Alternative Fuel Sources - Part Three - Biomass To Liquid (BTL)

by Darren

Another movement in alternative fuel sources is Biomass to Liquid, commonly referred to as BTL. Biomass to Liquid is a process by which biomass (in the guise of food byproducts or food crops) can be converted into a liquid that can be used to fuel automobiles. There is no current Biomass to Liquid technology being used commercially in the world today, but the idea is popular in Germany, where Choron Industries has built the world’s first commercial BTL plant.

Choron Industries is using a unique process they’ve developed called “The Choren Carbo-V Process“. This process has the following advantages:

1. Low temperature gasification
2. High temperature gasification
3. Endothermic entrained bed gasification

During the first stage of the process, the biomass (with a water content of 15 – 20 %) is continually carbonized through partial oxidation (low temperature pyrolysis) with air or oxygen at temperatures between 400 and 500 °C, i.e. it is broken down into a gas containing tar (volatile parts) and solid carbon (char).

During the third stage of the process, the char is ground down into pulverized fuel and is blown into the hot gasification medium. The pulverized fuel and the gasification medium react endothermically in the gasification reactor and are converted into a raw synthesis gas. Once this has been treated in the appropriate manner, it can be used as a combustible gas for generating electricity, steam and heat or as a synthesis gas for producing SunDiesel.

When all is said and done, the process will leave the company with SunDiesel, which can fuel automobiles.

The advantages of Biomass to Liquid are: (SunDiesel from Choren)

1. SunDiesel is CO2 neutral.
2. Can be used by normal cars without infrastructure changes
3. Has very low emissions and does not stink
4. Has a higher ignition performance than conventional gas engines

SunDiesel has attracted a lot of attention from Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG who are working with Choren Industries on making the product commercially available. Choren completed their plant on May 9th of this year.

Even Shell is getting in on the act, entering a BTL fueled car into 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This year, the fuel will also contain BTL – biomass to liquid. Shell says it represents the next stage of the development of sustainable low-carbon fuels. Developed in Germany by CHOREN Industries, it could produce up to 90 per cent less CO2 compared with regular diesel. CHOREN hope to market the fuel within a year.

Richard Karlstetter, Shell’s global technology manger of racing fuels, said: “It is still early commercial days for BTL but Shell sees motorsport as a technical test bed and we are excited about demonstrating the performance of Shell V-Power Diesel race fuel with both GTL and BTL.”

GTL is already available in Europe at 7,000 pumps. BTL is still in the initial stages of commercial production, but you have to see quite a bit of potential for the fuel. Choren has signed on some big partners to help market the product, and production on their plant is complete.

BTL also has its share of critics, of course. Using cellulose based food stuffs is a cause for concern because it changes the land use of high quality agricultural land from food production to energy production. And, of course, it takes energy to make energy.

Other disadvantages are:

1. Biomass to Liquid will take many years to deploy
2. It’s unknown how good the energy yield is for BTL, especially on a mass scale
3. Scalability is a major issue

Biomass to Liquid is a lot like E85. It will take quite a while to get production ramped up to a level that could affect gasoline sales. And in the meantime, food prices worldwide are spiking due to the re-allocation of resources of land for crop production to land for energy production.

Claude Roy, a French biomass to liquid expert says we need to be realistic about the technology.

“Using prairie land, or worse, destroying a forest, releases considerable quantities of CO2 that have been stored in the soil and the trees, and the outcome could be catastrophic,” said Bal.

Cautioned Roy: “Even if we find the Holy Grail, biofuels will not replace oil. At best, they will be part of the range of options to diversify energy supplies.”

Continued from Alternative Fuel Sources - Part Two - Diesel. Continued in Alternative Fuel Sources - Part Four - E85