Research News
The installation of the second building phase of the Bioliq process pilot facility is eagerly pursued. The final containers for feeding the high pressure entrained flow gasifier were delivered to the fuel depot and mounted on their tank pits. (screenshot from YouTube)
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Bio Fuels: The Second Generation
Discussion about the new E10 fuel containing up to ten percent ethanol from sugar cane continues to be topical. Whereas car owners fear that E10 may damage the motor, scientists point towards bio fuels from monocultures of sugar cane, wheat or maize as not yet being an optimal solution. Quite the contrary: The cultivation of energy plants in monocultures requires intensive use of fertilisers and therefore has a negative effect on soils and the water balance.
Furthermore, the large-scale monoculture cultivation practice increasingly destroys the habitats of endangered species. This was confirmed by research conducted by UFZ scientists around Dr Daniela Thrän. The UFZ researchers demonstrated, that the ecological balance would be far more positive, if one was to give preference to mixed cropping or perennial energy plants such as woods or grass rather than to maintain monocultures, or if at least broad natural aisles for flora and fauna were kept intact between the fields. Even more sensible would be to recycle residual materials such as straw, wood or green waste in the production of bio fuels, as they already accumulate in large amounts in agriculture and forestry.
From these materials, second generation bio fuels can be produced. The process is called Biomass to Liquid and moreover, the so-called BtL fuels can be adapted to various types of motors. One of the largest pilot facilities for this process is based at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The Bioliq process developed there has yet another advantage: Whereas so far biomass from agriculture needs to be transported in its unprocessed state to a central facility and thus impairing the ecological balance by high consumption of petrol during transport, the Bioliq process compacts the biomass on site to create a so-called bioliqSynCrude® with an energy density of more than ten times that of the raw material.
Only this compacted product then needs to be transported to the central facility. Heat and energy originating during the processing cover a large part of the process's energy demand, further improving the CO2 balance of BtL fuel. On experimental scale in the laboratory, the process works satisfactory. In building the pilot facility, the intention now is to demonstrate the process's large-scale feasibility. Currently, the second building phase is being pressed ahead. In the fuel depot, the final containers for feeding the high pressure entrained flow gasifier were delivered and mounted on their tank pits.
