The bioeconomy at work: new additive strengthens biodegradable plastics

A new additive on the market can improve the performance of biodegradable polymers used for food packaging. Over the past five years packaging suppliers have been introducing various forms of biodegradable plastics. These are made from a variety of plants (mainly maize, but increasingly from sugarcane and other tropical crops) in response to projections that consumers and recycling regulations will drive demand for environmentally friendly packaging.

However, such plastics are not yet optimal for daily use, as they are slightly more fragile than their petroleum-based rivals. DuPont now announces the market introduction of Biomax Strong 120, a polymer additive that tackles the problem by improving the performance of bio-based polylactic acid (PLA) packaging.

The additive toughens PLA packaging materials while maintaining its compliance with food contact requirements in the US and in Europe. The company introduced a similar additive in August 2006 for non-food applications.

As a performance modifier in PLA, both grades of Biomax Strong enhance impact strength, flexibility and melt stability - especially important in rigid applications such as cast sheets for thermoforming and injection molding. When Biomax Strong is used at recommended levels (1-5 wt%) in PLA, packaging made with the additive outperforms traditional products with minimal impact on haze or transparency.

Some companies predict that the market for bio-based plastics will grow by about 20 percent a year as the products are an alternative to petroleum-based packaging such as the widely-used polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In Europe, the bio-based economy also enjoys strong support from citizens (earlier post) who are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious. The bioplastic shopping bag and the plant-based "PET-bottle" are the most obvious symbols of this transition to the bioeconomy:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: plastic :: bioplastic :: biopolymer :: biodegradable :: PLA :: bioeconomy ::

On the front of PLA-based bioplastics, NatureWorks is one of the main movers behind the biodegradable packaging trend. Companies like US-based Naturally Iowa have been using PLA for packaging products like organic milk. Retailers like Delhaize in Belgium and Auchan in France have also been testing PLA for various food packaging.

Demand for bioplastics in Europe experienced its first boom last year, according to a survey by the European Bioplastics Association, which has about 70 members (previous post). Currently bioplastics account for less than one percent of the European plastics market. But serious investments and research programs are underway, with the EU's SustainPack project, the largest of its kind, promising to bring radically new and highly competitive forms of bio-based packaging to market between 2010 and 2015 (earlier post).

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Tonga sees future in coconut biodiesel

Quicknote biofuel economics
Small island states often have the disadvantage of being entirely dependent on imported petroleum products. Most of these remote nations have energy intensive economies (often single sector economies, based on tourism, fisheries or agriculture), produce no oil themselves, have limited economic means with which to hedge against oil price fluctuations, which results in over-dependence and a state of permanent energy insecurity. Moreover, as we reported earlier, small island states are the first to experience the real impacts of climate change (in particular sea level changes).

Luckily, many of these islands have natural resources that allow for the production of competitive biofuels (see an overview of biofuels in the Pacific). Some even have the potential to meet their own fuel needs with an excess that can be exported. One such case comes from the Kingdom of Tonga, the Pacific island group that can be found some 2000 kilometres east of Australia. A team of chemical engineers from the Brigham Young University is there to show how oil from coconuts, fig trees or African palm can be transesterified into biodiesel.

As Tonga Now reports, demonstrations of the process are being carried out at local schools by a team of 26 from the Brigham Young University's Chemical Engineering school in Provo, Utah. According to the team leader, Dr. Randy Lewis, they wanted to share their expertise with Tongans, to make them less vulnerable to high oil prices.

Tonga could cut its dependence on petro-diesel by switching to locally produce biodiesel. All it takes is for the islands to stock up on sodium hydroxide and methanol, chemicals needed to transesterify vegetable oil into useable fuel.

A spokesperson for the ministry of Land, Survey and Natural Resources says the island state is considering the production of biodiesel as a source of income for the Kingdom, a potential export opportunity: “If it will be proven cheaper, then it can be produced locally, with a minimum import of methanol and hydroxide. It will be a form of employment, and can be exported to other countries that produce biodiesel, which in turn can boost the exportation level", the spokesperson said.

The island state consists of around 169 islands of which half are inhabited by 100,000 people who are mainly employed in agriculture (65%). The only major cash crops produced on the islands are vanilla, squash and especially copra and coconuts, key to Tonga's largely rural economy. The coconut industry has been plagued by depressed copra prices for years, which is why biodiesel made from coconut oil offers new hope. Moreover, plans to diversify the economy by investing into fisheries and the tourism industry will be facilitated if competitive biofuels can replace imported oil products.

The potential for coconut based biodiesel large enough for Tonga to consider exports. “With many countries and organisations such as the European Union, and the Pacific Islands Forum placing emphasis on renewable energy, the idea of biodiesel using coconut oil seem promising for Tonga,” the spokesperson concluded.

A similar example of the benefits of coconut biodiesel, this time on Vanuatu, is presented in an recent article by the UN's Small Island Nation's website. In Vanuatu, an entrepreneur helps small farmers make a better livelihood by involving them in cottage biodiesel industries. As in Tonga, they cannot count on a steady income and the local economy suffers because of global copra price fluctuations. Biofuels can change this situation [entry ends here].
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: coconut :: biodiesel :: energy dependence :: small island states :: Tonga ::

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Research confirms biochar in soils boosts crop yields

New research confirms the huge and revolutionary potential of soils to reduce greenhouse gases on a large scale, increase agricultural production while at the same time delivering carbon-negative biofuels based on feedstocks that require less fertilizer and water. Trials at Australia's New South Wales Department of Primary Industries’ (DPI) Wollongbar Agricultural Institute show that crops grown on agrichar-improved soils received a major boost. The findings come at a time when carbon-negative bioenergy is becoming one of the most widely debated topics in the renewable energy and climate change community.

The Australian trials of 'agrichar' or 'biochar' have doubled and, in one case, tripled crop growth when applied at the rate of 10 tonnes per hectare. The technique of storing agrichar in soils is now seen as a potential saviour to restore fertility to depleted or nutrient-poor soils (especially in the tropics), and as a revolutionary technique to mitigate climate change. Moreover, agrichar storage in soils is a low-tech practise, meaning it can be implemented on a vast scale in the developing world, relatively quickly.

Agrichar is a black carbon byproduct of a process called pyrolysis, which involves heating biomass without oxygen to generate renewable energy. Pyrolysis of biomass results in the production of bio-oil, that can be further refined into liquid biofuels for transport (earlier post, on Dynamotive's trials). When the agrichar is consequently sequestered into soils, the biofuels become carbon-negative - that is, they take more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere than they release. This way, they can clean up our past emissions. No other renewable energy technology has both the advantages of being carbon-negative while at the same time being physically tradeable.

