic metres of absolute ethanol a year. Production costs compare very favorably with conventional first-generation bio-ethanol plants, which can be 20 to 200 times larger. The Etanolix process is based on continuous fermentation and associated evaporation, and generates an 85% ethanol/water mixture. Depending on the raw material used, by-products are suitable for use as animal feed, fertilizer, or feedstock for anaerobic digestion. An on-site dewatering unit can be installed to further refine the ethanol produced to 99.8% purity, or this can be done separately at a higher-capacity facility. The resulting pure ethanol can be blended with petrol at an oil terminal for onward distribution to service stations. While St1’s current technology enables waste containing starch, sugars, or low concentrations of ethanol to be processed, product development is being pushed ahead to extend the range of feedstock to include household bio-waste, waste paper, municipal waste, and other manufacturing waste.
Farm
Food industry
2 1 Site 85%
3
Etanolix
5
TM
4 99.8%
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Dehydration
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Terminal
Figure 7: Overview of St1’s distributed bio-ethanol production. Source: www.st1.eu.
1. “CO2 good” bioethanol is produced from waste material and industrial by-products using Etanolix processing plants. 2. The process creates a by-product to be used as animal feed, liquid fertilizer or solid fuel. 3. The 85% bioethanol produced is then sent for dehydration for water removal. 4. Produced bioethanol is blended- as a bio component - to make final biofuel. 5. Biofuel is distributed to service stations.
The dispersed Etanolix production concept has won the Finnish Chemical Industry Innovation Award in 2006, the national INNOFINLAND 2008 award patronised by the President of the Republic of Finland, and second place in the European Environmental Press Award 2008 contest [50]. St1 was founded in 1997 and, following the acquisition of Exxon Mobil’s Finnish subsidiary in 2007, now has an estimated turnover of some 1 billion (2008). St1 operates more than 400 service stations in Finland, over 40 in Sweden, as well as eight distribution units in Poland. The company also sells electricity to consumers and smaller companies, and is a large vendor of heating oil across Finland [49].
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Figure 8: Etanolix plant. Source: [49]).
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5. Economic Scenarios of Biofuels and Fossil Fuels The marketplace forces of supply and demand determine the price of fuel. If demand grows or if a disruption in supply occurs, prices increase. Vice versa, if demand falls or there is an oversupply of product in the market, there will be decrease in prices.
5.1 Pricing Structure of Fossil fuels The petroleum market in Fiji is divided into two segments, a price-controlled segment and a non pricecontrolled segment. The non price-controlled segment would include Government and substantial industrial users like Fiji Electricity Authority (FEA), Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC), Emperor Gold Mines, and the bus companies. A number of these industrial users receive different rates of subsidy from the Government in the form of a lower specific rate of fiscal duty and also different wholesale prices from individual negotiated supply arrangements. In the price-controlled segment, the price fixing formula called the petroleum pricing template (PPT), developed by the petroleum advisory services of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in consultation with the Government of Fiji and the oil companies, provides the price fixing mechanism. PPT quantifies all supplier costs:
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
• • • • • • • • • •
28
‘free onboard’ (FOB) prices based on Singapore world price; Freight; Insurance; exchange rate effects; demurrage and losses; operating costs; headquarters costs for oil companies; fiscal duty and tax paid to government; distribution costs; and return on investment for the oil companies.
In Fiji, crude oil makes up about 30% of the retail price for unleaded fuels and 40% for diesel. More importantly almost 40% of the cost of unleaded fuel and slightly more than 45% for diesel are determined in the world markets, with the remaining 55-60 % being controlled by the local economy [51]. Figures 9 & 10 clearly indicate that one of the largest components of the price structure is taxation (fiscal duty and the value-added taxation) and crude oil. Altogether, close to 70% of the price of unleaded fuels and 65% for diesel is crude price plus government taxation. The fiscal duty for unleaded fuel in Fiji is FJ$0.44 per litre and FJ$0.18 per litre for diesel fuel as of 2009.
