OUTLOOK Pathways to Renewable Fuels
SOURCE: ADVANCED BIOFUELS COALITION
McAdams says the Advanced Biofuels Association represents companies from all ends of the advanced biofuels spectrum—from UOP LLC, A Honeywell company, (green diesel/ jet fuel) to the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (sugarcane ethanol) to Solazyme Inc. (algae-based diesel) to Neste Oil Corp. (renewable diesel). Advocating technology neutrality, McAdams recognizes that out of the myriad of current and up-andcoming companies, only a minority will find a stable role in the fuel market. “The market will choose the winners and losers,” he says. “We believe in that, rather than letting public policy choose. The market allocates resources better, and the market will make those determinations better than if something is prescribed in statute.” So what would make an advanced biofuel more apt to be embraced by the market? Production barriers aside, McAdams says there are five characteristics a perfect advanced biofuel should possess: scalability, fungibility, energy density, affordability and environmental sustainability/friendliness.
Favorable Characteristics A fuel produced in small quantities in a laboratory or at pilot scale won’t necessarily scale-up in the same way. Part of achieving a successful scale-up is securing a steady and sustainable feedstock supply, as the amount required dramatically increases. “A process needs to be tied to a feedstock that’s available in a quantity such that you could make a lot of it, in a way that would help achieve [U.S.] energy diversity and security goals,” McAdams says. Once the fuel is successfully scaled to commercial quantities and is ready for the market, fungibility becomes an issue. “There are many companies using a range of platforms to
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Larox – Separates the Best from the Rest www.larox.com Larox Ceramec Hoesch Pannevis Scanmec Scheibler 7|2010 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 33