استفاده از انرژی بازیافت زباله (بیوگاز) در روستاهای مازندران

در روستاهای منطقه کوهستانی یخکش مازندران پروژه ای به منظور استفاده از انرژی های نو ( بیوگاز حاصل از بازیافت زباله ) و به جای سوزاندن هیزم و قطع درختان انجام شده است. جمعیت روستایی این منطقه حدود ۱۰۰۰۰ نفر است که منبع اصلی انرژی آنها جهت پخت و پز و گرمایش چوب درختان جنگلی بوده است. این پروژه شامل آموزش مردم این مناطق در مورد حفاظت از محیط زیست و جلب مشارکت آنها در طراحی و ساخت پایگاه بیوگاز روستایی می باشد. این پروژه با همکاری سازمان بهینه سازی مصرف سوخت ، برنامه عمران سازمان ملل و انجمن متخصصین محیط زیست ایران انجام شده است.

منبع: سایت انجمن متخصصان محیط زیست ایران

خداحافظ بنزین

            استکهلمیان - عمر بنزین بعنوان سوخت اتوموبیل حداقل در سوئد به پایان
            خود نزدیک می شود.  زبان آمار به اندازه کافی گویاست, میزان فروش
            اتوموبیلهای جدید با سوخت بیو اتانول  و  دیزل که به "اتوموبیلهای محیط
            زیستی" مشهورند مرتبا افزایش یافته و فروش اتوموبیلهای جدید با سوخت
            بنزین مرتبا کاهش می یابد.

            سرعت و  شدت این روند در حدی است که با اطمینان پیش بینی شده است که
            اتوموبیلهایی که تنها با سوخت بنزین حرکت می کنند در طی چند سال آینده
            بکلی از بازار سوئد حذف خواهند شد. در طی چند سال آینده تنها مشتریانی
            که مایل به خرید انواع بسیار غیر معمولی از اتوموبیل باشند قادر به
            خرید اتوموبیلهای قابل استفاده با سوختی که تا همین اواخر تمامی بازار
            را در تسخیر خود داشت خواهند بود. به عبارت دیگر شمارش معکوس مرگ بنزین
            بعنوان سوخت اتوموبیل در سوئد آغاز شده و از عمر این آشنای قدیمی مدت
            زیادی باقی نمانده است.

            به اعلام کمپانی اتوموبیل سازی  ولوو در سوئد تناسب سوخت موتور در
            اتوموبیلهای این شرکت در حال حاضر (دسامبر 2007) به صورت زیر است: 40
            درصد سوخت بیو اتانول, 40 درصد سوخت دیزل و 20 درصد سوخت بنزین. ولوو
            پیش بینی می کند که در طی سال 2008 حدود 17000 اتوموبیل محیط زیستی که
            از سوختی غیر از بنزین استفاده می کنند به فروش خواهد رساند.

            بزودی همه تولید کنندگان مارکهای معروف اتوموبیل یک یا چند اتوموبیل با
            سوخت بیو اتانول را در کلکسیون خود خواهند داشت تا توان رقابت در بازار
            سوئد را از دست ندهند.

            محبوبترین اتومبیلهای محیط زیستی سوئد و نوع سوخت آنها
            بنا بر آمار منتشر شده در سوئد مدلهای اتوموبیل زیر محبوبترین انواع
            اتوموبیلهای محیط زیستی در این کشور بوده اند.

            Saab 9-5,  Biopower  E85
            Ford Focus,  Flexifuel  E85
            Saab 9-3, Biopower E85
            Volvo V50, Flexifuel E85
            Toyota Aygo, bensin

ASTM approves new biodiesel blend standards

ASTM approves new biodiesel blend standards

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) approved standards for biodiesel blends on June 19. The changes will take effect within three to five months once the final standards are published.

Three provisions were approved. The conventional petrodiesel specification (ASTM D 975) can now contain up to 5% biodiesel. The updated standard means No. 2 diesel can now include B5 and still be considered the same fuel without labelling the blend.

The second change added a cold filtration test to the B100 specification (ASTM D 6751). The additional test should assure buyers that the B100 will not contain certain precipitates that can cause filter plugging in cold weather.

The third change created specifications for blends between B6 and B20 for on-and off-road diesel. The new specifications will allow the testing of a biodiesel blend against the ASTM numbers for physical verification of quality, rather than relying solely upon the paperwork.

The new ASTM standards will also provide original engine manufacturers (OEM) with specifications for engine testing, possibly resulting in OEM approval of higher blends. Nearly all major car manufacturers in the US accept the use of at least B5, while Cummins, New Holland and Caterpillar are already accepting B20 or higher, according to the National Biodiesel Board.

     

Lufthansa aims to fly on biofuel mix by 2020

Lufthansa aims to fly on biofuel mix by 2020

Deutsche Lufthansa plans to fly on jet fuel mixed with 10% biofuel by 2020.

The commitment to use biofuel is part of an environmental strategy released by the German airline yesterday. The strategy also aims to reduce the airline's carbon emissions per flown kilometre by 25% in 2020 as compared to the emission level in 2006.

The biofuel used will be drawn from non-food sources such as algae, according to Lufthansa's spokesperson Peter Schneckenleitner. Lufthansa is the third commercial airline after Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand planning to switch to biofuels.

Air New Zealand plans to use biofuel to meet 10% of its fuel needs within the next five years. The Auckland-based airline expects to test fly a Boeing 747-400 Rolls-Royce powered plane on a jatropha-based biodiesel in Q4 2008, subject to final regulatory approvals and fuel testing by the engine manufacturer.

Last year, Virgin Atlantic indicated plans to operate commercially on biofuel-powered aircraft within five years. Virgin is working with Boeing and GE Aviation to test fly plans a jet fuel mix that will include biofuel from sustainable sources.

