Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
James Kiniry
U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA-ARS), USA
Keynote: A computer simulation model to optimize and assess sustainability of biofuel production
Time : 10:00-10:40
Biography:
James Kiniry is a Research Agronomist with over 38 years’ experience in basic and applied research related to simulation modeling. He is responsible for having developed the ALMANAC plant model which has been applied extensively to simulate plant growth and development. He quantified the key crop model input parameters for maize, sorghum, rice, wheat, potato, sunflower, canola, switchgrass, and several other warm-season and cool-season grasses.
Abstract:
Sustainable fuel sources for biofuel plants benefit from science-based simulation of candidate crops as well as simulation of environmental costs and impacts of these crops production. A calibrated and validated simulation model for biofuel crop production can be used to optimize crop type, assess best areas for production, calculate needed water and fertilizer for production, and assess environmental impacts. The ALMANAC model has been developed and applied for all of these aspects. This talk will: 1. Describe the simulation model, 2. Describe the various crops, grasses, and woody plants that can be simulated by this model, 3. Demonstrate its application for environmental assessment, and 4. Give examples of its applications. Producing feedstock for biofuels is a process that also depends on finite resources. Land space and water are limited, and intensive farming for biofuel could have devastating effects on water quality and the fertility of agricultural land. The ALMANAC simulation model is an effective tool to determine the feasibility of biofuel production and environmental sustainability. This simulation model allows for the optimization of crop yield and for assessments of negative environmental impacts. It is responsive to soil, weather and crop management data, and allows for accurate, cost-effective and long-term crop planning. The model and associated practices are applicable to many regions of the world. A recent ALMANAC project provided the US Navy in Hawaii with a ready source of biofuel while bringing a number of benefits to Hawaii, allowing it to sustainably diversify its economy and achieve future energy security.
Keynote Forum
Joseph S M Samec
Stockholm University, Sweden
Keynote: Green diesel from black liquor in 3 steps
Time : 11:00-11:40
Biography:
Joseph S M Samec received his PhD from Stockholm University in 2005 with Prof. Bäckvall as supervisor. He did a short research for Prof. C P Casey at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After a Postdoctoral training with Prof. R H Grubbs at California Institute of Technology during 2006-2007, he was appointed as Assistant Professor at University of Uppsala in Sweden. He is currently Associate Prof. at Stockholm University. His research interest focuses on green chemistry in organic synthesis and biomass processing and applications. In 2012, he founded RenFuel, a start-up company that is producing biofuels from Lignin.
Abstract:
Lignin in black liquor from the kraft process was converted to standardized diesel in only three steps. In a first step, lignin was precipitated from the black liquor by carbon dioxide to generate a solidified Lignoboost® lignin. This lignin was then esterified by tall oil fatty acid to generate an esterfied lignin named Renol® which was solubilized in a light gas oil to form a homogeneous mixture. This mixture can be processed in a convential hydroprocessing unit to yield a green diesel with EN590 specifications. The process is somewhat tunable so that both gasoline and diesel fractions can be generated. This innovation could structurally convert current pulp mills to become modern biorefineries to produce both paper pulp and the esterified lignin that can be transformed by an oil refinery to produce green fuels. As lignin is considered a waste stream from the pulp mill this fuel would not increase land use or compete with food production. In addtition, since all infrastructure and logistics are available, implementation of this technology should be smooth. The implementation of this technology in a pulp mill will be discussed.
Keynote Forum
Martin Poenie
The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Keynote: Resin-based strategies for producing biodiesel from algae
Time : 11:40-12:20
Biography:
Martin Poenie has a background in cell and molecular biology as well as synthetic organic chemistry and associated analytical techniques. He has brought this background to bear on the algal lipid extraction and analysis as well as the synthesis and application of resins for binding and processing algae to biofuel. He has collaborated with Frank Seifert, Robert Hebner and others at the University of Texas in developing patented processes for collecting oil from aqueous slurries and processing algae to biofuels.