The biochar sequestration technique is now confirmed to boost soil fertility while storing carbon long-term. New South Wales Department of Primary Industries' senior research scientist Dr Lukas Van Zwieten said soils naturally turn over about 10 times more greenhouse gas on a global scale than the burning of fossil fuels.

“So it is not surprising there is so much interest in a technology to create clean energy that also locks up carbon in the soil for the long term and lifts agricultural production,” he said.

Multiple benefits
The trials at Wollongbar have focused on the benefits of agrichar to agricultural productivity: “When applied at 10t/ha, the biomass of wheat was tripled and of soybeans was more than doubled,” said Dr Van Zwieten. This percentage increase remained the same when applications of nitrogen fertiliser were added to both the agrichar and the control plots. For the wheat, agrichar alone was about as beneficial for yields as using nitrogen fertiliser only. And that is without considering the other benefits of agrichar.

Regarding soil chemistry, Dr Van Zwieten said agrichar raised soil pH at about one-third the rate of lime, lifted calcium levels and reduced aluminium toxicity on the red ferrosol soils of the trial. Soil biology improved, the need for added fertiliser reduced and water holding capacity was raised. The trials also measured gases given off from the soils and found significantly lower emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas more than 300 times as potent as carbon dioxide):
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: climate change :: energy crops :: pyrolysis :: biomass :: biochar :: agrichar :: terra preta :: carbon-negative :: soil fertility :: Australia ::

Long term carbon storage
NSW DPI environmental scientist Steve Kimber said an added benefit for both the farmer who applies agrichar and the environment is that the carbon in agrichar remains locked up in the soil for many years longer than, for example, carbon applied as compost, mulch or crop residue.

“We broadly categorise carbon in the soil as being labile (liable to change quickly) or stable – depending on how quickly they break down and convert into carbon dioxide,” he said. “Labile carbon like crop residue, mulch and compost is likely to last two or three years, while stable carbon like agrichar will last up to hundreds of years.

“This is significant for farmer costs because one application of agrichar may be the equivalent of compost applications of the same weight every year for decades. “For the environment, it means soil carbon emissions can be reduced because rapidly decomposing carbon forms are being replaced by stable ones in the form of agrichar.”

Unfortunately, agrichar is not widely available yet. BEST Energies Australia, a company involved with NSW DPI in the trials, has a pilot plant at Gosford which is producing minimal amounts for research purposes. “We are hoping the technology will take hold and pyrolysis plants will be built where there is a steady stream of green or other biomass waste providing clean energy that is carbon negative,” Dr Van Zwieten said. “But until pyrolysis plants are up and running, the availability of agrichar for farmers will be scarce.”

Agrichar mimics Amazon
The pyrolysis process which BEST Energies Australia is using seeks to emulate creation of the highly fertile Amazonian dark earths known as ‘terra preta’ (previous post).

Organic matter or biomass, including green or feedlot wastes, is converted to char during pyrolysis, a thermochemical process conducted in the absence of oxygen. Between 25 and 70 per cent of the dry feed material is converted during pyrolysis into a high-carbon char material which is far more stable than the original biomass.

In the Amazon today, these highly fertile soils are prized. Created by pre-Columbian populations thousands of years ago through the addition of charred organic matter, terra preta continues to be staggeringly productive despite being intensively cultivated.

BEST Energies Australia first began working on the pyrolysis process 10 years ago and now has a fully operational demonstration plant on the NSW Central Coast with the capacity to take 300 kilograms of biomass per hour.

NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) formed a research partnership with BEST to investigate the potential of agrichar products as soil amendments which could boost profitability while also sequestering carbon and reducing greenhouse emissions. Initial laboratory trials conducted by DPI found that by matching soil type to char from certain feedstocks and processing conditions, yields of some crops more than doubled.

NSW has a vast untapped biomass resource from a variety of waste streams, estimated to be about seven megatonnes of biomass a year.

Image: NSW DPI environmental scientist Steve Kimber shows one of the chambers used to monitor greenhouse gases emitted from the Wollongbar trial plot. Credit: NSW DPI.

More information:
Eurekalert: Soils offer new hope as carbon sink - May 31, 2007.

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Review of EU Emissions Trading Scheme finds it to be successful, key to climate change policy

Articles published in the first issue of the new journal, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, describe the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) as by far the most significant accomplishment in climate policy to date, concluding that it will be central to future global climate negotiations. However since the EU accounts for only 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the authors also conclude a global framework for managing climate policy is required in the long term.

The articles - by leading environmental economists - form a symposium, reviewing the performance of the EU ETS over the first two years of its three-year trial period between 2005 and 2007. Denny Ellerman, who coordinated the symposium, provides an introduction and overview to the EU ETS in The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme: Origins, Allocation, and Early Results [open access], co-authored with Barbara Buchner. The paper by Convery and Redmond, Market and Price Developments in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, further looks at the market for allowances (graph, click to enlarge); the main features of the EU ETS; its institutional and legal context; and likely future developments. The third paper, by Kruger, Oates and Pizer: Decentralization in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and Lessons for Global Policy, additionally discusses the unique decentralized structure of the EU ETS and its implications for both the functioning of the EU ETS and the prospects for a more global emissions-trading regime.

Viewed as one of the most important environmental policy developments of the past decade, the EU ETS is an ambitious effort by the EU to correct for the market failure that surrounds climate change, and to deliver the EU’s commitments to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. It aims to address the reduction of emissions of CO2 by allowing energy-intensive industrial plants and electric utilities to trade rights or allowances to emit CO2. Ellerman and Buchner focus on the allocation of the allowances. They note that, although there is evidence that some Member States and sectors received over-generous allowances, the main goal of limiting CO2 emissions was achieved. The EU has succeeded in placing a price on CO2 that starts to reflect the scarce capacity of the earth’s atmosphere to absorb more greenhouse gas emissions.

With coverage of about half the CO2 emissions originating from a region of the world that accounts for 20% of global GDP and 17% of the world’s energy-related CO2 emissions, the EU ETS is by far the largest emissions-trading scheme in the world. According to Convery and Redmond, the value of traded volume to date is estimated at €14.7 billion ($18.86 billion). More importantly, the price signal is a transnational one across European nations of significantly different economic circumstances and extending beyond Europe through the Clean Development Mechanism:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: climate change :: greenhouse gas emissions :: cap+and+trade :: Emissions Trading Scheme :: EU ETS ::

The symposium discusses the key role played by the European Commission in successfully establishing the EU ETS. The Commission’s primary role was to enforce scarcity of the allowances to ensure that they were sufficiently valuable to be traded. Individual Member States made proposals to the Commission for the number of allowances to be distributed in each country. The Commission reduced the proposed number of allowances of 14 of the 25 Member States by a combined annual amount of almost 100 million tonnes of CO2.

