report on investigation to build up technological...
TRANSCRIPT
Report on
Investigation to Build Up Technological Capability for Design, Scaling Up and Construction of Biodiesel Plant in Thailand
Submitted to: New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
(NEDO), Bangkok Office
By: 1. National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC),
National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) 2. Thailand Institute for Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR)
March 2008
i
Acknowledgement The authors would like to acknowledge NEDO (Thailand) for the financial support for this project. Also, the investigative survey trip to Japan is not possible without great assistance and facilitation from Mr. Atomo Yukimune, Dr. Chitsakon Pakjamsai, Ms. Butsaba Choosok, Dr. Yuji Yoshimura and Dr. Shinichi Goto.
Project Advisors NSTDA
Mr. Prayoon Shiowattana, Vice President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Paritud Bhandhubanyong, Senior Expert
Working Team Members
MTEC Assoc. Prof. Siriluck Nivitchanyong, Assistant Director
Dr. Samai Jai-in, Energy Specialist Dr. Nuwong Chollacoop, Researcher
Dr. Subongkoj Topaiboul, Researcher Ms. Vituruch Goodwin, Research Assistant
Mr. Ukrit Sahapatsombut, Research Assistant
TISTR Ms. Peesamai Jenvanitpanjakul, Deputy Governor
Dr. Siriporn Larpkiattaworn, Researcher Ms. Panida Thepkhun, Researcher
Mr. Yoothana Thanmongkhon, Researcher
ii
Abstract The present study has investigated status of design and engineering capabilities in Thailand, as well as in ASEAN countries like Malaysia and Lao PDR. Domestic survey of Thai R&D institutes (NSTDA/MTEC, TISTR and RTN) and commercial biodiesel plants (both in production and under construction) has revealed technological gaps between the present status and essential capabilities. All of biodiesel plants currently in production are all from Thai technology but still facing difficulties in achieving full designed capacities due to non-extensive experience in biodiesel processing and inferior cost-competitiveness. Throughout extensive discussion with various groups of Thai biodiesel industries, certain mechanisms are identified to help bridge these existing gaps, by identifying potential Japanese partners in biodiesel industries with technology know-how. The technology transfer channels from Japanese partners, both from R&D institutes and private sectors, are proposed as four possible working plans for building up of design and engineering capability for biodiesel plants in Thailand.
• First is to establish biodiesel plant design project to improve necessary skills for local researchers and engineers from Thai R&D institutes and private sectors.
• Second is to establish new demonstration biodiesel plant to be constructed by Thai constructors to improve experience with lesson learned for future plant design & construction.
• Third is to scrutinize competent Thai biodiesel plant with full cooperation to improve efficiency and cost-competitiveness from Japanese experts.
• Fourth is to establish collaborative projects with Japanese R&D institutes for new generation technologies to fulfill further gaps.
iii
Executive Summary Due to increasing oil price in the past few years coupling with the threat of climate change and the ensuing societal and environmental impacts, many oil-importing countries including Thailand has strived for other alternative sources of energy in order to reduce the cost of crude oil import and, at the same time, to reduce its carbon footprint. Among many others, biodiesel is very attractive in Thailand since Thailand is an agriculture based country with abundant biomass resources, and domestic fuel consumption for diesel is about twice (about 50 million LPD) that for gasoline. Nonetheless, the biodiesel conversion process may still require technology imported from other countries. As shown in Figure 1 with clear target of BDF domestic usage in Thai strategic plan for B5 by 2011 and B10 by 2012, respectively, Thailand would need BDF of 8.5 million LPD for the forecast diesel consumption of 85 million LPD in 2012 [1]. With a typical 200,000LPD BDF production capacity, Thailand would need about 43 plants nationwide to meet this target in the next four years. Hence, technological capability for biodiesel plant design, scaling up and construction is urgently needed in Thailand now.
Figure 1 Action plan for biodiesel development and promotion [1]
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With such a target to meet, many biodiesel plants have been built with many to come on-line in the near future. Unfortunately, many of them has turnkey technology imported from abroad while some plants built by domestic engineering firms face technical problems, which hamper the promotion of local capacity building of critical technology. The aim of the proposed investigation is to bridge the gap between the present domestic capability and the essential requirement, especially with the help from the Japanese R&D institute and/or engineering firms, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Methodology for the present investigation
Domestic survey and discussion with Thai biodiesel industry has revealed the following gaps.
1. Lack of Thai engineering firms who can provide one-stop service for EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) of biodiesel plant with production
Domestic BDF plant survey:Assessment of efficiency, cost, etc
Role model?
Yes Blueprint for next BDF plant
What to improve? How?
No
Can Thai do it?
Yes
No
How to capacity-building?
Blueprint for next BDF plant
1. Pretreat2. Process3. Post
Potential Thai firms
No
Yes
Identify Japanese partners
Find local capabilities
for Upscale?
Identify Thai firms & working mechanism
Identify bridging mechanism
Domestic BDF plant survey:Assessment of efficiency, cost, etc
Role model?
Yes Blueprint for next BDF plant
What to improve? How?
No
Can Thai do it?
Yes
No
How to capacity-building?
Blueprint for next BDF plant
1. Pretreat2. Process3. Post
Potential Thai firms
No
Yes
Identify Japanese partners
Find local capabilities
for Upscale?
Identify Thai firms & working mechanism
Identify bridging mechanism
v
capacity > 100,000 LPD and by-product utilization to meet designed production capacity.
2. Lack of general blueprint of BDF plant for medium scale production, < 100,000 LPD, for SMEs.
3. Lack of integrated process design firms with design capability on mass, energy and sequence balances control in chemical production plant, in particular on BDF plant scale-up with cost competitiveness.
4. Lack of detailed design on key equipment, reactor and its integration into processing system for efficient production.
5. Lack of SMEs with manufacturing capability on basic equipment for process control.
6. Lack of past performance in BDF process optimization, especially from CPO, which leads to insufficient confidence to guarantee process efficiency.
7. Lack of success stories on Thai technology for large-scale BDF production to convince investors.
8. Lack of private engineering company who would take research work in laboratory to commercialization.
which can be closed by the following mechanisms
1. Seek technology transfer rather than turnkey technology from abroad to build up domestic capability, where Thai R&D institutes (e.g. NSTDA and TISTR) serve as technical gateway with mutual agreement on intellectual property to ensure sincere corporation.
2. Carefully allow appropriate turnkey technology in order to leapfrog domestic supporting infrastructure in term of maintenance and repair (reverse engineering).
3. Learn QA (quality assurance) for general contractor and practice it in the BDF industry.
4. Scale up R&D works from pilot to commercial scale with help from senior experts from industry (could use retired domestic/abroad experts’ channel).
5. Increase skilled personnel for industry via training and education. 6. Establish demonstration BDF plant as a learning center to develop skilled
personnel and appropriate technology in Thailand.
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7. Select existing BDF plant for process improvement by collaborative efforts from domestic engineers/researchers and experts from abroad.
During the investigative survey trip in Japan, the following partners were identified for possible technological assistance.
1. Dr. Yoshimura and Dr. Goto at AIST (Tsukuba), with pioneered works in BDF technology, have uplifted both process development and engine utilization in Japan. They have been working closely with NSTDA/MTEC and TISTR since the NEDO funded project on “Upgrading and Standardization of Biodiesel Fuel Quality” (FY05-06).
2. With close collaboration with Dr. Yoshimura at AIST, Kimura Chemical Plant Co., LTD (KCPC) has established commercial BDF technology. The company (joint ventured with Hamada Kagaku Corp. and Green Industry) just built the first private BDF demonstration plant (or second commercial BDF plant in Japan to Kyoto Municipal plant) in Toyama with continuous process of 3,800 liters for every 7 hours (or 11,400 LPD). The meetings (one at KCPC headquarter in Hyogo and the other at Toyama BDF plant) went successfully with company sincere intention to help. Moreover, the company still works closely with Dr. Yoshimura of AIST.
3. Hamada Kagaku Corp. has specialized in used cooking oil logistics and pretreatment for BDF. The company is already exploring possibility to work on BDF project in Thailand.
4. Dr. Yuichiro Kato, ex-advisor to Revo International Inc. whose BDF technology was used in Kyoto Municipal BDF plant, constructed by Hitachi Zosen. During his time in Revo, Dr. Kato was a project supervisor to the BDF pilot plant construction in PTT, Thailand. During the meeting, he has expressed his interest to help since he is currently a freelance energy consultant.
with the following scenarios for possible working plans,
1. Biodiesel plant design training project by Kimura and/or other Japanese experts should be set up to improve necessary skills for local researchers and engineers
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from Thai R&D institutes and private sectors. The output of the project should follow engineering methodology and suit Thai potential raw materials.
2. Establish demonstration biodiesel plant in Thailand with technology transfer from Kimura and close collaboration from Dr. Yoshimura, Dr. Kato and other related Japanese experts to train and improve necessary skills for local researchers and engineers from Thai R&D institutes and private sectors. This plant will be constructed by Thai constructors to improve experience, with lesson learned to build up the confidence among related stakeholders.
3. Selectively scrutinize competent Thai BDF plant with willingness to collaborate with abovementioned Japanese partners to improve efficiency and cost-competitiveness with addition of supporting technologies, such as CPO pretreatment and glycerin purification.
4. Establish collaborative projects with Dr. Yoshimura, Dr. Kato and other related Japanese experts to transfer new generation technologies to Thai R&D institute for further fulfilling the foreseen gaps.
