BioDieselNow - Renewable biodiesel fuel

Right now there is a project to develop a non-reproducing species of the Chinese Tallow Tree so that it can be grown as a fuel agricultural crop without the dangers of adverse ecological modification usually associated with this plant. This research project also includes a mechanical harvester to solve that long-standing problem.

Sounds great Wee,  where is this project being done?

LSU AgCenter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

IIRC, the cloud point and pour point of Chinese Tallow based biodiesel is not very "winter friendly"?

"The temperature at which pure (B100) biodiesel starts to gel varies significantly and depends upon the mix of esters and therefore the feedstock oil used to produce the biodiesel. For example, biodiesel produced from low erucic acid varieties of canola seed (RME) starts to gel at approximately -10 °C. Biodiesel produced from tallow <I think this is tallow as in animal fat, not Chinese Tallow?> tends to gel at around +16 °C."

That can possibly be dealt with using additives... 

"As of 2006, there are a very limited number of products that will significantly lower the gel point of straight biodiesel. One such product, Wintron XC30, has been shown to reduce the gel point of pure biodiesel fuels. Wintron XC30 is a blend of styrene copolymer esters in a toluene base. It reduces the tendency of the viscosity of biodiesel to increase as it is cooled. This is a key step in cold temperature crystallisation. In this way it acts to decrease both the temperature at which the crystals formed become large enough to block the pores of a fuel filter (cold filter plugging point or CFPP) and the lowest temperature at which the fuel will still flow (pour point)."

...but that is going to raise the price of the resulting fuel.  Perhaps considerably?

What's the cloud point and pour point of Chinese Tallow oil?  Of the biodiesel made from it?  

The seeds are covered with a THICK white waxy substance. It can be removed by boiling the seeds and used to make candles. I wouldn't think the wax would make good biodiesel. Given that the wax is so thick, I would question how much liquid oil can be had by crushing the seeds.  Does anyone have solid numbers?  

 I also saw somewhere that the fatty acids had a high percentage of double and tripple bonds making it a drying oil. Is the fatty acid composition being addressed in the LSU study?

Does anyone know a source for Chinese Tallow tree seeds?   We want to test the seeds.  My e-mail is gordon@abifuels.com

Kumar Plocher of Yokao (I think  I'm sure I spelled that wrong) Biofuels  was looking into growing Chinese Tallow. Sounds like he got a lot of info on it, including sources. He has a blog on Live Journal. A quick search around should get you there, or go to the blog aggregator at Piedmont Biofuels.

How many do you need?

Voltaire wrote: "What's the cloud point and pour point of Chinese Tallow oil?  Of the biodiesel made from it? "

I do not know the pour point for the CTT wax/oil because I use the whole seed. The resulting product has a pour point of approximately -6 deg. F. and is comparable to ISO-F MDB fuel, which is an international Marine Diesel designation. It is high in aromatics but not exceeding present regulations for such products.

Wee Willy:

Voltaire wrote: "What's the cloud point and pour point of Chinese Tallow oil?  Of the biodiesel made from it? "

I do not know the pour point for the CTT wax/oil because I use the whole seed. The resulting product has a pour point of approximately -6 deg. F. and is comparable to ISO-F MDB fuel, which is an international Marine Diesel designation. It is high in aromatics but not exceeding present regulations for such products.

Pour point of -6 F?!  -21 C!?  That sounds pretty good.

How do you extract the oil?  Can you use a press or do you need to use a solvent?  Do you happen to know if the CTT produces a useful lumber or if the wood has some value?  If nothing else it is sequestering (for at least the life of the tree) CO2 which is quite an improvement on annual plants like soy.

Neither one. I process the whole seed in a conversion process I invented and patented. It produces both Diesel-like and gasoline-like components that are branched molecules much like the original naturals. It removes the Oxygen from the molecules during the process. I am "sort of" classified under Bio/Alternative Diesel by the EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality as well as the IRS/Tax Structure but there is a chance that someone here might contest me participating in a BioDiesel forum ... in which case I will gladly leave.

 The other material I am working on, other than CTT seed oil, is BioDiesel Glycerol. I made yet another test run last Friday and am in the process of analysis of the results. During the Cloud/Pour Point test now in progress the Diesel/Gasoline blend is presently down to -3.7ºF. with no apparent paraffinic platelet formation (i.e., no filter plugging problem). The samples I am working with came out of the Delta BioFuels facility in Natchez, Mississippi, and has been "clarified". Tomorrow I delived a sample back to them for testing under ASTM D-975-07 in their lab.

