Max Planck and Fraunhofer Institute launch project to research biomass gasification, fuel cells

Divisions of two of Germany's largest research organisations, the Max-Planck Institute and the Fraunhofer Institute, have launched 'ProBio' [*German], a €4.2 (US$5.6) million program to research the efficient production of gases from biomass, for use in different types of fuel cells.

Fuel cells are most often associated with hydrogen gas. But the production of the clean gas is problematic: hydrogen is merely an energy carrier and its production requires the use of a primary energy source. If this primary energy source is a fossil fuel, then the gas of course loses its green appeal. Utilizing nuclear power for hydrogen production is expensive, as are reliance on renewables like solar or wind.

With the ProBio project, the scientists from Magdeburg and Dresden confirm that biomass is one of the most promising primary energy sources for the production of renewable hydrogen-rich gases that can be used in efficient fuel cells.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Sundmacher, director of the Max-Planck-Institut, outlines the goals of the project: to design process and production steps that result in efficient biomass gasification to tap the hydrogen that is contained in the resource, and to analyse the optimal use of the different products from gasified biomass for the production of bio-electricity. The hydrogen-carbon rich gas mixture obtained from such gasification processes must be upgraded and purified first before it can be utilized in fuel cells. Optimisation of this process is a new terrain that is only beginning to be researched. Gasification of a great variety of biomass types results in different gas mixtures, the properties of which will be analysed. Three institutes are joining forces to achieve these goals:

• The 'Fraunhofer-Institut für Fabrikbetrieb und -automatisierung' will focus on developing new technologies to achieve efficient purification.
• The 'Fraunhofer-Institut für Keramische Technologien und Systeme' for its part will design high-temperature fuel cells for stationary applications.
• The 'Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik' will research low-temperature fuel cells that can be used in mobile applications.

The first phase of the ProBio project then brings together the results of the experiments of the partners to look at process integration. The core of the project is the gasification pilot plant, the subject of a sub-project that focuses on simulations to optimize plant and process design:
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: gasification :: hydrogen :: fuel cells :: Germany ::

If the first phase is evaluated positively, a second, three-year phase will start, in which the theoretical and experimental results are applied to the construction of an industrial scale plant. This plant will be located in Magdeburg, where the three institutes will further cooperate.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Michael Schenk, Director of the Fraunhofer-Institute für Fabrikbetrieb und -automatisierung: "the German process industry urgently needs this kind of integrated energy plants, because the renewable energy sector is evolving very rapidly."

His collegue, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alexander Michaelis, from the Fraunhofer-Institut für Keramische Technologien und Systeme, stresses the fact that "our research capacities will be applied to concrete, practical solutions for new energy production processes."

The ProBio project is part of an effort of the two prestigious research organisations to join forces and to cooperate more intensively. By collaborating on this kind of projects, the fundamental research will be translated faster into innovations with practical use.

The ProBio project is one of Germany's first country-wide collaborations between the two organisations.

Image 1: Different types of biomass and the gas composition that results from their gasification will be analysed. Foto: V.Kühne/Fraunhofer IFF. Courtesty: Fraunhofer-Institute für Fabrikbetrieb und -automatisierung

Image 2: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Sundmacher, ProBio spokesperson and Director of the Magdeburg division of the Max-Planck-Institut shows a stack of PEM fuel cells that are currently used with hydrogen produced from fossil fuels. Foto: P. Förster. Courtesy: Max Planck Institute.

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Biofuels can free Africa of its 'oil curse' - expert

For the African continent, oil is a real curse: it spurs corruption, civil conflict and resource wars, it displaces local populations, fuels social inequality and has a terrible environmental record. The ongoing civil conflicts in the Niger Delta, the destabilisation in Chad, the war in Sudan or mass-corruption in Angola are just some illustrations of the disruptive effects of the oil industry in Africa.

Senegal's president Abdoulaye Wade recently told oil companies in no uncertain terms to radically change their impact on the societies in which they do business, or leave the continent alltogether (earlier post).