Abstract:
Production of biodiesel from algae, despite its potential, has been limited due the expense incurred at several stages of the process. Sustained growth of pure strains of high-yield algae at large scales has been most successful in photobioreactors that require large initial investments. The density of algal growth is limited by light absorption such that harvesting algae typically requires processing large amounts of water to obtain relatively small amounts of biomass. Finally, efficient extraction of algal oil may further require drying the algae which requires energy and solvent recovery. We have explored the use of synthetic resins for processing algae that have the potential to eliminate many of these difficulties. Resins can concentrate algae from dilute solutions and thereby separate the biomass from the water. Subsequent treatment of resins with solutions of dilute sulfuric acid in alcohol then removes the algae from the resin allowing reuse of the resin while converting algal lipids to FAMEs (biodiesel). In our studies, we have obtained close to 50% by weight of FAME from algae that produce 15-20% by weight triacylglycerol. This biodiesel can be readily separated from the sulfuric acid -alcohol solution using a flow-through porous fiber extractor and the acid-alcohol solution can then be reused for subsequent cycles of resin elution. We propose that resin-based harvesting and processing of algae could make it possible to economically obtain reasonable yields of biofuel from less fastidious algae that commonly grow in the wild.
- Track 1: Biodiesel as Alternative Fuel
Track 5: Biorefineries
Track 8: Biodiesel advantages and disadvantages
Location: San Antonio
Chair
James Kiniry
U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA-ARS), USA
Session Introduction
Peter H Bauer
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame,USA
Title: Biodiesel versus diesel: A comparative analysis of the effect of engine cycling on efficiency
Time : 12:30-13:00
Biography:
Peter Bauer is a Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, IN. His research interests are control and optimization of hybrid drives and efficiency optimization of transportation in general.
Abstract:
This paper provides an analysis of the efficiency gains/losses in diesel engines if mixtures of bio-diesel are used instead of regular diesel. While it is known that the attainable BSFC values with bio-diesel are always higher than in the case of regular diesel, it is entirely unclear whether engine cycling can still provide efficiency advantages, i.e. lower the overall BSFC value when bio-diesel is used as a fuel. The answer to this question solely lies in the shape of BSFC field, the minimum BSFC and its dependency on the power output of the engine. Moving from regular diesel to bio-diesel, not only the BSFC values change, but also the location of the global BSFC minimum. Based on our previous analysis, we will investigate the effects of cycling on engine efficiency in the case of biodiesel. In particular, we will provide conditions that determine whether cycling is advantageous. This is done by defining a cycling induced BSFC, a BSFC that is associated with an average power level that is achieved via cycling between two operating points. Of particular importance are the following questions: (a) if cycling was advantageous for regular diesel, will it always be advantageous if one switches to biodiesel, and (b) if cycling was not advantageous for regular diesel fuel, is it possible that switching to bio-diesel makes it advantageous. In addition to a theoretical analysis, this paper also provides some practical examples using the BSFC field of production engines.
Yang Wenming
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Title: Numerical investigation on combustion process and emissions characteristics of biodiesels with different saturation level in diesel engines
Time : 13:00-13:30
Biography:
Biodiesel is regarded as one of the most promising alternates to fossil diesel for transportation due to its inherent advantages such as carbon neutral and renewable. However, the knowledge on the combustion characteristics and emissions formation of biodiesel with different fatty acid methyl ester proportions is still not very clear. To capture the effect of varying fatty acid methyl ester proportion on biodiesel ignition and combustion process, a skeletal four-component biodiesel combustion mechanism comprising methyl decenoate (MD), methyl-5-decenoate (MD5D), n-decane and methyl linoleate (ML) has been developed by us. In this mechanism, MD is used to represent saturated component of biodiesel, MD5D is used to represent the unsaturated FAMEs with one double-bond, and ML is used to represent unsaturated FAMEs with two double-bond, while n-decane is used to match the input energy and the C/H/O ratio of the biodiesel. The generated mechanism consists of 106 species and 263 reactions. After going through a lot of validations, the mechanism was used to investigate the performance of diesel engine fueled by biodiesels with different fatty acid methyl ester proportion. The results indicate that higher saturation level could shorten chemical ignition delay time, but the higher saturation contents like C16:0 and C18:0 together with C18:1 (a single double bond methyl ester) would increase the kinetic viscosity, resulting in poor fuel-air mixing and evaporation process. Lower kinetic viscosity methyl esters like C18:2 and C18:3 were favorable for better fuel-air mixing and subsequent combustion, however, a higher NOx emission was discovered.
