The next join venture represents the largest investment of an oil major in Jatropha. Repsol (www. repsol. com) and the Mexican KUO Group each own a 50% stake in KUOSOL, headquartered in Mexico, capitalized with an initial investment of $80 million. The company is developing new plantations of Jatropha for the production of second-generation biofuels. The Jatropha will be cultivated on barren land in the Yucatan state of Mexico. This project meets the environmental and social sus­tainability criteria as defined by the Renewable Energy Directive of the European Parliament, required for all biofuel projects of both companies.

Repsol boasts a long history and extensive experience in researching, developing, and marketing biofuels worldwide. In April 2010, Repsol created its New Energy Unit to identify and develop businesses related to bioenergy, renewable energy for trans­port, and other areas which present synergies with the company’s existing activities. The KU O Group is one of Mexico’s largest conglomerates, with businesses interests in the aerospace, automotive, chemicals, foods, and agriculture industries, amongst others. Its main objective is the use of integrated biomass plantations of Jatropha curcas oil to generate biofuels and bioenergy in a sustainable manner.

The objectives are:

• To plant and cultivate 10 000 hectares of Jatropha in the Yucatan, principally on third-party lands in this area, which will represent a positive impact on rural communities, and to harvest 44 million liters of crude oil for biofuels.

• Integrated use of biomass from forest plantations, cogeneration of steam and electricity for self-supply, with surplus production sold.

• Generate more than 400 direct jobs and 2000 temporary jobs. It is estimated that agricultural development will be completed in 3 years, allowing industrial production to start in 2013.

21.3

On 2 February 2009, Japan Airlines became the first airline to conduct a demon­stration flight using a biofuel primarily refined from the energy crop Camelina (www. renewableenergyworld. com). It was also the first demo flight using a com­bination of three biofuel feedstocks, as well as the first using Pratt & Whitney engines. The results of the flight confirmed the second-generation biofuel’s operational performance capabilities and potential commercial viability. Japan Airlines is now waiting for sufficient quantities of Camelina to experiment further.

Japan Airlines used a Boeing 747-300 aircraft, carrying no passengers or payload, with a blend of 50% biofuel and 50% traditional Jet-A jet (kerosene) fuel in one ofthe aircraft’s four Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines (www. greenaironline. com).

No modifications to the aircraft or engine were required for the biofuel, which is a "drop-in” replacement for petroleum-based fuel. The biofuel component tested was a mixture of three second-generation biofuel feedstocks: Camelina (84%), Jatropha (under 16%), and algae (under 1%).

The Japan Airlines cockpit crew onboard the aircraft checked the engine’s performance during normal and non-normal flight operations, which included

quick accelerations and decelerations, and engine shutdown and restart. A ground — based preflight test was conducted the day before the flight to ensure that the engine functioned normally using the biofuel/traditional Jet-A fuel blend.

The Japan Airlines pilots were very satisfied with the test flight, stating that everything went smoothly. They did not experience any difference in the perfor­mance of the Camelina-powered engine and the other three regular kerosene engines. Today, 3 years after the test flight, Japan Airlines has not continued its venue into biokerosene, probably due to a lack of sufficient biomass supply.

19.4

There are eight ways to invest in biofuels and biomass:

1. Invest and buy agricultural land.

2. Invest in trees.

3. Start your own plantation.

4. Start your own industrial production company, where you turn biomass into clean energy.

5. Invest in private equity funds that invest in biofuel plantations or biofuel/ biomass companies.

6. Invest in renewable bioenergy stocks.

7. Invest in the Mother Earth Biokerosene Index. You can open up a "managed account” at your bank and give Mother Earth Investments a mandate to manage this account exclusively according to this index or in a vast array of listed biofuel and biomass companies.

8. If you have already invested in clean tech, you can give us a mandate to check your investments and eventually optimize it with green investments.

