Admin Support for Renewables, UOP GreenJet Fuels, State of Play, Cold Soak Test=Biodiesel Tax Credit
Stafford Williamson
April 21, 2009
"A watershed moment," says the editor of Power Engineering Onlilne magazine, is one in which the industry changes in fundamental ways. Then David Wagman goes on to cite numerous aspects of a speech by Executive Director of the U.S. Energy Association, Barry Worthington, from last month in which he says that renewable energy has never had a more enthusiastic group of supporters in power than the likes of Carol Browner (White House Energy and Environment Czar), Ken Salazar, Nancy Sutley, Lisa Jackson (EPA Administrator) and Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu. Indeed Mr. Worthington asks somewhat ominously if Carol Browner might turn into a "green" version of Vice President Dick Cheney. Well, it sounds ominously cast to me to invoke the Bush Administration's "Prince of Darkness" in that way.
One of the problems in financing renewable energy projects is the fact that the government policies are such a key element. Indeed, much of what has been financed recently has been based on government incentives, mainly in the form of tax credits, in the US, Great Britain and the EU countries. The "problem" with that is one has to assume enough profit to have some left to be taxed, and with declining profits of recently months, there are plenty of nervous nellies in accounting departments worldwide to quake in their boots at the thought that the recession might not be over by the time the next quarter's taxes are coming due. That approach, of course, is exactly the kind of short-sighted mismanagement that got us (the US) into these kind of problems in the first place. As I tried to emphasize last week in this column the signs of "spring thaw" breaking the log-jam in the housing market have already started to peek through in terms of both rising sales and rising median prices. Lagging indicators like unemployment may be the favorite boogey man of the media this month, but that doesn't mean we are in for a long haul before business heats up across many sectors, and of course, the Obama budget and stimulus package are designed to put the emphasis right on the energy sector.
I am delighted too, to hear that Mr. Worthington's assessment of the 1 million electric and hybrid cars is horribly under-ambitious. It is an absurdly small number considering that Detroit automakers are planning on building about 12 or 13 million cars a year to "meet demand" in North America. That number is 12 million vehicles "per year", but the goal of 1 million hybrid electric cars is to be achieved by 2015, which translates to a grand, amazing total of 1.6% of the new vehicles made will be the accomplishment of 5 years intensive research, development and production. Really? Come on, Mr. President, Sir! Ms. Browner, Mr. Chu, surely we can do better than that! Out of the next 60 million cars made in Detroit we can manage only 1 million hybrids (and that would include any "all electric" if Detroit ever even gets around to producing any of those).
Biodiesel Tax Test
Could your biodiesel pass this test? There's a new standard, oddly enough being set by the IRS as a criteria to meet the tax credit for biodiesel, but also for the purpose of keeping the blendstock at a high quality. The new standard was to have gone into effect as of April 1st, 2009, but as it turns out the standard itself was not ready in time for that deadline so the new deadline is October. The test is called a Cold Soak Filter Test, and the standard that has just recently been set by ASTM is known as ASTM D 7501. This replaces the old Cold Soak Filter Test standard, but is specifically added to the IRS criteria.
The main difference as explained in Biodiesel Magazine online is an accomodation for certain biodiesel fuels that would change state as a reaction to the drop in temperature. A warming period has been added. The original tests were implemented to prevent lumps of condensate/precipitate that were appearing in some biofuel which were clogging the fuel filters. The Cold Soak Filter Test (CSFT) is being incorporated into the full ASTM D 6751 standard for biodeisel, which has always been the IRS standard for biodiesel.
Hawai'i is a land of contrasts, of lush and languid tropical rain forests, and scenic beauties to match any landscapes anywhere, but the history is turbulent all the way back to the island formation from spewing volcanoes. Unfortunately, those volcanos are still active, and the business scene there can be as turbulent as those volcanic peaks. Some friends of mine at Blue Earth Biofuels are seeking damages for breach of contract, interference with an existing contract, and conspiracy. Named as defendants in the suit that this month moves from Texas where it was filed to jurisdiction in Hawai'i are Hawai'i Electric Company (HECO), Maui Electric Company as well as Aloha Petroleum and Karl Stahlkopf, HECO´s senior vice president of energy solutions and chief technology officer, individually.
I mentioned this proposed testing of a cold weather biodiesel formula previously. Integrity Biofuels, Perdue University and the Indiana Soybean Alliance finished testing their "PermaFlo" version of biodiesel last month. During March, and with help in coordination from the University of Alaska, they ran a 1300 mile trip to the Arctic Circle and back with temperatures down to -24 degrees Fahrenheit, with no temperature related problems. The group claims there would be no problem even down to -67 Fahrenheit. Reportedly the main difference with "PermaFlo" is that it has had an extra separation of saturated from unsaturated methyl esters. That, of course, adds cost to the processing, but whether or not it is economically viable for cold weather trucking, it does seem to bode well for the future viability of biokerosene/biodiesel for aircraft fuel.
Indeed, over where the big boys play, at the Honeywell division known as UOP, they have been working on GreenJet to go with their Green Diesel. The results they are reporting are quite positive. Figures I have seen show jatropha as the winner-by- a-nose on most of the specs, but all of their test fuels from soy, algae and other oils seem to be passing the minimum JP-8 specs with flying colors when properly processed.