Abstract:
Yang Wenming obtained his PhD degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University in 2000. Since then, he has been employed as a Research Fellow, followed by an Instructor and Assistant Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore. His research interests include biodiesel production and characterization from various feedstocks, combustion and emissions control of IC engines, microscale combustion and micro power generators. So far, he has published more than 200 papers in international referred journals and international conferences.
Feiyang Zhao
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Title: Numerical study of soot formation using phenomenological soot modelling approach in a biodiesel-fueled compression ignition engine
Time : 14:30-15:00
Biography:
Zhao Feiyang obtained PhD degree in 2013 from State Key Lab of Engine of Tianjin University in China, majored in numerical study of diesel engine combustion and emission. Currently, she is a Research Fellow working on optimization of engine combustion in the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Abstract:
Biodiesel is seen as a promising alternative to conventional diesel due to its desirable attributes such as biodegradable, renewable and sustainable. Great effort has been done in investigating renewable biodiesel, an environmental-friendly fuel as fossil fuel alternatives, and its application on diesel engines. In the present study, four different typical biodiesels (cottonseed, rapeseed, sunflower and soybean) were numerically studied on a compression ignition engine, particularly targeting on soot formation in terms of mass and particle size distribution. The corresponding computational fluid dynamic modeling was performed by KIVA4 coupled with CHEMKIN II code, and a special chemical kinetics mechanism consisting of 106 species and 263 reactions was employed to simulate the combustion process, since it contained methyl linoleate, a majority component in most biodiesel, thereby improving the accuracy of simulation. The soot mass and particle number density were solved by rate equations using sub-models of various chemical and physical phenomena, including precursor formation, soot particle inception and coagulation, soot surface growth and oxidation. The role of the chemical reaction mechanism in soot growth and oxidation is derived from the concentration of four species, namely H, O2, C2H2 and the nucleating PAH. It was proposed that lower kinetic viscosity methyl esters was favorable for better fuel–air mixing, thus producing small-sized soot particles that lead to less soot mass loaded. Therefore, combustion temperature should never be the unique factor relating to soot chemistry, and the scenario of soot particle forming was quite sensitivity to the kinetic viscosity of biodiesel.
Sanjeev P Maradur
Poornaprajna Institute of Scientific Research, India
Title: Etherification of bio-glycerol to oxygenated fuel additive over sulfonated mesoporous polymer catalyst
Time : 15:00-15:30
Biography:
Sanjeev P Maradur is a PhD candidate from Shivaji University Kolhapur, India (2006) and worked as Research Scientist in Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd, Noida, India. He then moved to South Korea in 2009 for his Post-doctoral studies with Prof. R Ryoo at Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and Prof. K S Yang at Alan MacDiarmid Energy Research Institute (AMERI), Chonnam National University, Gwangju Republic of Korea. He also worked at University of Oklahoma at Norman to work with Prof. K M Nicholas on catalytic conversion of biomass derived polyols to olefins. He is an Assistant Professor at PPISR Bangalore, India. He has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals and has two patents to his credit. He is a recipient of Young Scientist Research Award from Government of Karnataka, India.