Ellerman and Buchner review the release of emissions data for 2005 – the first year of the scheme – which showed allowances exceeded emissions by about 80 million tonnes of CO2, or about 4% of the EU’s intended maximum emissions. Emissions exceeded allowances in only 6 of the 25 EU countries: UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Austria and Greece. Installations may have reduced their emissions as a result of improvements and/or investments in energy efficiency or switching to less CO2-intensive fuel types. Ellerman and Buchner find that the excess of allowances over emissions can be attributed both to over-allocation in some countries and sectors and to emission reductions in response to the price of allowances in 2005.

Allowance prices over the course of the first official year of the EU ETS surpassed all expectations of market analysts and academics. Between July 2005 and April 2006, the allowance price consistently traded over the €21-€30 range. The persistently high price, in a market characterized by a large volume of trades between sophisticated players, is strong evidence that emissions abatement is taking place. Convery and Redmond’s analysis of the historical emissions data, and allowing for the growth in emissions that accompanies growth in GDP, suggests that abatement of about 7% may have been achieved. The Commission intends to encourage further abatement by making the 2008-12 allowance totals lower than the 2005-07 totals, and it has decided to reduce the allowance totals proposed by 10 Member States to a level that is more than 12% lower than their trial-period totals.

The symposium concludes that the EU ETS is important because of its size and the number of countries participating. It shows that emissions trading can be done, and will be hard to ignore in future climate negotiations. If CO2 emissions are to be significantly reduced globally then an emissions-reducing system would need to operate at the global level. One problem in achieving this is that there is no equivalent to the Commission at a global level to play the coordinating role. More will be needed to create the community of interest and practical advantage that would cause countries such as China and India to accept meaningful constraints. However, Ellerman and Buchner note that the East-West divide within the EU bears some similarity to the global North-South divide, and there are some positive indications that the EU ETS has set the groundwork for a global system.

The challenges of establishing a global system are likely to be formidable. On the enforcement and institution side, this suggests that broad-based emissions trading within developing countries may not be a realistic goal in the near term, and other avenues for engagement and trade need to be explored.

In the short term, other national programmes are unlikely to link to the EU ETS, but Kruger, Oates and Pizer suggest price harmonization is an alternative. Countries could set their domestic policies in ways that recognize and respond to the efforts in other countries in an effort to harmonize marginal costs, and there is some evidence that this is already happening based on proposals in countries including New Zealand, Canada and Japan.

The long-term future of the EU ETS looks promising, but it remains the case that the EU accounts for not much more than 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and this share is set to shrink over time. Convery and Redmond conclude that, to some extent, the EU ETS represents an act of faith that its leadership will result in a wider constituency for effective action in the longer term. Unless a global framework emerges out of the current discussions that is ‘incentive-compatible’ with key players, such optimism may prove to be misplaced.

Image: Weekly European Union Allowance price and traded volume development. Source: Point Carbon, cited in the paper by Convery and Redmond, "Market and Price Developments in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme".

More information:
The first issue of Review of Environmental Economics and Policy is freely accessible [*.pdf, or table of contents with *.html references]. The journal is a publication of Oxford Journals, a Division of the Oxfor Publishing Group.

Eurekalert: Review of pilot phase of European Union Emissions Trading Scheme finds it to be successful - May 28, 2007.

EU ETS: Questions & Answers on Emissions Trading and National Allocation Plans.

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GM field trials 'underestimate potential for cross-pollination' - study

Field trials could be underestimating the potential for cross-pollination between genetically modified and conventional crops, according to new research by the University of Exeter. The research team recommends a new method for predicting the potential for cross-pollination, which takes account of wind speed and direction.

The findings are important in the context of biofuels, since interest in genetically altered energy crops is steadily growing (previous post, on transgenic switchgrass and on GM sugarcane). Some GM crops, like maize and canola are already being used for biofuels on a large scale. And even though such plants are currently not cultivated widely in the EU, pro-GM lobbies are more active than ever. The European Parliament recently voted in favor of national bans on GMOs, against the position taken by the EU Commission, which is in favor of the introduction of such crops in the Union (earlier post). What is more, GM energy crops could be introduced in the developing world first, where environmental and precautionary standards may be less strict. The new scientific findings may help craft more stringent field trial procedures.

The research [*abstract], funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and published today in the journal Ecological Applications, used records of wind speed and direction from weather stations across Europe to predict the movement of pollen in the air. The findings show huge variation in the amount of cross-pollination between GM and non-GM crops of maize, oilseed rape, rice and sugar beet. Levels vary according to whether the GM field is upwind or downwind of the non-GM field given the direction of the prevailing wind over the flowering period of the crop.

Field trials are regularly carried out to measure the potential for cross-pollination between GM and conventional crops. Current guidelines for minimum field-to-field distances are based on the results from these trials. However, if the GM field in a trial is downwind of the non-GM field, the trial will underestimate the potential for cross-pollination:
energy :: sustainability :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy crops :: GMO :: transgenic :: biosafety :: cross-pollination ::

'We were struck by the strong influence of wind direction on the amount of cross-pollination', said Martin Hoyle of the University of Exeter. 'Wind speed and direction are important factors outside of our control that have not previously been used to inform guidelines on minimum field-to-field distances. Recommended minimum distances between GM and conventional crops may need to be increased based on our findings.'

Field trials are time-consuming and expensive, so measuring the potential for cross-pollination across the full range of weather conditions is not feasible. This research resulted in the development of a theoretical computer model to analyse the effects of wind on pollen travel. The model, together with measurements of cross-pollination and wind speed and direction from field trials, can be used to predict cross-pollination at other times and sites.

'If the production of GM crops becomes widespread in Europe, it is essential that measures are taken to minimise cross-pollination from GM to conventional non-GM crops,' said Hoyle. 'The recommended minimum distances between GM and conventional crops should be informed by weather data, which is possible using our model of pollen dispersal in the wind.'

More information:
Martin Hoyle,a and James E. Cresswella, "The effect of wind direction on cross-pollination in wind-pollinated GM crops" [*abstract], Ecological Applications: Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 1234–1243.

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Sweden looks to Indonesia for green fuels

An ambitious goal to halve Sweden's dependence on fossil fuels by 2020 has prompted it to actively seek out countries that can meet its rising demand for biofuels - an increasingly viable fuel alternative to pricey crude oil. Sweden already imports 75% of its ethanol from Brazil (earlier post). Now it is looking for biodiesel supplies from the South.

