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The Progress of Biocrude Development
The price of oil worldwide is continuing to rise and with recent problems in Nigeria with industrial action and militant attacks cutting production, there’s no telling how high the price will rise. Work is continuing in the field of turning biomass into a form of fuel – either biodiesel or an ethanol based biofuel. A very exciting recent development in Australia is one such step forward into the new fuel source that could eventuate into a replacement for fossil fuel based energy. The search is on for a viable second generation solution to the dwindling oil reserves with a biocrude that has been produced from green waste and paper. Produced from green waste such as forest thinnings, household waste and crop residues, an extremely stable biocrude has been developed by Australia’s CSIRO in concert with Monash University. It has made the prospect of a commercial biofuel production that significantly reduces carbon emissions possible. Dr Steven Loffler of CSIRO Forest Biosciences says, “the oil that we've made is both stable and also PH neutral, so the advantage of that is that it can be held in storage for as long as it needs to before further processing”. The plant wastes being targeted for conversion into biofuels contain chemicals known as lignocellulose, which is increasingly favoured around the world as a raw material for the next generation of bio-ethanol as they are renewable and potentially greenhouse gas neutral. Materials such as lawn clippings, tree trimmings and other materials that households already put in their green bins for removal by local councils. When you consider that these wastes are already being collected on a weekly or fortnightly basis, then the fact that they will not end up as landfill is an immediate bonus. Currently there is between 1 and 2 million tonnes going into landfill in Australia alone. One of the difficulties with producing biofuel is that it tends to be very unstable and breaks down at a rapid rate. The biodiesel produced by the CSIRO process has solved this problem to a large extent. This gives the end result a greater timeframe before it loses its potency. The significance of this biofuel as a second generation solution is that the first generation biofuels come with many negatives. They were created by either clearing rainforest to plant bio-crops which then involved long distance haulage after harvest threatening to prove more harmful than the fuel they’re replacing. Biocrude production addresses many of these problems. The plan is to build the bio-refinery on existing landfill and refuse depots close to the source of the bio-material, converting it into the crude oil and then shipping the crude. This will have an added advantage of reducing haulage costs and would make the production process much more efficient and would produce far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than moving the bulkier solid material to a large central facility. It’s still very early days in this process and one of the unanswered questions that will be a huge factor towards the success or failure of the project is how much the biocrude will cost to produce. At this stage no cost analysis has been performed although Dr Loffler believes that it will at least be as competitive as current crude production. The prospects look very promising for the creation of a greenhouse gas friendly biofuel as long as the creation of local refining facilities actually become reality. With the rate that the price of oil is increasing, the cost of new development is becoming much more in line with existing traditional oil production.
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Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
| Monash University
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May, 2012
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