This is yet anothet tie for me with the BioDiesel industry ... disopsal by conversion into fuel of a waste product generated by your process. I hear that it has become somewhat of a problem world wide now.

 I also work with several individuals and organizations interested in the cultivation for fuel of various "unconvention non-food crops" and have myself worked with CTTs for many years. I have CTTs that I planted in the 1960s that are at present well over thirty feet tall. Some are very heavy producers and others are not. They are very variable and unpredictable from tree to tree.

 On the lumber quality of CTTs: the U.S. Forrestry Research Center at Pineville, Louisiana, has tested them for paper pulp quality and found them distinctly lacking in fiber integrity/length and strength. They are also testing them for composite/particle board usage and these tests are not yet completed. They do make reasonably good charcoal. I have had some luck with them as chipped up compost material and mulch. 

Anyway, that's what I do in the BioEnergy field. Hope that some of this is helpful.

 Respectfully,

Wee Willy

Wee Willy:

Neither one. I process the whole seed in a conversion process I invented and patented.

Very cool!  Would you care to describe the process a bit or share the patent number(s)? 

It produces both Diesel-like and gasoline-like components that are branched molecules much like the original naturals. It removes the Oxygen from the molecules during the process. I am "sort of" classified under Bio/Alternative Diesel by the EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality as well as the IRS/Tax Structure but there is a chance that someone here might contest me participating in a BioDiesel forum ... in which case I will gladly leave.

I can't imagine anyone complaining about you participating here and if they do I say screw em, this board is open to all.  Ain't that right Nate?

 The other material I am working on, other than CTT seed oil, is BioDiesel Glycerol. I made yet another test run last Friday and am in the process of analysis of the results. During the Cloud/Pour Point test now in progress the Diesel/Gasoline blend is presently down to -3.7ºF. with no apparent paraffinic platelet formation (i.e., no filter plugging problem). The samples I am working with came out of the Delta BioFuels facility in Natchez, Mississippi, and has been "clarified". Tomorrow I delived a sample back to them for testing under ASTM D-975-07 in their lab.

This is yet anothet tie for me with the BioDiesel industry ... disopsal by conversion into fuel of a waste product generated by your process. I hear that it has become somewhat of a problem world wide now.

I understand what you mean by a problem but IMO it's not such a bad problem to have.  Glycerol is used in all kinds of products, from toothpaste to animal feed (iirc), and in the past it all came from petroleum.  Cheap or free glycerol is pushing the petroleum stuff out of the market and since it's a safe bet that the carbon from the glycerol eventually ends up in the atmosphere that means less carbon added to the atmosphere.  Not to mention that cheap/free glycerol might keep the Chinese from selling ethylene glycol as glycerol (thus fewer kids dying from poisoned cough syrup).  Of course turning it into a liquid fuel, if it is cost effective, would be very useful too.

The real biofuels problem, I think you would agree, is lack of affordable feedstock.  Push comes to shove I think most people would rather eat then drive.  From all that I have heard the CTT might be a reasonable near term solution, if we can control it.  Do you know how the research is going?   Is it true that "it can grow nearly anywhere in America"?

 I also work with several individuals and organizations interested in the cultivation for fuel of various "unconvention non-food crops" and have myself worked with CTTs for many years. I have CTTs that I planted in the 1960s that are at present well over thirty feet tall. Some are very heavy producers and others are not. They are very variable and unpredictable from tree to tree.

 On the lumber quality of CTTs: the U.S. Forrestry Research Center at Pineville, Louisiana, has tested them for paper pulp quality and found them distinctly lacking in fiber integrity/length and strength. They are also testing them for composite/particle board usage and these tests are not yet completed. They do make reasonably good charcoal. I have had some luck with them as chipped up compost material and mulch. 

That's too bad the wood is not more useful.  Awhile ago I saw an article that suggested it might make useful lumber.  Still it's alot better then an annual like soy.

Anyway, that's what I do in the BioEnergy field. Hope that some of this is helpful.

 Respectfully,

Wee Willy

Well that's sounds very cool.  Thanks for posting and a belated welcome to the forum!

No apology needed. Thank you for sharing the patent number. I couldn't see the drawings, but have a little bit of the idea of how it works.

May I assume that it works with most biomass feedstock?

You may not want to answer this, but do you vary the frequancy of the microwaves based on the feedstock?

I had heard that there had been work done with having catalysts built into the pyrolysis unit, but knew of no successful ones. Great job.

Indeed this is very promising.

FWIW, there is a corp in Minnesota that wants(still working on the unit) to build & sell pyrolysis to Midwestern farmers. To the best of my knowledge the unit will output pyrolysis oil & not a real crude oil.