Indonesia is primed to benefit, as the tropical archipelago can be one of the leading contenders to meet Sweden's need for green fuel for motor vehicles, Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade Sten Tolgfors said during a tour of the country. The minister also called for the removal of trade barriers for biofuels.

The island state has launched a massive bioenergy plan, which it wants to use as a lever to revitalise its agricultural sector and increase its energy security. The country plans to inject a total of US$ 12.4 billion into the sector over the coming 3 years (overview), and so hopes to generate some 2.5 million jobs (earlier post). So far US$1.42 billion has been invested, with more than 67 projects for the production of liquid biofuels signed so far, and with 114 biomass power plants under construction across the archipelago (earlier post). More than 11 biodiesel plants are under construction. A considerable amount of the output is destined for exports.

Currently, in Sweden, biofuel accounts for 3% of the fuel used in motor vehicles, with ethanol from Brazil accounting for most of that. But the government aims to soon have cars and buses in the Scandinavian nation running on palm oil and jatropha curcas oil based biodiesel from Indonesia. Sweden also aims to decrease its use of fossil fuels in motor vehicles to 50% of current usage by 2020, to safeguard depleting global fossil fuel supplies and help stem climate change by lowering the country's carbon dioxide emissions.

Tolgfors, who was in Indonesia for a three-day visit to discuss trade relations between the two countries, said Sweden's demand for biofuel can only increase as its government has adopted aggressive measures to encourage the use of environmentally-friendly flex-fuel and biodiesel-capable cars. Sales of such cars now account for 13.5% of all newly registered vehicles in the country.

Jatropha investment
Along with palm oil, Sweden is also looking at other feedstocks to produce biofuel. Swedish company Scanoil is already in the process of acquiring vast tracts of land in Indonesia to grow jatropha. The investment, which is estimated in the millions, could be the single largest Swedish investment in Indonesia, according to Swedish officials:
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: palm oil :: jatropha :: biodiesel :: biomass :: subsidies :: tariffs :: Indonesia :: Sweden ::

Increased investment in biofuels and the feedstock used to make it are a direct result of already soaring biofuels sales in the country.

Norway's Statoil, a company that produces E85 biofuel - containing 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline - and sells it through 170 of its service stations in Sweden, reported sales growth of 270% on year to 19.5 million liters in 2006 (earlier post).

Environmental and social concerns
Such strong sales figures reflect the results of an aggressive biofuel promotion program the Swedish government has launched in recent years.

The government offers owners of biofuel-powered vehicles special benefits such as lower excise duties, free parking spaces and exemption from city congestion charges.
In 2006, a total of 36,700 vehicles, or 13.5% of all newly registered vehicles in Sweden, were fitted with engines specially designed to run on biofuel, a 156% increase in biofuel-powered vehicle sales from 2005.

But growing biofuel demand presents its own risks that must be managed to ensure Sweden's emissions improvements don't take a heavy toll on the nations that produce its biofuel.

Tolgfors expressed concerns over the environmental and social repercussions associated with growing global demand for biofuel.

Indonesia and neighbor Malaysia together produce around 83% of the world's palm oil, and soaring demand for palm oil-based biofuel has fueled charges of excessive deforestation in the two countries to make way for palm oil plantations.
In Indonesia alone, environmental groups estimate that tens of millions of people derive their livelihood from the country's forests, which also provide a home for many rare plant and animal species.

Due in part to plantation expansion, Indonesia's forests are disappearing at an estimated 2.8 million hectares a year, one of the world's highest deforestation rates - and increasing demand for biofuel feedstocks could increase that rate.
Tolgfors raised such concerns Sunday during a meeting with Indonesia's Trade Minister, Mari Elka Pangestu, saying biofuel's potential environmental risks have to be addressed to prevent a backlash from consumers in the future.

"There needs to be a process of quality control that ensures each step, from the planting of trees, right up to biofuel production, has been carried out with minimal destruction to the environment," said Tolgfors. "Consumers want to be assured that the environmentally-friendly product they bought is indeed environmentally-friendly or they are likely to not buy it in future."

International coordination needed
Tolgfors also touched on how increased demand for biofuels has raised prices of certain staples, such as cooking oil in Indonesia. He said more dialogue is needed on an international level to address such issues.

At an annual OECD ministerial meeting in Paris two weeks ago, Tolgfors called for the creation of a world market for biofuels, and for the dissemination of better knowledge of the challenges facing biofuel trade.

"The goal (of the world market) should be to standardize, if not, lower tariffs on biofuel across countries, and this should eventually lead to a free market for biofuel," he elaborated.

Ending EU farm subsidies
In a related development Sweden on Tuesday urged the European Union to scrap farm subsidies in future reforms of the bloc's agricultural policy. Such subsidies distort global biofuel markets.

Export subsidies and production quotas should be eliminated in the long term to make European agricultural production more market-oriented, the government said in a letter to the European Commission. The EU should continue, however, to promote biodiversity and rural development, the center-right government said.

Agricultural spending accounts for about 40 percent of the EU's budget. Handouts to farmers will not change until at least 2009, when the long-term budget will be reviewed by member states.

France, the top recipient of EU farm subsidies, has been hesitant to consider cuts to agriculture payments until after 2013.

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Finland's Trade & Industry minister wants 30% biofuels by 2020

Mauri Pekkarinen, the Finnish Trade and Industry minister, says that the share of biofuels in transport should be raised to 30% by 2020, up from the current 10% target. Mr Pekkarinen spoke at the inauguration of Neste Oil's new diesel line and biodiesel factory in Kilpilahti, and said he regarded the current 10-per cent target as insufficient.

The new €100/US$134 million biodiesel plant is the first in the world to produce second-generation biodiesel based on Neste Oil’s proprietary NExBTL (Next Generation Biomass-to-Liquid) technology. The new plant will be capable of producing 170,000 tonnes per year of NExBTL diesel fuel from a flexible mix of vegetable oil and animal fat. Neste Oil is partly owned by the Finnish state.

Importantly, Neste Oil earlier said it is looking into sourcing Jatropha curcas oil from the developing world as its main feed stock, thus tying the production of its second-generation biodiesel inextricably to a kind of 'biopact' with the South (previous post).

With the potential for such abundant vegetable oil supplies in mind, Mr Pekkarinen said "The 10 percent target set for the use of transport biofuels is not in my opinion sufficient for Finland. I think it is perfectly feasible that by 2020 we will possess all the prerequisites to raise the share of biofuels to at least a third".

The minister calculated that raising the biofuel share to a third of all transport fuels would yield a reduction of almost 100 million euros in the country's emissions trading bill.

