Feature

BIOFUELS
FOCUS
Technology can boost biofuels’ production; while at the
same time political and important social issues can rein it in.
reFOCUS looks at some some cutting edge BioFuel processing tech-
nologies (below); and the country case study on page 52 charts
Brazil’s progress to date as it strives to overcome its difficulties and
develop a major biodiesel program ripe for export.

R
ecent advancements in distillation
and blending technologies are being
widely recognised as influencing the
global proliferation of Biofuels.
The idea of Biofuels is not new; in fact
Rudolf Diesel envisaged the significance of
Bio-fuels back in the 19th century stating:
“… the use of vegetable oils for engine fuels
may seem insignificant today. But such oils
may become in the course of time, as impor-
tant as petroleum and the coal tar products
of the present time.”
Rudolph Diesel’s first compression igni-
tion engines ran on peanut oil at the World
Exposition in Paris. The current drive
towards greater use of bio-fuels is being
pushed by the diversification of energy
sources using renewable products, as reli-
ance on carbon based fuels becomes an
issue, and the need to replace the MTBE
The general BioDiesel production process is depicted. A fat or oil is
degummed, and then reacted with an alcohol such as methanol in the
presence of a catalyst to produce glycerin and methyl esters.
(Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether) component
used in many of the world’s petroleum prod-
ucts. The change from fuels with an MTBE
component started as an environmental
issue in locations such as the West Coast of
the USA, New York City and Europe.
The US ethanol industry is the fast-
est growing energy industry in the world,
with ethanol being blended in 30% of the
nation’s gasoline. As of May 2006 there were
97 E85 (and 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline
fuel) plants in the USA with a total operat-
ing capacity of 4.5 billion gallons per year. A
further 35 are currently under construction,
nine are being expanded and a further 145
each with capacities of between 7 million
and 140 million gallons a year are in the
planning stage.
Ethanol has been recognised as the
natural choice for replacing MTBE and
the need for blending
Ethanol into petroleum
products is now a global
requirement. Brazil has
long been the world’s
leader when it comes
to fuel ethanol capacity,
but the USA is poised
to exceed this and other
countries in the western
hemisphere are rapidly
growing their produc-
tion. European legisla-
tion has set substantial
targets for the coming
years and EU Directive
2003/30/EC promoting the use of Bio-fuels
in transport sets a target of 5.75% use by
2010. Standards for bio-fuels have already
been established, with the undiluted base
products being defined as B100 (100%
Bio-Diesel) and E100 (100% Ethanol).
Subsequent blending will modify this
number, e.g. a blend of 80% petrol and
20% Ethanol defined as E20, or a blend of
95% diesel and 5% bio-diesel defined as B5.
Properties for unleaded fuel to be sold in the
EU are defined by EN228:2004 and allows
up to 5% Ethanol.
BioDiesel can be used in any concentra-
tion with petroleum-based diesel fuel and
little or no modification being required
for existing diesel engines. BioDiesel is a
domestic renewable fuel for diesel engines
and is derived from vegetable oils and ani-
mal fats, including used oils and fats (see
diagram below). Soybean oil is the leading
vegetable oil produced in the USA and the
leading feedstock for BioDiesel production.
BioDiesel is not the same as a raw vegetable
oil; rather it is produced by a chemical
process which removes the glycerine and
converts the oil into methyl esters.
For producers of bio-fuels, the massive
growth signifies a greater requirement for
pumps, mixers and integrated processing
systems.
Bio-fuels blending
“Utilising the current petroleum distribu-
tion infrastructure, blending is typically
carried out at the storage or loading ter-

48 reFOCUS January/February 2007 1471 0846/07 © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Feature

