Energy from the entire plant

The road is taking us to a new era, with the energy needed to drive our mobility expected to be increasingly extracted from biomass rather than using petroleum, our no. 1 source right now. Around the world, ten million tons of crude oil are consumed for transportation needs every day. A growing demand for petroleum coupled with the fact that supplies are forecast to stagnate may lead to further increases in the price for this black gold. We could soon be seeing alternative sources of energy (still the subject of ridicule today) playing a decisive role on the economic front. One such alternative to crude oil is biomass. Available locally and CO2-neutral, biomass will be an important energy pillar in future. We would be well advised to think about that future today and come up with technological solutions which would be ready for implementation when circumstances necessitate their use in the near future.

32 partners headed by Volkswagen

A European consortium lead by Volkswagen has formed to investigate, develop and analyse a variety of technologies for producing bio fuels. All the technologies examined in this project – entitled RENEW (renewable fuels for advanced powertrains) – have one thing in common, namely that they serve to generate high-grade synthetic fuel using synthesis gas.

The RENEW project currently involves 32 partners, among them four leading carmakers, two major oil producers, plant manufacturers and operators, and research and development organisations from eight European countries.

The aim of this collaboration (scheduled to continue to 2008) is to explore the technical, economic and ecological impact which production of this fuel will have and thus create a knowledge base for synthetic bio fuel production, distribution and utilisation. All available techniques are undergoing examination, optimisation and comparison with one another and are being analysed in terms of their socio-economic effects, so as to determine the impact of their large-scale introduction within the EU. The long-term goal is to achieve production costs of 70 cents per litre of fuel, i.e. the equivalent of the cost of diesel.

Six sub-projects explore manufacturing techniques

RENEW has directed its attention to processes which are able to use any plant matter as raw material. From where things stand today, the gasification of biomass is the only technique which enables broad supplies of raw material. Which is why RENEW is concentrating exclusively on manufacturing techniques designed to pursue the path of gasification and subsequent fuel synthesis. In the first phase of the procedure, the plants are subjected to a process of gasification which transforms the plant’s hydrocarbon chain to carbon monoxide and hydrogen (the main components of the synthesis gas). In a variety of processing phases, the synthesis gas can now generate synthetic fuels, such as the innovative SunFuel, which can be used in both present-day and future combustion engines. In some cases, the manufacturing techniques can be used to target-adapt fuel properties in such a way as to enable their use in a revolutionary new generation of engine – a homogeneous self-igniting engine, the CCS: Combined Combustion System. CCS allows for a combination of low-emission combustion (a property of petrol engines) and low fuel consumption (a quality of diesel engines) in a single engine unit.

The partners are confident that the results of this project will contribute towards improving the availability of information on the different technologies as well as assessment of those technologies. RENEW comprises six sub-projects, four of which deal with developing and optimising fuel production. The fuels manufactured using these techniques are being tested in both present-day and futuristic combustion engines to determine their suitability and quality. But the engine-relevant properties of these fuels are not the only thing being examined. To duly accommodate a necessarily holistic approach, all the examined techniques are subjected to an ecology assessment which looks at biomass potential, environmental impact as well as the technical and economic framework conditions.

Positive test results for an optimistic outlook

With this 19.8-million-euro project having reached half-time, all activities are on schedule. So far, 2.500 litres of BtL fuel have been produced in accordance with specifications concerning the boiling situation and cetane rating and have undergone testing on Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler and Renault engine test benches. These tests have proven the potential of synthetic fuels to reduce exhaust emissions. And the possibility of generating DME or methanol through gasification of the black liquor which is a product of cellulose and paper production was likewise successfully substantiated. The findings will now go into the design of a DME facility in Sweden.

A Europe-wide analysis of potential revealed that, if biomass were cultivated on unused agricultural land, it could even today satisfy as much as twelve percent of the total fuel demand in the EU presently consisting of 25 member states. An examination of long-term development to beyond the year 2040 concludes that more than 50 per cent of total fuel demand in a 28-state EU could be replaced by BtL – the actual figure would depend on the proportionate share of biomass used in the transportation sector.