"Research carried out in Finland and results that are already on the horizon show that it is possible to achieve a true breakthrough on next-generation biofuels quite soon. Neste Oil is at the forefront of this development", he added:
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: vegetable oil :: jatropha :: biodiesel :: biomass-to-liquid :: Finland ::

In order to raise the share of biofuels, Mr Pekkarinen would oblige public transport buses and coaches to use alternative fuels. In addition, the minister called for "fast yet soft solutions" to make taxis and agricultural and forestry equipment to swap to biofuel.

NExBTL is a biodiesel production process that differs from classic transesterification but also from second generation biomass-to-liquids processes used to obtain synthetic biodiesel (which is based on the gasification of biomass, with the gas being liquefied via the Fischer-Tropsch process). NExBTL is similar to the second generation biodiesel developed by Italy's ENI and Brazil's Petrobras ('H-Bio'): it consists of hydrogenating fatty acids under high-pressure. The process can use multiple plant oil feedstocks and results in a product with characteristics similar to ultra-clean synthetic biodiesel.

The advantage of NExBTL and the similar H-Bio technology is that it can be fully integrated in existing oil refineries. Such refineries already have hydrogenation facilities, which is why these biodiesel units can be smoothly bundled alongside them, without the need to build an entirely new, dedicated plant.


More information:

Biopact: Finnish oil major is considering jatropha oil for next-generation biodiesel - April 19, 2007

NewsRoom Finland: Finnish share of biofuels in transport third by 2020 -Pekkarinen - June 1, 2007.

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EU questions US climate plan

Yesterday, President George Bush outlined a proposal to tackle climate change. The US wants to organise a summit of the 15 biggest polluters to draw up a strategy by 2008 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the plan, the free market, technology and voluntary, national targets alone should be sufficient to address the planetary crisis. The US did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Critics say the plan is weak and vague, looks at the short term only, ignores years of ongoing multilateral efforts, will delay concrete action and rejects measurable and enforceable targets.

Some think the mere fact that the Bush administration finally recognises the threat of global warming means it has 'crossed the Rubicon' and that the US government may be negotiated into a more serious and comprehensive approach. Others see the plan as a "poison pill", aimed at preemtively killing all hope for a G8 agreement on climate change.

The White House proposal comes ahead of the G8 Summit to take place in Heiligendamm, Germany, next week. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who chairs the Summit, has put global warming at the top of the agenda and wants an agreement that will form the basis of the meeting of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December in Bali, Indonesia, when U.N. officials hope to launch formal talks on a post-Kyoto treaty.

Merkel, whose country also holds the rotating EU Presidency, has staked Germany's year long presidency of the G8 on reaching such a deal. She backs a far more ambitious plan that would limit average global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Practically, this will require - by 2050 - a global reduction in emissions of 50 percent below 1990 levels. The EU's plan also calls for binding carbon emissions targets and a multilateral, global agreement similar to the Kyoto Protocol, including instruments to trade carbon certificates globally. The US had earlier indicated it will not accept binding targets and the new plan rejects them again.

The clash between the EU and the US positions was illustrated by José Manuel Barroso, President of the EU Commission: "It is clear that we need a more ambitious position from the US." He added that "the US is relying strongly on market mechanisms in the battle against climate change, and rightly so. But market mechanisms only work when one has binding targets." Mr Barroso stressed that the US preoccupation with technology to tackle global warming would only work if Washington signed up to a global system of "measurable, binding, enforceable targets."

On the need for a multilateral approach, the EU chief said "I hope that the United States intends to use the meeting as an opportunity to make the G8 summit contribute towards the UN's multilateral climate protection system." Barroso added that "in the US Congress there is very visible support for more ambitious proposals." Touring Europe, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indeed indicated support for a multilateral and far more comprehensive approach than that sketched by the White House.

"The leading role of the UN on climate change is non-negotiable," the chief German negotiator on climate change, Bernd Pfaffenbach, was cited as saying by the UK paper Guardian. Another German official described the US proposal as a "poison pill" aimed at undermining G8 and UN efforts to tackle global warming:
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: climate change :: greenhouse gas emissions :: Kyoto Protocol :: multilateralims :: UNFCCC :: EU :: US :: G8 ::

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who has been the lead negotiator for the G8 climate deal, has shed his diplomatic veneer and lashed out at the voluntarist US plans: "Now is not the hour of diplomacy. Now is the hour for real action." The German environment minister then took on the US directly, saying "the challenge remains that of convincing the Americans that they have a responsibility -- also for their own citizens who suffer from climate change." According to Gabriel, the US position makes it easier for developing nations to sit back and do nothing about reducing their own emissions. Countries such as India and China, said Gabriel, "have the attitude: 'if the industrialized nations don't take responsibility, then why should developing countries do so?' The only solution is to continue negotiations with the Americans and to put them under pressure."

Under Merkel's leadership, the EU has set ambitious targets for cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020. A similar goal has been set for increasing the use of renewable energy resources. The EU also leads negotiations in preparation of a post-Kyoto agreement by the UNFCCC.

However, the influential German newspaper Financial Times Deutschland predicts the G8 summit, which takes place from Wednesday to Friday, will mark Merkel's "greatest foreign policy defeat" to date at the hands of Bush.

More information:
Jurnalo: EU head Barroso slams Bush climate plans, predicts failure at G8 - June 1, 2007.

EU Observer: Europe questions US conversion on climate change - June 1, 2007.

Euro Today: EU leaders greet new strategy with caution - June 1, 2007.

BBC: US seeks new greenhouse gas goals - May 31, 2007.

Washington Post: US rejects EU emission reductions - May 29, 2007.

Der Spiegel: Gloves Off in Row on Climate Change - May 29, 2007.

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The bioeconomy at work: conductive biopolymer made from soybeans

Researchers from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (UAEM) and its Laboratorio de Síntesis y Caracterización de Materiales, recently investigated the electrical properties of composites based on acrylated-epoxidized soybean oil (AESO)-co-butyl methacrylate (BMA) with carbon black (CB). Their findings are reported in AZojomo, a materials sciences journal.

Polymer matrix composites with carbon black - a petroleum product - are very interesting materials. This is so because the carbon black can be used as filler material and can beneficially modify the electrical and mechanical properties of the used matrixes. The polymer components of these composites are traditionally made using oleo-polymers, derived from crude oil; however, an alternative is to use natural and renewable sources as soybean oil, palm oil, linseed oil or sunflower oil.

