SPOTLIGHT Bioenergy International No 82, 6-2015 33 3 000 to 10 000 gallons per day of (Bio)DME. An alternative biogas route is methane to propane. In July, ALKCON CORPORATION, a newly formed US-based company specialising in developing natural gas processing equipment announced it had entered into an “exclusivity agreement” and signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with FLOGAS EUROPE. Alkcon recently filed a provisional patent for its methane-to-propane conversion process and is currently developing a series of industrial gas conversion technology products directed at flare gas recovery, coal seam gas conversion and biopropane production from biogas. It is the latter that the approximately US$60 million deal involves. Flogas Europe has the exclusive right to market and sell Alkcon’s proprietary methane-to-propane gas conversion technology in Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Under the terms of the agreement, Flogas will purchase a minimum number of Alkcon’s “MP32K” gas conversion systems annually for five years. Flogas intends to install the units at biogas production sites throughout Europe. Each system could produce up to 1 600 tonnes of biopropane annually. The resultant biopropane will be used to enrich biomethane, increasing its caloric value, before it is injected into national gas grids. The first deliveries are expected to begin in 2016. BioLPG straight For the moment it seems that Finnish oil refiner and renewable fuel producer NESTE have the upper hand when it comes to producing BioLPG at scale. In September it broke ground on what is described as the world’s first BioLPG production and storage facility at its renewable fuel refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Announced in December last year the new facility will have a production capacity of 40 000 tonnes per annum of BioLPG for the European market. With a production process designed by Finland-based technology, engineering and project management company NESTE JACOBS, the new facility will purify and separate BioLPG from the side-stream gases produced by the Rotterdam refinery, which primarily produces its NEXBTL renewable diesel from various waste, residues and vegetable oils. Exclusive distributor for Neste’s BioLPG is the Dutch-headed ‘off-grid’ energy supplier SHV ENERGY, which will market and sell the BioLPG. Production at the EUR 60 million facility is scheduled to begin by the end of 2016 and SHV Energy are to supply 160 000 tonnes of BioLPG over a four-year period to clients across the full range of standard LPG applications in six European countries. – BioLPG is a wonderful addition to our product portfolio, and our customers can benefit as it can be used within a full range of existing LPG applications, from transport and commercial heating to retail leisure cylinders, demonstrating the versatility of the fuel without having to change conventional equipment. This provides our customers with an even cleaner rural energy alternative to the high-carbon fuels many are dependent on in off-grid areas, said Fulco van Lede, Management Board Member of SHV Energy. It seems that the new biofuel is gaining recognition from policy-makers in some quarters. For instance the UK Department for Transport has issued Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates (RTFCs) for BioLPG under its Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) accreditation. Bio-isobutene, blessing for butane For butane, the other major LP gas, the situation is slightly different as there is yet no renewable source of butane. Bottled butane is a major consumer gas used for cooking, camper stoves and portable heaters amongst others. In France, COMITÉ FRANÇAIS DU BUTANE ET DU PROPANE (CFBP), an industry organisation representing six major gas supply and distribution companies, announced a partnership with GLOBAL BIOENERGIES, one of the few companies worldwide and the only one in Europe that is developing a process to convert biomass into some of the key petrochemical hydrocarbons, such as isobutene, via fermentation. The company operates an industrial pilot in France and has begun the construction of its demo plant in Germany. The company is preparing the first full-scale renewable isobutene production plant in France, IBN-One, through a joint-venture with CRISTAL UNION with construction expected to begin in 2017. According to current regulations, bottled butane gas may contain a high proportion of isobutene. Using bioisobutene is an attractive solution to some 10 million French households that use bottled butane. – Blending isobutene from renewable resources into domestic bottled gas is a practical and everyday application of benefit to a large number of households, commented Marc Delcourt, CEO of Global Bioenergies. Last July, CFBP and Global Bioenergies started a series of tests based on a batch of bio-isobutene produced by Global Bioenergies at its French pilot site in Pomacle, Marne. The tests focused on the product’s compatibility with the logistics chain and domestic appliances such as cookers. – At this stage the tests show that renewable isobutene produced by Global Bioenergies is compatible with commercial butane. The CFBP is keen to continue this collaboration to enable the addition of renewable energy in bottled gas in the short term, said Joel Pedessac, CEO of CFBP. With all the bio in LPG buzz, perhaps its time to introduce Liquefied Renewable Gases, LRG? Text & photos: Alan Sherrard BI82/5063/AS – We have developed an innovative renewable product family based on our NEXBTL production technology. BioLPG is the latest addition to our list of renewable products, said Kaisa Hietala, Executive Vice President of Renewable Products at Neste. Production of BioLPG at its Rotterdam biorefinery is expected to begin by end of 2016. – From a technical standpoint it is easy to switch to using BioDME blended LPG. If we had sufficient volumes of BioDME tomorrow we could switch all our customers, remarked Jan Ström, Regional Manager, Flogas Sweden, during a visit to Svevia Arlanda asphalt plant in conjunction with the recently held Advanced Biofuels conference in Sweden. – Someone has to build the first commercial 100 000 tonne-per-annum facility and to do that they need sufficient confidence in the investment. Taxation and other steering instruments affecting the price of BioDME relative to fossil gas need to remain stable over time, said Jonas Rudberg, Director, Porcupine.
Bioenergy no 6 October 2015
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