Martin     

Martin:

I have been working on these and building test models for over 50 years now and have put just about everything I could lay my hands on through them. Just to name a few, I have tested wood, leaves, household garbage, medical wastes, used motor oil, used cooking oil, soybean oil, CCT seeds, Coal, Petroleum Coke, waste crude oil (recovered from oil spills), used tires, oil-based drilling mud, cotton seed oil, plastic, and a lot more. I also have converted the C1-C5 gasses into gasoline or synthetic crude.

On the microwaves, I sometimes use a variable frequency microwave generator I got from NASA some few years ago. I have found that triple bonds are easier to break than doubles and they than singles ... generally speaking. I have been using microwaves since about 1969-70 or somewhere around there. Sometimes I build units that are made from alloys that include catalysts. I have a company that can use a vapor deposition process to coat steel shot with catalysts if I need them. It makes it a lot more economical.

Most of what they produce is either indistinguishable from gasoline/Diesel-type fuels or Virgin Wilcox Crude (Louisiana Light Sweet Crude). I can go either way according to what I want. I have my laboratory testing done by Pencor, a subdivision of Saybolt/Core Labs. They pretty well set the standards of reliability in the oilfield.

 It is and always has been my belief that the true future lies in the development of methods for the conversion of seed crop oils and bio-resources into fuel. As long as the sun still shines your "oilwells" never run dry and you leave no lasting adverse footprint on the environment. You are then a part of it. I also work on some other technologies that are ecologically neutral. I think it is the way to go.

Bill (a.k.a. "Wee Willy")

 Bill,

Is the any chance that there is commerical unit of your design being built? Mobile or fixed? 

Martin 

GreyFlcn:

It would not be suggested to plant it in California due to the biodiversity concerns there.

 

But seeing as the Southern East Coast is already "Infested" with them.
And how close it is to the region which is already providing BioDiesel feedstock.  It looks like the perfect mix. 

Actually, my understanding is that it's illegal to plant CTT in much of the Southeastern US because it is considered a pest. I've read of extensive efforts to eradicate them, conducted by state and local governments. My guess? If you tried to do this in one of those states, you'd get ridden out of town on a rail.

California is actually an intriguing location, in many ways, because they grow well here, but initial data/observations seem to show that they don't propogate themselves the same way (for instance, my local "test plot" has not led to weedlings nearby).

I have questions about it as a drying oil. I also have questions- big ones- about harvestability. There is A LOT of work to be done here. 

We have a small test unit running. It is used to make pre-production tests on several feedstocks but the past six months have been devoted primarily to testing BioDiesel-derived Glycerol. This is attractive since it is considered a burdensome waste in most instances and is therefore a "negative value" feedstock in that the generators will haul it to the plant and in some cases pay to have it accepted.

 But My personal primary interest is in CTTs. I think they have the best potential for long-term viability as a reasonable answer to at least part of our present problems.

As for the leaglity of planting them here in Louisiana, they are sold as ornamentals in nurseries all ovet the South. And since they are reputed to have been here since the 1700s, it's a an impossibility to now "un-break that egg" at this late date. And they are being planted in small plots of several acres in several test areas.

Another thing we have discovered is that they are not as easily propagated as had previously been believed. They appear to be an "edge plant" with a very low tolerance for shading by healthy established trees for one thing. For another, they are not as easily establisged from seeds as we had thought. But we have seen them sprout from the root system of a parent tree far beyond the drip-line of that tree. The more we learn the more questions we have. They are a very perplexing plant in many ways.

On the mechanical harvesting question, I know of at least three well-funded projects devoted to the conversion of existing agricultural harvesters such as "combines" to the capability of harvesting the CTT's fruit without damaging them beyond use. At least two of them look very promising to me. And concerning the importance of BioDiesel, right now the people in the fuel markets have a new mantra: "Anything that burns!"

Once again, my apologies for the length of my post.

Wee Willy 

Quick update: yesterday we ran a test with the materials made from BioDiesel Glycerol. I filled a John Deere 650 up with the fuel and we bush-hogged about 2.7 acres of heavy weeds with no problems. The tractor ran appreciably quieter than with Petro-Diesel (P-D) and much less smoke. It also appeared to have more power than with P-D. No problems at all.

Today we did a cold start with the new fuel. (Cold spell here with temps at~34ºf. overnight.) The tractor fired off before one complete engine revolution whereas this unit usually requires about 4-12 revolutions to fire off with P-D. Normal slight smoke at start-up and then none during warm-up. More tests later this week and then to the JD dealership for some PTO (Power Take-Off) dynamometer torque tests.

Wee Willy