Polymers derived from those natural oils are taking importance in different areas such as engineering and aeronautics due to the fact that their mechanical properties can be improved by reinforcing them with natural and synthetic fibers and clays, among others. Recently electrical properties were reported pointing that percolation concentration of carbon nanotubes was around 1%. So, polymers obtained from renewable sources are good candidates for being used in conductive polymeric composites:
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: soybeans :: bioplastics :: biopolymer :: biodegradable :: conductivity :: bioeconomy ::

The composites investigated by the Mexican team were obtained by in situ copolymerization of the above-mentioned monomers with Vulcan XC72 CB. Examination of the resultant materials has shown that the transition from the dielectric state to the conductive state could be achieved by:

• Varying the carbon black concentration in the polymeric matrix
• Varying the different monomers proportion that conform the polymer matrix

The researchers found that when the carbon black concentration is changed the electrical resistivity shows a typical behavior of ordinary conductive polymer composites:

However, the electrical percolation threshold for the AESO:BMA system is reached at lower values than those reported for commercial oleo polymer-based composites. These findings could lead to commercial applications of the materials in antistatic shielding materials and solven sensors.

More information:
Eurekalert: Conductive plastics made from natural, renewable, environmentally friendly soybeans - May 29, 2007.

S. Hernández-López, E. Vigueras-Santiago, J. Mercado-Posadas and V. Sanchez-Mendieta, "Electrical Properties of Acrylated Epoxidized Soybean Oil Polymers Based Composites", AZojmo, Open Access Rewards System (AZo-OARS) article, Volume 3 May 2007, DOI : 10.2240/azojomo0236.

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Research warns 'dangerous climate change' may be imminent - carbon negative bioenergy now

NASA and Columbia University Earth Institute research finds that human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth’s climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet. From a combination of climate models, satellite data, and paleoclimate records the scientists conclude that the West Antarctic ice sheet, Arctic ice cover, and regions providing fresh water sources and species habitat are under threat from continued global warming. The research appears in the current issue of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. It warns that 10 more years of "business as usual" - emitting greenhouse gases as we are doing now - will result in irreversible and destructive climate change. The time to act is now. And we must intervene radically.

Carbon-negative bioenergy
The research finds that what has been called 'dangerous climate change' and 'abrupt climate change' (ACC) is becoming ever more likely. ACC scenarios have not been the topic of much discussion because they are a dark shadow that haunts policy makers, governments and businesses alike. Abrupt and dangerous climate change involves tipping points the consequences of which cannot be prevented and which would have disastrous, irreversible impacts on major ecosystems:

Abrupt Climate Change (ACC - NAS, 2001) is an issue that ‘haunts the climate change problem’ (IPCC, 2001) but has been neglected by policy makers up to now, maybe for want of practicable measures for effective response, save for risky geo-engineering.

This is what Peter Read and Jonathan Lermit of ACCStrategy write in their paper entitled "Bio-Energy with Carbon Storage (BECS): a Sequential Decision Approach to the threat of Abrupt Climate Change" [*.pdf] (and see earlier post). The Abrupt Climate Change Strategy group (ACCStrategy) is one of the few organisations devoted to developing precautionary strategies that must prepare us for potential abrupt climate change becoming imminent.

Their major contribution is the study of how carbon-negative bioenergy systems offer a feasible geo-engineering option to mitigate dangerous climate change.

Negative emissions energy systems are key to responding to ACC because – taking account of rising levels on non-CO2 greenhouse gases, for which no means exists for accelerating natural removal processes – the need may be to get to CO2 levels below pre-industrial. This cannot be done by natural absorption, even with zero emissions energy [such as wind, solar, nuclear].

A portfolio of Bio-Energy with Carbon Storage (BECS) technologies, yielding negative emissions energy, may be seen as benign, low risk, geo-engineering that is the key to being prepared for ACC. The nature of sequential decisions, taken in response to the evolution of currently unknown events, is discussed. The impact of such decisions on land use change is related to a specific bio-energy conversion technology. The effects of a precautionary strategy, possibly leading to eventual land use change on a large scale, is modeled.

Given the new NASA and Columbia University Earth Institute research, the time is now to start implementing BECS on a large scale. In practise, BECS requires us to plant energy crops on a vast scale, use them massively instead of coal, natural gas and oil, while sequestring their carbon into soils or into geological formations like saline aquifers, or depleted oil and gas fields. One way of sequestring the crops' carbon - by storing it into soils - is low-tech, the other, based on 'carbon capture and storage' (CCS) techniques is high-tech. Both result in carbon-negative energy systems that can clean past greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere and prevent ACC from happening. According to Read and Lermit:

Under strong assumptions appropriate to imminent ACC, pre-industrial CO-levels can be restored by mid-century using BECS. Addressed to ACC rather than Kyoto’s implicit focus on gradual climate change, a robust strategy related to Art 3.3 of the Convention may provide the basis for rapprochement between Kyoto Parties and other Annex 1 Parties.

In other words, BECS can tie up all countries into a single geo-engineering project, with some providing bioenergy feedstocks en masse to be used by the others that now rely on climate destructive fossil fuels.

Tipping points
The NASA and Columbia University scientists found that tipping points can occur during climate change when the climate reaches a state such that strong amplifying feedbacks are activated by only moderate additional warming. Their study finds that global warming of 0.6ºC in the past 30 years has been driven mainly by increasing greenhouse gases, and only moderate additional climate forcing is likely to set in motion disintegration of the West Antarctic ice sheet and Arctic sea ice. Amplifying feedbacks include increased absorption of sunlight as melting exposes darker surfaces and speedup of iceberg discharge as the warming ocean melts ice shelves that otherwise inhibit ice flow:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: dangerous climate change :: abrupt climate change :: carbon sequestration :: biomass :: bioenergy with carbon storage :: CCS :: carbon negative :: biochar ::

The researchers used data on earlier warm periods in Earth’s history to estimate climate impacts as a function of global temperature, climate models to simulate global warming, and satellite data to verify ongoing changes. Lead author James Hansen, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, concludes: “If global emissions of carbon dioxide continue to rise at the rate of the past decade, this research shows that there will be disastrous effects, including increasingly rapid sea level rise, increased frequency of droughts and floods, and increased stress on wildlife and plants due to rapidly shifting climate zones.”

The researchers also investigate what would be needed to avert large climate change, thus helping define practical implications of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. That treaty, signed in 1992 by the United States and almost all nations of the world, has the goal to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gases “at a level that prevents dangerous human-made interference with the climate system.”

Based on climate model studies and the history of the Earth the authors conclude that additional global warming of about 1ºC (1.8ºF) or more, above global temperature in 2000, is likely to be dangerous. In turn, the temperature limit has implications for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), which has already increased from the pre-industrial level of 280 parts per million (ppm) to 383 ppm today and is rising by about 2 ppm per year. According to study co-author Makiko Sato of Columbia’s Earth Institute, “the temperature limit implies that CO2 exceeding 450 ppm is almost surely dangerous, and the ceiling may be even lower.”