But even that is only half their news. It seems that the way they are proposing to take advantage of multiple pathways is to provide the rich paraffin type components from oils which are being treated as described above (deoxygenated and carefully and selectively hydrocracked and isomerized) but to combine those with aromatics derived from biomass. The biomass would be used to produce fast pyrolysis oils. Those oils would then, again, be deoxygenated and catalytically stabilized, so that the resulting (stable) aromatics serve up the other part of the brew that is their version of bioJP-8.
So the conclusion(s) currently are that properly deoxygenated and hydrocracked bio-oils and biomass seem to be perfectly capable of being catalyzed into a biojet/synjet version of JP-8 the military grade for Jet-A1 suitable for all weather, and used in diesel engines as well as jet turbines (and of course, presumably tank turbines, and other more exotic vehicles because JP-8 spec is what the US military is calling the "universal battlefield fuel"). The best version of this "Green Jet" seems to be a combination of bio-oil tweaked catalytically, with deoxygenated and hydrocracked vegetable oils (preferably inedible).
I am running out of time tonight, and facing an early morning tomorrow, I will try to briefly do justice to the movie, State of Play. Jeff Daniels has a perfunctory appearance that barely qualifies as a performance (not that he did it badly, there was just so little it hardly counts). Stars Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, and Robin Wright Penn all do an excellent job in a script that has more twists and turns than Lombardy Street has flowers. Tension and suspense hold throughout due to fine directing by Kevin Macdonald, and there´s a fine turn by an old (young) favorite of mine, Jason Bateman as a morally bankrupt Washington publicist with big-time connections. The odd thing about this film is that it is actually an adaptation of a British Television Series of the same name. The stars weren´t well known to American audiences though among the regulars were Bill Nighy (possibly best known by American audiences as "Davey Jones" himself in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World´s End, though once you recognize him, you may remember him from dozens of films including Love Actually, The Constant Gardener or the incredible mini-series, The Girl in the Cafe) and the lovely Kelly Macdonald. They don´t make a lot of major Hollywood pictures based on British television series, but the results the audience gets this time are well worth the price of admission.
Happy note to end? Yes, I think so. Despite criticism from the mentally concretious, President Barack Obama´s new beginnings strategies for US relationships with both Cuba and Venezuela are a refreshing breath of reason in the stalled, and stale isolationist strategy toward Cuba and the attempts to marginalize Venezuela´s dictatorial (but duly elected) leader, Hugo Chavez. Chavez only looked like the sore loser in a junior high school election by trying to "steal the spotlight" from President Obama when he presented him with the highly critical book at the Organization of American States conference this past week. Obama, on the other hand, looked like he was making real progress toward improved relations with much of the rest of this hemisphere, and that´s nothing at which to sneeze in disdain. I am pretty pleased about that.
Love and warm wishes,
Stafford "Doc" Williamson
http://daochienergy.com
One of the problems in financing renewable energy projects is the fact that the government policies are such a key element. Indeed, much of what has been financed recently has been based on government incentives, mainly in the form of tax credits, in the US, Great Britain and the EU countries. The "problem" with that is one has to assume enough profit to have some left to be taxed, and with declining profits of recently months, there are plenty of nervous nellies in accounting departments worldwide to quake in their boots at the thought that the recession might not be over by the time the next quarter's taxes are coming due. That approach, of course, is exactly the kind of short-sighted mismanagement that got us (the US) into these kind of problems in the first place. As I tried to emphasize last week in this column the signs of "spring thaw" breaking the log-jam in the housing market have already started to peek through in terms of both rising sales and rising median prices. Lagging indicators like unemployment may be the favorite boogey man of the media this month, but that doesn't mean we are in for a long haul before business heats up across many sectors, and of course, the Obama budget and stimulus package are designed to put the emphasis right on the energy sector.
I am delighted too, to hear that Mr. Worthington's assessment of the 1 million electric and hybrid cars is horribly under-ambitious. It is an absurdly small number considering that Detroit automakers are planning on building about 12 or 13 million cars a year to "meet demand" in North America. That number is 12 million vehicles "per year", but the goal of 1 million hybrid electric cars is to be achieved by 2015, which translates to a grand, amazing total of 1.6% of the new vehicles made will be the accomplishment of 5 years intensive research, development and production. Really? Come on, Mr. President, Sir! Ms. Browner, Mr. Chu, surely we can do better than that! Out of the next 60 million cars made in Detroit we can manage only 1 million hybrids (and that would include any "all electric" if Detroit ever even gets around to producing any of those).
Biodiesel Tax Test
Could your biodiesel pass this test? There's a new standard, oddly enough being set by the IRS as a criteria to meet the tax credit for biodiesel, but also for the purpose of keeping the blendstock at a high quality. The new standard was to have gone into effect as of April 1st, 2009, but as it turns out the standard itself was not ready in time for that deadline so the new deadline is October. The test is called a Cold Soak Filter Test, and the standard that has just recently been set by ASTM is known as ASTM D 7501. This replaces the old Cold Soak Filter Test standard, but is specifically added to the IRS criteria.
