Bio jet fuels…"The only way to fly."

Bio jet fuels, which in essence come from the same biodiesel producing value chain, are hitting it big with investors and developers as they scramble to capture a chunk of this huge high growth market. The growth is sparked by two major forces, government regulations that are setting objectives for replacing fossil fuel based kerosene and major airlines that are anxious to look green to their customers.

Commercial flight pollution

Aviation and the environment are on a collision course. The number of airline flights worldwide is growing and expected to skyrocket over the coming decades. Aircraft emissions pollute the air and threaten by 2050 to become one of the largest contributors to global warming, British scientists have concluded.

The aviation sector is a major source of the world’s carbon pollution – accounting for more emissions than the entire United Kingdom.  And left unregulated, aviation emissions are on pace to quadruple by 2050 (see figure).  The EU program requires a 3% emissions reduction (compared to a 2004-2006 baseline) by 2013, and a 5% reduction by 2020.  Aviation's growing contribution to climate change if left uncheckedGiven the needed pollution reductions to address global warming this is a very modest cut in pollution.  It also provides airlines with several avenues to meet their targets.

Much remains unknown about climate change and the role aviation plays, though climate scientists express particular concern about jet emissions in the upper atmosphere, where the warming effect from some pollutants is amplified.

According to a recent USA Today article “With the projected explosion in worldwide travel, air pollution from aviation is a growing concern among scientists, and it's drawing increased scrutiny from governments, particularly in Europe. ‘It's an issue that has to be addressed,’ says Brenda Ekwurzel, a climate scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental advocacy group.”

David Travis, a climate science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, says aircraft emissions "are currently one of the fastest-growing contributors to global warming."

Private initiatives

Biodiesel

The report 'Global Bio fuel Market Analysis' by RNCOS estimates that Brazil and the US accounted for 87% of global bio fuel production in 2008, driven by government support.

The RNCOS report forecasts that biodiesel production will grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6% from 2009 to 2018, with bio ethanol production increasing at 5% CAGR over the same period. The report also predicts significant growth potential for bio fuels in India and China.

This prediction is reinforced by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and UN FAO food agency, which projected that global ethanol production would double between 2007-2017 reaching 125 billion liters. Biodiesel is predicted to increase from 11 billion liters to 24 billion liters over the same period (these forecasts assumed that there would not be major changes in US or EU policies supporting the production and use of bio fuels through tax incentives and blending targets).

Bio Jet Fuel

Both the European Union and the United States have enacted strict objectives and compliances to be met by 2020 on the amount of bio jet fuels that each commercial airliner needs to be burning. In fact the percentage of bio fuels being used in commercial aviation increases with the passage of years. This pressure is driven by two major factors; the reduction of emissions and the dependence on foreign supplies of fossil oils.

Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest (SAFN) is the USA’s first regional stakeholder effort to explore the opportunities and challenges surrounding the production of sustainable aviation fuels.

The initiative was launched in July 2010 by Boeing, Alaska Airlines, the operators of the region’s three largest airports – Port of Seattle, Port of Portland and Spokane International Airport – and Washington State University, a center for advanced bio fuels research. Climate Solutions, a Northwest clean-energy nonprofit, was retained to manage a stakeholder process that included more than 40 organizations ranging across aviation, bio fuels production, environmental advocacy, agriculture, forestry, federal and state government agencies, academic research and technical consultancies.

While the development of alternative jet fuels is a global challenge, SAFN focuses on sustainable biomass grown in the US Northwest. The findings were conclusive.

Technologies and opportunities

Hydroprocessing

The long established oil refinery technology of hydroprocessing has now been demonstrated for jet fuel production from lipids, which are natural oils produced from crops and animals. A regional hydroprocessing facility could become the center of a supply chain that first employs oilseed crops such as bamboo, camelina and canola, along with animal fats, and then incorporates algal oils as algae cultivation matures.

Using catalysts and heat, hydroprocessing removes oxygen, adds hydrogen and rearranges carbon molecules to create a drop-in petroleum substitute that requires no engine modifications in a 50 percent blend. Hydroprocessing produces renewable diesel, and can produce 50-70 percent jet fuel with an additional cracking step.62 The remaining product would be mostly renewable diesel, with fractions as propane and Naphtha, a feedstock for plastics and chemicals.

Lignocellulosic Biomass Processing

Lignocellulosic biomass is composed of three materials – cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The latter two bind and protect the cellulose. Technologies must break down the material in order to process biomass into bioenergy and bioproducts. These technologies have long been available but the fundamental challenge is to make the processes economical. The two major biomass processing technologies employed are separation of biomass into chemical components, which are then separately converted to fuels and products (example: biomass to sugar to fuel) and conversion of whole biomass to fuels or chemicals through thermal and chemical routes. They are extensively detailed in other literature, so this article provides only a brief summary.

• Catalytic – A combination of heat and catalysts rebuild molecules into longer chains required for
  fuels. The Fisher-Tropsch (FT) process provides a prominent example, as it was developed by the Germans in the 1920s and used to a limited extent in World War II, and by the South Africans for the last 20-plus years to make jet fuel. Today a number of companies seek to commercialize FT for biomass-based fuels but capital costs present a challenge. Other catalytic technologies are in development.
• Biological – Syngas is fed to microbes that ferment into alcohols and acetic acid, which can then be upgraded to other fuels and chemicals.

A large number of startups are developing innovative technologies and are poised for commercial deployment with highly efficient and high return applications but are lacking the proper funding to go to market, even with good projects shovel ready and substantial well developed pipelines. Large ventures are relying on the more tried true technologies although they are finding that meeting IATA specifications are harder and less cost effective with older technologies.

Interested developers with funding requirements click here

Interested investors in technologies or project opportunities click here

Comments

[Joe Smoveth]

Is it wise for individuals to invest in green technology, if that is high biofuels are truly going toward?

[wrapping machine]

thanks alot for all the information. now that you presented it like you did its much more obvious