20.2.1

Emulsions are blends of different fluids, which by nature are difficult to mix. Oils and fats do not dissolve into water. Good example of fluids that are difficult to mix are oil and vinegar (“vinaigrette”). The molecule structure is not stable and energy input is needed through shaking, stirring, or even ultrasound to form an emul­sion. Over time, emulsions tend to revert and decompose. The vinaigrette decomposes if you do not stir it continuously. It is in fact an unstable emulsion that will quickly separate unless you shake it continuously. Emulsifiers are par­ticles that help to stabilize the structures of an emulsion. Many emulsifiers are used in the pharmacy industry to form lotions and creams. Nanoemulsions are defined as oil-in-water emulsions and under the microscope the particles are not larger than 0.00005-0.0001 mm.

Nanoscale liquids are mixed into other immiscible liquids. Microfluidic and ultrasonic approaches are used to produce new structured liquids. Nanoemulsions can keep their structure over many months or years due to the presence of sta­bilizing emulsifiers and surfactants.

In Taiwan, biokerosene is made through nanoemulsion and polarization of crude Jatropha oil, whereby the oil molecules are arranged in a new setting.

17.5

Benefits

The following characteristics apply to both Jatropha biodiesel and jet fuel. Jatropha biofuel provides widespread environmental benefits, yielding 20 times the energy required to produce it. Most other feedstocks (e. g., corn) require nearly as much energy to create as they produce. Like other biofuels, Jatropha has excellent combustion properties while significantly reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases. Jatropha diesel fuel produces half the unburned hydrocarbon emissions and one-third of the particulate matter emissions produced by diesel fuel derived from crude petroleum, according to a 2004 Daimler study. Crushed and processed Jatropha seed oil can be used to create B100 biodiesel, which will

operate in a standard diesel engine, and the remaining biomass can be used to power electricity plants.

17.6

SG Biofuels, a bioenergy crop company developing and producing elite seeds of Jatropha, has established a strategic partnership with Bunge North America, the

North American operating arm of Bunge Ltd., to research and develop a model to process Jatropha seeds into a biofuel feedstock (http://americanfuels. blogspot. co. uk/2010/11/sg-biofuels-and-bunge-form-strategic. html).

Bunge, a global leader in oilseed processing, wants to establish a vertical inte­gration in developing a biofuel business — a trend that is seen amongst the large commodity houses.

SG Biofuels has developed the JMax 100 (www. sgfuel. com). This is an elite Jatropha cultivar optimized for growing conditions in Guatemala. SG Biofuels claims that the yields of this plant are 100% greater than existing commercial varieties. The company is making great strides in domesticating Jatropha. Tech­nologically this would be a great advance, because with over 200 plant varieties the yields have always been highly variable. The company also has developed hybrid seed production technology.

21.4

In November 2009, during a 1.5-hour KLM flight above The Netherlands, one engine of a Boeing 747 ran on a mixture of 50% sustainable biofuel and 50% traditional kerosene (www. physorg. com/news178223585.html). The other three engines ran on 100% normal kerosene. The biofuel used on this flight reduced carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80% compared to conventional kerosene. KLM conducted this flight partly powered by a biofuel produced from Camelina. The flight took off from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, and on board were a number of Dutch government officials and industry partners. Some of the Camelina was reportedly sourced from Great Plains Oil & Exploration — The Camelina Company in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In November 2009, KLM also announced the formation of a joint-venture company to develop sustainable biofuels called SkyNRG (www. skynrg. com), together with North Sea Petroleum and Spring Associates. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) advises the consortium on ecological aspects.

KLM is now flying daily between Amsterdam and Paris on used cooking oil and tallow. More than 200 KLM flights will operate on biokerosene to meet the same technical specifications as traditional kerosene. KLM chose the road of flying on cooking oil and animal fats to avoid the “food-or-fuel” debate. The “waste” on KLM flights is sourced from Dynamic Fuels, a joint venture between Syntroleum and Tyson Foods (a large meat producer) in the United States. Send your cooking oil from your French fries to KLM and you might get extra mileage on your frequent flyer program — in future, KLM should call it “The Frequent Fryer Program!”.

19.5

Once separated from the glycerin, the biodiesel goes through a cleanup or pur­ification process to remove excess alcohol, residual catalyst, and soaps. This consists of one or more washings with clean water. It is then dried and sent to storage. Sometimes the biodiesel goes through an additional distillation step to produce a colorless, odorless, zero-sulfur biodiesel.