Taxation 40%
Residual 12% Crude Oil 30% Refinery/distribution/ Retail Mark up 18% Figure 9: Fiji’s unleaded petrol price structure. Source: [51].
Taxation 25% Crude Oil 40%
Refinery/distribution/ Retail Mark up 19%
Residual 16%
The residual component in the Figure 9 & 10 includes the share that accrues to the oil companies. It is inclusive of all special charges relating to the acquisition and shipping of the fuel apart from the cost of fuel and transport costs from the refineries to the destination countries, port and wharf charges, administrative costs of the firm, company tax, headquarters expenses, return on assets and other smaller charges [51].
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Figure 10: Fiji’s diesel price structure. Source: [51].
29
5.2 Cassava Ethanol Production Viability Fiji has initiated its plans for a cassava ethanol industry to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels; however, with the fluctuating oil prices, determining if the production of ethanol from cassava is still viable when oil prices are really low is a concern to the sustainability of such an industry. The retail cost of cassava ethanol is yet to be known, but it is possible to estimate production costs and retail prices by using data from present industries to date such as the Thailand cassava ethanol industry. Box 5: Cassava Ethanol in Thailand In Thailand, though the promotion for ethanol to enter the energy market had started in the past 20-30 years, its popularity was first recognized in 2001. With the government’s biofuel policy, ethanol is being distributed to consumers in the form of gasohol, a mixture of ethanol and gasoline at a ratio of 9:1. At present, ethanol in the country is mainly produced from molasses; however, the main disadvantages of molasses-based ethanol lie in supply versus demand and seasonal operation. Recently, after molasses-based ethanol producers raised their product’s prices to cope with sharp increased feedstock prices, cassava-based ethanol became an attractive commodity for Thai oil traders. The production costs of cassava roots estimated by farmers are in the range of Bt 980 (US$26) to Bt 1,140 (US$30) a tonnei (see also Figure 11). Selling their product to processing plants, farmers get an average profit of about Bt 183 (US$5) to Bt 427 (US$11) a tonne depending on product market price. The market price of cassava roots in the last few months of 2006 has fluctuated from Bt 1,250 (US$33) to Bt 1,500 (US$40) a tonne. An unstable market is the reason why some time farmers earn nothing or even lose money after nearly one year working hard for their farm produce. If a stable ethanol market for cassava is set up, hopefully, a great number of cassava farmers in rural Thailand can be benefited. The magnitude of the income depends on the area that farmers own. A cassava farmer owning 20 rai* (3.2 ha) and getting an average yield of 3.4 tonnes per rai can earn Bt 12,400 (US$329) – Bt 29,000 (US$763) after 8-10 months, i.e., Bt 1,240 (US$33) – Bt 2,900 (US$76) per month. Fortunately, living expenses in rural Thailand are not too high so that small cassava farmers can survive on this income. The total production cost of cassava chips is Bt 3,300 (US$87) per tonne; 95% of this cost is due to the cost of 2.5 tonnes of cassava roots, whereas processing cost makes just 5%. But the price of cassava chips ranges between Bt 3,700 (US$97) and Bt 4,000 (US$105) a tonne on the open market after adding profit margin, taxes, etc. Another factor is market demand. The feedstock cost of ethanol conversion is the cost of cassava chips on the open market plus transportation cost. It amounts to Bt 3,900 (US$103) to Bt 4,200 (US$110) a tonne of raw material. This brings the cost of raw material to the Bt 11.71 (US$0.31) − Bt 12.61 (US$0.33) range per litre of ethanol produced, given a conversion rate of about 333 litres of ethanol per tonne of cassava chips.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Planting 17%
30
Herbicide 15%
Land Preparation 12%
Fertilizer 25%
Harvesting 20%
Transportation 11%
Figure 11: Cassava farming cost breakdown. Continued next page i
In 2006, 1 USD was equivalent to approximately 38 Bt