Biofuels offer a radically different paradigm, says Dr Keith Myers, an expert on African oil and gas production at London's Chatham House. (Earlier we presented the differences between the two paradimgs in an ideal-type binary way - see graph, click to enlarge). Myers thinks the alliance between the US and Brazil to promote ethanol and other biofuels as an alternative to petrol could offer African countries with a much needed new export opportunity.

"Many African countries need to diversify their economies and they would welcome a demand for new products such as biofuel," Myers told Adnkronos International (AKI).

Myers cited major oil producer Nigeria as a prime example of an African nation that could benefit from an increased demand for biofuels by the likes of the United States.

"Oil has come to dominate Nigeria's economy to such an extent that the country's once prosperous agricultural sector has been neglected. International demand for bio-fuels could revive the country's agriculture, help diversify its economy and provide a new export opportunity," Myers explained:
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: ethanol :: biodiesel :: fossil fuels :: Africa ::

Bush's "greening", as the president's sudden interest in environment friendly energy sources has been dubbed, is seen as an attempt to make the United States depend less on the troubled Middle East region from where it derives much of its oil supplies.

The extension of such policies to Africa can be interpreted as an attempt by Washington to curb energy-hungry China's influence in the continent where it is expanding its investments.

With African nations having in China a ready-made export market for their current production in oil and gas, doubts have been cast on the continent's willingness to break lucrative ties with Beijing in favour of unexplored bio-fuel arrangements with the United States and Europe.

But according to Myers, who points out that only 10 percent of Africa's energy exports go to China, the extent of Beijing's business links with Africa has been overstated.

"African nations still export most of their energy products to other markets, and a demand in those markets for new products such as bio-fuels for which Africa has a great potential represents a much-needed opportunity to generate income from new exports," he concluded.

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Swiss lawmakers make biogas for transport tax-free

The Swiss Gas Association reports that the national and regional parliaments of the country have voted in favor of lifting the fossil fuel tax on biogas that is fed into the natural gas grid, whereas natural gas has received a tax reduction of 40 cent per liter of gasoline equivalent.

The motion on the tax exemption and reduction was filed more than five years ago. Now that it has been passed, the Swiss biogas industry hopes it gets ratified and implemented fast so that the law can stimulate the development of industry, whose ultimate aim is to provide climate-neutral gas for transport on a large scale.

In Switzerland, biogas and natural gas are mixed and made available at several gas stations where they are used by CNG-vehicles, sales of which are steadily increasing Prices for this mixture of NG and the clean gaseous biofuel are now set to cost 30% less than gasoline at the pump. A major incentive for the expansion of the biogas industry.

Compared with diesel and gasoline, natural gas emits far less CO2 (10% less than diesel, 20% less than gasoline), 70-90% less soot and around 60 to 90% less smog-forming pollution. Biogas is even entirely CO2-neutral:
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: biogas :: natural gas :: taxes :: climate change :: Switzerland ::

The number of CNG-vehicles in Switzerland has meanwhile reached 3500. A network of 85 biogas-NG tank stations services them, and it is set to grow to 100 by the end of this year. Filling up a CNG-vehicle is just as easy and comfortable as with liquid fuels.

Worldwide, there are now some 5 million NG-capable vehicles on the road, especially in Pakistan (earlier post) and Argentina, where large-scale projects have succeeded in radically changing the fleet in a very short time. Biogas makes for an interesting biofuel in developing countries where car fleets are only beginning to be build.

At the recent Auto Show in Geneva, biogas and natural gas as an automotive fuel was the main theme of the show, with a wide variety of CNG-vehicles being presented.

Biogas is obtained from the anaerobic fermentation of biomass - either from waste or from dedicated energy crops. On a well-to-wheel basis, is the cleanest of more than 70 possible transport fuels (including hydrogen, methanol, or synthetic biofuels) (earlier post).

Experts see 2007 as the year biogas makes its breakthrough as a very attractive biofuel (earlier post).

Image: the Opel Corsa D 1.6 CNG 16 V, presented at the Geneva Auto Show. A full natural gas tank allows the car to travel for 500 kilometers. Courtesty: Swiss Gas Association.

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