The glycerin byproduct contains unreacted catalyst and soaps that are neu­tralized with an acid. Water and alcohol are removed to produce 50-80% crude glycerin. The remaining contaminants include unreacted fats and oils. In large

biodiesel plants, the glycerin can be further purified, to 99% or higher purity, for sale to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

2.8

The Malaysian biofuel company BIONAS is introducing a very interesting new Jatropha application. BIONAS has created a high-tech polarization powder out of Jatropha to improve coal usage and reduce pollution from the emissions pro­duced during coal burning. The material is called Bio-Energy Emission Solution (BEES) powder. The powder is either solved in water or sprinkled directly on the coal and burned directly with the coal. The power plant realizes a coal saving rate of 20-25%. Furthermore, the following emission reductions are obtained:

• Smog, sulfur dioxide and poisonous materials: 50%.

• Unburned coal residue carbon: 20-50%.

• Ashes emission into atmosphere: 15-30%.

• Nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides emission: 20-50%.

After using BEES for 15-45 days, the carbon and dirt deposit on different parts of the boiler/furnace will automatically drop off, and thus improve the thermal con­ductivity and the heat transfer performance. This will reduce boilers shutdown times, reduce maintenance times, and reduce tremendously the maintenance costs.

BEES also has the following additional advantages: the burner firepower is increased, the heat exchange efficiency is enhanced and emissions are reduced, and equipment corrosion is reduced due to a high — and low-temperature differ­ential. Therefore, equipment maintenance costs are drastically reduced.

Usually the burning plant needs to be closed down once a month to clean the chimney of carbon deposits. Using BEES, the carbon deposit in the chimney is much reduced and is very easy to clean. Downtime for a power plant is very expensive. Using BEES the overall downtime can be reduced significantly.

BEES can be applied as follows:

• 1 kg of BEES can be mixed into 15 tonnes of coal in the coal grinder. The BEES must be ground, mixed, and blended completely with coal before the mix reaches the combustion chamber.

• 1 liter of BEES can be added to 1000 liters of water. The vaporized water mix blends with preheated air. This air-fuel mixture is sprayed on the coal and is then forced at high pressure into the boiler where it rapidly catches fire.

The moral of this story is that if you have a good-sized plantation producing crude Jatropha oil, seedcake, and leaves, finding customers and producing income is the smallest problem you have.

3.3

Camelina is increasingly heralded as a strategic sustainable biofuels crop that can be scaled up to meet aviation bio jet fuel needs.

With successful test flights using Camelina-based fuels in 2009, such as the Dutch Airliner KLM test flight (Chapter 19), this oilseed energy crop is positioned for rapid growth in the years ahead. What, however, are the industry and agri­culture drivers behind the Camelina story?

Jet fuel has traditionally been the airlines’ second-highest operating expense, exceeded only by labor costs. Recent oil price increases have now made jet fuel the single largest expense.

The main characteristics of Camelina are:

• Camelina can improve the productivity and value of low-rainfall, non-irrigated wheat farms by replacing summer fallow rotations.

• Camelina oil can be processed into a drop-in jet fuel that fits into the conventional petroleum infrastructure. It can reduce biofuel transportation costs, and improve biofuel economics and renewable energy profitability.

• Camelina has potential to be a large-scale and low-cost, sustainable biofuel feedstock for both biodiesel and aviation end markets.

• There are opportunities to add value and generate profits at nearly every link in the farm-to-fuel Camelina supply chain.

• With careful planning, consideration of risks, and insight into Camelina market growth rates and forecasts, Camelina presents many possible business oppor­tunities, including opportunities to generate additional farm revenues and create renewable energy jobs.

• Second generation biofuels like camelina can empower the massive fleet of warplanes, vehicles and tanks of the US Department of Defense (DOD), which wants 25 percent of its liquid fuel needs to come from biofuels by 2025. Currently, liquid petroleum fuels account for 75 percent of DOD’s $15 billion annual energy bill. A major part of the DOD’s clean energy investment involves increasing the military’s use of plant-based biofuels, which could mean big opportunities for camelina.