The cost of the ethanol product leaving the ethanol factory is termed ex-distillery price. It represents production cost (Bt 18.08 [US$0.48]) plus distillery profit margin (Bt 3.62 [US$.010]). The detailed ex-distillery cost breakdown for ethanol production from cassava chips based on the floor price of feedstock (Bt 11.71 [US$0.31] a litre) is presented in Figure 12. Before being distributed to gas stations, ethanol is transported to oil refineries for blending with gasoline. At gas stations, the retail price of ethanol in the form of gasohol is formulated as: retail price = ex-refinery price + oil fuel + taxes + marketing margin + VAT , in which ex-refinery price is a sum of ex-distillery price and transportation/distribution cost. To encourage consumers to use gasohol, the Thai Government provides fuel subsidies and tax incentives that make gasohol 1.5 baht-a-litre (US$0.03/L) cheaper than 95 octane gasoline (ULG 95). Wages, salary and insurance 7%
Depreciation 4% Chemicals 6% Utilities 11%
Profit margin 17% Feedstock 54% Repair and maintenance 1% Figure 12: Cost breakdown of ethanol production. Adding transportation/distribution costs to ethanol ex-distillery cost results in the ethanol exrefinery price of Bt 22.2 (US$0.58) a litre. It is Bt 3.22 (US$0.08) more costly than gasoline. The ex-refinery price of ULG 95 posted at www.eppo.go.th/info/ in the first seven months of 2006 was Bt 18.98 (US$0.50) a litre. Calculated per MJ energy content, these prices become Bt 1.05 (US$0.03) and Bt 0.60 (US$0.02), respectively. It seems that ethanol costs customers 75% more than ULG 95.
To make gasohol competitive with gasoline at current prices, ethanol ex-refinery price has to drop below Bt 16.95 (US$0.45). As shown in Figure 12, feedstock price is the dominant cost factor in cassava ethanol production; it represents 54 % of ethanol ex-distillery cost, whereas ethanol conversion contributes about 46%. This is due to the fluctuations in the unregulated price of cassava in Thailand. A reduction in cassava price would be a possible way to reduce ethanol production cost. In the conversion phase, utilization of ethanol by-products would help offset ethanol production cost. *1 rai = 0.16 hectares Source: [52]
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Although ethanol has lower energy content than gasoline but its higher octane value allows higher compression ratios and more efficient thermodynamic operation in internal combustion engines. In other words, the heating value of ethanol should not be used as an indicator of its performance in a motor vehicle engine. According to the tests conducted by PTT Research and Technology Institute, a car (Toyota 1.6 L/2000) runs about 13.46 km per litre of gasoline whereas it runs 13.31 km per litre of gasohol E10, higher than a value of only 13.02 km estimated based on fuel energy content. Per km driven, E10 costs customers Bt 1.45 whereas ULG costs only Bt 1.41. Thus, based on fuel economy, the increment in E10 ex-refinery price over ULG95 becomes narrower than based on fuel energy content. However, though cheaper than molasses-based ethanol, the ex-refinery price of which at present (September 2006) is Bt 27.6 (US$0.73), cassava ethanol is still more costly than ULG95.
31
In Fiji on the other hand, cassava price for ethanol production is expected to be fixed at FJ$0.30 a kilogram. Assuming similar cost breakdown affecting production in Fiji as those in Thailand (Figure 11 in Box 5), the retail price for a litre of cassava ethanol would be around FJ$3.30-$3.90/ litrei. This would be equivalent to the price of unleaded fuel when crude oil prices are at US$84-$100 a barrelii.
5.3 Cost Effectiveness of Using Coconut Oil versus Diesel Fuel Coconut oil based rural biofuel systems are an effective way to provide medium-range electrical power needs to a small community, provided sufficient supply of copra is available and the community has a high degree of organisation. At what point however, does producing biofuel from coconut oil become unfeasible. A feasibility study in Fiji on rural electrification conducted in Nacamaki Village on Koro Island may provide some insight on the cost effectiveness of coconut oil as a biofuel.
