New Generation Biofuels Completes New Facility

It am interested to know the source of their feedstock, just curious. I'm for any company that can be successful with biodiesel. Fuel oil works for me too :)

plant and animal fats. This does not seem to be that unique. But it does remove these materials from the waste stream

"plant and animal fats."

Are there any other kinds of fats? Since they claim "We are pleased that we can now begin producing our second-generation biofuel..." I was just wondering what the sources were.

I love processing used frying oil - clever idea, hard to do on a large scale.

Using offal from processing plants works for me too, but with 'nose to tail' consumption becoming more popular this source may be decreasing.

There's some distinction between 'yellow' and 'brown' grease, which I understood when I read an article, but I can't tell you what it is. Tallow is in there too, I suspect they are frequently different words for the same thing - a common problem.

The basic issue seems to be, even with using a waste stream you are competing with another user. In the case of the sources listed above I believe most are also used in animal feed (feeding cow parts to cows is being blamed for 'mad cow' disease). This competition makes some happy and others not. When the price goes up the price goes up (I wish I could talk like Yogi Berra :).

Even algae, one of my faves, has uses galore. In some countries 'farmers' are paid to grow patches for use in various industries (food, 'nutraceutical', and cosmetics are the ones I read about).

That the sources of the fat used by the NGB facility are not given is not surprising. These press releases are long on rah-rah and short on details. I am surprised they didn't work in some estimate on how many tons of CO2 were saved per year :)

It is good that they have customers. Part of the problem is getting people to try 'bio fuels' and then working out any problems that may arise.

Converting fat is usefule but not earth-shattering. Strategically speaking, waste cellulose appears to be the only ultra large scale source, and the technology isn't quite ready for this.

It needs to be real waste, and not stuff that should be eaten or ploughed back in.

I haven't yet seen anything on "cogenerating" food and energy, for example by reverting to long-stemmed grain crops.

However, there does seem to be some realisation that on-farm preprocessing will be needed in order to reduce transport costs.

This is a bit off topic but there is some 'cogenerating' happening in the livestock biz. There are feed lots that take the manure from the animals and use anaerobic digestion to capture the methane gas. This is still growing in popularity but there have been some glowing successes, other's encountered what can be kindly called a learning experience.

While this article is more about replacing fuels that are already being shipped to customer's locations - and I applaud that, I would like to see more on-site power generation. The distributed model can work even if only on a small scale. Like CL says, first you need to have a waste stream, then you need some very clever people.

These kinds of plants should become more common in the midwest where there are large feedlots to supply them. I really think it's a waste of good food to be using corn to make fuel when the "other end" is so plentiful. Ranchers are ruining the oceans with their runoff, just as much as farmers.

The second generation nature refers to the technology used not the feedstock. The technology is emulsification not transesterfication.
The production process is feedstock flexible.
They key to the fuel is its lower cost to produce, its emissions profile lower NOx and virtually no sulphur.
It is a non fossil fuel, no blending required.

Blending may not be required but it may be beneficial. Some customers feel safer with a blend. This also allows older systems to 'clean themselves out' gradually.

Certainly there are contracts with someone to provide the oil. I was just curious what they were.

For TS:

I presume New Generation Biofuels ran into a lot of regulatory hurdles, to say nothing of resistance by stakeholders in th fuel biz (other distributors that may or may not want to blend the New Generation Biofuels product, customers who have no clue what New Generation Biofuels produces, and last, but not least, the group of people who just don't like change :).

It's the same way when operators try to use "the other end" to generate electricity. The electric companies don't necessarily want the power - they'd rather sell it than buy it. The grid probably wasn't built for power coming back - some operation have only a single phase coming in but power generation requires all three phases.

Other problems arise with the equipment. There is no standard setup that can be installed and start working - each system has to be designed for each operation. For a large operation the capital expense of a large system can be prohibitive, especially at a time when operators are required to deal with ever shrinking margins. There seems to be a 'sweet spot' in the middle - too large or too small is tuf economically.

Interestingly, it seems to be medium sized dairies who have had the most success. Perhaps they use more electricity so they have a better relationship with the utility. Perhaps they view, due to the amount they spend, the systems as kind of an insurance policy against rising energy prices.

(continued)

Poultry farmers (ranchers?) seem to come in second. I think they like the cogeneration aspect - they can use the heat and the electricity. They seem to prefer to burn, instead of digest, the waste.

Hog farmers (whatever) haven't seemed to have caught on at all. It appears, to them a large waste 'pond' is the ideal solution, but I think that is only because it was mandated. If left to their own resources I believe hog farmers would rinse the stuff 'out the back and down the hill'.

All the signs have been encouraging but we still have a long way to go before alternative energy sources are considered worth the cost. Inertia is a powerful force. I wish New Generation Biofuels the best of luck.

------"Inertia is a powerful force. I wish New Generation Biofuels the best of luck."---------

They seem to be concentrating on sales----at least at first.

It is a sort of chicken or egg problem. Investors are reluctant to sink cash into large production projects without assurance that once up and running there is a market that can support the investment----and without an existing market, there is little need for large scale production.

I think once they have market outlets in hand, there will be more drive to increase production such as algae culture.

--------"Blending may not be required but it may be beneficial. Some customers feel safer with a blend. This also allows older systems to 'clean themselves out' gradually."----------

I would say that this applies to preconceived ideas and mind sets among the people making up the customer base just as much as the fuels themselves. This might be a big + for biofuels---you've got to convince people to try them before you can sell them----and people naturally want to take the gradually route when it comes to change. Blending allows people who use it the psychological comfort of gradual change. It will be easier to convince someone who has been using a blend to increase the blend level than to get someone who has never tried something to do so.

Any move away from/substitution of traditional hydrocarbons has to be good, and this technology is yet another piece in what is a very large jigsaw - anyone who thinks that only one technology will provide a universal panacea is living in clud cuckoo land. The diversion of the biodegradable fraction of MSW, and farm slurries, to Ad plants can provide substantial decentralised CHP options, almost all of which can be at output levels which need not cause any major interconnection issues with the local grids and will meet the "proximity principle". Most farms, in particular pig and poultry breeders, could achieve near self-sufficiency, with a number of proven non-incineration, modluar, technologies being available.

There is also the possibility of usnig the AD biogas (following comparatively low-cost cleaning) as CNG for vehicles - a considerably cleaner fuel than almost any other alternative available within the near future at anything like economic cost.