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Contents
Page
Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................................i Abstract.................................................................................................................................... ii Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... iii Contents ............................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures.........................................................................................................................xi List of Tables .........................................................................................................................xv
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms .................................................................................... xvi 1. Status of design and engineering capability of biodiesel related industry in Thailand .... 1
1.1 Research institutes ...................................................................................................... 1
1.1.1 National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC).................................. 1
1.1.2 Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR)................. 6
1.1.3 Royal Thai Navy (RTN) ...................................................................................... 10
1.2 Biodiesel Processing Plants ...................................................................................... 18
1.2.1 Verasuwan Co. LTD ........................................................................................... 18
1.2.2 Green Power Corporation................................................................................... 23
1.2.3 Bangkok Renewable Energy Co., Ltd ................................................................ 24
1.2.4 AI Energy Co., LTD ............................................................................................ 24
1.2.5 Under construction.............................................................................................. 26
1.2.5.1 Thai Oleo Chemical Co., LTD (TOL) .......................................................... 27
1.2.5.2 Pure Biodiesel Co., LTD (PBC) .................................................................. 30
1.2.5.3 The Southern Palm (1978) Co., Ltd............................................................ 31
1.2.5.4 New Biodiesel Co., Ltd................................................................................ 33
1.3 Biodiesel Supporting Industries ................................................................................. 33
1.3.1 Chumporn Palm Oil Industry Public Co., LTD (CPI) ......................................... 33
1.3.2 Great Agro Co., LTD .......................................................................................... 38
2. Status of design and engineering capability of biodiesel related industry in ASEAN.... 41
2.1 Malaysia ..................................................................................................................... 41
2.1.1 Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).................................................................... 42
2.1.2 MPOB Experimental Palm Oil Mill ..................................................................... 47
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2.1.3 Carotino............................................................................................................... 52
2.2 Lao PDR..................................................................................................................... 55
2.2.1 Ministry of Energy and Mines............................................................................. 55
2.2.2 Lao Institute of Renewable Energy (LIRE) ........................................................ 58
3. Gap between the present status and the essential capability ........................................ 61
3.1 Engineering firm and design capability ..................................................................... 61
3.2 Construction capability............................................................................................... 66
3.2.1 Turnkey construction firms ................................................................................. 66
3.2.2 Fabrication firms ................................................................................................. 70
3.3 Operation capability ................................................................................................... 73
4. Mechanism to help bridge the existing gap .................................................................... 74
4.1 Comparison between turnkey and domestic technologies ....................................... 74
4.1.1 Turnkey technologies.......................................................................................... 74
4.1.1.1 AT Agrar-Technik GmbH & Co. KG............................................................ 74
4.1.1.2 Desmet Ballestra ......................................................................................... 77
4.1.1.3 Lurgi ............................................................................................................. 78
4.1.1.4 MPOB .......................................................................................................... 81
4.1.1.5 Crown Iron Work ......................................................................................... 82
4.1.2 Domestic technologies........................................................................................ 86
4.2 Effective roles of NSTDA and TISTR........................................................................ 86
5. Potential Japanese partners to help bridge the gap....................................................... 87
5.1 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).............. 87
5.2 Kimura Chemical Plants Co., LTD ............................................................................ 89
5.3 Hamada Kagaku Corporation .................................................................................... 96
5.4 Toyama BDF Co., LTD.............................................................................................. 96
5.5 Kyoto Municipal Waste Edible Oil Fuel Production Facility.................................... 104
5.6 Dr. Yuichiro Kato...................................................................................................... 110
6. Possible working plan for building up of design and engineering capability in Thailand............................................................................................................................................ 113
7. Appendix......................................................................................................................... 114
7.1 Thai BDF standards................................................................................................. 114
7.1.1 Industrial BDF standard.................................................................................... 114
7.1.2 Community BDF standard ................................................................................ 114
x
7.2 Itinerary for Investigative Survey in Japan.............................................................. 114
7.3 Technical information of KCPC BDF system .......................................................... 119
8. References ..................................................................................................................... 125
xi
List of Figures
Page
Figure 1 Action plan for biodiesel development and promotion [1] ...................................... iii Figure 2 Methodology for the present investigation .............................................................. iv
Figure 3 Equipment at (a) Biofuel Testing lab and (b) Engine lab at MTEC to support biodiesel research activities ................................................................................................... 2
Figure 4 A small 5 liters/batch biodiesel reactor at MTEC for R&D..................................... 3
Figure 5 Some of MTEC biodiesel research works such as (a) jatropha oil extractor, (b) jatropha residue palletize machine, (c) acid value test kit and (d) farm truck used to develop engine compatible with 100% biodiesel................................................................... 5
Figure 6 A BDF pilot plant at Saraburi province under MOST King project [2] ................... 6
Figure 7 BDF mobile unit continuous process of 150 liters/day designed by TISTR .......... 7
Figure 8 (a) Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency Knowledge Center showing (b) BDF continuous process of 1,000 liters/day designed by TISTR ................................... 8
Figure 9 BDF batch reactor of 200 liters/batch designed by TISTR for BDF King project.. 9
Figure 10 BDF from PFAD batch reactor of 200 liters/batch designed by TISTR............. 10
Figure 11 BDF upgrading apparatus for hydrogenation process........................................ 10
Figure 12 Prototype of biodiesel reactor with production capacity of (a) 50 liters/day and (b) 2,000 liters/day ............................................................................................................... 11
Figure 13 (a) Schematic drawing and (b) current unit of commercial biodiesel reactor with production capacity of 100 liter/batch (RTN technology) .................................................... 13
Figure 14 Schematic illustration of biodiesel processing steps .......................................... 14
Figure 15 Schematic front- and top-view drawings of a semi-continuous batch reactor (2,000 liters/day capacity) .................................................................................................... 15
Figure 16 The 2,000 liter/day biodiesel reactor system at (a) Royal Chitralada Palace and (b) Chiang Mai plant, both for demonstration...................................................................... 16
Figure 17 Navy bus that runs on biodiesel ......................................................................... 17
Figure 18 A prototype of continuous biodiesel reactor system........................................... 17
Figure 19 (a) Verasuwan biodiesel plant with (b) the visiting team (Mr. Sawaeng is the 3rd person from the right) and the in-house capacity for construction & maintenance ........... 19
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Figure 20 (a) Top, (b) middle and (c) bottom sections of the distillation column used to treat biodiesel after transesterification at Verasuwan biodiesel plant................................. 21
Figure 21 Quality control lab to monitor biodiesel processing............................................ 22
Figure 22 Schematic drawing of glycerin produced from distillation technology................ 23
Figure 23 (a) Visiting team at AI Energy showing (b) reaction tank, (c) oil trucks with old label Pamola and (d) QC lab ............................................................................................... 26
Figure 24 (a) TOL raw materials and products and (b) chemical analysis lab .................. 28
Figure 25 (a) Visiting team at TOL showing (b) construction work in progress, (c) storage tanks for BDF and CPO and (d) control room for chemical process ................................. 29
Figure 26 (a) Visiting team at PBC showing (b) construction work in progress and (c) main equipment built in Malaysia.................................................................................................. 31
Figure 27 (a) The Southern Palm plant and (b) its logo..................................................... 32
Figure 28 CPI showing (a) oil palm loading area, (b) palm tray for steaming, (c) refinery & fractionation, (d) filter system, (e) palm oil product in truck and (f) QC lab....................... 36
Figure 29 Schematic illustration of optimum biomass utilization [8] ................................... 37
Figure 30 CPI donated palm seedlings for plantation around King BDF pilot plant in Saraburi province [2] ............................................................................................................ 38
Figure 31 (a) Schematic drawing and (b) pilot scale gasifier, designed by Great Agro [12].............................................................................................................................................. 40
Figure 32 (a) Visiting team (with Dr. May in white dress of the bottom figure) at MPOB showing some of the R&D output in (b) high nutrient extracted from palm oil, (c) winter-grade palm BDF, (d) high vitamin E palm cooking oil, and examples of palm biomass utilization in (e) palm-based flexible foam, (f) palm-pressed fiber and (g) palm-based wall panel ..................................................................................................................................... 45
Figure 33 (a) MPOB BDF pilot plant of 3,000 TPA, which was first commercialized by (b) Carotino in 2002 [16]............................................................................................................ 46
Figure 34 Three companies that license MPOB BDF technology (60,000 TPA for normal BDF and 30,000 TPA for winter BDF) [16] ......................................................................... 47
Figure 35 (a) Visiting team at MPOB Experimental Palm Oil Mill showing (b) nearby palm plantation and (c-d) plant layout .......................................................................................... 49
Figure 36 (a) Schematic drawing and (b) pilot scale continuous sterilization process at MPOB Experimental Palm Oil Mill [17]................................................................................ 49
xiii
Figure 37 Palm oil mill process showing (a) palm bunch collection, (b) palm slope, (c) palm cart, (d) steamer, (e) screw press and (f) CPO treatment system ............................ 52
Figure 38 (a) Visiting team to Carotino showing (b) Carotino red palm oil, (c) normal & winter grade BDF and (d) schematic drawing of BDF process .......................................... 55
Figure 39 (a) Visiting team to Ministry of Energy and Mine (Mr. Malaykham is the 4th person from the right) and (b) ACMECS BDF project site in Chai Thani province, with (c) jatropha seedling in preparation for cultivation in (d) nearby area (~ 2 ha.), (e) jatropha oil extraction machine & BDF reactor and (f) agricultural engine for BDF application ........... 58
Figure 40 (a) Visiting team to LIRE and Sunlabob to discuss on future collaboration on (b) jatropha pathways ................................................................................................................ 60
Figure 41 Examples of Toyo-Thai Corp works include....................................................... 62
Figure 42 Examples of STP&I works include...................................................................... 64
Figure 43 Examples of PatKol works include...................................................................... 65
Figure 44 Examples of STECON works include ................................................................. 68
Figure 45 Examples of PAE works include ......................................................................... 69
Figure 46 Examples of STRR works include ...................................................................... 71
Figure 47 Examples of UNIMIT works include.................................................................... 73
Figure 48 (a) Biodiesel value chain depicted by AT [31] and its patented multi-feedstock transesterification process [32] ............................................................................................ 76
Figure 49 Rendered AT-licensed at TOL BDF plant [32] ................................................... 76
Figure 50 Schematic illustration of Desmet BDF process [33] ........................................... 77
Figure 51 Examples of Desmet BDF technology in the US: (a) Lake Erie Biofuels of 100,000 tones per year [34] and (b) North Prairie Productions of 45 million gallons per year [35] .............................................................................................................................. 78
Figure 52 (a) Schematic and (b) process flow charts of BDF technology from Lurgi [37] 80
Figure 53 Example of Lurgi BDF technology: Southern States Power Company Inc. BDF plant 100,000 tons/year, located in Ontarion, California..................................................... 81
Figure 54 Schematic illustration of MPOB BDF technology (both normal and winter graded BDF) [39] .............................................................................................................................. 82
Figure 55 (a) Schematic drawing of Crown Iron Work BDF technology with (b) a plant at Albert Lea, Minnesota [40] ................................................................................................... 84
Figure 56 Schematic illustrations for (a) degumming process, (b) raw material pre-treatment and (c) BDF production [40] ................................................................................ 85
xiv
Figure 57 Innovation hub function of NFV [42] ................................................................... 87
Figure 58 R&D of (a) CERT and (b) EMCTRL-CAT in NFV [42] ....................................... 89
Figure 59 KCPC research outputs on BDF processing: (a) 200L conventional batch, (b) 200L conventional continuous, (c) 21,000LPD continuous and (d) 11,400LPD continuous plant [43]............................................................................................................................... 93
Figure 60 Visiting team to KCPC for (a) AM and (b) PM discussion, with site visit to (c) BDF 200L continuous system, (d) BDF supercritical methanol process and (e) glycerin purification pilot process....................................................................................................... 95
Figure 61 Hamada truck for used cooking oil collection in Toyama area .......................... 96
Figure 62 (a) Visiting team to Toyama BDF Co., LTD showing (b) the company samples, (c) used cooking oil collection tank, (d) receiving area for used cooking oil filtration, (e) pretreatment system and (f) storage tank for pretreated used cooking oil ........................ 99
Figure 63 Toyama BDF system comprising of (a) reactor tank, (b) glycerin separator tank, (c) methanol recover tank, (d) water-washing tank, (e) water separator tank, (f) drying tank, (g) BDF storage tank, (h) BDF filtration system, (i) BDF pump and (j) plant forklift fueled with BDF. ............................................................................................................................ 104
Figure 64 (a) Visiting team to Kyoto municipal BDF plant, showing (b) used cooking oil receiving area with pretreatment process, (c) pretreated used cooking oil tank, (d) BDF reactor and separator tanks, (e) water-washing tank, (f) BDF storage tank, (g) Kyoto municipal garbage truck using B100 and (h) schematic illustration of BDF process [44] 109
Figure 65 Visiting team with Dr. Kato during (a) coffee and (b) lunch meeting on BDF technology .......................................................................................................................... 111
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List of Tables
Page
Table 1 Oil palm statistic around the world [15].................................................................. 41
Table 2 R&D Activities on BDF in KCPC [43]..................................................................... 90
xvi
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
AIST National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials B5 Biodiesel blended with fossil diesel at 5% B100, BDF Pure biodiesel fuel BOI Board of Investment, Thailand BTL Biomass To Liquid CERT Combustion and Engine Research Team of NFV CFPP Cold filter plugging point CPO Crude palm oil DEDE Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency DME Dimethyl Ether DRDO Defense Research and Development Office EMCTRL-CAT Emission Control and Catalysis team of NFV EN European standard EPC Engineering, Procurement and Construction EPCC Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning EU European Union FFA Free fatty acid GTL Gas To Liquid ha Hectare HCT Hydrotreating Catalysis Team of NFV KCPC Kimura Chemical Plants Co., LTD kg Kilogram KOH Potassium hydroxide L Liter Lao PDR Lao People’s Democratic Republic LIRE Lao Institute for Renewable Energy LPD Liter per day
xvii
METI Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry MOST Ministry of Science and Technology MTEC National Metal and Materials Technology Center NaOH Sodium hydroxide NEDO New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization NFV Research Center for New Fuels and Vehicle Technology, AIST NSTDA National Science and Technology Development Agency PLC Programmable logic control PTT Petroleum QA Quality assurance R&D Research and Development RBD Refined, Bleached and Deodorized RTN Royal Thai Navy SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises THB Thai currency: Baht TISTR Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research TPA Ton per annum .
1
1. Status of design and engineering capability of biodiesel related industry in Thailand
The current chapter presents the up-to-date status of design and engineering capability of biodiesel related industry in Thailand through the visit and discussion with related stakeholders, ranging from research institutes, biodiesel processing plants to biodiesel supporting industries.
1.1 Research institutes
Like any industry, research institutes play an important role in developing new technologies or improving the existing ones until the technologies are matured enough for industries. The following research institutes are among the key players in Thai biodiesel research frontier.
1.1.1 National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC)
National Metal and Materials Technology Center (or MTEC) is a research institute under an umbrella of National Science and Technology Development (or NSTDA) within Ministry of Science and Technology (or MOST). Within NSTDA, MTEC is a national center responsible for managing alternative energy research, including biodiesel topic. The supporting infrastructure is divided into two categories. One is to characterize physical and chemical properties of biodiesel fuel (according to ASTM, EN and Thai standards) while the other is to characterize the effect on engine performance and durability, as shown in Figure 3. Furthermore, a small 5 liters/batch biodiesel reactor was built for R&D purpose, as shown in Figure 4.