Camelina refined into bio-derived synthetic paraffinic kerosene (Bio-SPK) was also used for a portion of the fuel in the 2009 Japan Air Lines test flight. On 4 August 2009, the Boeing U787 Unlimited Hydroplane made several successful runs on 100% Camelina-derived jet fuel. Claims were made that emissions were 80% less than with petroleum jet fuel.

Camelina plants are heavily branched, growing from 0.3 to 3 meters tall and pro­ducing seed pods containing many small, oily seeds. The seeds are very small, amounting to about 880 000 seeds/kg, and they are 40% oil, compared with 20% with soybeans. An annual that originated in Northern Europe, Camelina has many names: gold-of-pleasure, false flax, and wild flax. Camelina can grow on land unsui­table for food crops. It has yields that are roughly double that of soy. It tolerates cold climates well, and it has been grown for years in pockets of Montana and Oregon.

It grows wild in the United States and does not interfere with other crops. It has a particularly attractive concentration of m-3 fatty acids that make Camelina meal, left over after crushing, a particularly fine livestock feed candidate that is just now gaining recognition in the United States and Canada. The emerging green fuel industry is turning Camelina into a lucrative new cash crop for farmers. The seeds are easily crushed with the oil being used for biofuel that performs similar to biofuel from other sources, but can be more efficient. Camelina is planted in March and harvested in late July most years, even in Northern climates. This short breeding period is financially a huge advantage versus Jatropha. With Camelina an investor sees a return on his capital within six month after harvesting. An investor in Jatropha has to wait five years before a first meaningful quantity of oil can be harvested. Only then he reaps the benefits of an investment in jatropha plantations. Camelina can survive on little water: it thrives in areas with 25-42 cm rainfall and it requires less fertilizer than many other crops. However, it still requires management. Farmers who have followed a wheat-fallow pattern, as is often seen in Washington and Oregon, can switch to a wheat-Camelina-wheat pattern and realize up to 100 gallons of Camelina oil per acre.

In Europe, Camelina grows well in Finland. Finnish farmers call it "the olive oil from Finland.”

When analyzing the potential role of a new crop, unique attributes of that species must be established; it must contribute something not already provided by existing crop species. It is not sufficient, for example, for a crop simply to become "another oilseed.” There must be unique and compelling properties of that crop to provide incentives for further development. Camelina is an ideal crop to grow in colder climates like in the north of China in the Xinjiang region or in Mongolia, where vast tracks of land are available.

4.4.4

8.4.1

Trees and Woodpellets

The most abundant low-tech source of biomass is trees. Woodfuel can be derived from conventional forestry practice such as thinning and trimming as part of sustainable management of woodland to ensure the production of high-quality timber for construction and wood products.

A better way to burn wood is to take the leftovers from saw mills and woodchips, and condense them into woodpellets. You create a sustainable carbon-neutral source of energy, which is renewable as well. This is ideal as feedstock for heating systems. During the drying and compressing of the wood leftovers, the lignin, naturally contained in the biomass, melts and acts as a “binder.” It holds the fibers of the wood together and it gives the pellet a glaze on the outside. Then the lignin cools off and hardens the pellet.

The advantages of woodpellets are:

• No special treatment is needed to cofire them with coal in power plants. They are not a “drop-in fuel,” but a “drop-in biomass.”

• The endless availability of wood waste and sawmill dust makes woodpellets a future large worldwide energy commodity.

• Woodpellet utilization has a low environmental impact — in the production process, during transport (zero environmental damage in the case of spillage), and during combustion.

• Modern pellet combustion equipment produces extremely low amounts of air pollution.

• Woodpellets contain much lower amounts of sulfur or nitrogen than oil or coal.

• Woodpellets are part of a closed carbon cycle. Woodpellets do not increase the overall carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide emitted during the combustion of biomass originates from carbon dioxide taken up by the forests.

• The dry agricultural residues of arable crops are not used to produce food, animal feed, or fibers. There is no conflict between food and fuel.

8.4.2