Abstract:
Transportation sector has been identified as a major polluting sector and hence the use of biofuels is important in view of the tightening of emission norms. From an Indian context, it is argued that blending ethanol with petrol and diesel will reduce import dependence on crude oil, saving on foreign exchange outflows to that extent. But, energy security can be addressed only if the supply of ethanol available to industry is adequate. However, biofuel area is much matured in the developed countries and for every 90 kg of biodiesel produced, 10 kg glycerol formed as an unwanted byproduct. One way of utilizing glycerol is to convert it into glycerol ethers and other derivatives which are potential fuel additives and blending these additives in gasoline and diesels in the range of 5 to 15% will reduce import dependence on crude oil, saving on foreign exchange outflows to that extent thereby contributing to the society and also reducing pollution. In this study mesoporous polymers (MP) were synthesized by free radical polymerization of divinylbenzene by solvothermal method followed by sulfonic acid functionalization by post synthetic modification with conc. H2SO4. MP-SO3H was characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as FT-IR, Nitrogen sorption, CHNS analysis, acid-base titration and TGA. MP-SO3H was demonstrated to be a highly active heterogeneous acid catalyst, providing high yielding route for the synthesis of h-glycerol tertbutyl ethers (GTBEs) through the etherification of bio-renewable glycerol with tert-butanol. MP-SO3H containing optimum acidity and a large mesoporous surface area gave 44% h-GTBE selectivity at 86% glycerol conversion under optimized reaction conditions. The catalytic performance of MP-SO3H was found to be superior over other conventional porous solid acid catalysts.
Biography:
Ahmed Al Hatrooshi is a PhD researcher at Newcastle University, School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials. His research interest is biofuel production from biomass. He is currently working in marine waste biorefinery for production of biodiesel and high added value products from marine waste. He finished his degree from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, College of Chemical Engineering in 2010. He has a good industrial experience where he worked in 6 countries around the world. He has been nominated to represent Newcastle University in Biopro World Talent Campus in Denamrk for the best 20 universities in biotechnology. He won the first place in the poster competition among PhD students in Newcastle University.
Abstract:
The world is 70% covered by sea. The amount of fish oil obtained as a waste from fishing industry or from the discarded parts of fish can be used for making biodiesel and extracting high added value components like omega 3. Producing biodiesel from the discarded parts of fish could lower the production cost of biodiesel. In addition, fish oil has other high added value components such as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the form of eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) that can be produced commercially. The main objective of the project is to utilize the marine waste by investigating a cost effective technique to extract omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) from the fish oil as well as producing biodiesel. There are several methods used for the separation of omega-3 concentrate from fish oil. The most common methods which are practiced commercially are: molecular distillation (short path distillation) and supercritical fluid technology. The short path distillation is process where the volatile components are vaporized at a wide range of temperature in a very short time because of high vacuum used. The vacuum can range from 10-5 to 10-6 bar at which volatility of most compounds becomes high which will allow operating at lower temperatures. The basic principle of the short path distillation is the difference of compound volatility under vacuum which will allow operating at lower temperatures. The difference in volatility of the shorter chain (16- and 18-carbon fatty acids esters) and the longer chain (20- and 22-carbon EPA/DHA ethyl ester) enable the short path distillation process to concentrate EPA and DHA ethyl esters to levels of over 50%. Further concentration of omega-3 over 50% using the same method has some limitations. Firstly, substantial drop in the yield occurs. Secondly, the necessity to repeatedly run the oil through the same process which will cost more energy and expose the product to a very high temperature which will shorten the product stability and shelf life compared to other technologies.
Jianmin Lin
Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, PR China
Title: Biodiesel application and biodiesel standardization in China
Time : 16:00-16:30
Biography:
Status and development trend of biodiesel in China was reviewed. The main obstacles which effect the development and application of biodiesel industry in China were analyzed. In order to successfully use biodiesel, some technical obstacles must be studied and solved; moreover, some national specifications for biodiesel products must be drafted and enforced. Research projects such as oxidation stability and material compatibility were carried out in our laboratory and the results were presented. History of pure biodiesel (BD100) national standard GB/T 20828 and biodiesel fuel blend (B5) national standard GB/T 25199 was introduced. Their current status and revision trend were presented and explained. Test methods standardization for biodiesel and biodiesel blends in China were also introduced. Suggestions are made for the future development of biodiesel in China.
Abstract:
Jianmin Lin is a Professor of Biofuel Department of Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP), SINOPEC. His researches focus on the research and development of additives for petroleum products and biofuels, liquid fuels from biomass and standardization of biofuels. He has applied for more than 70 patents in diesel fuel additives, biodiesel production and biodiesel additives with over 50 ones granted. He was in charge of drafting national standards for biodiesel, biodiesel blends and test methods for biofuels. At present, he is in charge of revising the national specifications for BD100 and B5.
Coffee Break 16:40 - 17:00