Box 6: Conclusions of Nacamaki Village Feasibility Study Experience with other biofuel electrification projects show that copra oil can provide for sustainable energy if the all socio-economic and cultural factors are taken into account. Copra production is part of the way of life in Nacamaki. It is a way to pay dues for community obligations, can also be used to supply personal income for groceries if required. Copra production is organised around a co-op that also runs the village shop. The co-op is in a very good position to run a copra mill in the village as it has both the respect of the villagers, the technical and business experience. If copra is expelled locally, there is a significant added value to the product at the village level. The village produces sufficient amounts of copra to supply itself with fuel and other coconut oil added value products. It is also in a position to sell some coconut oil to neighbouring villages, if that market would be tapped.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
For sustainable electrification of Nacamaki Village, the village should move away from flat fees to metering and billing actual electricity use. Even though it is possible to calculate the most appropriate cost per kWh and to introduce metering in the community of Nacamaki, its implications need to be discussed at the community level before it is introduced. It is however the only way to secure financial sustainability of the electrification scheme.
32
The feasibility study shows that making copra oil on a small scale on a remote island like Koro is not a normal viable business proposal. Only when the additional benefits of increased productivity, increased diversity of incomes and the use of renewable energy are taken into account, ‘donating’ the coconut oil mill is a favourable proposition for the villagers. Taking into account their investment versus benefits, they will have earned back their outlay in 2-7 years, depending on the amount of copra oil milled.
i
6-7 kg of cassava to produce 1 litre of ethanol
ii
a barrel of oil is equivalent to 159 litres
VANUA LEVU
MACUATA Rabi Natewa
YASAWA GROUPS
Buca
BUA
Somosomo TAVEUNI
Savusavu
Naviti
Vanuabalavu
VITI LEVU
KORO RA
Ba Lautoka
Ovalau Levuka
Vetata COLO
Nadi
Lomaloma Mago
LOMAIVITI
Tuvuca
Nairai
Korolevu-i-colo
Cicia
Rewa
SUVA
Korolevu Sigatoka
CAKAUDROVE
Nayau Gau
Lakeba
Beqa Ekubu
Ono
VATULELE
Moala
LAU Moce
KADAVU Totoya Matuku
Kabara
Namuka
Fulaga
Figure 13: Nacamaki Village.
Compared to for example wind energy or solar energy, biofuels provide much more cost-effective solutions in terms of investment cost per kWh. However, they come at a significant expense of labour input and continuous commitment by the community. If this commitment does not come with a return on time spent, it can hardly be sustainable in a Pacific context, as other experiences have shown. The case for Nacamaki looks promising as the community has indicated it has very few other options. Source: [53]
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The direct costs related to copra oil production in the village of Nacamaki are FJ$1.12 per litre, fuel equivalent. This is significantly lower than diesel and therefore it is attractive for the village to engage in local oil production. In order to benefit more and be able to replace the equipment at the end of its economic lifetime, it is required that the community utilises the oil mill as much as possible, for example through diversification into body oil production, soap and cooking oil.
33
Copra 62% Writeoff 21%
Fuel consumption 5% Maintenance 6%
Labour 6%
Figure 14: Operating cost to produce coconut oil in Nacamaki. Source: [53]. Through commodity price changes, the break-even point of coconut oil fuel versus diesel fuel has changed since the 2007 feasibility study. As of April 2008, copra commanded a price of FJ$ 826 per tonne which proves to be not viable for producing biofuels. Table 8 shows the break-even points for different copra prices. Table 8: Prices of copra oil at various copra prices [53] Copra price [FJ$/tonne]
Copra oil price [FJ$/l]
Diesel Equivalenti [FJ$/l]
460
1.35
1.46
500
1.43
1.54
600
1.61
1.74
700
1.79
1.93
800
1.97
2.13
Table 8 demonstrates that there will be scenarios where the village will have to decide on which fuel would be most viable economically to run in the generator. High copra prices will favour diesel usage while low copra prices will promote biofuel production.