2
(a)
(b)
Figure 3 Equipment at (a) Biofuel Testing lab and (b) Engine lab at MTEC to support biodiesel research activities
3
Figure 4 A small 5 liters/batch biodiesel reactor at MTEC for R&D
R&D topics at MTEC (see Figure 5) range from developing
• effective oil extractor for jatropha seeds, • palletize machine for jatropha residue solid fuel, • simple and cheap test kits on certain biodiesel properties to ensure the quality to • farm truck engine that runs on 100% biodiesel.
where the research prototypes are tested run and utilized at the Saraburi pilot plant under MOST King project, as shown in Figure 6 [2].
4
(a)
(b)
5
(c)
(d)
Figure 5 Some of MTEC biodiesel research works such as (a) jatropha oil extractor, (b) jatropha residue palletize machine, (c) acid value test kit and (d) farm truck used to develop
engine compatible with 100% biodiesel
6
Figure 6 A BDF pilot plant at Saraburi province under MOST King project [2]
In addition to R&D activities, MTEC also embarks on providing technical consultation, technical training on biodiesel processing, technology transfer from abroad and PR true facts on biodiesel.
1.1.2 Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR)
As the country’s first research agency, TISTR was established with the government’s vision to advance scientific and technological expertise in Thailand. For renewable energy field, TISTR have researched about biodiesel since 1981, especially on production process from Thailand’s potential raw material such as crude palm oil, coconut oil, palm fatty acid distillated from agro-industrial waste. The quality of biodiesel was the key of the research. As shown in Figure 7, the 150 liter per day continuous process biodiesel production prototype was invented in 2004, and scaled up to 1,000 liter per day in 2006, which was installed at Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency Knowledge Center, Songkhla (see Figure 8). For community base, TISTR designed batch process with capacity 200 liter per batch, which was installed at Saraburi province under the MOST
7
King project, as shown in Figure 9 [2]. Nonetheless, due to the competition of raw material with food industry, TISTR has researched on alternative raw material such as palm fatty acid distillation (PFAD), which was the by-product from palm oil refinery process, jatropha oil which was non-edible oil, as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 7 BDF mobile unit continuous process of 150 liters/day designed by TISTR
(a)
8
(b)
Figure 8 (a) Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency Knowledge Center showing (b) BDF continuous process of 1,000 liters/day designed by TISTR
9
Figure 9 BDF batch reactor of 200 liters/batch designed by TISTR for BDF King project
10
Figure 10 BDF from PFAD batch reactor of 200 liters/batch designed by TISTR
Moreover, with project cooperation with AIST, TISTR researched about upgrading biodiesel by hydrogenation technique, which would upgrade oxidation stability property of BDF from crude palm oil, as shown in Figure 11. The utilization of by-product such glycerin and waste water treatment from biodiesel production process were studied.
Figure 11 BDF upgrading apparatus for hydrogenation process
1.1.3 Royal Thai Navy (RTN)
Royal Thai Navy, by way of Naval Dockyard, has commenced research on biodiesel production and demonstration since 2001, sponsored by Defense Research and
11
Development Office (DRDO), Ministry of Defense. Intensive research works and experiments were conducted to seek most suitable methodology for biodiesel production, as well as transesterification reaction. The outcome of the project was a prototype of a small biodiesel reactor (batch type) with a production capacity of 50 liters/day, which was modified and further developed to 2,000 liters/day afterwards (as shown in Figure 12).
(a)
(b)
Figure 12 Prototype of biodiesel reactor with production capacity of (a) 50 liters/day and (b) 2,000 liters/day
The above prototype is already commercialized via AKEPRAJIM ENGINEERING LIMITED PARTNERSHIP with the most current model for 100 liter/batch capacity shown in Figure 13. The unit is composed of
1. Chemical mixing tank 2. Reactor Tank
12
3. Washing Tank 4. Biodiesel Storage Tank 5. Glycerin Storage Tank 6. Gear Box with Explosion Proof Motor 7. Mixer Blade 8. Methanol and Reactor Pump 9. Washing Pump 10. Piping System 11. Control Box
using conventional transesterification process with homogeneous catalyst like potassium hydroxide (KOH) or sodium hydroxide (NaOH). There are five main steps for biodiesel processing as follows (see Figure 14).
1. Raw material and catalyst preparation 2. Mixing of catalyst/methanol mixture with vegetable oil 3. Transesterification reaction 4. Settling for glycerin separation 5. Biodiesel washing and storage
13
(a)
(b)
Figure 13 (a) Schematic drawing and (b) current unit of commercial biodiesel reactor with production capacity of 100 liter/batch (RTN technology)
14
Figure 14 Schematic illustration of biodiesel processing steps
On the other hand, the 2,000 liter/day system is of semi-continuous batch type with a design aimed for simple and straightforward biodiesel processing, as shown in Figure 15. The system is composed of
1. Chemical mixing tank 2. Reactor Tank (400 liters capacity) 3. Separator (centrifugal type) 4. Washing Tank no. 1 & 2 (800 liters capacity) 5. Biodiesel Storage Tank (1,000 liters capacity) 6. Sensor system & pump
This 2,000 liters/day system has been installed at Royal Chitralada Palace under His Majesty Biofuel Project and DEDE (Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency) Plant in Chiang Mai, as the demonstration site for people to visit and obtain basic knowledge of biodiesel production (see Figure 16).
15
Figure 15 Schematic front- and top-view drawings of a semi-continuous batch reactor
(2,000 liters/day capacity)
(a)
Royal Chitralada Palace
Front view
Top view
16
(b)
Figure 16 The 2,000 liter/day biodiesel reactor system at (a) Royal Chitralada Palace and (b) Chiang Mai plant, both for demonstration
All the materials used in constructing both 100 liters/batch and 2,000 liters/day systems can be obtained within the country; hence making it attractive for sustainable development. To achieve a maximum production of 2,000 liter/day, the system needs to be operated 24 hours a day since each batch yields about 400 liters of biodiesel and takes about 5 hours. All maintenance and repair can be done by Naval Dockyard technical staffs or any Thai local companies. Naval Dockyard has researched not only on biodiesel processing but also biodiesel usage in engine and its effect. By recourse to His Majesty Vision on Sufficiency Economy, Naval Dockyard has used the self-processed biodiesel for the Naval Dockyard bus, as shown in Figure 17.
Chiang Mai
17
Figure 17 Navy bus that runs on biodiesel
Another research project (in collaboration with MTEC) is the scaling up of continuous reactor system, as shown by a prototype in Figure 18. Its principle relies on series of orifice plates arranged inside a very long and narrow pipe. With the reciprocating fluid flow motion along the pipe causing extreme turbulence to the mixing liquid, effective transesterification process can be attained leading to an improved biodiesel quality. The continuous reaction would eliminate a large mixing and reacting tanks, allowing a more compact system design at a larger production capacity.
Figure 18 A prototype of continuous biodiesel reactor system
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1.2 Biodiesel Processing Plants
Private sectors also play important roles in taking the lab-scale results from research institute and scaling up to the industrial size for commercialization. Both Thai technologies (currently producing biodiesel commercially) and turnkey technologies (under construction but to become online soon) were selected for interviews and site visits. For the Thai technology biodiesel plants, some produce biodiesel of Thai standard to be blended with fossil diesel and sold to public while others produce for private or own use, which are not required to meet the Thai standard. Note that some plants do not allow the photographs to be taken, and some plants do not wish to disclose the technical information during the interviews, hence, not included in this report.
1.2.1 Verasuwan Co. LTD
53/2 Moo 5, Sedthakit Rd., Tumbon Nadee, Amphur Muang, Samut Sakorn 74110 Tel: 0-3446-8801-3 Contact person: Mr. Sawaeng Bunyasuwat, Managing Director Verasuwan is the most open-up biodiesel plant, and most willing to cooperate with research institutes. Prior to Verasuwan, Mr. Sawaeng was with the management team of PTT R&D Institute with many years of experiences in petroleum chemical industry. Verasuwan has been around for more than two decades, but its business has been with processing of rubber solvent from petroleum condensate. After his retirement from PTT R&D Institute, he extends Verasuwan business toward producing biodiesel. As shown in Figure 19, the biodiesel plant of 200,000 LPD capacity was constructed for 9 months with a mere investment of 70 million THB [3], which is rather low since it does not include the land cost and can share some construction cost with the already existing condensate plant. From the existing infrastructure of condensate plant, the biodiesel plant was entirely designed and built by Thai engineers, as shown in Figure 19(c). Verasuwan is an example of the all-in-one for EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) consideration.
19
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Figure 19 (a) Verasuwan biodiesel plant with (b) the visiting team (Mr. Sawaeng is the 3rd person from the right) and the in-house capacity for construction & maintenance
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The process is designed for palm stearin as a feedstock with a shipment via truck 100 tons/day three times a week. The transesterification uses homogenous catalyst with a ratio of stearin to methanol = 80%: 20% for 1.5 hours reaction time. After that, the settling time takes 5 hours before the glycerin is removed. The company believes that normal water washing may not totally clean glycerides, which are detrimental to injector in diesel engine. Together with expertise in petroleum chemical processing, Verasuwan has utilized the distillation method, as shown in Figure 20, to treat biodiesel instead of water-washing with subsequent dehydration as in conventional process. Verasuwan claims to be the only one biodiesel plant with this technology in Southeast Asia. The final biodiesel product is then of 98-99% purity since both di- and tri-glycerides are easily distilled out while little mono-glyceride may still exist due to high boiling point. The final biodiesel is then additized to enhance oxidation stability within 24 hours to meet Thai biodiesel standard. The entire chemical process is periodically monitored for quality control and check by the in-house analysis lab, as shown in Figure 21. Each shift takes about 7 people for normal plant operation.
21
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Figure 20 (a) Top, (b) middle and (c) bottom sections of the distillation column used to treat biodiesel after transesterification at Verasuwan biodiesel plant
22
Figure 21 Quality control lab to monitor biodiesel processing
The market for Verasuwan is mainly sold to petroleum companies like PTT or Bangchak to be blended with fossil diesel as B5 (5% biodiesel blended with fossil diesel) commercially sold at the gas station. Some B100 is sold to paint industry at 35 THB/kg. Alternative usage of B100 during the surplus could be as monomer for polymerization as synthetic lubricant. Moreover, value-added pathways on by-products are necessary, including glycerin utilization for resin and polyglycerol. Regarding heterogeneous catalyst, the company views it as taking longer time with more critical condition to meet. Future trend for the company is to double the capacity to 400,000 LPD and purify glycerin to 99.5% purity at 5,000 kg/day, which would take approximately 20 and 50 million THB investment, respectively [4]. Regarding the glycerin purification plant, it has a domestic market since Thailand has to import glycerin for 7,500 tons/year for applications in cosmetic, medicine, chemical, paint and tobacco industries. At Verasuwan, distillation of BDF yields about 85-90% B100 with co-product glycerin of 10-15%, as shown in Figure 22. Currently, this glycerin is mixed with fuel oil for combustion to produce heat and steam. What Thailand BDF industry really needs is the technology to purify glycerin to medical/cosmetic grade (>98%), which can be sold at 55 THB/kg. This co-product value-adding is critical to ensure long term sustainability of BDF. Verasuwan is willing to collaborate and share the expertise in chemical process with Japanese partners for glycerin purification technology if the
23
governmental organizations in Thailand, such as MTEC or TISTR, are involved for reliability.
Figure 22 Schematic drawing of glycerin produced from distillation technology
1.2.2 Green Power Corporation
217 Moo 15, Tumbon Ta-Sae, Amphur Ta-Sae, Chumporn 86140 Tel: 0-7750-7990 Contact person: Mr. Jo Sajjarachun, Vice President Green Power Corp. was established in August 2006 from the mother company STRR, which has its business in constructing turnkey plant. The current production capacity is 200,000 LPD with about 100,000 LPD actually produced daily, which is sold to Bangchak in Bangkok and IRPC in Samut Prakarn & Chumporn. The process and plant was entirely designed and built by STRR and Green Power Corp, with process consultant from India. The company has two large tanks of 700,000 L in combined capacity to store feedstock, palm stearin. The biodiesel process uses transesterification with homogeneous catalyst (KOH). The settling stage takes two days via gravitation separation. Then, the glycerin is removed while the biodiesel is passed to methanol recovery with subsequent dry washing (at 10,000 L/hr continuously) for final treatment. Sample is periodically checked for quality control with in-house chemical analysis lab. The whole chemical process has a yield of 98-99%, and is controlled via PLC (Programmable Logic Control) with 6 staffs per shift at 3 shifts/day for normal operation.