minal,” reports Jon Denis of Enraf Fluid

Technology. “The most common locations
for blending are the storage tank, the load
rack headers or most effectively at the load
arm (see image, right). The most important
requirement for this process is the accurate
volume measurement of each product. This
can be done through sequential blending or
ratio blending, but most beneficially utilising
the side-stream blending technique.”
Whereas petroleum products containing
MTBE could be blended at the refinery and
transported to the truck or tanker loading
terminals via a pipeline or railcar, Ethanol
blended fuel contains properties that make
this difficult. Ethanol, by nature, will attract The most common locations for blending are the storage tank, the load rack headers or most
any H2O encountered on route or found effectively at the load arm.
in storage tanks. If this were to happen in a
10% blend and the concentration of H2O in for a very small footprint and maximises In designing the Multi-Stream Ethanol
the blended fuel reaches 0.4%, the combined placement options for a complete load rack Blender and also the recently introduced
Ethanol and H2O drops out of the blend. solution. The Multi-Stream Blender also Micro-Blend system (see image on page 50),
The exact point of drop out depends on incorporates an additional hydraulic power- Enraf Fluid Technology has overcome the
the Ethanol percentage, make-up and tem- pack. This allows for stable control of the major difficulties associated with mixing
perature. If this drop out occurs the Ethanol individual control valves, by eliminating petroleum products with Ethanol. “Experience
combines with the H2O and separates from the dependency on fluctuating product line has shown that during the mixing process, the
the fuel, dropping to the bottom of the stor- pressures. volume exhibits growth, with the amount of
age tank. The resulting blend goes out of
specification and getting back to the correct
specification requires sending the contami-
nated Ethanol back to the production plant.
“The solution to this problem,” says Jon
Denis “is to keep the Ethanol in a clean and
dry environment and to blend the Ethanol
with the petroleum products when loading
the transport trucks and tankers. Moving
the blend point to the loading point mini-
mises the risk of fuels being contaminated
by H2O.”
To make this procedure possible, Enraf
Fluid Technology has developed an ATEX
Zone 1 certified Multi-Stream Ethanol
blender specifically for positioning at the
loading rack (see image on page 50). The
blender utilises multiple product streams,
the monitored stream being referred to as
the Wild Stream and the controlled streams
referred to as the Blend Streams. The Micro-
Blend controller monitors the Wild Stream
and controls the Blend Stream to the pro-
grammed blend ratio.
The Multi-Stream Blender utilises intel-
ligent control electronics and high accuracy
linear control valves and is configurable in
any arrangement, both horizontal and verti-
cal, for between 2 and 6 arms. This allows

www.re-focus.net January/February 2007 reFOCUS 49

 Feature
volumetric growth varying with multiple fac-
tors,” continues Jon Denis. “To capture this
growth for fiscal purposes, it is necessary to
ensure that the blend point is up-stream of
the custody transfer meter. With this arrange-
ment, operators can capture what ever the
actual growth turns out to be.”
A further issue that Enraf Fluid
Technology blenders have over come is
the slight residue that Ethanol appears to
deposit on the internals of the load rack
piping. Although it is very slight, it can
affect the accuracy of the turbine meter
by shifting its K factor by a small amount.
This mostly goes undetected until the
meters are proved and then it is too
late. Some terminal operators remove the
meters from the line for periodic washing
with H 2 O to avoid the K factor shift. The
solution offered by these Enraf blenders is
to use PD meters as the slight film does
not affect the accuracy of a PD meter.
It has been mentioned that both the
Multi-Stream Blender and the Micro-
Blender use high accuracy linear control
valves. This is because traditional load rack
diaphragm valves powered by the pressure
of the product have difficulty in control-
ling the Ethanol flow at the low end flow
rate requirements. A consequence of this
is the possibility of the blend going out of
specification if a premature shutdown and
non-repeatable opening/closing speeds
Enraf Fluid Technology’s Micro-Blend system
has overcome the major difficulties associated
with mixing petroleum products with Ethanol.
50 reFOCUS January/February 2007
occur. The Enraf solution to this problem
lies with its valve designed specifically for
linear flow throughout the valve travel
and which uses external power, like an
aircraft hydraulic oil to power the valves.
BioDiesel processing
In general BioDiesel processing, the fat or
oil is degummed then reacted with alco-
hol, such as methanol, in the presence of
a catalyst to produce glycerine and methyl
esters (BioDiesel). Methanol is supplied
in excess to assist in quick conversion
and the unused portion is recovered and
re-used. The catalyst employed is typi-
cally sodium or potassium hydroxide,
which has already been mixed with the
methanol.
Bran + Luebbe, an SPX Process
Equipment company, is now offering
BioFuel producers customised produc-
tion packages for high efficiency and safe
product blending (see image on page 51).
Whereas Enraf Fluid Technology is more
focussed on Ethanol and BioDiesel blend-
ing at the loading rack, Bran + Luebbe is
targeting potential users of bio-genera-
tion systems looking to produce between
5 -20,000 litres (although not necessarily
limited to this volume) of BioDiesel from
either virgin oil or waste oil in a single
batch.
The manual and fully automated sys-
tems developed by Bran + Luebbe bring
together pumps and batch counters for
dosing a specified volume into a tank, full
PLC systems for controlling and monitor-
ing pumps, valves and instrumentation or
SCADA-based systems with data-logging
capabilities for providing process trace-
ability of the product.
“When blending BioFuel with Petrol
or PetroDiesel, the desired result is a
uniformly mixed product,” comments
John Cousins, Bran + Luebbe Systems
Engineer. “Using Bran + Luebbe or Plenty
Mirrlees pumps combined with top entry
static mixers and filters, producers can
achieve the correct blend both for batch
and continuous operations.”
Bran + Luebbe’s systems range from sim-
ple manually operated single pump pack-
ages through to fully automated batching
and mixing plant and are custom built
to meet the end user’s requirements. The
Enraf Fluid Technology has developed an ATEX
Zone 1 certified Multi-Stream Ethanol blender
specifically for positioning at the loading rack.
more complex BioFuel systems typically
feature multiples of pumps and mixers
with the associated valves and instru-
mentation that are required in batching
and continuous production plant. These
essential components have been designed
either for handling hazardous materials
or for operation in hazardous areas where
ATEX certification US compliances will
be required.
“The production and processing of
BioFuels demands the employment of
equipment developed by specialists in
processing technologies and guarantees
the highest levels of operating integrity,
efficiency and safety at all times,” says
John Cousins. “SPX Process Equipment
with its globally recognised Bran +
Luebbe Pumps, Lightnin Mixers, Plenty
Mirrlees Pumps, Plenty Filters and Plenty
Side Entry mixers has been designing and
building fluid handling technologies in
the petrochemical and general chemical
industries for many years, so is ideally
positioned for the BioFuels industry.”.
A typical plant will involve pre-filtering
and then blending the raw material with
methanol and possibly sodium methyl
oxide using Bran Luebbe Novados pumps.
These components are then mixed in
large tanks and left to settle. Using a Bran
+ Luebbe ProCam metering pump, the
glycerine that settles at the bottom of the
www.re-focus.net