5.4 The Use of Waste Material to Produce Fuel The major cost component in producing biofuels is the feedstock. Finding cheap feedstock that can be produced into large quantities of fuel, which does not adversely affect food security would be the ideal situation. Waste material has the advantage of costing close to nothing and being abundant in supply. A solid waste classification survey was conducted on a landfill in Fiji, Table 9 shows the findings.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
The data shown in Table 9 is based on a week of input of garbage to the landfill of about 381 tonnes,translating to an annual input of around 20,000 tonnes of material of which 90.6 percent could be used to produce synthetic diesel using the KDV method [54]. Correlating data from Tables 7 and 9, results in production projection as shown in Table 10.
34
The projected synthetic diesel production could displace as much as 11.8% of imported automotive diesel and a saving of FJ$7.3 million compared to 2007 automotive diesel imports for Fiji [44]. The resulting by-products can be used in many industrial applications. Carbon dioxide is used by the food industry for chilling, quick freezing, and refrigeration during food transport [55]. It is also used in fire extinguishers and carbonation of soft-drinks. Water can be used in many applications after being purified, as it is clean and free of any contaminants. The ash could be used in the making of concrete blocks whereas the salt which contains inorganic material is sent back to the landfill. i
1 liter of diesel is equal to 1.08 litres of coconut oil in terms of energy content
Table 9: Lautoka landfill solid waste classification [54]. Primary Waste Classification
Secondary Waste Classification
Average Percentage (wt%)
Cardboard boxes
3.5
Other – magazines, newspaper, office, tetrapak, packaging
10.1
Sanitary
1.1
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
1.1
Plastic
Rigid High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
0.4
Flexible HDPE and other plastics
6.6
Glass
All glass
2.7
Aluminum cans
0.3
Other metals
2.9
Biodegradable
All organic
67.8
Textiles
All textiles including clothing, carpets and curtains
3.0
Potentially Hazardous
All
0.2
Construction and Demolition
All
0.0
Other
Including rubber and other
0.2
Paper
Metals
Total
100
A possible waste reduction of 89.8 percent could be achieved and the resulting product and by-products hold substantial economic value. Projection such as those in Table 10 may vary with actual operation but the underlying benefits are still the same, waste reduction and energy security. Table 10: Potential annual synthetic diesel production from Lautoka landfill. Waste Material
Quantity (tonnes)
Paper
2,940 (14.7% of Total)
Diesel (30%) carbon dioxide (57%) Water (10%) Ash (3%)
-
Organic
13,560 (67.8% of Total)
Diesel (30%) carbon dioxide (57%) Water (10%) Ash (3%)
- 4,068 - 7,729.2 - 1,356 - 406.8
Plastic
1,620 (8.1% of Total)
Diesel (80%) Ash (10%) Salt (10%)
- 1,296 - 162 - 162
Diesel (34.5%) carbon dioxide (51.9%) Water (9.1%) Ash (3.6%) Salt (0.9%)
- 6,246 - 9,405 - 1,650 - 657 - 162
882 1,675.8 294 88.2
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Total
18,120 (90.6%)
Output (tonnes)
35
6. Biofuels and Food Security
The use of agricultural crops for energy needs is an emerging issue, which has attracted a lot of attention from the world with a lot of finance behind it. There is a perceived threat that the demand for food crops that can be used for biofuel production will lead to price rises that could eventually impact the poor [16]. The current sustained trend of rising world commodity prices and oil prices will inevitably bring food security stresses to the remote and poorer areas of the Pacific; however, the effects will be felt unevenly, as those countries which produce significant export earnings from crop commodities will be gaining benefits from the higher world prices. On the other hand, the higher prices paid for imported foods (rice and wheat) may also act as a spur for the production of locally-produced staples such as cassava [56]. The World Bank in a note on its response to rising food prices recommended policy intervention by governments where these could be divided into the following three broad classes: (i) (ii) (iii)
Interventions to ensure household food security by strengthening targeted safety nets. Interventions to lower domestic food prices through short-run trade policy measures or administrative action. Intervention to enhance longer-term food supply.
