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Science Forum Index » Energy - Hydrogen Forum » Green Diesel
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| Pluto |
 Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:12 pm |
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Refinery supplier UOP intros green diesel.
June 19, 2007 - Exclusive
By Dana Childs, inside greentech
Venerable petroleum refinery supplier UOP, formed in 1914, today announced
its first renewable fuel process, and a commercial biofuel facility based on
the new technology.
UOP and massive European refiner Eni S.p.A. (NYSE: ENI) announced today that
Eni will build a production facility using the company's new refining
process, branded EcofiningT, and will produce high performance premium green
diesel fuel-and not conventional biodiesel-from various vegetable oils.
The facility, to be located in Livorno, Italy, will process an initially
modest amount of oil, up to 6,500 barrels per day, to produce a high-cetane
value diesel fuel.
The refinery's nameplate yield is being kept confidential by the two
companies for now.
It is to be the first facility to use the Ecofining technology, and is
expected to come online in 2009.
UOP's Ecofining process uses a catalytic hydroprocessing process to convert
vegetable oils like soy, rapeseed, palm oils and others to a green diesel
fuel. The product, a direct substitute for diesel fuel, features a cetane
value (the measure of the combustion quality of diesel) of approximately 80,
the company claims.
Diesel found at pumps today ranges from 40 to 60 cetane. So the new fuel
gives refiners ways to enhance existing diesel fuels and "expand the diesel
pool," UOP says.
Jennifer Holmgren, director of UOP's Renewable Energy & Chemicals business
unit, explained to Inside Greentech that UOP's process adds hydrogen to the
vegetable oil, rather than the methanol used in conventional biodiesel
processes.
In doing so, it removes the oxygen normally found in biodiesel, leaving only
isoparaffins and paraffins, which are "indistinguishable from the molecules
in conventional petroleum diesel," she said.
Advantages of its process, according to Holmgren, include full compatibility
for the fuel with today's distribution infrastructure and engines, as well
as accurate control over the fuel's cloud point, regardless of feedstock.
"In biodiesel, the cloud points and cold flow properties are very much
dependent on the specific vegetable oil you buy. If it's palm, you get a
different cloud point. This is important, as running a bus in Minnesota in
the winter is different than running it in the summer in Florida."
Even though the hydrogen it uses in its process is usually derived from the
same fossil fuels as methanol used in biodiesel, UOP claims its process can
be more environmentally sound.
"Yes, both methanol for biodiesel and hydrogen start life as natural gas. In
biodiesel, the side product you get is glycerol. However, our side product
is propane, and you can get hydrogen from propane. Technically, if you do it
that way, 100 percent of your product can come from renewables," she said. |
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| BradGuth |
| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:00 am |
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Too bad this "green diesel" can't be utilized along with h2o2.
Green Diesel + h2o2 = 100+ mpg in a Hummer H2
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Brad Guth |
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| Eeyore |
| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:07 am |
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BradGuth wrote:
Quote: Too bad this "green diesel" can't be utilized along with h2o2.
Green Diesel + h2o2 = 100+ mpg in a Hummer H2
Don't be ridiculous.
Graham |
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