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News and Trends
http://allafrica.com/stories/11190217.html Kenya’s intensive dependence on import petroleum-based fuels may be reduced, as it plans for a large scale biodiesel production project with Japan using Jatropha as raw material. Japanese company, Biwako Bio-Laboratory Ltd., is cooperating with the Green Africa Foundation, the lead office coordinating biodiesel industry development in the country. In a recent press conference, Mitsuo Hayashi, chief executive officer of Biwako Laboratory, Ltd, mentioned that the company plans to initially establish 30,000 hectares of Jatropha curcas trees. Establishment of tree plantations is said to be the first step, as Isaac Kalua (of Green Africa Foundation) mentioned that Kenya has only 5,000 hectares of Jatropha plantations, which would not be sufficient to support commercial biodiesel production. The 30,000-hectare plantation, which is expected to have an annual biodiesel production of 200,000 tonnes per year, will be expanded to 10,000 hectares within 10 years..
http://www.greencarcongress.com//11/report-16-major.html#more Sixteen Japanese companies, which include Toyota Motor Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Nippon Oil are planning joint research collaborations with universities and government agencies, to bring down the cost of cellulose ethanol production to 40 (Japanese) yen per liter (about US$1.37 per gallon) by 2015. The cellulosic raw materials considered are rice hull and wood construction waste. The US$1.37-per-gallon figure is said to the price at which alternative fuels can compete with fossil fuels. The funding initiative of the collaboration is not yet clear, but the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries are reportedly planning to set up a sectoral panel meeting to thresh out details..
http://biopact.com/2007/11/us-and-china-working-on-biofuels-pact.html The United States and China are working on an international agreement promoting the use of biofuels to strengthen energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement, which calls for cooperation in research for producing biofuel crops, could be announced by December of this year. United States Assistant Energy Secretary, Alexander Karsner said, “Through our agreement with China, we hope to transfer this knowledge and expertise. " We had a very productive, lengthy and engaging dialogue on a wide range of issues, things of mutual concern like energy markets, global climate change, price of oil and studies of science and technology between the two countries.”.
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its Synthesis Report, integrating their other previous reports on scientific evidence and impacts of climate change, as well as mitigation/adoption strategies. The report gives a warning that climate change is “unequivocal” and that the “window for mitigation and implementation strategies is rapidly closing”. The report calls for the implementation of strategies to deal with “abrupt climate change” to be done as quickly as possible. Strategies that “draw on carbon negative bioenergy and biofuels” have been cited. “Bionergy with carbon storage” (BECS), or “Biotic Carbon Capture and Storage”, have been recognized by IPCC scientists. In the agricultural sector, the Biopact reports that one method of carbon storage is the conversion of bioenergy crops into biofuels, and retaining part of the biomass in the form of “biochar” which can be applied to the soil. Details of the complete report can be obtained from the URL of the IPCC website above.. Energy Crops and Feedstocks for Biofuels Productionhttp://biopact.com//11/brazils-ctc-releases-third-generation.html Brazil is a leading producer of sugarcane ethanol, and it has always been at the forefront in sugarcane breeding research. It is said to be the first to sequence the genome of this crop. Recently, the Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (CTC) announced the launch of six new sugarcane varieties which yield about 20% more biomass, and with a higher sugar (sucrose) content. Sucrose is the main sugar in sugarcane juice which can be processed into table sugar, or biofuel (ethanol). The new varieties are called, CT10, CT11, CT12, CT14 and CT 15, and have estimated profit increase (per hectare) ranging between 12.5% and 38%. The varieties were developed to suit specific regions in Brazil, which are said to have “varied climatic and soil conditions, as well as different planting and harvesting seasons”.. Biofuels Processing
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/19694/ Bioecon (a Dutch biofuels start up company) and Khosla Ventures (a venture fund and assistance company), have joined forces to develop and commercialize a “biomass catalytic cracking process ” for the production of “bio oil” or “biocrude” from agricultural waste. “Bio oil” or “biocrude” is a mixture of hydrocarbons (obtained from the thermochemical processing of biomass) and can be further refined into transport fuels like gasoline or diesel. The joint venture called, Kior, Inc., will involve Khosland Ventures providing “series A funding”, and Bioecon providing expertise and intellectual property to commercialize the biomass cracking process. The technology is said to have some advantages over the existing BTL (biomass-to-liquid) technologies for the production of synthetic biofuels, such as biocrude. Paul O’Connor, Bioecon founder, says that the biomass catalytic cracking process involves the use of a “proprietary” method which impregnates the biomass with a solution containing a non-toxic catalyst and a thermochemical conversion which does not need superhigh temperatures. Steve Deutch, senior scientist of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the United States, says that the process is plausible enough, given the limited technical description released by Kior. It may be possible to evaluate the process when more details are available. Biofuels Policy and Economics
http://www.iea.org/textbase/press/pressdetail.asp?PRESS_REL_ID=239 The World Energy Outlook (WEO) is an annual flagship publication of the International Energy Agency (IEA). For their 2007 publication, the report focused on the “energy developments in China and India and their implications for the world”. In the launch of WEO 2007, IEA Executive Director, Nobuo Tanaka mentions said that the energy challenges facing China and India will have an impact on developing countries, and that these will call for a global response. “Energy developments in China and India are transforming the global energy system as a result of their sheer size and their growing importance in international energy markets”. Rapid economic development would increase energy demand in China and India, but at the same time, would result in economic benefits to their respective populations, as well as benefits for many countries. However, “unfettered growth” can have negative consequences for many countries. The report features three energy scenarios in 2030: (1) Reference Scenario (surging energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions under existing government policies), (2) Alternative Policy Scenario (scenario showing how policies driven by energy and environment issues could “curb growth in energy demand”, and (3) High Growth Scenario (analysis of energy use trends, if high economic growth levels continue through the projection period. Details of the report can be obtained from the URL above |
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