85-90% B100
10-13% Crude glycerin at purity 60-65%
Distillation column: 85-90% BDF
10-15% glycerin (currently mixed with fuel oil for direct combustion)
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The strength of the company derives from PLC utilization for consistent quality, in-house chemical analysis lab for quality control and dry washing, which yields no waste water. Future trend for the company is to add CPO (crude palm oil) refinery process with necessary pretreatment to be able to use RBD (refined, bleached and deodorized) palm oil as feedstock, and to add glycerin purification process. For RBD plam oil as feedstock, esterification process with commercial heterogeneous catalyst. For glycerin purification, the company foresees the future demand, especially from the news that Belgium company Solvay recently got BOI (Board of Investment) approval to invest $184 million for a new plant in Thailand [5, 6]. Solvay company would take 99.5% glycerin for epoxy production.
1.2.3 Bangkok Renewable Energy Co., Ltd
39 Moo 5, Bangna-Trad Road, Tumbon Takam, Amphur Bangpakong, Chacheongsao 24130 Tel: 0-3857-4642-3 Contact person: Mr. Pisit thirapornsawad, Deputy Managing Director url: http://www.bkkre.com/ Bangkok Renewable Energy was established in August 2006 with the owner from alcohol and energized beverages. The current production capacity is 200,000 LPD with about 100,000 LPD actually produced daily. The company took over ? plant and converted it to biodiesel plant with the conventional transesterification process using both RBD palm oil and palm stearin. Until recent hike in palm oil, the company switches to using only palm stearin as feedstock.
1.2.4 AI Energy Co., LTD
55/2 Moo 8, Sedthakit 1 Road, Tumbon Klong-Ma-Duea, Amphur Kratumban, Samut Sakorn 74110 Tel: 0-2517-1451, 0-2517-1026, 0-3446-0355 Fax: 0-2517-1465, 0-2540-0993 Contact person: Mr. Anurag Thareratanavibool, Managing Director
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AI Energy was established in January 2007 from the mother company Asian Insulators Public Co., LTD. The current production capacity is 250,000 LPD with about 40,000 LPD actually produced daily since the company is still in the reconstruction phase from the taken-over Pamola, a palm oil refinery, as shown in Figure 23. Since the existing infrastructure is for CPO refinery, the company has faced with challenging tasks to accommodate new equipment and simultaneously adapt as much the existing infrastructure. There are 12 staffs per shift, with 3 shifts/day. Since AI used to have a declared production capacity of 500,000 LPD, the MD of AI is elected to be the chairman of Thai BDF industry
(a)
(b)
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(c)
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Figure 23 (a) Visiting team at AI Energy showing (b) reaction tank, (c) oil trucks with old label Pamola and (d) QC lab
1.2.5 Under construction
All of the current biodiesel plants in production are designed and built by Thai engineers while some plants under construction are from turnkey technologies abroad. For instances, the following four companies in this section turnkey process technology from AT, Dersamet, Lurgi and MPOB as follows.
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1.2.5.1 Thai Oleo Chemical Co., LTD (TOL)
123 Suntowers Building A, 18th Floor, Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Chomphon, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900 Tel: 0-2265-8100 url: http://www.thaioleochemicals.com/ TOL has 100% shareholding by PTT Chem [7], a subsidiary of PTT Plc. TOL feeds in CPO (200,000 tons/year) and palm kernel oil (120,000 tons/year) as raw materials with three main products, namely biodiesel (to feed PTT for blending with fossil diesel), refined glycerin and fatty alcohol (to feed oleochemical industry), as shown in Figure 24. At the present, TOL is operating at 60% capacity of the 200,000 tons/year biodiesel plant with 31,000 tons/year glycerol refining unit, as shown in Figure 25. Fatty alcohol plant of another 100,000 tons/year will start operation by April 08, after 2 months for test-run toward the end of the first quarter of next year.
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Figure 24 (a) TOL raw materials and products and (b) chemical analysis lab
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Figure 25 (a) Visiting team at TOL showing (b) construction work in progress, (c) storage tanks for BDF and CPO and (d) control room for chemical process
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The technologies for biodiesel and glycerin purification processes are supplied by AT Agrar-Tecknik GmbH & Co. KG with Shedden Uhde (Thailand) Co., LTD as a contractor and Worley Parsons (Thailand) Co., LTD as a project consultant. The production system is turnkey but almost 80% of the equipment is procured locally. On the other hand, fatty alcohol technology is from Cognis Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, which would do all the marketing. The total investment is about 73,000 million THB with estimated production sale of 3,300 million THB/year.
1.2.5.2 Pure Biodiesel Co., LTD (PBC)
7/3 Pakornsongkrao Road, Tumbon Maptaput, Amphur Muang, Rayong 21150 Tel: 0-3868-5815 Contact person: Mr. Bunlue Sripodok, Managing Director url: http://www.purebiodiesel.co.th/ PBC has 99.99% shareholding by Rayong Purifier PLC, which has business in petroleum and petrochemical industry. CPO (100,000 tons/year) is used as a raw material with three main products, namely biodiesel (to feed Rayong Purifier PLC for blending with fossil diesel), refined glycerin and palm fatty acid distillate. At the present, project implementation has commenced, and commercial production is targeted for completion on 1 August 2008, as shown in Figure 26.
(a)
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(b)
(c)
Figure 26 (a) Visiting team at PBC showing (b) construction work in progress and (c) main equipment built in Malaysia
The technology is supplied by Desmet Ballestra with main equipment built in Malaysia and shipped to Thailand. The total investment is about 400 million THB.
1.2.5.3 The Southern Palm (1978) Co., Ltd
331 Tharathibadee Road, Tumbon Takam, Amphur Punpin, Surat Thani 84130 Tel: 0-7720-0254-8 Contact person: [email protected] url: http://www.taksinpalm.com/
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The company originated its business from forestry, and later changed to palm plantation. The palm oil mill started with 10 tons/hour capacity, and was continuously developed to 45 tons/hour. The current business covers palm plantation to CPO refinery. With recent expansion to biodiesel production, the company kicks off the turnkey deal with Lurgi on this past 31 Jan. Typically, Lurgi takes about 3 months to design a blueprint with another 9 months for design, construction and commission. In this case, Lurgi has partnered with Jardine Engineering Co., LTD for the local construction company. With the capacity of 300,000 LPD, the southern palm company needs to invest 1,200 million THB totally, in which 300 million THB is for the process only. The process cost is quite high due to Titanium reaction tank since Lurgi process uses HCl to stern the reaction, where chlorine may attack steel tank.
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(b)
Figure 27 (a) The Southern Palm plant and (b) its logo
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1.2.5.4 New Biodiesel Co., Ltd.
Head office: 99/9 Moo4, Kanjanavitee Road, Tumbon Bangkung, Amphur Muang, Surat Thani, 84000 Tel: 0-7722-5124-5 Factory: 23 Moo 6, Ban Huayrian, Tambol Sawiad, Amphur Tachang, Surat Thani 84000 Tel: 0-7746-1373-5 Contact person: [email protected], Project Manager url: http://www.pk-logistics.com/bd/htm/home.htm The company was established in June 2006 from the logistic company named P.K. Group of Companies to build both palm oil refinery and biodiesel processing plant. The technologies are turnkey from Oiltek (Malaysia), which is one of the MPOB-licensed companies. New Biodiesel company plans to build the biodiesel plant with a production capacity of 60,000 tons/year in 2006 but got delayed
1.3 Biodiesel Supporting Industries
For the sustainable development of biodiesel industry, not only that the processing of biodiesel itself is critical, but also the biodiesel supporting industries, such as feedstock pretreatment and equipment manufacturer, strongly affects the sustainability of biodiesel processing industry. Among many companies in Thailand, Chumporn Plam Oil Industry and Great Agro Co., LTD are most open up for future collaboration.
1.3.1 Chumporn Palm Oil Industry Public Co., LTD (CPI)
Head office: 1168/91 Lumpini Tower Building, 30th Fl., Rama IV Rd., Sathorn, Bangkok, Thailand 10120 Tel: 0-2679-9166 Factory: 296, Moo 2, Phetchkasem Road, Tambon Salui, Amphur Tasae, Chumporn, Thailand 86140 Tel: 0-7759-9267 Contact person: Mr. Suriya Ayachanun, Assistant Managing Director url: http://www.cpi-th.com/home_e.html
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The company was first established in 1979 as a private company before becoming public company in 1993. The company has many years of experiences in both palm plantation and palm oil refinery, as shown in Figure 28. Since oil palm plantation yields about 90% biomass and only 10% palm oil, the company aims toward optimal biomass utilization, as depicted in Figure 29 [8]. Technical discussions with Mr. Suriya on BDF related technology and industry have revealed the following.
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35
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36
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Figure 28 CPI showing (a) oil palm loading area, (b) palm tray for steaming, (c) refinery & fractionation, (d) filter system, (e) palm oil product in truck and (f) QC lab
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Figure 29 Schematic illustration of optimum biomass utilization [8]
For palm crushing mill technology, the company still insists on developing the conventional wet technology for a better efficiency, instead of pursuing the novice dry technology, since free fatty acid (FFA) decreases from enzyme inhabitation. Also, waste water from crushing process should view valuable, not burdensome, since it can be used for biogas production. For deodorization unit, a regular column is preferred due to its stable reaction at mild temperature; whereas, a packed column can treat vegetable oil of worse properties via shock pulse but may result in poor oxidation stability. For BDF technology, extraction of high value nutrients like carotene from palm oil before refining would help making BDF more sustainable CPI has been closely collaborating with NSTDA/MTEC and TISTR especially on providing palm seedlings for plantation around the King BDF pilot plant, as shown in Figure 30 [2]. Last November 2007, CPI has established CPI Biodiesel Co., LTD to complete CPI value chain from palm plantation, palm crushing, palm oil refinery to biodiesel processing, after initial feasibility study earlier in 2007 [9, 10].
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Figure 30 CPI donated palm seedlings for plantation around King BDF pilot plant in
Saraburi province [2] With regard to Thailand capability in BDF industry, the company analyzes the process design, which can be categorized into 3 groups. First on the mechanical process, the company believes that Thai industry is capable of reverse engineering of simple parts but may not be economically competitive with other countries like Malaysia due to small volume production. However, Thai industry is not yet competent to fabricate complicate parts like centrifuge or turbine, but starts to be able to make moderately complicate parts like boiler. Second on the chemical process, the company believes that Thai industry like Verasuwan and Green Power Corp. is capable since it has to do with heat exchanger and mass balance calculation. Third on the biological process to treat waste water, the company is confident that Thai biological industry is capable. Overall, Thailand is capable of reverse engineering for hardware and tool, but need more help on process design to be economically competitive.
1.3.2 Great Agro Co., LTD
171/6 Moo 5, Salaya-Bangpasi Rd., Salaya, Phuttamonthon, Nakornpathom 73170 Tel: 0-3424-6012-6 Fax: 0-3429-7022-3
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Contact person: Mr. Nares Chin-in-manu, Assistant Managing Director url: http://www.greatagro.com Great Agro Co., LTD is a crop integration business company within the Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) [11], a large corporate group with many diversified business. In particular, Great Agro is an agricultural equipment design and engineering firm with recent interest in bioenergy field. From its experience in rice mill industry, the company has designed community small-scaled gasifier with feedstock such as rice husk, palm shell, coconut shell and corn cob, as shown in Figure 31 [12]. Recently, the company and MTEC has collaborated on the project to design small-scale palm oil extractor (dry process) to improve the logistic of oil palm crushing industry and distribute more income toward the farmers [13].
(a)
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Figure 31 (a) Schematic drawing and (b) pilot scale gasifier, designed by Great Agro [12]
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2. Status of design and engineering capability of biodiesel related industry in ASEAN
Like EU and other common economic countries, ASEAN consists of 10 nations, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam [14]. For the present purpose on BDF investigation, Malaysia and Lao PDR are discussed as follows.
2.1 Malaysia
As shown in Table 1 [15], Malaysia is the world leading palm oil exporter, followed closely by Indonesia. In 2006, 4.17 million hectares (66% of Malaysia plantation area) were used for oil palm cultivation with 3.93 tons/ha.yr yield for a total CPO production of 15.9 million tons, about half of world production amount. Three sites were visited and discussed on the current BDF status as follows.
