Presentation For: 2008 Texas Oilseed Workshop Texas AgriLife Extension 2008

Presentation For:2008 Texas Oilseed WorkshopTexas AgriLife Extension 2008

Sustainable Biodiesel AllianceCreating a better world through sustainable community based biodiesel

Who We Are:

• The Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit

• Developing Standards and Practices for a Sustainable Biodiesel Industry

• Founded to differentiate sustainable and non-sustainable biodiesel

• To protect and encourage community based biodiesel production


What We Do:

• Stakeholder Work Group Process to Develop Sustainable Practices

• Develop Baseline Practices for Sustainability (BPS).

• Create Tools for Sustainable Biodiesel Supply Chains

• Educate and Create Outreach Programs for Producers and End Users

• Support Sustainable Biodiesel Models Through Market Initiatives


Sustainability Defined

“Sustainability is the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations' abilities to meet their own needs.”

-U.S. Environmental Protection Agency


Sustainable Biodiesel

"Sustainable biodiesel is biodiesel that is produced in a manner that, on a lifecycle basis, minimizes the generation of pollution, including greenhouse gases; reduces competition for, and use of, natural resources and energy; reduces waste generation; preserves habitat and ecosystems; maintains or improves soils; avoids use of genetically modified organisms; and provides community economic benefit that results in jobs and fair labor conditions.”

-Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance


Sustainability Metrics

• Production and processing must not reduce soil, air or water quality

• Production of biodiesel must contribute to local prosperity

• Production of biodiesel must contribute towards the well-being of employees and local populations

• GMOs must be proven safe and beneficial to avoid invasive species


Sustainability Metrics

• The use of biodiesel must, on average, emit fewer greenhouse gases than fossil fuels (Lifecycle Analysis)

• The production of biodiesel must not endanger food supply

• Biodiesel production should not impair protected or vulnerable biodiversity


Objections to Biodiesel

• Food vs. Fuel– Sound Bite Describing Complex Market

Relationships• Land Use Change

– Direct and Indirect• Agricultural intensification and its environmental

consequences• Free trade effects on local economies


Objections to Biodiesel

• Objections are mostly associated with scale issues

• Large scale centralized models tend to offset carbon benefit

• Community benefit must be prioritized


Ag Energy

• Everything comes down to BtUs.

• Growing crops for energy is not a new idea

• Up to 30% of cultivated land was used to grow feed for Horsepower


Market Opportunities

• On-farm Biodiesel• Farm to Market

– Contract with biodiesel refinery

– Contract with Broker


Case Study: State Line’s On Farm Biodiesel Operation


Oilseed Crops

•The National Renewable Energy Lab reports that both canola and sunflower seeds contain 40% oil, and given average yields of 1,374 and 1,349 lb/acre, respectively, should each yield the equivalent of about 70 gallons per acre of biodiesel.


Harvesting and Storage

•The most challenging aspects of optimizing oilseed crop production in Vermont is harvesting and storage.

•Difficulties include scarcity of and familiarity with equipment, optimal timing, and having access to enough equipment to provide flexibility in using the best technique for a given crop and season.

•State Line Biofuels has a 1960s Massey Harris combine (pictured right, fitted to harvest sunflowers) that harvested all its oilseed crops.


Seed Processing

•Seed must be cleaned and dried for efficient processing

•The square piece of machinery in the middle of the room is a Eclipse model 324 seed cleaner. To make high-quality oil, enhance seed storage, and protect the seed presses, cleaning the seed to remove chaff, weeds, and other impurities is necessary.

• Un cleaned seed stored with chaff caused the seed to heat up. This can reduce the quality of the seed meal, and potentially reduce oil quality if enough molding occurs.


Seed Press

•StateLine uses a Taby Pressen Model 70 seed press (pictured above), purchased from Sweden, is pressing sunflower seeds into meal (the black material in the container). •Approximate cost $8500

Feed and Fuel

http://www.oilpress.com/type70.htm

http://www.oilpress.com/type70.htm


Seed Storage

•State Line Biofuels has experienced a significant challenge posed by the need to dry and store harvested oilseeds.

•The use of a solar hot water system (pictured above) to power a grain dryer dries the grain in half the time compared to an ambient air drying system. •Additionally, the solar hot water system can be used to heat the biodiesel barn, raise the temperature of pressed oil for conversion to biodiesel and may be used for the recovery of methanol following biodiesel production.•Once dried, the seeds are gravity fed into an auger that delivers them to the seed press inside the barn.


Solar Grain Dryer


Biodiesel Processor

•StateLine developed a 400 gallon batch system for biodiesel production

•The unit in the foreground is a 400 gallon reaction tank that gets filled with vegetable oil. The middle unit is a 115 gallon mix tank where alcohol and hydroxide are mixed before being pumped into the reaction tank

•The 500 gallon conical tank furthest to the left is the settling tank


Conclusion

•On farm biodiesel production can be successful

•Understanding harvest and storage techniques of oilseed crops is critical

•Must identify oilseed crops that work for your region

•Texas must evaluate existing resources and promote regional models that support communities first

•All models must consider the triple bottom line


Links

Sustainable Biodiesel Alliancewww.fuelresponsibly.orgVermont Sustainable Jobs Fundwww.vsjf.orgBorderview Farmswww.vsjf.org/biofuels/vermont_biofuels_initiative.BorderviewFarm.shtmlStateLine Biofuelswww.vsjf.org/biofuels/vermont_biofuels_initiative.StateLine.shtml

Jeff PlowmanExecutive [email protected]

Thank You!


On Farm Biodiesel Production

•In summer 2005, State Line Farm started by building a small processor in the old barn (pictured right•They made sixty gallon batches to figure out the process and, by September, had made nine hundred gallons, plenty to run three John Deere tractors and one Kubota on B100. •Pressing oil is generally not compatible with a barn or equipment shop because of dust entering the process, inevitable oil spills, and the need for separating processing from foot and vehicle traffic patterns.


Process

• Multiple Sustainability Criteria Efforts Currently Underway

• SBA is developing a Market Initiative not a Policy Initiative

• Intending to Promote Sustainable Community Based Model Without Constraining Innovation

• Evolve as Policy and Science Improve• Transparent Process with Public Input

– Work Group– Forum– Summit


• Pilot Programs to Field Test Practices– Commitment to Certification– Baseline Audit to Establish 1,3,5 Year Improvement

Goals– Ranking System for Production Systems– Create Sourcing Tools for Fleet Managers– Procurement Tools for Biodiesel Producers

• Ultimately Third-Party Certification in Fall 2009

What's Next:


Biodiesel Defined

Biodiesel is : a methyl ester that meets or exceeds

ASTM D 6751

Documents

Presentation For: 2008 Texas Oilseed Workshop Texas AgriLife Extension 2008