Annex 2 summarises the main policy options and ranks them according to the extent to which they meet the desirable criteria.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Biofuels are not entirely responsible for the increase in food prices, a number of other factors also contribute to this rise. Examples are listed below:
36
• Shifting consumption patterns – as incomes increase in emerging markets, people are eating more meat and dairy products. • Rising oil prices, which push up the costs of inputs such as fertilizers as well as transport and storage costs. • Climatic events such as the drought in Australia, which lost 60 per cent of its wheat crop in 2007 and almost 98 per cent of its rice crop [57]; and the recent floods in Fiji which devastated many farms, restricting food supply. • Speculation in commodities markets.
Biofuels do play a significant role in the food crisis and have been identified as a major culprit by the UN, World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF estimates that for 2007 they accounted for almost half of the increase in demand for major food crops. Biofuel production does not just consume food crops directly; they compete with it for land, water, and other inputs, pushing up prices further. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has commented that support for biofuels, which incentivises the diversion of crops and agricultural land away from food production and into fuel production, acts as a tax on food, a tax that is felt most by poor people [40]. A risk for many developing countries is that a rapid shift in domestic agriculture away from food production to biofuel production may increase food insecurity at both the household and national levels; however small-scale biofuel production in particular should be compatible with food production. For instance in a coconut plantation due to the tall nature of coconut trees, food crops can be planted in between the coconut trees. Promoting diversification and setting aside land for food production is one strategy, however governments may also need to take national-level decisions regarding for example to what extent staple crops may be used for biofuel production or where energy feedstocks may be grown. There are likely to be winners and losers from such decisions, so considerations of equity will be vital [40]. Alternatively, other sources for biofuel feedstocks such as waste biomass can be used to create a balance. With newer technology being developed constantly, many waste streams now have the potential to provide for energy demands. Such examples are waste lubricating oil; waste cooking oil, waste agricultural residue and sewage which are all found in abundant supply and can be converted to synthetic diesel using the already available technology, see Section 4.3.
Figure 15: Biofuels and food security. Source: http://www.biomassauthority.com/archives/2008/07/what-is-biodiesel.html
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
It is important to move cautiously with biofuel development to avoid precipitating a rush from food to fuel production. Biofuel strategies should be fully integrated with other relevant policies on food security and poverty reduction, and be consistent with governments’ obligations under international law to ensure the right to food.
37
7. Conclusions
Liquid biofuels refer mainly to ethanol, butanol, biodiesel and synthetic diesel. Ethanol and butanol are biofuel options for larger Pacific Island Countries that can support sufficient amounts of sugary or starchy crops; however the production of biodiesel and synthetic diesel is applicable to any country that has a supply of oil-bearing crops. On the other hand synthetic diesel production is most effective when waste materials are used as feedstock. Biodiesel can either be produced by the common alcohol catalysis method or the supercritical methanol method. The supercritical methanol method is superior to the common catalysis method because it is free of catalyst with a simpler purification process and has a higher yield of methyl ester; however the initial equipment cost is much greater compared to the common catalysed method. The major feedstock options for biofuel among Pacific Island Countries would be sugarcane, cassava and coconuts; however there are others such as jatropha, pongamia and algae which show promise and more research would be required on such before extensive cultivation. The trickle-down effect of any rise in crude oil price on other commodities has become quite substantial to the point where countries are forced to reduce over reliance on it as an energy source. The move to diversify into other fuel sources should not solely be focused on energy security but also consider the impact on food security. Sugarcane and coconuts are already being used in commercial industries; however declining world sugar and coconut oil prices have made biofuel production a more viable option for these crops that are already extensively cultivated in PICs. Both these feedstocks will have little impact on food security when compared to cassava which is a staple in many people’s diets. Cassava ethanol production in Fiji was estimated to be only feasible when crude oil prices were above US$100 a barrel. Coconut oil based rural biofuel systems are an effective way to provide medium-range electrical power needs to a small community, provided sufficient supply of copra is available and the community has a high degree of organisation; however, world market copra prices above FJ$800 might make the local production of biofuel unattractive.
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
Fuel production plants that utilise biomass particularly waste biomass are an alternative to using food crops. The KDV and Etanolix technologies have great potential with respect to waste reduction and biofuel production. Biomass and plastics present in the Lautoka landfill located in Fiji was calculated to be able to replace 7.3 million litres of diesel imports using the KDV process. Government policies will play an important role in managing biofuel production and food security. Factors that affect vulnerable groups should be an important consideration in any policy making decision.