Table 1 Oil palm statistic around the world [15]
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2.1.1 Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)
6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia Tel: 603-8769 4400 Fax: 603-8925 9446 Contact person: Y. Bhg. Dato’ Dr. Choo Yuen May, Deputy Director General (R&D) url: http://www.mpob.gov.my/ MPOB is the national organization that has absolute authority on all activities (e.g. licensing & enforcement, cess collection from every liter of palm oil produced within Malaysia and R&D) related to palm from plantation to BDF production. MPOB was unified from many organizations related to palm oil industry for more efficient management on palm oil industry, the main income for Malaysia. Its vision is to become the premier Nobel Laureate producing research and development institution, providing leadership and impetus for the development of a highly diversified, value-added, globally competitive and sustainable oil palm industry. Its mission is t o enhance the well-being of the Malaysian oil palm industry through research, development and excellent services with the following strategies
• high income: use genetic engineering to modify physical appearance of oil palm for easy harvesting, use farm mechanization to increase productivity
• zero waste: full utilization of biomass (e.g. empty fruit bunch (EFB) for lignocellulosic ethanol) & waste (e.g. waste water from crushing mill to produce biogas
• value addition: extraction of high nutrients from palm oil e.g. vitamin E and beta-carotene
MPOB derives its funding mainly from cess imposed on the industry for every tons of palm oil and palm kernel oil produced. In addition, MPOB receives budget allocations from the government to fund development projects and for approved research projects under the Intensification of Research in Priority Areas (IRPA) program. MPOB has a total of 1,400 staff, 200 of which are researchers. MPOB researchers always work with private
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companies in order to commercialize the results as well as having a flexibility to test the system in practice. About 30% of the R&D outputs, or 300-400 R&D projects, have been practically used in palm oil industry, as shown in Figure 32.
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Figure 32 (a) Visiting team (with Dr. May in white dress of the bottom figure) at MPOB showing some of the R&D output in (b) high nutrient extracted from palm oil, (c) winter-grade palm BDF, (d) high vitamin E palm cooking oil, and examples of palm biomass
utilization in (e) palm-based flexible foam, (f) palm-pressed fiber and (g) palm-based wall panel
Development of MPOB BDF technology commenced in 1981 with the continuous pilot plant of 3,000 TPA commissioned in 1985, as shown in Figure 33(a) [16]. Not until August 2002 did the first commercial small scale plant (3,000 TPA), Carotino, as shown in Figure 33(b), start production. The scaling up to 60,000 TPA was completed in 2005. Since palm biodiesel has a poor cold flow property (due to high content of saturated fatty acid), winterization technology was developed in 2002 and scaled up to 30,000 TPA in
46
2005. At the present, MPOB has many branches nation-wide and abroad aiming to sell MPOB BDF technology. Figure 34 shows that MPOB has licensed BDF technology (both normal and winter grade) to three companies, namely Carotino, Golden Hope and FIMA.
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(b)
Figure 33 (a) MPOB BDF pilot plant of 3,000 TPA, which was first commercialized by (b) Carotino in 2002 [16]
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Figure 34 Three companies that license MPOB BDF technology (60,000 TPA for normal
BDF and 30,000 TPA for winter BDF) [16]
2.1.2 MPOB Experimental Palm Oil Mill
Labu, Negri Sembilan, Malaysia MPOB Experimental Palm Oil Mill is an example of MPOB licensed technology to private company with MPOB researchers still working closely with the licensed company for modification and improvement of the process, as shown in Figure 35. It is located 70 km from Kuala Lumpur, and owned by MPOB but built on Ladang Labu belonging to Guthrie plantation. The mill is leased to Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad (KGB) for 20 years, after which the mill ownership will be transferred to KGB. During the lease period, MPOB has all the rights to conduct research within the mill. The capacity is 20 tons/hr with 24 hrs/day operation for 6 days/week, leaving 1 day for MPOB researchers for testing at full scale plant. Examples of researches include continuous sterilization system, as shown in Figure 36 [17], and complete automation of mill operation. Beside the R&D work, the operational technology in the plant is not much different from that in Thai palm oil mills.
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Figure 35 (a) Visiting team at MPOB Experimental Palm Oil Mill showing (b) nearby palm plantation and (c-d) plant layout
(d)
Figure 36 (a) Schematic drawing and (b) pilot scale continuous sterilization process at
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MPOB Experimental Palm Oil Mill [17] Figure 37 shows steps for CPO extraction (batch type), starting from collecting palm bunches and checking ripeness by visual inspection. Then, palm bunches is transferred to palm cart via palm slope. The whole palm cart is steamed to maintain acid value before feeding it to the screw press machine. Crude palm oil is then treated at the final step. At this plant, there are some R&D on continuous type, extracting high nutrients from waste water, and biogas production from waste water.
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Figure 37 Palm oil mill process showing (a) palm bunch collection, (b) palm slope, (c) palm cart, (d) steamer, (e) screw press and (f) CPO treatment system
2.1.3 Carotino
Carotino Sdn Bhd (69046-T) PLO 519, Jalan Besi Satu, Pasir Gudang Industrial Estate, 81700 Pasir Gudang, Johor Darul Takzim, Malaysia Tel: (607) 2522 888, (D) 2532 119 Fax: (607) 2522 999 Contact person: Mr. U. R. Unnithan, Executive Director URL: http://www.carotino.com Email: [email protected], [email protected] Carotino was established from the mother company JC Chang, oil palm plantation company, to complete the value chain in palm oil production. Carotino licenses molecular distillation technology from MPOB in order to extract palm oil at much lower pressure (1/1000x). Hence, high-value nutrients like vitamin E and beta-carotene are retained in Carotino red palm oil, as shown in Figure 38(b). The company markets this red palm oil as a premium commodity from its high nutrition and its preventive substance against stroke. Furthermore, other high nutrients are extracted for health supplement, medicine and high grade animal feed. In addition to palm oil refinery, Carotino also license BDF technology with glycerin purification (>99%) from MPOB with both BDF products (normal
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and winter-grade with pour points at -6, -15 or -21°C for exportation) under the trade name “enffue”. Schematic drawing of the BDF process is shown in Figure 38(d). At the present, the plant is scaling up the capacity to 180,000 TPA
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Figure 38 (a) Visiting team to Carotino showing (b) Carotino red palm oil, (c) normal & winter grade BDF and (d) schematic drawing of BDF process
2.2 Lao PDR
As the neighbor country on the Northeast Thailand with similar culture and language, Lao is chosen for the present investigation for potential BDF partners, especially on the possible jatropha plantation.
2.2.1 Ministry of Energy and Mines
PO. Box 4708, Nongbone Rd., Vientiane, Laos Tel/Fax: +856 21 450966 Contact person: Mr. Bouathep Malaykham, Director of Rural Electrification Division URL: http://www.carotino.com Email: [email protected]
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Most of Lao domestic energy (90%) comes from hydropower due to commercially available dams, with bioenergy currently under promotion. Since the current domestic fuel consumption for diesel: gasoline: kerosene = 60: 30: 10, a possibility for biodiesel has been explored at the national level. With Lao’s geography and climate, jatropha has been identified as potential oil crop that can be grown in Lao. Lao government has drafted a biofuel policy (especially biodiesel) targeting jatropha BDF blended in fossil diesel as B5, B10 and B15 by the year of 2012, 2015 and 2020, respectively [18]. The biggest drive from the private sector comes from South Korea under the KoLao Farm. The company plans to invest $30 million for construction of two BDF plants (one in Vientiane and the other in the south) with production capacity of 400,000 LPD from jatropha, which would require 40,000 ha plantation area. It remains challenging to meet this ambitious goal. Another BDF effort derives from the framework of ACMECS (Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy [19]). Ministry of Energy (Thailand) has collaborated with Ministry of Energy and Mines (Lao PDR) to establish biodiesel community learning center for technology transfer from Thailand to Lao [ 20 ]. The activities range from jatropha cultivation & plantation, jatropha oil extraction, BDF processing from jatropha oil to be used within the community, as shown in Figure 39.
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Figure 39 (a) Visiting team to Ministry of Energy and Mine (Mr. Malaykham is the 4th person from the right) and (b) ACMECS BDF project site in Chai Thani province, with (c) jatropha seedling in preparation for cultivation in (d) nearby area (~ 2 ha.), (e) jatropha oil
extraction machine & BDF reactor and (f) agricultural engine for BDF application
2.2.2 Lao Institute of Renewable Energy (LIRE)
Ban Wat Nark, Lao-Thai road, Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR Tel: (856 21) 353 430 Fax: (856 21) 314 045 Contact person: Mr. Jakob Rietzler, Managing Director URL: http://www.lao-ire.org
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Email: [email protected] LIRE was established in 2006 with mission to explore, develop and sustain efforts for making Laos develop its own renewable energy sector by providing energy prices that are commercially viable and affordable to most of the Lao people [21]. LIRE is operated through a group of non-profit institutions headed by Sunlabob Renewable Energy Ltd. [22], which is specialized in providing electricity to remote villages not accessible to the grid. Sunlabob was established as a Lao commercial company in 2001 by Mr. Andy Schroeter, who believes in affordable and reliable energy solutions with renewable energy sources. Despite the company initial interest in solar home system for electricity, Sunlabob has led LIRE to investigate more on the biodiesel area, especially the jatropha value chain, as shown in Figure 40 and the recent NEDO funded project [23].
(a)
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(b)
Figure 40 (a) Visiting team to LIRE and Sunlabob to discuss on future collaboration on (b) jatropha pathways
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3. Gap between the present status and the essential capability Any industrial plant is built upon the EPC concept, which stands for Engineering, Procurement and Construction. Sometime, EPCC is used by adding Commissioning after Construction. For sustainable development of BDF industries in Thailand, private sectors need to have supporting engineering firms who can design and manufacture critical part and equipment like reactor tank, distillation column and boiler, in addition to BDF processing plant itself. Details are discussed as follows.
3.1 Engineering firm and design capability
Thailand had many engineering firms with high performance and experiences in industrial design. Unfortunately, none of those firms has in-depth experience in biodiesel plant design at the present. As discussed in Chapter 1, most of online biodiesel production plants in Thailand are designed by their own experience. Half of them belong to the owners, who are the engineers with working experience in petroleum industry. On the other hand, other half have been working with vegetable oil refinery industry, in particular palm oil refinery. Hence, the current biodiesel plants are designed from their respective non-BDF experiences with various degree of success. One major obstacle is the ability to produce BDF according to the designed capacity. In other words, quite a few BDF plants are currently running at full operation but can only meet half of the designed capacity. With increasing potentials of engineering firm in Thailand in BDF industry, the biodiesel production design know-how is deemed the essential capability to fill the gap. Partial list of Thai engineering firms is discussed as follows.
• Toyo-Thai Corporation Ltd. (TTCL) [24] TTCL is the engineering contractor who specializes in design and engineering, procurement of equipment and materials, and construction of turnkey projects for industrial and process plants including related facilities. The field of plant engineering and constructing services covers chemical, petrochemical, oil and
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gas, fertilizer and power plant. Scope of services extends to the storing, conveying and distributing system of the products, as shown in Figure 41.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 41 Examples of Toyo-Thai Corp works include
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(a) Doubling Production in VCM Capacity from 200,000 t/y to 400,000 t/y Project of Vinythai Public Co., Ltd. located in Rayong for the production of VCM and Chlorine (Cl2),
(b) THASCO Chlor Alkali Complex Project of THASCO Chemical Co., Ltd., located in Rayong for the production of Caustic Soda (NaOH), Caustic Potash (KOH), Hydro Chloric
Acid (HCl), Sodium Hypochloride (NaOCl), and Chlorine (Cl2), and (c) Ethyl Alcohol Plant Project of Eastern Chemical Co., Ltd., located in Chonburi for the
production of Ethyl Alcohol [24].
• STP&I Public Company Limited [25] STP&I has strong experience in the design, supply and fabrication of complicated steel structure and general steel work according to Thai and international design codes and standards. The work has been used for major power and process plants, refinery plants, commercial buildings, industrial equipments and bridges, as shown in Figure 42.
(a)
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(b)
Figure 42 Examples of STP&I works include (a) IP Drum for the Independent Power Project located in Chonburi, and
(b) Splitter Tower for Thai Aromatic Recovery Plant (TARP) located in Chonburi [25].
• Patkol Public Company Limited [26] Patkol is well known in ASEAN as the leader in refrigeration and food machinery field with excellent engineering capability and high quality products. The company engineering expertise offers a one-stop service, starting from the consulting and planning through blue print to design, installation and operation of a project, for numerable customers in the ice making machine, beverage, cold storage, dairy, and food processing industries, as shown in Figure 43.
(a)
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(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 43 Examples of PatKol works include
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(a) ice cream plants and machine, (b) stainless steel mixing tanks for food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries, (c) dairy processing plant of Wang Nam Yen CO-OP, located in Srakhaew, and
(d) 20,000LPD Biodiesel Production Plant (Batch Operation) at Bangchak Public Co., Ltd. (engineering designed by Chemical Engineering Faculty, Prince of Songkla University)
located in Bangkok. [26].
