Global overview of biodiesel

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Biodiesel has developed vigorously around the world in recent years. This chapter introduces the current basic situation of global biodiesel development and provides reference for the commercial use of biodiesel.

Section 1 Basic Overview of Global Biodiesel

Biodiesel has developed rapidly in recent years, with Europe developing the fastest. The EU mainly uses rapeseed as raw material to produce biodiesel. In 2001, the output exceeded 100×104t, and is expected to reach 230×104t in 2003 and 830×104t in 2010. Germany invested 50 million marks in the Heide area in 2001 to build a biodiesel plant with an annual output of 10 × 104 tons. There are now more than 90 biodiesel gas stations. Biodiesel is widely used in Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, and Audi cars. Italy implements a zero-tax policy for biodiesel and currently has 8 biodiesel production plants with a total production capacity of 75.2 × 104 t/year. France also implements a zero-tax policy for biodiesel and currently has seven biodiesel production plants. There are three biodiesel production plants in Austria, with a total production capacity of 5.5 × 104t/year, and the tax rate is only 4.6% of petroleum diesel. There are 2 biodiesel production plants in Belgium, with a total production capacity of 24×lO4t/year. The United States mainly uses soybeans as raw materials to produce biodiesel. There are currently 4 biodiesel production plants with a total production capacity of 30 × 104 t/year. It is planned to produce 115 × 104 t by 2011. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy, in 2001 Biodiesel consumption in the United States is 8.5×lO4 t. Some Asian countries are also actively developing the biodiesel industry. Japan was an early country to study biodiesel. In 1999, it established an industrial experimental base for producing biodiesel using frying oil as raw material. At present, Japan's annual biodiesel output has reached 40×104t. Thailand's first biodiesel unit has been put into operation. Thai Petroleum Company has promised to purchase 7×104 tons of palm oil and 2×104 tons of coconut oil every year and implement tax exemption policies. South Korea and others are also promoting the use of biodiesel nationwide.

1. Policies and Laws

In recent years, legal norms in many countries have been formulated and are in the implementation stage. These legal norms have been changed according to different policy goals and incentives. , the specific situation is as follows:

Reducing the risk of local emission of harmful pollutants (such as CO, HC, PM, NOX, PAH):

A typical case is the "Clean Air Act" ( USA), "Fuel Quality Standards" (EU), "EPA Standards for Off-Road Engines" (USA), "EURO Emission Standards" for private cars and trucks defined in "Fuel Emission Projects I and II" (EU ).

Reduce the risks of greenhouse gas emissions and resulting climate change.

The EU's newly promulgated "Biodiesel Application Promotion Law" and Germany's addition of a special greenhouse effect tax on the basis of the mineral oil fuel tax; ACEA's free agreement and the European Commission's 2008 emission reduction The material limit is 140g CO2/km.

Reducing the risk of energy supply in transportation:

US EPA Act; EU’s newly promulgated “Act to Promote the Use of Biodiesel”

Reduce the production of toxic residues environmental risks.

The "regulations" state that all boats operating on Lake Constance must only use biodegradable fuel. Furthermore, macroeconomic factors such as regulatory adjustments to create jobs and improve trade balance are also commonly involved.

2. Raw material sources and applicability

In reports before December 1997, rapeseed oil was the dominant raw material in global commercial biodiesel production. This situation is more obvious when analyzing the major biodiesel producing countries of Germany, France, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovakia and Sweden.

However, this situation has changed a lot at present, and a mixture of various raw materials has become its main source of raw materials:

Rapeseed oil: due to its superior properties (such as relatively high oxidation stability, iodine Value IV below 120, acceptable winter operability and high rapeseed yield per unit area) have allowed rapeseed oil to dominate the feedstock market.

Sunflower oil: In the past, sunflower yields were lower than rapeseed, but it is a representative choice in countries with warm and dry weather. The iodine value (IV) of sunflower oil exceeds 120 (the European standard EN14214 requires less than 120), so this oil can be mixed with oils with lower iodine values.

Recycled waste oil and tallow: In many places, this oil is relatively cheap and offers good profit margins. There are some cleaning parameter requirements in the European biodiesel fuel standard EN14241, and some recycled waste greases (such as greases with high polymer content) cannot meet these requirements. In order to enable the recycled materials to meet the specified quality requirements, a "fine cleaning recycling method" should be established. The successful model is embodied in the practice of 130 McDonald's restaurants in Austria. These restaurants can generate more than 1,300 tons of high-quality waste grease every year, which is processed through the efficient cleaning collection system "Olli?".