38
Having largely agro-based economies, the Pacific’s biofuel advantage is very much due to the rich endowment of natural resources in the region. A colonial heritage of dedicated coconut tree plantations gives the islands the edge to make biofuel a real economic and environmental alternative. While all fossil fuels are impossible to replace in the near future, biofuels provide part of the solution and should therefore be pursued vigorously by governments in partnership with the private sector. Biofuels would then decrease island states’ over-dependence on fossil fuels and build greater confidence in the Pacific assets [2]. SOPAC estimates the current regional potential in 2010 for biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) is about 30% of all transport fuels [2].
[1]
Fiji Government News Release, Nov. 02, 2005 - www.fiji.gov.fj archives.
[2]
“An Overview of Biofuels in the Pacific”; http://news.mongabay.com/bioenergy/2006/12/overview-of-biofuels- in-pacific_06.html
[3]
Proceedings of Regional Energy Officials’ Meeting, 23-24 April 2007, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Summary Record, para.76. Suva, CROP Energy Working Group. SOPAC Joint Contribution Report 189.
[4]
SOPAC News, 2003(3), Jul-Sep, pg12
[5]
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[7]
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[8]
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[9]
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[10]
D. Kusdiana, S. Saka; “Biodiesel fuel for diesel fuel substitute prepared by a catalyst-free supercritical methanol”; Grad. School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
[11]
Wikipedia website (2009):http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel.
[12]
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[13]
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[14]
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[15]
McCregor & Company, “Conduct of the Copra Trade and Outer Island Shipping Services in the Marshall Islands”, study commissioned by the Asian Development Bank; Manila, Philippines, Oct. 2005.
[16]
Cloin, J.; “Liquid Biofuels in Pacific Island Countries”; SOPAC, Suva, Fiji, April 2007.
[17]
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations website: http://faostat.fao.org/site/567/DesktopDefault. aspx?PageID=567#ancor http://faostat.fao.org/site/636/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=636#ancor FAOSTAT | © FAO Statistics Division 2008 | 08 September 2008.
[18]
Banzon, J.A.; “The coconut as a renewable energy source”; Philippine Journal of Coconut Studies. June 1980.
[19]
Montenegro, H.M; “Coconut Oil and Its Byproducts”; JAOCS, Vol. 62, no. 2, February 1985.
[20]
Wikipedia website (2008): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil.
[21]
Pumwa, J; ”Possibility of using coconut oil as a substitute fuel for diesel engines”; Appropriate Technology for Developing Countries, School of Computer Science & Engineering, Baylor University Waco, Texas.
[22]
BioenergyWiki website (2008): http://www.bioenergywiki.net/index.php/Bio-diesel.
[23]
Prasad, S; “Energy Aspects of Fiji’s Sugar Industry: A Case for More Efficient Electricity Generation from Bagasse”; Energy Aspects of Fiji’s Sugar Industry, Fijian Studies Vol. 1 No. 2.
[24]
Onwueme, I.C; “Cassava in Asia and the Pacific”; Fulton Center for Sustainable Living, Wilson College, Chambersburg, USA.
[25]
Martyn, T, Deo, R; “Biofuels: implications for energy and food security”; SPC, Prepared for Pacific Regional Bioenergy Conference 17-20 November 2008, Nadi, Fiji Islands.
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[28]
Gogoi, P; “Pongamia oil - a promising source of bio-diesel”; D.R. College, Golaghat, Assam.