3.2 Construction capability
Thailand has high potential in industrial construction with fundamental equipment to support industrial construction both in domestic and international markets. Typically, any production plant is composed of chemical and mechanical processes. Equipment for chemical process such as heat exchanger and distillation column can be constructed by Thai firms, using existing petroleum industry infrastructure for specific design. On the other hand, most equipment for mechanical process such as screw press, reaction tank and piping can be constructed by Thai firms but may not be of cost-competitive, compared to neighboring countries like Malaysia, due to smaller market demand. Standard equipment like pump and valve should be procured to minimize high cost from customization. Other unavoidable equipment like centrifuge and turbine may need to be imported. At the present, complex equipment like boiler starts to be made within Thailand. Overall, the big problem for Thai industries is the lack of opportunity, not an inferior quality or skill, to learn and try production of necessary part and equipment due to a smaller market, which leads to cost-uncompetitive production. That is the reason why Desmet has based production of necessary chemical and mechanical equipment for BDF plant in Malaysia, where palm oil industry is much larger than that in Thailand. The construction firms can typically be categorized into two groups. The former is turnkey construction firm, and the latter is fabrication firm, as discussed below.
3.2.1 Turnkey construction firms
Partial lists of domestic construction firms who can build turnkey plant from abroad are as follows.
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• Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Company Limited (STECON) [27]
STECON has constructed numerous industrial projects ranging from medium- to large-scale, in such areas as petrochemical plants, chemical plants and steel mills. The company’s scope of work includes erection & installation of steel structures, equipment installation, piping systems, and oil and gas pipeline installation. In energy construction, STECON has been involved in numerous energy projects, such as oil refineries and power plants, as shown in Figure 44.
(a)
(b)
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(c)
Figure 44 Examples of STECON works include (a) Refinery Project of SHELL Co., Ltd. (engineering designed by Thai Refinery
Constructors), located in Rayong, (b) Aromatics Recovery Project of ESSO (Thailand) Public Co., Ltd. (engineering designed by Foster Wheeler International Corporation), located in Chonburi, and
(c) Siam Styrene Monomer Plant Project (engineering designed by Foster Wheeler International Corporation), located in Rayong. [27]
• PAE (Thailand) Public Company Limited [28]
PAE (Thailand) Plc. is known in the local and overseas engineering and construction industries simply as PAE. The company has a very distinguished track record as a pioneer in the early oil and gas and petrochemical development in Thailand, including the installation of the Receiving Facilities of the Offshore Pipeline in the south of Thailand, fabrication and erection of a number of gas treatment and petrochemical plants, as shown in Figure 45.
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(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 45 Examples of PAE works include
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(a) TPTI Lifeboat Platform at PTT Jetty, Songkhla Technical (designed by Petroleum Training Institute),
(b) Logging Platform Installation at TRIDENT-15 (designed by TRANSOCEAN SEDCO FOREX INC), and
(c) Booster Compressor Manifold Header at PLATONG FIELD (designed by Chevron Exploration and Production Ltd.). [28]
3.2.2 Fabrication firms
Fabrication firms are usually sub-contracting from turnkey construction firms to fabricate whatever equipment designed by the turnkey firms. These fabrication firms have high potential of workmanship in domestically manufacturing fundamental equipment, instead of importing from abroad. Nonetheless, many industries have been importing equipment from abroad, rather than local manufacture, because industrial equipment tax rate is lower than that of steel, from the investment supporting policy like BOI. Partial lists of domestic fabrication firms are as follows.
• STRR Engineering Co., Ltd. [29] STRR Engineering Co., Ltd. has strong experience in the design, supply and fabrication of pressure vessel and general steel work according to Thai and international design codes and standards. STRR has market in both Thailand and overseas for the petrochemical process plant industry and the power plant industry, as shown in Figure 46.
(a)
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(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 46 Examples of STRR works include (a) Pressure vessel, piping work, structure and equipment supply for Rubber Plant Project
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of Maxxis International (Thailand) Co., Ltd., located in Rayong, (b) Equipment, piping and insulation for Alcohol Plant of Thai Agro Energy Co., LTD.,
located in Suphanburi, (c) Towers, pressure vessels, equipment installation and piping for Siam Gulf Refinery
Project, located in Petchburi, and (d) Storage tanks, piping, structure, equipment installation and pressure vessels for Bio-
Diesel 200,000 LPD of Green Power Corporation, located in Chumporn. [29]
• Unimit Engineering Public Company Limited [30] Unimit Engineering Public Company Limited has capability to design, manufacture and assembly power boiler including all units or parts of boiler, repair and/or alterations according to ASME standard. European standard is added for the expanded market to European Union, as shown in Figure 47.
(a)
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(b)
Figure 47 Examples of UNIMIT works include (a) Bangchak Refinery Modification Plant No.2 Project, located in Bangkok, and (b) Waste Heat Recovery Plant Project of Siam City Cement Co., Ltd., located in
Saraburi. [30]
3.3 Operation capability
For operation capability of BDF plant, Thailand has almost complete capability since many commercial BDF plants in production now has been in operation for the past few years without any major problem. The plants have various production capacities ranging from 50,000 to 500,000 LPD, with design and construction by indirect-experience person and lack of success story to learn. As a result, there exists a bottleneck, which causes most of the plants to operate at half of the full designed capacity, not reaching the full capacity with high yield and high quality of BDF. The problem and gap of operating capability is not the operation but design. In other words, if the design is correct and suitable, the plant should be able to operate at the designed capacity.
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4. Mechanism to help bridge the existing gap In order to bridge the gap for BDF technological capability in Thailand, necessary infrastructure (both human resource and technology know-how) needs sustainable establishment. Current domestic technologies need to be compared and benchmarked with well-developed technologies from around the world in search for critical improvement with feasible technology-transfer to adapt with domestic infrastructure.
4.1 Comparison between turnkey and domestic technologies
Both turnkey technologies from abroad and domestic technologies by Thai engineers are briefly discussed and compared to find out what are the key components to enhance Thai BDF technological capability.
4.1.1 Turnkey technologies
Five BDF technologies from around world are briefly discussed here, four of which already licensed to Thai company with BDF plants currently under construction, namely AT, Desmet, Lurgi and MPOB.
4.1.1.1 AT Agrar-Technik GmbH & Co. KG
Established in 1982 at Schlaitdorf/Germany, AT is an EPC company providing BDF plant services from feasibility studies, process development, engineering, implementation, start-up to process optimization, as shown by the complete value chain of the company in Figure 48(a) [ 31 ]. The company competitive advantage lies in the patented multi-feedstock process for nearly all vegetable oils, used oils and animal fats, as shown in Figure 48(b) [32], with low operating costs and almost 100% process yield from the following process design factors.
• Pretreatment of different feedstock, from rapeseed to palm and jatropha oils with special cleaning and refining technology
• Transesterification in continuous and semi-continuous process steps based on alkaline reaction
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• Esterification of acid oils and fatty acids • Methyl ester dehydration • Glycerol dehydration and distillation for grades up to pharmaceutical glycerol • Methanol recovery with optimized heat integration
where the production capacity ranges from 10,000 to 500,000 tons/year. Up till now, AT has constructed and already finished 21 biodiesel plants with a worldwide market share of 15% [32]. Figure 49 shows the computer-rendered BDF plant at TOL.
(a)
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(b)
Figure 48 (a) Biodiesel value chain depicted by AT [31] and its patented multi-feedstock transesterification process [32]
Figure 49 Rendered AT-licensed at TOL BDF plant [32]
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4.1.1.2 Desmet Ballestra
Desmet is specialized in technology of purifying vegetable oil and producing biodiesel in Italy. Its biodiesel technology lies in continuous multi-step transesterification process under atmospheric pressure and mild temperature [33], as shown in Figure 50. Purification of BDF can be achieved through fractional distillation with structured packing single- or multi-towers. Glycerin is separated out in each reaction step, and refined via distillation for value-added co-product. The equipments can be designed to fit the plant size and the system operation is not too complicated.
Figure 50 Schematic illustration of Desmet BDF process [33]
Beside Pure Biodiesel that licenses BDF technology from Desmet, there are many biodiesel plants in USA that use Desmet technology, as shown in Figure 51. For instances, Lake Erie Biofuels located in Erie, Pennsylvania has production capacity of 45 million gallon/year [34]. North Prairie Productions located in Evansville, Wisconsin has production capacity of 45 million gallon/year [35]. Seaboard Food LP of Guymon located in Guymon, Okalahoma produces 100,000 ton/year of biodiesel from soybean oil and animal fat.
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(a)
(b)
Figure 51 Examples of Desmet BDF technology in the US: (a) Lake Erie Biofuels of 100,000 tones per year [34] and (b) North Prairie Productions of 45 million gallons per
year [35]
4.1.1.3 Lurgi
Lurgi BDF process is a continuous two-stage transesterification in the two-stage mixer-settler system. The BDF reaction requires sodium methylate as a catalyst under
the atmospheric pressure and mild temperature (~60°C) [36]. Transesterification takes place in the mixing section while the subsequent settling section allows for separation of methyl ester on the top and glycerin at the bottom portion. After the first reaction, the glycerin layer from the first settler tank is distilled to recover excess methanol. On the other hand, the methyl ester layer is subjected to the second reaction. After the second settler tank, methanol and catalyst remained in the glycerin layer is circulated back to the first mixer tank to minimize additional methanol and catalyst. On the other hand, the methyl ester layer is subsequently washed and dried for a final product as biodiesel. The washed water containing methanol and glycerin is subjected to methanol recovery unit,
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leaving the clean water recovered by evaporation and/or distillation to be reused in the washing process. Water from the glycerin purification system is also reused in the washing process. Therefore, Lurgi biodiesel technology is highly efficient due to low catalyst, methanol and water consumption. The process produces high quality biodiesel according to the standard EN 14214, E DIN 51606 and high purity glycerin (80-85%) according to the standard BS 2621. Figure 52 shows Lurgi biodiesel process with patented invention that can take various kinds of crude vegetable oils and animal fats, with the following specification for feedstock [37].
• FFA content < 0.1% • Water content < 0.1% • Unsaporifiables < 0.8% • Phosphorous content < 10 ppm
Otherwise, pretreatment and/or esterification are required. In brief, special features of Lurgi BDF technology can be summarized as follows [37].
• Fully automatic continuous transesterification process • High quality Biodiesel and glycerin • Na-Methylate as catalyst • Solutions for various feedstock • Operation at atmospheric pressure and low temperature (~ 60 °C) • Low catalyst consumption • Highly efficient process: 1 kg of raw material yields 1 kg of biodiesel • Environmentally friendly process • Open steel structure • Compact layout • Clear phase separation by special gravity process (no centrifuges required) • Easy operation • Low operating and maintenance cost • Flexible production capacities from 20,000–250,000 tons per year, and more
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• Optional pharmaceutical-grade glycerin integration Beside the Southern Palm Co., LTD that licenses from Lurgi, Figure 53 shows the biodiesel plant of Southern States Power Company located at Ontario, California, with production capacithy of 100,000 ton/year using soybean oil as raw material.
Transesterification Glycerin WaterPretreatment
Methanol+ Catalyst
Crude Glycerin> 80% conc.
Pharma Glycerin> 99.5% conc.
Biodiesel
Chemicals
Washing & Drying
Refined Oil Used Oils
DegummingBleaching
Thermal Deacidification
Used Oils
DegummingBleaching
Thermal Deacidification Esterification
Methanol+ Catalyst
Esterification
Methanol+ Catalyst
Pre-Treatment
Pre-Treatment
ReactionReaction
CleaningCleaning
Degumming & Deacidification
Crude Oil
Degumming & Deacidification
Crude Oil MultipleFeedstock
ConstantProductQuality
Distillation & Bleaching
(a)
(b)
Figure 52 (a) Schematic and (b) process flow charts of BDF technology from Lurgi [37]
Reactor 1 Reactor 2
Biodiesel
Glycerin Water Evaporation
Wash Column
Methanol Recovery
Glycerin Water
Glycerin CROSS-FLOW
(Patented)
Closed WASH-WATER loop
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Figure 53 Example of Lurgi BDF technology: Southern States Power Company Inc. BDF
plant 100,000 tons/year, located in Ontarion, California
4.1.1.4 MPOB
MPOB has licensed its BDF processing technology to two reputable engineering firms in Malaysia, namely Lipochem Sdn. Bhd. [ 38 ] and Oiltek Sdn. Bhd. [ 39 ] for construction of commercial biodiesel plants based on MPOB design. At the moment, a total of six commercial biodiesel plants have been commissioned with four plants in construction stage. MPOB also provides winter grade palm biodiesel technology to
produce palm biodiesel with lower CFPP (-20 °C), as shown in Figure 54. The New Biodiesel Co., LTD in Surat Thani licenses MPOB technology with Oiltek Sdn. Bhd. as contractor for BDF plant of 60,000 TPA production capacity.