tank is removed. ProCam pumps are also
used for injecting sulphuric acid or caustic
for pH adjustment, methanol, a catalyst,
denaturant and enzyme. The remaining
methanol is subjected to a water wash to
remove any further contaminants. Plenty
Mirrlees triple screw Triro pumps are
employed to ensure a high throughput
and high flow rate.
As with many new solutions, they cre-
ate several new issues with which to deal.
Due to the difficulty of adding more
equipment to an already fully packed load
rack, there is always going to be a limited
footprint area for the blending equip-
ment. Enraf Fluid Technology’s Multi-
Stream blender overcomes this difficulty
by coming in a vertical skid-mounted
package that can accommodate all of the
load arms on the loading rack and still fit
comfortably on the loading island.
Both the Micro-Blender and the Multi-
Stream Blender interface with the load
rack custody transfer meters, the elec-
tronic presets or the terminal automation
system to control the blend rate of the
component against the flow of the main
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Feature
product through the load arm. By intro-
ducing these blending systems, operators
are able to eliminate storage issues, exer-
cise high accuracy linear control across
the complete blend range, capitalise on
blended Ethanol growth and maximise
load arm flexibility, allowing blended and
non-blended products to be dispensed
through the same load arm.
The Bran + Luebbe systems, whilst
being larger and more likely to be used
within a process plant as opposed to the
loading rack, also overcome the problems
of available space. All systems are skid
mounted to economise on foot print areas
and height restrictions. Most importantly
for the customer, the pump technology Bran + Luebbe is now offering BioFuel produc-
is well proven in the oil and petroleum ers customised production packages for high
efficiency and safe product blending.
industries where high accuracy metering,
leak-free operation and hazardous area bio-fuel will continue to rise and provide
compliance are essential issues. exciting growth prospects both for inves-
Whereas fuel produced from agricul- tors and equipment manufacturers. Enraf
ture has only had marginal use, in today’s and SPX have many years of experience
climate there are political, environmental, with traditional fuel technologies and are
legislative, and financial benefits for using ideally placed to meet the demands of
BioFuels. With oil prices remaining high this growing market with both existing
and very unlikely to reduce, demand for products and new developments.
January/February 2007 reFOCUS 51
 Feature