The study also shows that the reduction of non-carbon dioxide forcings such as methane and black soot can offset some CO2 increase, but only to a limited extent. Hansen notes that “we probably need a full court press on both CO2 emission rates and non-CO2 forcings, to avoid tipping points and save Arctic sea ice and the West Antarctic ice sheet.”

A computer model developed by the Goddard Institute was used to simulate climate from 1880 through today. The model included a more comprehensive set of natural and human-made climate forcings than previous studies, including changes in solar radiation, volcanic particles, human-made greenhouse gases, fine particles such as soot, the effect of the particles on clouds and land use. Extensive evaluation of the model’s ability to simulate climate change is contained in a companion paper to be published in Climate Dynamics.

Business as usual
The authors use the model for climate simulations of the 21st century using both ‘business-as-usual’ growth of greenhouse gas emissions and an ‘alternative scenario’ in which emissions decrease slowly in the next few decades and then rapidly to achieve stabilization of atmospheric CO2 amount by the end of the century. Climate changes are so large with ‘business-as-usual’, with additional global warming of 2-3ºC (3.6-5.4ºF) (image, click to enlarge) that Hansen concludes “‘business-as-usual’ would be a guarantee of global and regional disasters.”

However, the study finds much less severe climate change – one-quarter to one-third that of the "business-as-usual" scenario – when greenhouse gas emissions follow the alternative scenario. “Climate effects may still be substantial in the 'alternative scenario’, but there is a better chance to adapt to the changes and find other ways to further reduce the climate change,” said Sato.

While the researchers say it is still possible to achieve the “alternative scenario,” they note that significant actions will be required to do so. Emissions must begin to slow soon. “With another decade of ‘business-as-usual’ it becomes impractical to achieve the ‘alternative scenario’ because of the energy infrastructure that would be in place” says Hansen.

More information:
J. Hansen, M. Sato, R. Ruedy, P. Kharecha, A. Lacis, R. Miller, L. Nazarenko, K. Lo, G. A. Schmidt, G. Russell, I. Aleinov, S. Bauer, E. Baum, B. Cairns, V. Canuto, M. Chandler, Y. Cheng, A. Cohen, A. Del Genio, G. Faluvegi, E. Fleming, A. Friend, T. Hall, C. Jackman, J. Jonas, M. Kelley, N. Y. Kiang, D. Koch, G. Labow, J. Lerner, S. Menon, T. Novakov, V. Oinas, Ja. Perlwitz, Ju. Perlwitz, D. Rind, A. Romanou, R. Schmunk, D. Shindell, P. Stone, S. Sun, D. Streets, N. Tausnev, D. Thresher, N. Unger, M. Yao, and S. Zhang, "Dangerous human-made interference with climate: a GISS modelE study" [*.pdf], Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 7, 2287–2312, 2007.

P. Read and J. R. Lermit, "Bio-energy with carbon storage(BECS): a sequential decision approach to the threat of abrupt climate change" [*.pdf], Energy, November 2005, vol. 30, no14, pp. 2654-2671 [*pdf - link to full article located at ACCStrategy)

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Nigeria to power telecom base stations with biofuels

A young Nigerian entrepreneur, Husainin Solomon, has risen up to the challenge to satisfy the quest of mobile telecom operators’ search for cheap energy in the country, by producing biofuels as a competitive and green alternative fuel to power base stations.

Mobile phone use in Nigeria and in Africa in general has skyrocketed over the past few years, contributing greatly to social and economic development. According to some analysts, the number of cellphones in Africa has increased from 7.5 million to 76.8 million, putting phones in the hands of roughly one in ten Africans. Mobile phones are being used very creatively in agriculture, trade, education, health care and in small businesses. They even provide a tool for grassroots politics and drive social change. Soon, the phones may be used to gain generic internet access, which would truly revolutionise life in rural Africa.

But energy supplies to power base stations are erratic and have become a major hurdle to expanding the sector. Electricity in Nigeria, both in urban and rural areas is epileptic. Thus most of the 6,000 installed base stations in the country are being powered by generators, using prohibitively costly diesel fuel. Biofuels may offer a way out. A pilot scheme to use the green fuels to power such base stations is now underway in Lagos, Nigeria's megacity. Soyabean based biodiesel is being used to power a sub-urban base station owned by MTN Nigeria in a six-month trial. The pilot scheme is being funded by the GSM Association Development Fund, Ericsson, together with MTN Nigeria (earlier post). Similar trials are under way in rural India.

Olabode Sowumi, head of Corporate and Marketing Communications of Ericsson, West and East Africa, explained how the biodiesel production and distribution process works. "The biodiesel is produced from crops that are rich in oil like groundnut, soya bean, palm oil and so on. A local entrepreneur can buy excess of the crops from farmers and convert the biomass into biofuel, using a special processing plant. The biofuel is then sold to the telecommunications operator."

Keywords of the system are decentralisation, local ownership, renewability and energy security. Husainin Solomon has emerged as the first local entrepreneur to buy into the idea. Putting up his own money and creativity, the young man approached Diamond Bank Plc, and the bank promptly invested 20 million naira (€116,000/US$ 156,000) in the concept, under its Bright Idea initiative. The investment is large, by Nigerian standards. Solomon:

The market is there, two telecom giants have approached me for the oil, because they are having problems fuelling their base stations across the country. So, what we are going to do is very simple: get people to cluster around about 10 base stations and they produce the oil and we put it in the generators and it will work. If not, it will be difficult and one day we will wake up and they will not be able to run the base stations.

The young entrepreneur, who spoke with the Daily Sun in an exclusive interview, argued that the biofuel concept can help solve the hydra-headed issues of power supply in the country. Interestingly, he points at the opportunity biofuels bring to help alleviate poverty, and especially to relieve the socio-economic crisis in the Niger Delta - an idea that is being shared by more and more people (amongst them Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras - earlier post):
bioenergy ::sustainability :: biodiesel :: palm oil :: soybean :: groundnut :: biofuels :: mobile phones :: cellphones :: telecommunications :: energy :: energy security :: Nigeria :: Africa ::

Background
I had a brief working opportunity in South Africa, working on a soya beans farm. The farm went a step ahead to roll out a diesel refinery, using soy oil. I was lucky to be among the people who installed the diesel energy system, called the Mopomulanga plant in South Africa. Biofuel from the plant is being piped directly into homes. The South Africans don’t have our kind of oil, but they get their fuel from coal and now biofuels.

After sometime, I decided to return to Nigeria to start something on my own. Initially, I started by creating awareness among local cooperative society, informing them about the benefits of the improved soya bean seedlings I brought from South Africa.

