Troll the Ancient Waste-Oil Carol : FFA la la la la la la la la la

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) “On the way” forever, talked up by all, deployed by some – technologies that handle high free fatty acid feedstocks like used cooking oil are coming into their hey-day, via players like REG, Novozymes, Pacific Biodiesel, Blue Sun, Piedmont, COMAC and more. ...
For example, used cooking oil, or “gutter oil” as it is known in China. At one time a few years back, restaurants would pay to have it picked up. These days, used cooking oil is sold, but at a considerable discount to virgin oils like soy or rapeseed — and that spells opportunity for those who have the technology to address conversion of high free fatty acid feedstocks.
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The race for FFAs heated up this week with news from Denmark of the launch of Novozymes Eversa, the first commercially available enzymatic solution to make biodiesel from waste oils. The enzymatic process converts used cooking oil or other lower grade oils into biodiesel. The resulting biodiesel is sold to the same trade specification as biodiesel created through traditional chemical processing. Piedmont Biofuels and Blue Sun Biodiesel have been using a Novozymes process — now, it’s poised for a break-out.
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The impact for biodiesel producers in being able to handle used cooking oil was demonstrated this week in Hawaii when Hawaiian Electric and Pacific Biodiesel Technologies signed a contract for the Maui-based biofuel company to supply biodiesel processed from waste cooking oil and other local feedstocks, primarily for use at the 110-megawatt Campbell Industrial Park generation facility with the capability for use at other O`ahu power plants as needed.
“The new technology installed at Big Island Biodiesel enables us to process the most degraded feedstock into the highest quality biodiesel available in the United States,” said Robert King, president of Pacific Biodiesel.
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“This new contract accomplishes our goal of using locally produced biofuel to the greatest extent possible,” said Alan Oshima, Hawaiian Electric president and CEO. “Biodiesel for the Campbell Industrial Park plant will come from Pacific Biodiesel’s recently commissioned Hawai`i Island refinery at a lower price than we now pay for mainland supplied biodiesel.”
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In the Emirates, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and Tadweer, the Center of Waste Management – Abu Dhabi have inked a two-year R&D pact to explore improvements in technologies for the conversion of waste cooking oil to biodiesel. The groups will be joined in the project by Australia’s Laboratory for Turbulence Research in Aerospace and Combustion, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Sydney. Principal investigator for the two-year effort will be Dr. Isam Janajreh, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Head of the Waste to Energy (W2E) Laboratory at Masdar Institute.
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In China, Boeing and Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China opened a demonstration facility that will turn waste cooking oil, commonly referred to as “gutter oil” in China, into sustainable aviation biofuel. The two companies estimate that 500 million gallons (1.8 billion liters) of biofuel could be made annually in China from used cooking oil.
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Biofuel produced by the China-U.S. Aviation Biofuel Pilot Project will meet international specifications approved in 2011 for jet fuel made from plant oils and animal fats. This type of biofuel has already been used for more than 1,600 commercial flights.
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Last month, SAS Airlines and Norwegian Air flew their first flights on biofuels, with a 48% blend with 52% fossil aviation fuel. The companies’ intention is to promote demand so fuel will be produced from Norwegian forests, rather than the used cooking oil feedstock used in the launch. Norwegian flew from Trondheim to Oslo while SAS flew from Bergen to Oslo.
Back in September, Finnair flew a A330 from Helsinki to New York partially on used cooking fuel-based jet fuel to highlight the opening of the UN Climate Summit.
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In October, Lootah Biofuels has signed an agreement with Emirates Transguard, a leading security provider, to provide biodiesel for a B5 blend for the fleet. Lootah uses old cooking oil as their feedstock. The agreement aims at taking up the initiative for greener fuel option as well as reduction of UCO waste, thereby creating value for the green economy and environment. The UAE is making strides in incorporating biodiesel into their public transit system, as well. The Roads and Transport Authority plans to expand to 60 biodiesel-based buses in the fleet in the next three years.
Last month, Greasecycle added the University of British Columbia to its list of used cooking oil suppliers for its biodiesel supply chain, but the university will also get to send its students—already working on biodiesel—to work with the company first hand on research projects. READ MORE and MORE (Hawaii 24/7) and MORE (Novozymes) and MORE (Hawaiian Electric)