Biodiesel project test areas

Biodiesel country case study –
issues in Brazil, by Tim Cowman

Brazilian biofuel to the majority of people “I understand the gov- social fuel stamp is awarded to producers
simply means ethanol however there is ernment’s reasons for who gather a significant percentage of
another revolution sweeping across this their raw product from non-mechanised
country’s vast agricultural regions and sugar
attempting to protect family farm sources. This equates to 30%
cane is not the only crop attracting atten- the rural poor but...feel... in the South and 50% in the North and
tion. Uncountable numbers of fields in this
South American giant are being turned over
they must work hard to results in tax breaks.
• Crop prioritization – Taxes on grain
to rapeseed, castor oil plants and sunflower strike a balance...and not production in Brazil are generally high
in pursuit of the production of biodiesel. lose out on the great job and with recent developments in mind
Government incentives once again have incentives have been offered for biodiesel
driven this process forward and regular
and direct investment creation from government selected crops.
championing by the President have kept it opportunities” Significant tax reductions are presently
in the national headlines. Good publicity on offer for the use of the crops palm
alone though does not produce fuel and
– Luis Castro -PROENCO kernel oil and castor oil plant (Ricinus
from the fields to the pump certain internal Restrictive policies communis).
factors appear to be stalling its flow. Brazilian car owners are accustomed to the
“alcool” (ethanol) pump option at their local Government figures released pre-election
Ethanol alternatives filling station and with 75% of all new cars paint a picture of rapid developed in the area
The success of the Brazilian sugar-ethanol purchased in the country being of the flex- of clean energy sources coupled with a strong
programme, initiated by the government in fuel variety it is a popular choice. emphasise on protection of the rural poor as
the 1970s in response to the world’s first oil Despite various tax incentives and the pass- a result of these newly established laws.
crisis, has been well documented in recent ing of laws aimed at specifically stimulating Studies point towards that fact that the
years. Estimates suggest that ethanol already the internal biodiesel market, and harnessing 7 current producers of biodiesel within the
represents 40 per cent of fuel consumed by the government highlighted obvious poten- country have a capacity to produce 91 mil-
non-diesel-powered vehicles in the country. tial of the country, an eco-friendly diesel lion litres of biofuel per year. A further 15
The established infrastructure and techno- option is still not readily available. A closer companies are also currently in the process
logical know-how utilised in the production examination into the exact nature of the lat- of registering with the ANP. The expectation
of the alcohol based fuel is the envy of many est laws highlights the issues raised by many of the Ministry of Agricultural development
nations including the US as they tentatively prospective investors and project developers is that before December 2007 Brazil will be
begin to process their corn. in the country, namely that instead of stimu- in a position to produce 1 billion litres per
Brazilian national biofuel production pro- lating the market the government incentives year. This according to coordinators of the
grammes, since the turn of the millennium, have in some capacities restricted it. biodiesel programme, will reach the govern-
have been extended to include research and • Government purchasing rights – In 2002 ment aim of involving 200,000 small rural
development of biodiesel and despite ethanol’s the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency family producers in the process.
media dominance large scale schemes for the (ANP) expanded its authority to include These statistics are significant and the
clean diesel substitute have commenced across the coverage of natural gas, biofuel and incentives created have undoubtedly suc-
the country. The present political administra- all renewable energy sources. In conju- ceeded in enhancing the Brazilian drive
tion under President Lula’s left wing workers gation with this development a previ- towards biodiesel production through the
party has marked biodiesel as important for ous law declaring that the state owned establishing of large scale projects. The ques-
the future of Brazil both in terms of a clean Petrobras is obliged to oversee the sale tion is whether these figures represent the
energy fuel source and economical significance of all diesel in the country was extended true capacity of a country the size of Brazil.
for this developing nation. to include biodiesel. Having allowed the Despite the numerous projects under con-
The Brazilian Mines and Energy Department ethanol market to develop freely outside struction and on the verge of entering into
in 2005 established an obligatory 5% biodiesel this legal restriction the decision was production there is no doubt that significant
mix in all diesel used in the country, to be made to bring biodiesel back under gov- investors have been turned away from the
achieved within eight years, in the first three ernment control. market by the restrictions generated by the
years allowing for a 2% level. In a similar way • Selo de combustível social” (Social fuel new laws. Profitable production of biodiesel
to its alcohol brother, biodiesel is viewed as stamp) - In falling under agricultural law within Brazil is still considered by many as
an attractive trade product with the country government incentives are available for unfeasible. The present situation means that
seen as a global supplier containing potential specific styles of farming systems used companies working closely with the govern-
for significant exportation to nations requiring in the production of crops for biodiesel ment and within its incentives framework
clean energy sources. that meet the government criteria. The are producing fuel at a much lower price