Neste to build biodiesel plant in Netherlands

Neste to build biodiesel plant in Netherlands

Neste Oil's Porvoo refinery is one of the most sophisticated and efficient refineries in Europe, and focuses on the production of high quality, low-emission traffic fuels

Finland's Neste Oil has announced it will build a biodiesel plant, its fourth such plant investment so far, in the Dutch city of Rotterdam to meet the growing demand for biofuels.

The plant will cost about €670 million and will have an annual capacity of 800,000 tonnes. Construction will begin immediately and is due for completion in 2011.

Neste, which aims to become the world's leading producer of renewable diesel fuel, already has one 170,000 tonnes per year plant producing its proprietary biodiesel NExBTL operating in Porvoo, southern Finland, and it is building a second similar one next to it, due to be ready next year.

In November, Neste announced a €550 million investment to build an 800,000 tonne a year biodiesel plant in Singapore and it has said it was considering other plants.

The Finnish refiner said it would use the same partners for the Netherlands project as in Singapore and that Technip's Italian unit would be the main contractor. Air Liquide will supply the hydrogen required for the process.

'Rotterdam is Europe's largest centre of petroleum products and chemicals production, and offers a wide range of dedicated services, as well as port facilities - all of which makes Rotterdam an ideal location for a NExBTL plant,' Neste's CEO Risto Rinne said in a statement.

NExBTL is one of the strategic cornerstones for Neste, which says the technology outperforms both existing biodiesel (FAME) products and crude oil-delivered diesel products available.

The company has said producers of the first-generation FAME biodiesel have been suffering from high and volatile feedstock prices, overcapacity and quality problems but that demand for Neste's NExBTL has remained strong.

Neste's technology can use various raw materials, and Neste said its ongoing R&D programme to come up with new renewable raw materials targets totally non-food raw material use at Neste's biodiesel plants by 2020

Smart Scandinavians: Using sewage to make gasoline

With gas prices at an all-time high, talk of alternative fuels is on the uprise. Last week the International Herald Tribune ran an interesting article on the use of biogas in Sweden. That’s right, the Scandinavian country known for meatballs, ABBA and gorgeous blonds is on the forefront of turning sewage waste into enough fuel to run thousands of buses and cars.

Biogas or bio methane refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter. It’s not only sewage that can be used; the Swedish government also converts confiscated alcohol smuggled at the border into a biogas used to fuel a train in the southeastern part of the country.

Cars that could use biogas began to be marketed on a large scale earlier in the decade. Since then they have become a hit; emissions are pretty much odorless, the fuel is cheaper than gasoline and many municipalities in Sweden have provided tax incentives for individuals running their vehicles on biogas. Plus for the eco-friendly minded, turning sewage into fuel seems pretty ideal. “When you’re in the bathroom in the morning and you can see something good come of that, it’s easy to be taken in by the idea - it’s like a utopia,” said Andreas Kask, a business consultant who drives a taxi in Gotheborg.

Two Swedish cities, Gothenburg and Boras, have been at the forefront of using biogas, fueling their fleets of buses, trucks and other city vehicles with the renewable fuel. Unfortunately, the future for biogas is unknown. With an increasing popularity in ethanol and driver complaints of too few filling stations, biogas has some obstacles to overcome. But as Bo Ramberg, chief executive of FordonsGas which operates the largest chain of biogas filling stations in Scandinavia, says, “we already strongly believe that biogas is the best fuel for lower emissions - no discussion about it.”

Swedish biogas tour

Swedish biogas tour provides glimpse into methane to natural gas process

Source: Western United Dairymen Weekly News Update July 23, 2004

The Swedish biogas industry provided a hands-on learning experience for a recent touring group of California dairy and bio-energy experts interested in learning how to capture and clean the methane that rises from manure lagoons on California dairies, creating a renewable source of natural gas.

The eight-person delegation is the nucleus of a group studying how to create renewable methane cow manure. The group is funded by a $300,000 grant from the USDA Rural Development that is being administered by Western United Dairymen. The project is a collaborative effort that draws on some of the most knowledgeable people and organizations in the fields of biogas production, pollution mitigation, transportation, and renewable energy use.

The year-long project's goal is to examine the technical and financial feasibility of producing renewable methane from dairy biogas as a value-added product for use either on the farm and/or as a substitute for natural gas in the California fuel market.

Sweden has 20 energy plants that utilize a variety of organic wastes - - including source separated household waste, animal manure, food processing wastes and slaughterhouse wastes. The waste materials are anaerobically digested to produce biogas. The biogas is then upgraded by removing the hydrogen sulfide, moisture and Co2, creating a natural gas that is useable as a fuel in motor vehicles.

Centralized anaerobic digester in Linkoping, Sweden.

Biogas fuels a wide variety of vehicles in Sweden and is seen as an economically viable fuel in a country where gasoline prices run around $6 to $7 a gallon, said Allen Dusault of Sustainable Conservation, one of the group who visited biogas production facilities.

“The biogas industry is a thriving proposition in Sweden,” said Dusault. “We met with a wide group of business people, engineers and elected officials who are very enthusiastic about the potential of biogas. They see its practical applications on a day to day basis. The trip provided us with a very good base of knowledge for our study of how we might be able to create a renewable source of fuel from methane.”

                                                                                                                                                                                        Plant in Boras, Sweden upgrades biogas to renewable methane

Members of the group include Dusault; James Boyd, a commissioner with the California Energy Commission; Ken Krich, Sustainable Conservation; John Boesel and Brad Rutledge, Cal Start; Neil Clifton, Inland Empire Utility Agency; Rob Williams, UC Davis; and Dara Salour, RCM Digesters.

• Click here to download the entire 51-page report on the trip (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

• Click here for photogallery of Sweden trip