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Figure 54 Schematic illustration of MPOB BDF technology (both normal and winter graded
BDF) [39]
4.1.1.5 Crown Iron Work
Crown Iron Work Company supplies plant design, equipment and technology for biodiesel manufacturing in USA. Crown biodiesel technology is a simple transesterification reaction using caustic catalyst and high quality raw material [40]. The technology includes pretreatment and refining process to reduce free fatty acid and phosphatide compound contents in the crude oil to below 0.1% and 5 ppm, respectively. This pretreatment is important for process control to produce high quality biodiesel,
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especially for the plant with capacity over 100 ton/day or 35,000 ton/year such as Soymor biodiesel plant [41], as shown in Figure 55.
(a)
(b)
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Figure 55 (a) Schematic drawing of Crown Iron Work BDF technology with (b) a plant at Albert Lea, Minnesota [40]
Soymor is one of biodiesel plants that use Crown BDF technology. The plant is located at Albert Lea in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with production of 30 million gallon of biodiesel per year. The process is continuous two-stage transesterification reaction followed by ester washing, drying and methanol recovery. Excess methanol is recovered from product stream, and can be reused in the process. To get high purity biodiesel, product is passed through the filter to remove impurities after washing process. Figure 56 shows process flowcharts of Crown Iron Work.
(a)
(b)
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(c)
Figure 56 Schematic illustrations for (a) degumming process, (b) raw material pre-treatment and (c) BDF production [40]
Key characteristics of Crown BDF technology are summarized as follows [40].
• All input materials (degummed and FFA pretreated oil, methanol and sodium methylate) are purified by filtering and preheated before feeding into reactor.
• Glycerin and biodiesel produced from the first-step transesterification reaction are separated using gravity and flew from vessel to vessel using minimized energy design. Methanol and sodium methylate are continuously added into the second-step reactor for complete reaction, followed by acid addition to terminate the reaction.
• In washing step, 20% of water is used to wash biodiesel from reaction. Waste water from washing process is separated using waste water decanter, stripper and methanol distillation. Biodiesel after washing is evaporated to separate water and methanol prior to being chilled and filtered to remove potential impurities to reach product standard requirement.
• Glycerin generated in the two-step transesterification reaction composes of 80-85% glycerin, 5-8% salt, 7-15% water, and 2.5% MONG (matter organic non-glycerol). This glycerin can be further refined, and water can be recovered for reuse in the washing process.
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4.1.2 Domestic technologies
All BDF plants, which are constructed by Thai companies, use conventional transesterification batch process with alkali catalyst, as shown below.
1. Raw material analysis and pre-treatment 2. Catalyst and alcohol preparation 3. Reaction stage 4. Methanol recovery 5. Glycerol Separation 6. Biodiesel washing
Individual BDF plants may have some minor differences. For instances, Verasuwan applies distillation technology to purify final BDF product from mono-, di- and tri-glycerides. Green Power Corp. has dry washing process to solve their problem in waste water treatment. In order to meet Thai BDF standard (industrial-grade), PLC is required to precisely and instantaneously control the chemical reaction in the reactor. Many of the industrial BDF plants have methanol recovery unit while none has yet the glycerin distillation system. On the other hand, the community-grade BDF standard is more relaxed so that manual operation is possible to minimize the cost.
4.2 Effective roles of NSTDA and TISTR
Being the nation leading R&D institutes within MOST, NSTDA and TISTR have collaborated on many occasions to enhance Thailand technical capability in BDF industry. With skilled personnel and existing infrastructure, NSTDA and TISTR serve as technological incubators for innovative technology, technology consultants for Thai BDF industry and technological gateway from abroad.
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5. Potential Japanese partners to help bridge the gap As detailed in an Appendix, the investigative survey was conducted in February 2008 in search for identifying potential Japanese partners/collaborators to upgrade Thailand technological capability. The meeting ranged from R&D institute to commercial biodiesel company.
5.1 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
The Research Center for New Fuels and Vehicle Technology (NFV) is established in 2007 from a few research groups working toward establishing new fuels for transportation [42]. NFV is composed of the Hydrotreating Catalysis Team (HCT) led by Dr. Yoshimura, the Combustion and Engine Research Team (CERT) led by Dr. Shinichi Goto, and the Emission Control and Catalysis team (EMCTRL-CAT) led by Dr. Hideaki Hamada. As shown in Figure 57, NFV is currently developing innovative automobile and fuel technologies for new fuels i.e., biomass-based fuels and fossil-sourced clean fuels. An important task is the standardization of new fuels and their production technologies, which are crucial for expanding the use of new fuels in existing vehicles. The mission of the NFV includes development of innovative technologies for production of new fuels, novel engine combustion strategies, exhaust gas treatment methods, exhaust gas measurement methods and standardization of new fuels.
Figure 57 Innovation hub function of NFV [42]
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For new fuels production technologies, Dr. Yuji Yoshimura is a highly experienced researcher on catalysis technology with long history of catalyst technologies for upgrading fuel quality and converting biomass resources into clean fuels. Currently, the hydrotreating catalysis team (HCT) is working on research and development of hydrotreating catalysts for cleaner transportation fuels, as well as for upgrading biodiesel and crude bio-oil (GTL or BTL). HCT team has established well collaboration to both academia and industries, which is extremely beneficial to the upscaling and technology transfer to large-scale manufactures, such as Kimura Chemical Plants. For engine combustion technology, Dr. Shinichi Goto has led the NFV combustion and engine research team (CERT) to research on next-generation engine system and new ignition technologies. The CERT team also studies on fundamental measurement and numerical analysis of fuel sprays and combustion. Most of these research subjects are closely related to the use of new fuels from biomass-based fuels, as shown in Figure 58(a). Exhaust gas treatment and measurement is also a focus of NFV. With new fuels, new appropriate catalytic emission control technology is needed. The increase in NOx from biomass-based-fuels should be resolved. The Emission Control and Catalysis team (EMCTRL-CAT) led by Dr. Hamada is working to develop innovative catalysts for selective reduction of NOx, as shown in Figure 58(b). Another important task of NFV is to promote establishment of international standards of new fuels for transportation such as Ethanol fuels, Biodiesel fuel, and Dimethyl Ether (DME).
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(a)
(b)
Figure 58 R&D of (a) CERT and (b) EMCTRL-CAT in NFV [42] NFV with combined chemical automotive engineering expertise is a well facilitated research center to provide novel technology on new fuels to the industries. Thailand research organizations (MTEC and TISTR) have already established research collaboration on standardization and upgrading of biodiesel fuel quality in 2005, funded by NEDO. AIST-MTEC-TISTR has continued their collaborations on well-round research and development projects on upgrading and standardization of biodiesel and other biomass-based fuels.
5.2 Kimura Chemical Plants Co., LTD
2-1-2, Kuise Terajima, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660-8567 Japan
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Tel: 06-6488-2501 Fax: 06-6487-0303 Contact person: Dr. Hirofumi Ikeda, Manager of R&D Dept. URL: http://www.kcpc.co.jp Email: [email protected] Kimura Chemical Plants Co., Ltd. (KCPC) is located in Osaka, Japan, and was established in 1924. Over 83 years, KCPC has been providing a wide range of technologies and products for industrial plant construction, e.g. chemical plant, nuclear plant and recycling plant. Furthermore, KCPC has developed technologies in the environment-related areas due to clear trend set forth by the Japanese government, e.g.
• Kyoto Protocol (1997), • Revision of New Renewable Energy Act (Jan 2002), • Cabinet Approval for Biomass Nippon Integrated Strategy (Dec 2002), • New National Energy Strategy (May 2006), • Regulation revision of diesel oil blended FAME with max 5% in effect as of 31
March 2007 by METI. KCPC started its BDF project in its R&D sector since 2001, as shown in Table 2 [43]. Over time, the company has built the technology know-how with a capability of design, engineering and construction biodiesel processing plant. As shown in Table 2, the company’s first biodiesel project was development of catalyst-free supercritical methanol biodiesel production pilot plant funded by NEDO. Since then, the company has consistently continued projects on design and engineering of biodiesel plant technology, utilization of by-products, investigation of various raw materials for biodiesel production and upgrading of biodiesel quality, with BDF process systems shown in Figure 59.
Table 2 R&D Activities on BDF in KCPC [43] Year R&D activities on BDF 2001-2006 Design and manufacture of BDF plants for waste cooking oil (test &
commercial plants) 2001-2003 Development of industry technology by subsidy (NEDO)
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Theme: Production of Methlyesters by Catalyst-Free Supercritical Methanol
2001-2004 Joint development with the oil manufacturing company Theme: Production of BDF from dark oil
2005- Planning of joint project with other corp. about CPO and RBD palm oil Investigation and basic test for various vegetable oils (jatropha, cotton, sunflower, rapeseed) Development of effective utilization for by-products (crude glycerin included alkaline, rinse water) Development for upgrading FAME Development for upgrading of production process
Future Further development for effective utilization of by-products (crude glycerin included alkaline, residue of rinsed water)
1. Conversion to fuel by removal of alkaline metals (Na, K) 2. Industrial cogeneration by combustion with other biomass 3. Conversion to other useful materials (epoxy resin etc) 4. Conversion to other resources for biomass energy (methane
fermentation etc) Modify for the process by the use of solid catalyst
1. Solid catalysts a. Ion exchange resin b. Metal oxide c. Zeolite
2. Drawback and advantage a. Refine BDF and glycerin easily b. Life of catalysts unknown c. Longtime reaction
Development for high quality FAME (upgrading): high degree of oxidation stability for diesel oil blended 5% FAME collaborative study with AIST
1. Oxidation stability from C18 double bond 2. Hydrogenation reaction for FAME
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(a)
(b)
(c)
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(d)
Figure 59 KCPC research outputs on BDF processing: (a) 200L conventional batch, (b) 200L conventional continuous, (c) 21,000LPD continuous and (d) 11,400LPD continuous
plant [43] Recently KCPC developed a continuous biodiesel pilot system of 400L/day (200L/12hr) capacity with an option to expand to continuous operation at 90L/hr, with used cooking oil as raw material. The process is of two-stage reaction with methanol and washed water recovery units to minimize waste from the system, as shown in Figure 60. KCPC has designed and manufactured pilot and commercial plants for waste cooking oil, with its continuous BDF processing technology being implemented at Toyama BDF Co., Ltd.
(a)
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(b)
(c)
(d)
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(e)
Figure 60 Visiting team to KCPC for (a) AM and (b) PM discussion, with site visit to (c) BDF 200L continuous system, (d) BDF supercritical methanol process and (e) glycerin
purification pilot process. As previously mentioned, KCPC BDF technology is based on using used cooking oil as a raw material. However, the company is further expanding its BDF technology to include other raw materials such as crude palm oil (CPO), refined palm oil (RBD palm oil) and jatropha oil. The company R&D section is also interested in further development for effective utilization of glycerin. For instances, as-is crude glycerin can be used as fuel or as other resources for biomass energy (e.g. methane fermentation). Further purification of glycerin by removal of alkaline metals (Na, K) can convert glycerin to other useful materials such as epoxide resin. Furthermore, KCPC future R&D plan on biodiesel process involves using solid catalyst and development for high quality biodiesel through collaborative study with AIST on upgrading biodiesel oxidation stability via hydrogenation reaction. Kimura Chemical Plant Co., LTD is capable of providing BDF technology to industrial sector, with its sincere willingness to collaborate with Thai BDF industry on the ground of technology transfer of KCPC BDF process. The company has potential to provide custom-made design and engineering to satisfy customers’ needs through KCPC quality technologies, products and services. Follow-up discussion on KCPC BDF technology after visit is shown in Appendix.
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5.3 Hamada Kagaku Corporation
4F Kameda Bldg., 39 Misono-cho, Amagasaki, Hyogo, 660-0861 Japan Tel: +81-6-6411-3457 Fax: +81-6-6411-3865 Contact person: Mr. Supachai Rooppradit, Manager of Bio Fuel Dept. URL: http://www.hamadakagaku.co.jp Email: [email protected] Hamada is doing business in used cooking oil recycling with established network of used cooking oil logistics throughout Japan, as shown in Figure 62. The company recent interest in BDF has resulted in a joint investment with KCPC and Green Industry to construct a demonstration BDF plant in Toyama (to be discussed below). Hamada technology lies in used cooking oil collection logistic and pretreatment prior to BDF process. Furthermore, Hamada R&D has collaboration in BDF production from biological process.