While I was doing that, I saw the advert of the Diamond Bright Idea and I approached them and the bank bought the idea and that has culminated in an equity investment of N20million in the biodiesel-for-base-stations concept.

Government
It is good that Nigerian government is talking about bioethanol, getting petrol from cassava, maize and sugar cane, using the Brazilian example. My take is that if the Nigerian government is doing this with ethanol, they should not neglect biodiesel because it is another essential sector of the energy industry. More so, it’s cheaper and adaptable to modern engines. Both Ford and BMW motors have come to approve the use of biofuels in their cars.

I realise that energy is the bedrock of any economic growth. Once there is an energy crisis, the economy is in trouble. This is why I am coming into the sector and I believe government must support this initiative.

Solution to Niger-Delta problem
You can imagine if Kogi is producing biofuel oil, and Niger-Deltans are not likely to continue to say don’t take our oil. With huge investment in bio-fuel we can complement the oil producing areas without necessarily destroying or damaging the soil.

Nigerian economy
The Nigerian economy is ready for this invention. Right now, the incoming president has been talking about energy. He has no option than to decentralize energy. A village of about 600 people can produce her own fuel from her feedstock, and put it into generator and it gives them light.

Challenges
The major challenge is people who may look down at the project because it’s a new sector. Nigerians are used to the usual fossil fuel for long, so if you are talking about an alternative source of oil it seems you are coming from the moon.

Another challenge is in the area of regulation. In Nigeria, because we are not prepared for it there is no sound regulatory authority that accommodates small-scale energy production by small groups. All the same, we are working towards establishing an enabling regulation to encourage such farming projects.

Fossil fuel and Bio-Diesel cost comparism
The technology for producing biodiesel is very cheap, so the cost of production is also cheaper . We are not looking at a gigantic plant; it’s a room-size plant, with about 30 people to run the production process.

Diamond Bank Bright Idea
Diamond Bank came in as equity partners in the project, and that is good for us and that will afford us to do some basic things. Now, we have passed the regulatory test, we can do a bigger pilot project, look at the adaptability, acceptability and then enlighten others in the industry so they understand what we are talking about.

The money given to us is not a loan, we are not paying back, but they will be sharing in the profit, so that the Bright Idea project will continue indefinitely. We will run the projects for the next five years, and we will pay them Net Profit Valuation (NPV), at the end of the five years.

More information:
Biopact: Ericsson, GSMA and MTN to use biofuels to expand mobile coverage in developing world - October 11, 2006

Biopact: Biofuels to expand mobile coverage in rural India - February 08, 2007

The Daily Sun (Nigeria): Behold! Nigerian who powers GSM base stations with soya beans bio-diesel - May 30, 2007.

NextBillion: Africa: The Impact of Mobile Phones - May 6, 2005.

The Feature: Farmers, Phones and Markets: Mobile Technology In Rural Development - Feb. 15, 2005.

My Heart is in Accra: Draft paper on mobile phones and activism - April 9, 2007.

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The bioeconomy at work: renewable products from palm empty fruit bunches

Palm oil may have a bad reputation for the role it plays in tropical deforestation, but is definitely here to stay, as the industry is highly profitable and offers a ready replacement for petroleum products, prices of which will keep rising. However, in order to limit the expansion of plantations, it is crucial to get the most out of each hectare of the plantations that already exist. One way to do so is by recuperating the vast waste-streams that result from the processing of palm fruits. If these waste streams can be turned into value-added products, the pace of the expansion of new plantations may be somewhat slowed down.

For each tonne of crude palm oil (CPO) produced from fresh fruit bunches, the following 'waste' products become available: around 6 tonnes of waste palm fronds, 1 ton of palm trunks (after a life-cycle of 25 years per tree, and at 150 trees per hectare), 5 tons of empty fruit bunches (EFB, photo), 1 ton of press fiber (from the mesocarp of the fruit), half a ton of palm kernel endocarp, 250kg of palm kernel press cake, and 100 tonnes of palm oil mill effluent (POME). In short, a palm oil plantation yields a vast stream of biomass that is currently not used in a productive way (earlier post). Often, it is burned in the open air, or left to settle in ponds where the degrading biomass emits methane.

Over the past few years, many research efforts have been undertaken to make use of these waste products. Some of those look at utilizing the biomass as an energy source for green electricity and power (to power palm oil mills) or as a feedstock for the production of second-generation biofuels. Others have shown that a whole range of bio-based products can be made from the residues - products such as renewable and biodegradable plastics, packaging, paper and specialty products such as geo-textiles (photo).

One company very active on this front is Malaysia's Ecofuture Bhd, which commissioned its fourth palm oil by-product processing factory last month. Worth 50 million ringgit (€10.9/US$14.7 million) "our new factory will be in full swing next year and we have received fresh sales orders from overseas," Ecofuture executive chairman and managing director Yeo Kim Luang Yeo told reporters.

Ecofuture manufactures biodegradable, toxic-free, compostable and microwaveable food/general packaging products made or recycled from EFB fibres. Its latest plant produces non-wood virgin pulp, a feedstock for paper making. The plant is expected to produce between 1,000 and 1,500 tonnes of non-wood virgin pulp monthly, also derived from empty fruit bunches of oil palm fruits and sold at between 2,040 and 2,380 ringgit (€446 to €520/US$600 and US$700) a tonne, considerably above CPO prices:
bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: palm oil :: waste :: biomass :: biodegredable :: bioproducts :: Malaysia :: bioeconomy ::

Ecofuture's four factories are all located within the same compund in Segamat, Johor. Yeo said the company has received orders from Canada and it is also looking at possible tie-ups with local companies to produce more of the non-wood virgin pulp.

"This is a huge scientific breakthrough for the company and a good opportunity for our country to convert biomass into products such as manufacturing papers, prints, corrugated cartons and paper-based products."

Ecofuture products further include fibrous sand mats and food packaging materials under the brandname Ecomat, Ecopak and Ecofibre. Ecofuture was listed on the Mesdaq market of Bursa Malaysia in January 2005 and exports half of its products overseas to China, the Philippines, Canada, US, Australia, European and West Asian countries and Taiwan.

For the year ended December 31 2006, Ecofuture posted a lower pre-tax profit of 674,843 rupiah from 2.1 million ringgit a year ago due to the floods in Johor which affected the quality of its oil palm fruit brunches in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Its revenue, however, rose to 80.1 million ringgit from 69.1 million ringgit following the higher turnover achieved by the milling operations and higher crude palm oil prices.

Image: geo-textiles made from fibres from the processing of palm fruits. The 'empty fruit bunches' offer high strength fibres that can be woven into specialty textiles, such as those used to deal with slope and erosion problems.

More information:
Fibre products made from empty fruit bunches