Louisiana biofuel plant due to produce in 2010 By James Ronald Skains A Dynamic Fuels, LLC spokesman, Gary Mickelson, told the Piney Woods Journal that its $150 million plant to convert animal fats, vegetable oil and a by-product oil from the production of pulp and paper will be on line before the end of the third quarter of 2010. The plant is located near the Mississippi River at Geismar, Louisiana, in the "chemical corridor" between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and is the largest-capacity synthetic fuels project in the Southern Gulf coast area, according to a recent survey. "Our plant, that is a joint venture project between Tyson Foods, Inc. and Syntroleum Corporation to produce next generation renewable energy is scheduled for start up very soon," Mickelson of Tyson Foods stated. "Our annual capacity using the proprietary Bio-Synfining (tm) at Geismar is 75 million gallons," Mickelson elaborated. "That is about 200,000 gallons per day." The diesel fuel produced using the Bio-Synfining (tm) process is supposed to produce the lowest emission transportation fuel on the market according to the Dynamic Fuels website. The Dynamic Fuels diesel will be sold within the existing petroleum distribution system with no alterations needed in existing diesel engines. "The contractor on the project achieved mechanical completion on the Dynamic Fuels plant on July 9," Mickelson continued. "We are going through our startup phase making sure that everything is working properly." Jeff Bigger, director of the Dynamic Fuels Management Committee noted in a press release dated July 15, 2010, "The commissioning activities we have in progress include flushing of all lines, verifying operation of the control system and installation of catalyst and absorbents. We currently expect to begin making fuel and ramping up production rates during the latter stages of the third quarter of 2010." In the same news release, Bob Ames, vice president of Renewable Energy for Tyson Foods made these comments: "We're pleased with customer interest in our fuel and the sales arrangements that we have made so far. We're anxious to begin producing and selling our renewable fuel products, which have measurable performance and environmental advantages over conventional petroleum-based fuels." "The first shipment of feedstock has been received at the plant and has been used for testing." Mickelson told the Journal. "The first shipment was beef tallow. However, other animal fats, oils and greases will soon arrive at the plant. We currently have 44 permanent full-time positions on site and 13 full-time start-up support personnel," Mickelson added. Dynamic Fuels had originally predicted a full-time staff of 65. The in-plant staff does not included the dozens of people involved in the handling and transportation of the feedstock nor distribution of the finished product. "We have no definite plans underway for another facility of this kind but that is certainly our long term objective to have multiple plants using animal renderings, fats and greases to produce a premium grade of renewable fuels," Mickelson pointed out. Mickelson did note that Dynamic Fuels has one large customer for their fuels but would not elaborate on this customer. The Dynamic Fuels website touts the interest of the US Air Force for their aviation fuel and the Department of Energy for its support of the project. "The Bio-Synfining (tm) uses a hydro treating process similar to the process used by the petroleum refining process," the Dynamic Fuels website elaborates on their operation. "The triglyceride is reacted with hydrogen in the presence of a metallic catalyst to produce Synthetic diesel, naphtha, and Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)." According to a report from the Economic Research Service of the USDA, the United States from a broad perspective has the potential to produce a significant volume of biomass on a sustainable basis, enough to produce about 60 billion gallons of gasoline equivalents, or about a third of current US fossil fuel demand (140 billion gallons of gasoline demand and 40 billion gallons of diesel demand). In this same USDA report, it is noted that the US biofuel capacity should reach about 88 millions gallons in 2010 thanks in large measure to the Dynamic Fuels, LLC plant becoming commercially operational in 2010. Tyson Food, Inc. was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas. It is one of the world's largest processors and marketers of chicken, beef and pork, the second-largest food production company in the Fortune 500 and a member of the S&P 500. On the other hand, Syntroleum Corporation owns the Bio-Synfining (tm) technology for converting inedible animal fat and vegetable oil feed stocks into middle distillate products such as renewable diesel and jet fuel. The USDA report, written by William T. Coyle, says that based on company reports and other sources of information, total production capacity for next-generation biofuels, including cellulosic biofuel, biobutanol and biobased petroleum equivalents will increase from 88 million gallons in 2010 to more than 350 million gallons in 2012. The role for agriculture could be substantial as the next-generation sector expands, according to the Coyle USDA report. Biomass inventory studies conclude that agricultural biomass is the most plentiful feedstock relative to other sources, including forestry products and municipal waste. Next-generation biofuels refer to biofuels made using advanced technologies that greatly expand the potential to use widely available biomass, including woody biomass and wood waste. Other sources on the list include crop residues, dedicated energy crops such as switch grass, energy cane, and biomass sorghum, municipal solid waste and algae. However, a report in ScienceDaily in 2008 notes that some next-generation biofuels such as biobutanol, green gasoline, and green diesel may use traditional feed stocks such as sugar beets, corn, sugarcane, animal fats, and vegetable oils. According to the Coyle USDA report, there are three significant conversion pathways for producing next-generation biofuels: one biochemical - hydrolysis, and two thermo-chemical - gasification and pyrolysis. Each pathway involves breaking down of biomass into intermediate compounds - sugars, Syngas and bio oil - and then converting them into various fuels, primarily ethanol, but also biobutanol, and petroleum equivalent fuels. The Hydrolysis method is the decomposition of a compound by reaction with water. The gasification method of converting biomass involves the heating of the biomass to a high temperature around 800 degrees C with limited oxygen. The pyrolysis method of conversion involves heating the biomass to a lower temperature than gasification in the absence of oxygen to produce bio oil, biochar (like charcoal) and pyrolysis vapors. The bio oil is then refined to produce various petroleum-equivalent fuels. The USDA estimates that there are about 30 next-generation biofuel companies developing biochemical, thermo-chemical, and other approaches, and experimenting with a variety of feedstocks. |