LIQUID BIOFUEL POWER PLANTS

VEGETABLE OIL UTILIZATION

Unrefined vegetable oil

Refinery process Food industry Diesel

power plant
Refined
oil Waste oil
Power
Heat

Refinery by-products

2
IT LOOKS LIKE VEGETABLE OIL.
IT TASTES LIKE VEGETABLE OIL.
IT IS VEGETABLE OIL
– STRAIGHT AND UNPROCESSED.

NOW, IT IS POWER OF THE

GREENER KIND.
The virtuous circle in power generation is the
dream of the modern world: a power plant
that does not increase the sum of greenhouse
gases, that uses renewable fuel and that brings
the energy required to raise the standard of
living where it is most needed. A few years ago
that would have seemed a pipe dream. Today
it is reality.
Wärtsilä liquid biofuel power plants use
highly efficient reciprocating diesel engines
to turn clarified crude vegetable oils into
electricity and heat. Liquid biofuel can be
produced from practically any oil-rich crop,
from oil palm, soy, rapeseed and olive to
sunflower seeds, grown in many regions all
around the world.

“The use of vegetable oils for engine

fuels may seem insignificant today. But
such oils may in the course of time
become as important as petroleum
and the coal tar products of the
present time.”

Rudolf Diesel, 1912

3
 RELIABLE ENERGY.
ECONOMIC VIABILITY.
RAIN OR SHINE.
Electricity provided for the grid should be
stable. Many green energy solutions – like
solar and wind power – depend on weather
conditions. Wärtsilä liquid biofuel power plants
rely on dependable, renewable resources and
offer high overall plant performance at all
times.
Surprisingly, biofuels have to offer
just as much to business people as to
environmentalists. Making money while
taking the environmental issues of today into
consideration is a good investment – now and
for the future.
World energy demand is increasing steadily.
At the same time, the Kyoto agreement and
4
general concern about the environment are
raising the need to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. Wärtsilä has developed technical
solutions to meet both needs: liquid biofuel
power plants offer sustainable power
generation with practically zero greenhouse
gas emissions.
In many countries, owners of power plants
with low greenhouse emissions benefit twice
over: firstly from selling their electricity to
the national grids, and secondly from green
incentives.
Still, the future of liquid biofuels depends
on the availability of the fuel and the solutions
to produce it in an environmentally and

economically sound manner. At its best, biofuel
production creates local job opportunities, thus
promoting social and economic cohesion. It
also improves regional fuel supply security by
reducing the need for imported fuels. In some
cases, energy crop cultivation might even help
to fight soil erosion.
Sound economics combined with superior
eco-friendliness!
GREEN ENERGY
INCENTIVE SYSTEMS
There are various incentive mechanisms,
including the Green Certificate, for
motivating companies to enforce green
energy. These are financial contributions
at community, national and regional levels,
the renewable energy certificate system,
and grants of origin.
The EU Emission Trading Scheme
was launched on 1 January 2005 to
gain market experience before the Kyoto
Protocol enters into force in 2008. The
Kyoto Protocol commits the European
Union to reduce the 1990 levels of
greenhouse gas emissions by 8% between
2008 and 2012. Now the EU countries
are working towards a cross-union trading
system, the details of which are still
evolving.
The Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) are
flexible project-based mechanisms that
operate under the Kyoto Protocol.
Interest in the abatement of greenhouse
gases is also rising outside Europe, e.g.
in Japan, Malaysia and India. Japan, for
instance, has passed laws to promote
the development and introduction of
petroleum-substituting energy since
the 1980s. In Malaysia the target share
of renewable energy is 5% of the total
supply. Also biomass residues from the
palm oil sector offer huge potential energy
resources for meeting Malaysia’s target.
Renewable energy already accounts for
4% of the Indian power sector and the
target is to reach 12% by 2012.
5
 IN FACT, RUDOLF DIESEL
RAN HIS FIRST ENGINE
BACK IN 1900
THIS IS NO NEWS. ON PEANUT OIL.

Liquid biofuel has been known since the over-heating or cold points which can lead to
beginning of the industrial revolution. But changes in fuel characteristics.
it is only recently that environmental and Decades of experience and a system of
commercial pressures have resulted in filters, separators, preheaters and coolers
substantial research into maximizing efficiency have helped us to develop optimal solutions
for electrical power generation. The diesel for maximum fuel efficiency and a minimum
engine, based on compression ignition of emissions.
technology, turns vegetable oil more or less
straight from the crop into electric energy.
It is in the fuel feed system where the major
research on the larger medium-speed engines
has taken place. Medium-speed engines can
run on most qualities of heavy fuel oil (HFO).
These engines have for years proven their worth
as power generating sets for electricity under
the most extreme conditions on the planet.
While optimizing our standard engine
design, we developed a fuel feed system
which controls the temperature and viscosity
throughout the power plant. This eliminates

FUEL SYSTEM FOR LBF

Back up
fuel tank
Storage tank Buffer tank Day tank
Pump Diesel oil
Pump
or biodiesel

Fuel separator
Back up fuel heater

Sludge tank
Return fuel cooler

Pressure control valve

Booster pump Viscosity control

Feed pump
Heater
Mixing tank
Filter Safety filter

6
 A TYPICAL COMBINED CYCLE PLANT
LIQUID BIOFUEL
DEVELOPMENT MILESTONES

• Early 90´s. Testing of bio mass based pyrolysis oils.