Figure 61 Hamada truck for used cooking oil collection in Toyama area
5.4 Toyama BDF Co., LTD
Tel: +81-7-6426-1313
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Fax: +81-6-6426-1333 Contact person: Mr. Ishiguro, Plant Manager Email: [email protected] Located at Toyama Eco-Town industrial park, Toyama BDF plant is the second commercial BDF plant in Japan, whereas Kyoto Municipal plant is the first one. The plant was built by Kimura Chemical Plant Co., Ltd. (KPCP) and Hamada Kagaku Corporation. Toyama BDF Co., LTD is a joint venture by three companies: KPCP, Hamada Corp. and Green Industry, waste collector and recycler in Toyama city. Raw material for biodiesel production is waste cooking oil. As shown in Figure 62 and Figure 63, Toyama BDF plant has two main sections, waste cooking oil pretreatment plant (process by Hamada) and biodiesel production plant (process by KPCP), respectively. In the used cooking oil pretreatment process, water and impurities are removed, and acid value is controlled. Biodiesel process by KPCP at Toyama BDF is a continuous system, currently running at 3,800 L per 9 hrs production. However, the maximum capacity of the system is capable of producing 11,400 L of biodiesel per 24 hrs operation. The plant started its first production in November 2006, and has been running ever since. With a zero-waste philosophy, Toyama BDF plant utilizes glycerin by-product as fuel for recycling plant in Eco-Town area, and wasted water for biogas production. Currently, Toyama BDF distributes its biodiesel product to three sectors: first to Toyama city for use in city’s diesel engine trucks, second to garbage collecting trucks fleet of Green Industry company and third to Toyama BDF plant for use with forklifts and small diesel machine. This combines to a total number of 120 diesel engines and trucks using B100 in Toyama city.
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Figure 62 (a) Visiting team to Toyama BDF Co., LTD showing (b) the company samples, (c) used cooking oil collection tank, (d) receiving area for used cooking oil filtration, (e)
pretreatment system and (f) storage tank for pretreated used cooking oil
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Separator No.1 separates glycerine
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Figure 63 Toyama BDF system comprising of (a) reactor tank, (b) glycerin separator tank, (c) methanol recover tank, (d) water-washing tank, (e) water separator tank, (f) drying tank, (g) BDF storage tank, (h) BDF filtration system, (i) BDF pump and (j) plant forklift
fueled with BDF.
5.5 Kyoto Municipal Waste Edible Oil Fuel Production Facility
Kyoto Municipal South Clean Center, senryomatsu-cho 447, Yokooji, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto City, 612-8244, Japan Tel: +81-7-5604-5880 Fax: +81-6-5604-5884 Contact person: Mr. Tatsuya Yamada
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Email: [email protected] In contribution to 3rd Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climage Change (COP3) in Dec 1997, Japan government has established biodiesel production facility at Kyoto city to help alleviate global warming, reduce pollution of waste edible oil to natural water resources and support recycling society in Kyoto city by promoting an campaign for Kyoto residents to collect used edible oil discharged from household and turn this used edible oil into biodiesel [44]. As biodiesel is environmental friendly and carbon neutral fuel, recycling waste edible oil to biodiesel helps purification of automobile exhaust gas by reducing carbon dioxide emission. As shown in Figure 64, the Kyoto municipal BDF plant collects and clean waste edible oil before use it as raw material to make biodiesel. The Kyoto municipal waste edible oil fuel production is located at Kyoto South Clean Center. The biodiesel processing plant is constructed by Hitz Hitachi Zosen Corportation based on Revo International process design. The biodiesel production system was fully operational since June 2004 with a daily production capacity of 5,000L. The production system is a batch process using conventional transesterification reaction, with glycerin separation from gravity differences. Biodiesel is then cleaned with warm water with moisture and any contamination being removed before the product is distributed. Biodiesel from Kyoto municipal plant is distributed to use in the city buses and city garbage collecting trucks. All 220 garbage trucks use B100 biodiesel while most of the city buses (about 95 units) use B20, except two buses running on B100 since May 2006
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Figure 64 (a) Visiting team to Kyoto municipal BDF plant, showing (b) used cooking oil receiving area with pretreatment process, (c) pretreated used cooking oil tank, (d) BDF
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reactor and separator tanks, (e) water-washing tank, (f) BDF storage tank, (g) Kyoto municipal garbage truck using B100 and (h) schematic illustration of BDF process [44]
At the present, Kyoto municipal plant follows the Kyoto preliminary BDF standards drafted in 2002 for production. To ensure Kyoto biodiesel quality, biodiesel from Kyoto municipal is treated with additive to improve the fluidity and prevent crystallization of biodiesel at low temperatures during winter. Furthermore, an economical and effective anti-oxidation additive is currently under development and testing.
5.6 Dr. Yuichiro Kato
Tel: +81-80-5673-2869 Email: [email protected] Dr. Kato used to be an Executive Director of Overseas Business Development at Revo International, whose BDF process company is installed at Kyoto Municipal BDF Plant. In addition, he has helped Revo International design and construct BDF plant Kyoto Prefecture of 395 LPD capacity using the C-Fuel technology [45]. Recently, Revo International was contracted by PTT to set up a BDF pilot plant of 1,000 LPD capacity at PTT R&D Institute, where Dr. Kato was the project manager [46]. Currently, he is a freelance energy consultant. During the discussion, some details cannot be revealed due to company secret, as shown in Figure 65. However, Dr. Kato has emphasized on the fundamental difference between mechanical and chemical production plants. For mechanical production, the operators can follow the standard procedure to achieve the same specification of product. On the other hand, for chemical production, the operator may not be able to produce the same specification of product even if the same standard procedure is followed, due to some slight variation in the feedstock quality. Hence, parameters like feeding time, processing duration and reactant chemical need fine tuning for optimal yield. To master in any chemical production like BDF processing, one needs not only to learn the know-how of obtaining the design of mechanical structure of successful plant, but also learn the operational control of chemical production plant by recourse to
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• Material Balance, • Energy Balance and • Sequence Balance,
which are usually embedded in the operation software.
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Figure 65 Visiting team with Dr. Kato during (a) coffee and (b) lunch meeting on BDF technology
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For turnkey technology, the process company would provide the operational processing parameters set from the typical process condition with some modification during the commission stage. However, the local operators should establish technical capability to follow up and modify the basic software data to suit the local setting, with possible routine slight variation.
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6. Possible working plan for building up of design and engineering capability in Thailand
Given the identified gaps from the design and engineering capabilities, as the barrier of scaling up with success to biodiesel commercial plant in Thailand, and potential Japanese partners to help bridge these gaps, the following working plans are proposed from the established mechanisms.
1. Establish biodiesel plant design training project with Kimura and/or other Japanese experts to improve necessary skills for local researchers and engineers from Thai R&D institutes and private sectors. The output of the project should follow engineering methodology and suit Thai potential raw materials.
2. Establish demonstration biodiesel plant in Thailand with technology transfer from Kimura and close collaboration from Dr. Yoshimura, Dr. Kato and other related Japanese experts to train and improve necessary skills for local researchers and engineers from Thai R&D institutes and private sectors. This plant will be constructed by Thai constructors to improve experience, with lesson learned to build up the confidence among related stakeholders.
3. Selectively scrutinize competent Thai BDF plant with willingness to collaborate with abovementioned Japanese partners to improve efficiency and cost-competitiveness with addition of supporting technologies, such as CPO pretreatment and glycerin purification.
4. Establish collaborative projects with Dr. Yoshimura, Dr. Kato and other related Japanese experts to transfer new generation technologies to Thai R&D institute for further fulfilling the foreseen gaps.
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7. Appendix
7.1 Thai BDF standards
DOEB has announced two BDF standards in Thailand. One is for industrial grade to be used with high speed diesel engine while the other is for community grade to be used with low speed agricultural diesel engine.
7.1.1 Industrial BDF standard
Industrial-grade BDF standard was announced by DOEB on 23 May 2007 [47].
7.1.2 Community BDF standard
Community-grade BDF standard was announced by DOEB on 21 July 2006 [48]. In brief, the BDF standard for community-grade is relaxed from the industrial grade with less properties to be checked.
7.2 Itinerary for Investigative Survey in Japan
The investigative survey in Japan was conducted in February 2008 with help and suggestion from NFV team at AIST (Dr. Yoshimura and Dr. Goto) with a clear agenda to seek for potential collaborators to help Thai BDF industry.
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7.3 Technical information of KCPC BDF system
The follow-up discussion on KCPC BDF system is shown below.
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8. References 1 http://www.dede.go.th/dede/fileadmin/upload/pdf/Biodiesel_Demand__in_Thailand.pdf, Accessed 25 Mar 08 2 In 2006, NSTDA/MTEC and TISTR were granted permission from the cabinet to conduct R&D project on behalf of MOST to celebrate His Majesty the King entitled, “Small-Scale Complete-Cycle Biodiesel Pilot Plant: Technology Transfer to Communities in Celebration of His Majesty King Bhumibol’s 60-Year Anniversary of Accession to the Throne” 3 http://www.thannews.th.com/detialnews.php?id=T0822512&issue=2251, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 4 http://www.thannews.th.com/detialnews.php?id=T0822952&issue=2295, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 5 http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSBKK25586920080131, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 6 http://www.chemweek.com/regions/southeast_asia/thailand/10363.html, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 7 http://www1.pttchem.com/about/subsidiaries/subsidiaries/index-en.shtml, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 8 S. Ayachanun, ADB’s Planning Workshop on Strategies & Options for Integrating Biofuel an Rural Renewable Energy for Poverty Reduction, Bangkok, Thailand, 11-13 Jun 07 9 http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=882562, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 10 http://biopact.com/2007/06/thailands-largest-palm-oil-producer.html, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 11 http://www.cpthailand.com/, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 12 http://203.146.35.11/dede/fileadmin/upload/cc/sunrise/2_1.ppt, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 13 http://www.mtec.or.th/th/newsdetail.asp?newsid=213, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 14 http://www.aseansec.org/, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 15 Office of Agricultural Economics (Thailand) and Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
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16 C.Y. May, H.L.L. Nang and Y.C. Liang, APEC Workshop on Development of Biodiesel Standards, Bangkok, Thailand, 25-26 October 2007 17 MPOB TT No. 148, ISSN 1511-7871, May 2002 18 B. Malaykham, “Brief Report of Biomass in Lao PDR”, 4th Biomass Asia Workshop, Malaysia, 20-22 November 2007 19 http://www.acmecs.org, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 20 http://e-service.agri.cmu.ac.th/research/research_file_download.asp?id=004-098-A-50, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 21 http://lao-ire.org, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 22 http://www.sunlabob.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 23 LIRE, “Survey on Fossil Fuel Consumption for Energy Efficiency Conservation to Promote the New Technology of Biofuel in Lao PDR”, NEDO funded project 24 http://www.toyo-thai.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 25 http://www.stpi.co.th, http://www.sino-thai.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 26 http://www.patkol.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 27 http://www.stecon.co.th, http://www.sino-thai.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 28 http://www.pae.co.th, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 29 http://www.strr.co.th, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 30 http://www.unimit.co.th, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 31 http://www.at-agrartechnik.de, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 32 R. Foehrig, “Technology and Cost Advantages with Modern Multi-Feed-Stock Technologies”, BioFuels Thailand, Bangkok, 9 November 2007 33 http://www.desmetballestraoleo.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 34 http://www.lakeeriebiofuels.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 35 http://www.npnrg.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 36 http://www.lurgi.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 37 http://www.lurgi.com/website/fileadmin/pdfs/brochures/Biodiesel.pdf, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 38 http://www.lipochem.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 39 http://www.oiltek.com.my/ & http://www.oiltek.co.th/, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 40 http://www.crowniron.com, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 41 http://www.soymor.com/, Accessed on 25 Mar 08
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42 Research Center for New Fuels and Vehicle Technology Brochure 43 Kimura Chemical Plants presentation during the visit. 44 Presentation on Biodiesel fuel production facility by Administration section of Kyoto City South Clean Center 45 http://www.e-revo.jp/plant/index.html, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 46 http://www.e-revo.jp/english/history.html, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 47 http://www.doeb.go.th/law/report/biodiesel.pdf, Accessed on 25 Mar 08 48 http://www.doeb.go.th/news/biodiesel_community.pdf, Accessed on 25 Mar 08