The main difference as explained in Biodiesel Magazine online is an accomodation for certain biodiesel fuels that would change state as a reaction to the drop in temperature. A warming period has been added. The original tests were implemented to prevent lumps of condensate/precipitate that were appearing in some biofuel which were clogging the fuel filters. The Cold Soak Filter Test (CSFT) is being incorporated into the full ASTM D 6751 standard for biodeisel, which has always been the IRS standard for biodiesel.
Hawai'i is a land of contrasts, of lush and languid tropical rain forests, and scenic beauties to match any landscapes anywhere, but the history is turbulent all the way back to the island formation from spewing volcanoes. Unfortunately, those volcanos are still active, and the business scene there can be as turbulent as those volcanic peaks. Some friends of mine at Blue Earth Biofuels are seeking damages for breach of contract, interference with an existing contract, and conspiracy. Named as defendants in the suit that this month moves from Texas where it was filed to jurisdiction in Hawai'i are Hawai'i Electric Company (HECO), Maui Electric Company as well as Aloha Petroleum and Karl Stahlkopf, HECO´s senior vice president of energy solutions and chief technology officer, individually.
I mentioned this proposed testing of a cold weather biodiesel formula previously. Integrity Biofuels, Perdue University and the Indiana Soybean Alliance finished testing their "PermaFlo" version of biodiesel last month. During March, and with help in coordination from the University of Alaska, they ran a 1300 mile trip to the Arctic Circle and back with temperatures down to -24 degrees Fahrenheit, with no temperature related problems. The group claims there would be no problem even down to -67 Fahrenheit. Reportedly the main difference with "PermaFlo" is that it has had an extra separation of saturated from unsaturated methyl esters. That, of course, adds cost to the processing, but whether or not it is economically viable for cold weather trucking, it does seem to bode well for the future viability of biokerosene/biodiesel for aircraft fuel.
Indeed, over where the big boys play, at the Honeywell division known as UOP, they have been working on GreenJet to go with their Green Diesel. The results they are reporting are quite positive. Figures I have seen show jatropha as the winner-by- a-nose on most of the specs, but all of their test fuels from soy, algae and other oils seem to be passing the minimum JP-8 specs with flying colors when properly processed.
But even that is only half their news. It seems that the way they are proposing to take advantage of multiple pathways is to provide the rich paraffin type components from oils which are being treated as described above (deoxygenated and carefully and selectively hydrocracked and isomerized) but to combine those with aromatics derived from biomass. The biomass would be used to produce fast pyrolysis oils. Those oils would then, again, be deoxygenated and catalytically stabilized, so that the resulting (stable) aromatics serve up the other part of the brew that is their version of bioJP-8.
So the conclusion(s) currently are that properly deoxygenated and hydrocracked bio-oils and biomass seem to be perfectly capable of being catalyzed into a biojet/synjet version of JP-8 the military grade for Jet-A1 suitable for all weather, and used in diesel engines as well as jet turbines (and of course, presumably tank turbines, and other more exotic vehicles because JP-8 spec is what the US military is calling the "universal battlefield fuel"). The best version of this "Green Jet" seems to be a combination of bio-oil tweaked catalytically, with deoxygenated and hydrocracked vegetable oils (preferably inedible).
I am running out of time tonight, and facing an early morning tomorrow, I will try to briefly do justice to the movie, State of Play. Jeff Daniels has a perfunctory appearance that barely qualifies as a performance (not that he did it badly, there was just so little it hardly counts). Stars Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, and Robin Wright Penn all do an excellent job in a script that has more twists and turns than Lombardy Street has flowers. Tension and suspense hold throughout due to fine directing by Kevin Macdonald, and there´s a fine turn by an old (young) favorite of mine, Jason Bateman as a morally bankrupt Washington publicist with big-time connections. The odd thing about this film is that it is actually an adaptation of a British Television Series of the same name. The stars weren´t well known to American audiences though among the regulars were Bill Nighy (possibly best known by American audiences as "Davey Jones" himself in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World´s End, though once you recognize him, you may remember him from dozens of films including Love Actually, The Constant Gardener or the incredible mini-series, The Girl in the Cafe) and the lovely Kelly Macdonald. They don´t make a lot of major Hollywood pictures based on British television series, but the results the audience gets this time are well worth the price of admission.
Happy note to end? Yes, I think so. Despite criticism from the mentally concretious, President Barack Obama´s new beginnings strategies for US relationships with both Cuba and Venezuela are a refreshing breath of reason in the stalled, and stale isolationist strategy toward Cuba and the attempts to marginalize Venezuela´s dictatorial (but duly elected) leader, Hugo Chavez. Chavez only looked like the sore loser in a junior high school election by trying to "steal the spotlight" from President Obama when he presented him with the highly critical book at the Organization of American States conference this past week. Obama, on the other hand, looked like he was making real progress toward improved relations with much of the rest of this hemisphere, and that´s nothing at which to sneeze in disdain. I am pretty pleased about that.
Love and warm wishes,
Stafford "Doc" Williamson
http://daochienergy.com