• April 1995. A 200 hour engine test with rape
seed oil on a Wärtsilä Vasa 4R32 at VTT in Espoo,
Finland. Vegetable oil was approved as fuel for
Wärtsilä diesel engines.
• September 2001. A 50 hour engine test with
vegetable oil on a Wärtsilä 6L26 engine at the test
laboratory in Zwolle, Netherlands.
• October 2002. A 18 hour verification test with
refined palm oil, palm stearin and olive olein on a
Wärtsilä 6L32 engine at the engine laboratory in
Vaasa, Finland.
• January 2003. Start up of first commercial power
plant on liquid biofuel in Karlburg, Germany. One
Wärtsilä 6L32 engine with 2.6 MW output.
• August 2004. Start up of the ItalGreen Energy
power plant in Monopoli, Italy. Two Wärtsilä 18V32
engines with a total output of 16 MW.
• July 2005. Start up of the third engine at the
ItalGreen Energy power plant. Total output
extended to 24 MW.
• November 2005. Start up of the Val Senales power
station in the Italian Alps. One Wärtsilä 6L20
engine with 800 kW output.
• July 2007. Start-up of three Wärtsilä 18V46
engines of a total of six new engines at the Steam turbine
ItalGreen power plant in Italy. The remaining three
engines will be delivered in autumn 2007.

COMBINED CYCLE PLANTS

Exhaust gas boiler Exhaust gas silencer
In order to meet market needs and demands, we are
continuously developing new plant concepts, among SCR-unit
them Combined Cycle plants. For biofuel plants below
(option)
50 MWe, using both Wärtsilä 32 and Wärtsilä 46
engines, very high electrical efficiencies are achieved
when utilising waste heat for generation of additional
electricity. The ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) as well
as ordinary steam based solutions are used for this
purpose.

50 MWE COMBINED CYCLE PLANT

Engine type........................................3 x Wärtsilä 18V46
Turbine type........................... Condensing steam turbine
Total electrical output......................................51.2 MWe
Electrical efficiency ................................... 49.2% (gross)

Engine-generator set

7
LOOK! IT´S PRACTICALLY EMISSION-FREE.

8
A LIFETIME OF CLEAN ENERGY IS ENSURED
BY SOLUTIONS BEYOND THE FUEL.
To reduce the total of greenhouse emissions,
Wärtsilä liquid biofuel power plants are
designed to operate on unprocessed vegetable
oils – without any supplementary energy for
fuel refinement needed. The oils can typically
be extracted with simple methods so that even
the CO2 emissions associated with the fuel
refinement are minimized.
The sulphur emissions are insignificant
compared to those associated with fossil
fuels because vegetable oils do not contain
significant amounts of sulphur.
The selective catalyst reduction
technologies for NOX abatement typically
enable an 85…90% reduction of NOX
emissions from the exhaust gases.
Particle emissions (PM) in liquid-biofuel-
based power plants depend mainly on the ash
content of the source fuel. Experience has
shown that with good-quality liquid biofuels it
is possible to reach low PM levels that meet
stringent European standards.
Moreover, with vegetable oils the carbon
monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions are
low due to the highly efficient diesel engine
process.
The power is also generated with minimal
use of water, so the impact on water resources
is negligible.
Last but not least, Wärtsilä liquid biofuel
power plants offer a very high simple cycle
electrical efficiency. You get more output for
your input!
9
TWENTY-FOUR/SEVEN.
SUSTAINED PARTNERSHIP
FOR SUSTAINED DEVELOPMENT.
Our aim is to ensure you get the best possible
performance from your power plant investment
throughout its lifecycle. After all, who could be
better at this than the people who designed
and built the plant?
We provide a comprehensive range of
services built on the concept of enhancing
the customer’s profitability by optimizing all
aspects of the power plant operation. The
services range from rapid spare parts delivery
to a complete operation and maintenance
partnership, allowing you to focus on your core
business.
Wärtsilä Operations & Management
currently runs more than 130 plants around
the world, making it the world’s leading power
plant O&M contractor.
10
If you choose to operate the plant yourself,
you can still rest assured that you have the
best possible support available when and
where you need it – from training to online
support and service or modernization and
upgrading of the plant. Our global network is
always ready to make sure your power plant
performs flawlessly, free of breakdowns and
unwanted downtime throughout its lifetime.
BY THE END OF 2007
THERE WILL BE ABOUT
700 MW OF WÄRTSILÄ
LIQUID BIOFUEL POWER
PLANTS IN OPERATION.
 Wärtsilä offers liquid biofuel power plants in the range of 1–300 MW
using Wärtsilä 20, Wärtsilä 32 and Wärtsilä 46 prime movers.