52 reFOCUS January/February 2007 www.re-focus.net


than the average producer. Production prices
rise significantly for those companies unable
to secure their raw materials from fam-
ily agricultural units. Climatic conditions
also determine that southern producers are
unable to work with the government priority
crops of palm kernel oil and castor oil plant.
The stark differences in production costs
are then not reflected in the selling price as
Petrobras determines this level.
Exportation to Europe
The restrictive laws have turned Brazilian
investment eyes towards potential export mar-
kets and the EU with its 5.75% biofuel target
is an obvious first port of call. Re-focus spoke
to Luis Castro Sans the director of PROENCO
an entrepreneurial environmental business
group responsible for the development of an
ambitious project looking to drive forward
Brazilian biodiesel through exportation to
Europe. “The group of experts assembled is
aiming to establish a large scale profitable
crop to fuel integrated project. Involving the
combined generation of seeds, vegetable oil
and meal in Brazil and resulting in biodiesel
processing in Europe for its market”.
Luis went on to explain that the vast
project which is presently undergoing its final
feasibility study could ultimately witness 4
million hectares of land across the south of
Brazil turned over to sunflower and rapeseed.
A crushing plant will be based in the state of
Parana and the subsequent oil created trans-
ported by rail or road to a specially construct-
ed port with appropriate facilities to allow for
reception and storage. Shipments of up to
15,000 tonnes will then be transported to the
newly erected biodiesel processing site in a
pre-selected city in Europe twice a month. An
initial production capacity of 100,000 tonnes
per year of biodiesel has been targeted for
2007 with subsequent years seeing a potential
rise to 400,000 tonnes annually.
The ambitious and unique nature of the
project has resulted in the need to overcome
numerous obstacles beyond those created by
the government laws. Following years of seed
testing productivity results are reaching opti-
mum levels and secure contracts are being
established with local farming cooperatives.
The flow of a guaranteed amount and qual-
ity of oil is the key to the feasibility of the
project and convincing farmers to turn size-
able amounts of land to sunflower, a virtually
www.re-focus.net
Feature
unknown crop in Brazil, has been a time tration through the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean
consuming task. Away from the field discus- Development Mechanism will ensure this.
sions are coming to a close with Brazilian
governments for the port construction and Biodiesel future
with Europeans nations with regards to the As various large scale biofuel for export projects
processing plant location. begin to take seed in the fields of Brazil their
success could go a long way to determine
”Today there are 29 the immediate future of biodiesel globally.
The economic drive stimulated by the Kyoto
companies with a social protocol among other processes is creating
fuel stamp. Of these, 17 a global movement towards clean fuels and
within present technological constraints the
have signed contracts world requires the fields of countries such as
with Petrobras and have Brazil. President Lula and his country have
started or should be the immediate task of making the most of
this business window as with alternative fuel
starting shortly to pro- technologies such as Hydrogen developing
duce biodiesel” rapidly the time is now.
There are numerous factors however still
– Arnoldo Campos stalling the development of this market both in
(Ministry of Family terms of global trends and national regulations
Agriculture) that need to be redesigned first. Brazil faces the
questions of how best to take advantage of its
In the increasingly likely event of a success-
present position whilst leading itself on the cor-
ful implementation of the project Luis argues rect path of development. Globally countries
that the benefits have the potential to be widewill need to get used to switching some of their
reaching for both Brazil and the recipient fuel attention to the fields of large developing
European nation. He states that in the first nations where agricultural market trends will
instance the use of sunflower in a country determine the supply of their energy.
presently under a rapidly growing dominance It remains to be seen how this uneasy
of soya and sugar cane is of strategic impor- relationship between the worlds of agricul-
tance due to the diversity it offers. An added tural and fuels develop. Barriers will need to
advantage will see the production of high be deconstructed before a regular supply of
quality protein rich meal from the seed husks biofuels to meet the world’s needs is online.
for the numerous diary farms in the region. Ambitious holistic vast projects are what
The scale of the infrastructure required for the
is needed to meet demands and in reality
scheme will lead to the generation of numer- international government interaction will
ous new employment opportunities and medi- be required to make the whole process of
um size business growth in both continents. biofuel production and use more attractive
The European host country, of which Portugal for buyer and seller alike.
and Ireland have been singled out, will ben-
efit from long term contracts for a renewable
energy source reducing the country’s depend-
ence on fossil fuels. Glycerin, a by-product of
the process is also a financial consideration
with new innovative uses injecting value into
this once saturated market. Efforts have also
been made to ensure that a percentage of the
raw oil will be produced locally in Europe .
Areas in agricultural decline have been high-
lighted such as those previous farmed by the
now underemployed Irish beet producers. Luis
has no doubts about the financial feasibil-
ity of the project and also states that money The ECOdiesel production site in the North East
potentially generated through projects regis- of Brazil (photographer - Fabiana Rodrigues).
January/February 2007 reFOCUS 53