Soybean oil: This raw material is a good choice in the United States, Argentina and other soybean-producing countries, but because the IV of soybean oil is also higher than 120, it cannot meet the EN14214 standard. Since the American standard ASTM D-6751-02 has no restrictions on IV, soybean oil can be used in the United States. In order to meet European standards soybean oil must be used as a blend of multiple raw materials.

Palm oil: As early as 1987, it was reported that Malaysian palm oil methyl ester had been used in Mercedes-Benz buses. Due to the limitation of cold filtering point (CFPP is 11°C), the biggest drawback of this biodiesel is its use in cold weather conditions, but it can also be mixed with a variety of raw materials.

Other sources of raw materials: The full potential of available and used oil reserves has not yet been discovered. Many oil plants deserve our attention. The following have been tested: Nicaragua uses jatropha oil. Producing biodiesel; Greece has tested cottonseed oil; India is interested in sal, mahua and neem oil.

New oil: In order for biodiesel to have excellent characteristics, the characteristics of fatty acids have the following requirements:

The lowest possible standard for polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linolenic acid (18:3) to improve oxidative stability.

The highest possible standard of monounsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid (18:1) to ensure improved stability during winter operations.

The lowest possible standard of saturated fatty acids such as palmitic acid (16:0) and stearic acid (18:0) to improve winter operability.

These new varieties are already grown and used (high oleic acid rapeseed and sunflower, low linoleic acid rapeseed) and represent an attractive feedstock source in terms of biodiesel quality.

3. Development of process technology

Industrialized production process technology has developed significantly since early 1988. As established biodiesel standards increase the demand for high-quality products and the number of modern diesel engines continues to increase, biodiesel production switches from single batch processes to more complex continuous process technologies, such as methyl esters and glycerol. Rapid liquid-liquid separation and more sophisticated purification processes ensure that the final biodiesel reaches at least the quality of standard EN 14214 or higher.

Generally speaking, in the early stages of launching biodiesel projects, various countries used a simple process of single-step transesterification and only conducted basic purification tests. Such products will not meet the requirements of modern diesel engines. High standard fuel requirements.

IV. Standards and quality management of biodiesel fuel

For all consumer groups (especially diesel engine and motorcycle manufacturers), the guarantee of fuel quality is the development of biodiesel fuel. Key factors for diesel.

In addition to the existing parameters related to petrodiesel (such as cetane number and carbon residue), new indicators and analytical methods have been developed related to this compound, such as monoglycerides, diglycerides and triglycerides standard.

In 1994, Austria promulgated the first biodiesel standard ON C 1190 applicable to rapeseed methyl ester (RME), and subsequently published the standard applicable to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) in July 1997. Standard ON C 1191, which allows for a wider range of feedstocks for biodiesel production.

Other countries have also promulgated standards for FAME, such as the Czech Republic (CSN 65 6507), France (according to the country’s laws), Italy (CUNA NC 635-01), Sweden ( SS 15 54 36) and Germany (DIN E 51606).

In order to introduce EU standards, the European Commission appointed CEN to prepare standards for the minimum requirements and testing methods of biodiesel. The work was carried out by several organizations in late 1997. In the autumn of 2003 the official document of the new standard EN 14214 for fatty acid methyl esters was published and the European Understanding Agreement on Quality Standards for Biodiesel was established.

ASTM has also established biodiesel standards for the United States and published the "Standard Specification for Biodiesel Fuel (B100) Blend Materials for Distillate Fuels" (ASTM D-6751-02) in 2002.

After Australia announced its standards for fatty acid methyl esters in September 2003 (combining some standards from Europe and the United States), the Australian Department of Environment and Heritage published a "Biodiesel National Standard Discussion Document."

It is worth mentioning that the superior lubricity of biodiesel has been praised by various distributors, but this advantage has not been mentioned in any past biodiesel standards.

5. Market operation strategy

Undoubtedly, we can see quite a lot of operation strategies in different markets, which are summarized as follows:

A) Product strategy

In gas stations, if biodiesel is sold as pure fuel, there is no obvious product difference compared with petrochemical diesel in terms of competitiveness; some existing advantages (such as lubricity or ultra-low sulfur content ) is not promoted to consumers. As such, biodiesel is often marketed as a cheap fuel (eg Austria).

Another product strategy is to blend biodiesel into petrodiesel at a ratio of more than 5% at the refinery, and then pump it into fuel pumps for anonymous sales (such as France).