POWER PLANT OUTPUT RANGE

LIQUID BIOFUEL

Wärtsilä 20

Wärtsilä 32

Wärtsilä 46

MW 1 5 10 50 100 200 300

THE MONOPOLI CHP PLANT

ItalGreen Energy in Italy and Wärtsilä combined to Technical data 50 Hz/1000 rpm Unit 6L20 8L20 9L20
build the world’s largest power plant for simultaneous Power, electrical kW 1026 1368 1539
generation of electricity and heat fuelled exclusively Heat rate kJ/kWh 8584 8670 8627
by straight vegetable oil. The plant commissioned the Electrical efficiency % 41.9 41.5 41.7
first two Wärtsilä 18V32 generating sets in August Technical data 60 Hz/900 rpm
Power, electrical kW 969 1292 1454
2004 with a total capacity of some 16 MW. In 2005
Heat rate kJ/kWh 8541 8627 8584
the plant extended its capacity to 24 MW and the
Electrical efficiency % 42.2 41.7 41.9
latest extension of 100 MW is under construction and Dimensions and weight (generating set with liquids and 150 mm high spring elements)
will be in commercial use early in 2007. Length mm 5400 6540 6820
Width mm 1850 1950 1950
Located inside the existing vegetable oil refinery, the Height mm 2375 2620 2620
plant supplies both green electricity to the national Weight tonne 19 24 25
Technical data is based on: Electrical output at generator terminals, including engine-driven pumps, ISO conditions and LHV.
grid and steam and power to satisfy the factory Tolerance 5 %. Power factor 0.8.
process demand. Fuel testing, detailed engineering,
delivery of the full generating set package, start-up
and erection supervision were all included in our Technical data 50 Hz/750 rpm 6L32 8L32 9L32 12V32 16V32 18V32 20V32
delivery. Power, electrical kW 2636 3533 3974 5327 7124 8032 8924
Heat rate kJ/kWh 8240 8197 8197 7986 7961 7944 7818
Electrical efficiency % 43.7 43.9 43.9 45.1 45.2 45.3 46.0
Technical data 60 Hz/720rpm
Power, electrical kW 2579 3456 3888 5211 6970 7841 8730
Heat rate kJ/kWh 8155 8112 8197 7901 7877 7877 7818
Electrical efficiency % 44.1 44.4 43.9 45.6 45.7 45.7 46.0
Dimensions and weight (generating set with liquids and 150 mm high spring elements)
Length mm 8766 9750 11200 10030 11239 11500 12200
Width mm 2418 2418 2410 3050 3300 3300 3300
Height mm 3738 3740 3740 4420 4343 4220 4420
Weight tonne 58 78 87 90 114 128 137
Technical data is based on: Electrical output at generator terminals, including engine-driven pumps,
ISO conditions and LHV. Tolerance 5 %. Power factor 0.8.

Technical data 50 Hz/500 rpm Unit 9L46 12V46 16V46 18V46

Power, electrical kW 8512 11349 15163 17076
Heat rate kJ/kWh 7692 7692 7676 7669
Even this uplifting experience in the Italian Alps is Electrical efficiency % 46.8 46.8 46.9 46.9
brought to you by Wärtsilä liquid biopower. Technical data 60 Hz/514 rpm
Power, electrical kW 8512 11349 15163 17076
Heat rate kJ/kWh 7692 7692 7676 7669
Electrical efficiency % 46.8 46.8 46.9 46.9
Dimensions and weight (generating set with liquids and 150 mm high spring elements)
Length mm 15493 15400 17800 18260
Width mm 3300 5090 5090 5090
Height mm 5400 5700 5785 5885
Weight tonne 235 268 320 369
Technical data is based on: Electrical output at generator terminals, including engine-driven pumps,
ISO conditions and LHV. Tolerance 5 %. Power factor 0.8.

11
 06.2007 / Bock´s Office / Waasa Graphics
Wärtsilä enhances the business of its customers by providing them with
complete lifecycle power solutions. When creating better and environmentally
compatible technologies, Wärtsilä focuses on the marine and energy markets
with products and solutions as well as services. Through innovative products
and services, Wärtsilä sets out to be the most valued business partner of
all its customers. This is achieved by the dedication of more than 14,000
professionals manning 130 Wärtsilä locations in close to 70 countries around
the world.

WÄRTSILÄ® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 2005 Wärtsilä Corporation.

WÄRTSILÄ® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 2007 Wärtsilä Corporation.