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[44]
Fiji islands bureau of Statistics website (2008): http://www.statsfiji.gov.fj/Key%20Stats/Foreign%20Trade/8.8_Export%20by%20SITC.pdf
[45]
Fiji islands bureau of Statistics website (2008): http://www.statsfiji.gov.fj/Key%20Stats/Production/4.5_ Manufacting-Agri.pdf
[46]
Fiji islands bureau of Statistics website (2008): http://www.statsfiji.gov.fj/Key%20Stats/Miscellaneous/15.3_ Consumption%20per%20head%20of%20selected%20commodities.pdf
[47]
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Annex 1:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.
high power mixing chamber input vaccum tube of the mixing chamber Separator venture nozzle conic part of the separator solid residue output valve pressing snail filter wall product steam recycling tube residue cake heating snail nozzle inorganic products tank product steam recycling tube middle distillate steam bottle distillate bottom recycling canal electrical heating insulation exhaust gas tube generator condenser cooling cycle separator wall overflow water separator
29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56.
water and pH-bottle pH-meter conductivity meter outlet valve tube for diesel vacuum pump heating oil cycle circulation evaporator tube circulation pump distillation clock ball bottom condenser product of the generator final product connection to the generator reflux valve product recycling higher level of the distillation column input of the raw material and waste tube for the input dosing for the catalyst dosing for the neutralization material input liquid waste input solid waste big-bag dosing system temperature measurement for the high power mixing chamber Level meter measurement
SOPAC Miscellaneous Report 677
AlphaKat KDV500 plant schematic
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Emergency food aid distribution
Food for work / public works
Conditional Cash Transfers
(Unconditional means-tested cash transfers)
Targeted cash Transfers
Intervention
A few weeks, but lack of food availability may lengthen the delivery time.
Three to six months.
9-12 months.
Three to six months minimum, depending on the accuracy of targeting.
Minimum time required to set up the program
A few days minimum (pending food and transport availability).
One to two months.
To increase the payment, 1 payment cycle; to expand the set of beneficiaries, 1-2 months.
To increase the payment, 1 payment cycle; to expand the set of beneficiaries, 1-2 months.
Minimum time required to expand an existing program
In Argentina’s Jefes program, 80 percent of the participants were from the poorest 40%. To achieve good targeting, it is crucial to maintain compensation below the market rate.
Usually high. Information on poverty and local prices can however improve targeting.
In Argentina’s Trabajar and Jefes workfare programs, the share of wage costs relatively to project costs varied from 30 to 40%, and administrative costs were less than 2%.
High. Transport and distribution make up the largest share of costs, which are expected to be at least as high as private costs. In countries with poor infrastructure, administrative costs could amount to half of the budget.
In September 1998, Bangladesh was inundated by a large flood, which caused 10% rice production losses. The first intervention was an immediate relief effort designed to provide emergency food aid to disaster victims. The second was a medium-term program that distributed 16 kilograms of grain per month to poor households selected by local committees. Finally, in December 1998, when the soil was dry enough to permit manual construction of earthworks, the government initiated a Food for Work program.
In early 2002, over 50% of Argentina’s urban population had fallen below the poverty line. In April 2002 the government launched Jefes, a massive workfare program targeting unemployed household heads with at least a minor below the age of 18. In May 2003, nearly 2 million workers were enrolled in Jefes, which had a budget of 1% of GDP.
As above.
When it lowered the fuel subsidy, the Indonesian government put in place a targeted cash transfer in less than three months. Local authorities were responsible for initial targeting, and transfers are distributed directly to beneficiaries via the post office system. Haste led however to higher leakages.
Country examples
The median administrative cost of CCT programs is 8%.
The accuracy of targeting depends on time and resources invested. In Indonesia, only 60% of the Unconditional Cash Transfers went to the poorest 40%, while in Brazil’s Bolsa Familia, 94% of the funds went to the poorest 40%.
Leakages
Mexico spends 0.4% of GDP on Oportunidades, a CCT program that covers approximately 18% of the country’s total population. Beneficiaries are poor households with children under 18 years, and it has been estimated that 68% of the payments go to the poorest 20%. Brazil’s Bolsa Familia targets poor families with a per capita income of less than US$60 per month (approximately 11.1 million families).
The median administrative cost of cash transfer programs is 10% of the total budget; costs however vary significantly with coverage and the level of the payments.
Costs
Rapidity and efficiency of response of selected social protection programmes
Annex 2:
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