B) Quality strategy

1) Quality labeling strategy: Biodiesel is sold with a purity of 100 and is distinguished by different product qualities. Quality labels are used on the pumps to indicate, In this way, consumers can distinguish product quality through product information sheets (such as Germany). This would also serve to protect producers of standard quality biodiesel from inferior products.

2) Trademark strategy: Fuel (pure fuel or mixture with petrochemical diesel 1-20) is distinguished by special trademarks (such as "Soygold", "Envirodiesel", "Bio-Plus", "GlobalDiesel" "). Different advantages are promoted and associated with different price strategies (e.g. US, UK).

Section 2 Development Status Around the World

1. Europe

Since EU regulations directly or indirectly affect most European countries, in Introduction to individual EU countries is preceded by a reference to a special EU chapter. This information covers reporting information for all European countries. The details are as follows.

1.1 European Union

Development status

1987

Commercially driven biodiesel in Europe began in Austria with its first industrialization The biodiesel production plant was put into operation in 1991, followed by Germany, France and Italy.

The 1992 reform of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy pointed out that the use of some land for food production had led to European agricultural surpluses, and adopted the private land policy. This policy stimulated the use of private plots for the production of non-food grains.

1998

As a result of the 1997 Kyoto Conference on climate change, EU member states decided in June 1998 to reduce emissions to 8% of 1990 levels by 2012. A substantial increase in the use of renewable energy sources, including liquid biofuels, is important to achieve this challenging goal.

2003

Driven by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation system and increasing the security of energy supply, the European Council and the European Parliament adopted the "European Promotion of Biofuels Use" in May instructions".

European biodiesel production has made a substantial leap forward over the past few years. From 1996 to 2002, biodiesel production capacity increased fourfold to approximately 2 million tons.

Policies and Laws

The European Union Energy Agency DG XVII launched and published the "Future Energy: Renewable Energy - White Paper on the Unified Strategy and Action Plan" in 1998.

The white paper calls for the market share of renewable energy to increase from 5.3 in 1995 to 12 in 2010. And it is expected to produce the following results:

·Reduce greenhouse gases by 400 million tons,

·Reduce the extraction of petrochemical resources

·Add 500,000 jobs

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·Develop new technologies and improve export market opportunities

The target for biofuels in 2003 was set at 5 million tons (crude oil equivalent); in 2010 it was 18 million tons.

In November 2000, the European Union Transport and Energy Agency DG TREN published a green paper "European Energy Supply Security Strategy" to solve a key issue, that is, to strengthen the substantive security of energy supply. sex.

In May 2003, the "European Norms for Promoting the Use of Biofuels" was promulgated. Its goal is to achieve a certain market share of biofuel sales in each member country, and requires a market share of 2 in 2005. By 2010 it reached 5.75.

A mandatory mixing provision initially introduced was terminated. Each country should be free to choose its development path to suit market share requirements. For many countries, the goal of completing the plan may be two years away.

In 1996, inspired by DG XI of the European Environmental Council and advocated by the European Fuel Emissions Project, the "Quality Specification for Gasoline and Diesel Fuels" (Directive 98/70/EC) was introduced. The main purpose of this directive is to reduce tailpipe emissions (sulfur, nitrogen oxides, incompletely burned hydrogen and particulate matter, carbon monoxide, etc.) and greenhouse gas emissions.

To further improve air quality standards (reducing sulfur content to a maximum of 10mg/kg), including a target of no more than 120g/km of average CO2 emissions from off-road mobile machinery and communities (biodiesel is a super Low-sulfur renewable fuels can meet strict indicator requirements). The above indicators were revised to the 2003/17/EC indicators in March 2003.

Regarding Europe’s obligations under the Kyoto Agreement in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstr?m pointed out: “EU Foreign Ministers have emphasized their commitment to the obligations of the Kyoto Agreement and are ready to approve the implementation of this obligation. ". The statement was released on June 12, 2001, as a final answer to the earlier hesitation of some countries towards the Kyoto Agreement.

Appropriate solutions to the Kyoto targets are incorporated into the Directive on Promotion of the Use of Biofuels and the Directive on Fuel Quality.

The MacSarry European Union Common Agricultural Policy (CPA) reform promulgated in 1992 can provide the industry with a large number of competitive sources of raw materials by relying on non-food private land.

Due to the natural variability of private land, it cannot provide enough raw materials for biodiesel production every year, especially from 1997 to 1998, which caused major problems in raw material supply.

In order to ensure a continuous supply of raw materials for the biodiesel industry, the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform was reformed again at the Berlin Foreign Ministers Conference in March 1999: from 2000 to 2006 A 10 base rate for private plots is enforced.

In Europe, a large number of legal regulations provide for liquid biofuels to enjoy many tax breaks and other financial incentives:

In 1994, the first efforts to harmonize these regulations were made within Europe Take action:

Tax reduction plan (1994)

The first draft of the "European Directive" to support the development of biofuels (bioethanol and biodiesel) in Europe was adopted in 1994 The draft proposes an overall tax relief package for the two biofuels mentioned above. The European Parliament has accepted such incentives, but consensus has not yet been reached in the European Council.

Currently, directives on the taxation of energy products are being discussed again, with the proposed tax reduction rising to 100%.

Raw material supply

Currently, rapeseed oil, as the most suitable raw material, occupies an absolutely dominant position in the supply of biodiesel raw materials, with an estimated share of approximately 95%, followed by sunflower oil. Oils, occupy a small share, followed by recycled grease and tallow.

The amount of land cleared for biodiesel decreased significantly from 1996 to 1998. This is mainly due to the reduction in the proportion of mandatory non-edible private plots in these years, resulting in a reduction in the supply of non-edible oil from the private plot area. As small ratios increased again, production also increased again.

It is expected that due to the sharp increase in raw material demand, in addition to non-edible rapeseed, edible rapeseed will also be used more for biodiesel production. This would add some variables outside the constraints of the Blair Parliamentary Agreement.

Recycling of vegetable oils and tallow has gained widespread attention as it represents a cheap feedstock supply that is not restricted by European land-use policies. However, these oils are available in limited quantities and require a strict quality control to ensure that collection is risk-free and meets the quality requirements of CEN standard EN14214 for indirect filming.

Technically, other vegetable oils are also very suitable as feedstock sources for biodiesel, such as soybean oil (US, Argentina) and palm oil (Malaysia), and these countries have expressed their concerns about the entry of these vegetable oils into the fuel market. Be optimistic.

Quality Management

In 1997, the European Commission appointed CEN to develop standards for minimum requirements and test methods for biodiesel. During the draft period, it was decided that both applications would use the same provisions:

FAME as sole diesel fuel, and FAME mixed with EN590 diesel fuel.

In 2001 the following two drafts were published and a 6-month investigation process was conducted:

PrEN 14214—FAME as locomotive fuel for diesel engines

PrEN 14213—FAME for use as heating oil

It includes a national review, and the final standard is adopted by a formal vote. Effective March 4, 2003, this standard is used to define worldwide requirements for high-quality biodiesel.

Product Development

Biodiesel products have increased significantly since 1992. The statistics for Europe in 2001 were approximately 780,000 tons, which was 14 times that of 1992. The current trend is for production capacity to grow faster than the actual product and biodiesel sales markets.

The main biodiesel producers in the 15 EU countries in 2001 were Germany (market share 45), France (40), Italy (10), Austria (4) and Sweden (1).

As shown in the figure, the growth of biodiesel production capacity has reached about 2 million tons. Germany is the main developing country. However, its factory production and actual consumption lag behind. This is because the main investments are tending to factories. Rarely invested in market development.

Market Strategy

In 2003, about 35-40% of Europeans used diesel-powered passenger cars, and this trend will further increase, as the locomotives are equipped with modern diesel engines. Improving energy efficiency under low CO2 emission standards can reduce fuel consumption, making diesel engines more attractive. There will also be continued increases in heavy and light transportation.

In terms of marketing strategies, we can see huge differences between the different approaches, as shown below:

100 units of pure biodiesel are sold by specific roadside dispensers (such as Germany, Austria)

No distinction mark is added when the amount of mixture in petrochemical diesel exceeds 5% (such as France)

Mix biodiesel in the amount of 5% in petrochemical diesel and add a special Trademark (such as the United Kingdom)

Mix 30-40 biodiesel in petrochemical diesel and add a special trademark (such as the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom)

Summary

The European Commission has specified a basic framework for the development of liquid biofuels in the EU based on a series of new guidance for transport and energy, agriculture and the environment. From 2005 to 2010, the demand for biodiesel products is determined by the following countries (15 EU countries):

On May 1, 2004, the 10 preliminary member states (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, After Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia join, the total biofuel production of the 25 EU countries will further increase.