What would make an "Ideal" Project Design converting from Fossil Fuel to Alternative Energy?

Question

Apart from its CO2 emission (and its present monthly cost of about 8 million pesos = U$200K) in its use of Fossil Fuel (Bunker & Diesel), a Philippine Oleo Chemical Firm is considering converting to the use of BioMass. It is envisioned that truckloads of Farm Waste (Rice Hull & Coconut Husk w/ Shell) would be delivered to its Plantsite located along the windy and sunny Philippine Pacific Coastline frequented by strong typhoons year-round. This Oleo Chemical firm uses "Bleached Earth" in its refining process - thereby, having "Spent Earth" (with about 20% Oil Content) as its Industrial Waste By-Product.

Despite our prospective Client's Plan for a change-over from 100% Fossil fuel to 100%BioEnergy, we contend that the change-over from Fossil Fuel to Alternative Energy Mix (AEM) might be a better option. Further to comparative Cost-Benefit Studies, the AEM Options could be as follows: (1st Option) 30% Solar + 30% Wind + 30% Biomass + 10% Spent Earth; (2nd Option) Other combinations.

Answer 1

I notice you asked this question on LinkedIN as well, smart. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd...

So it sounds like your company (or client) is making soaps, alcohol, ammonia and/or biodiesel feedstock? Plastics?

(based on wikipedia's definition of OleoChemicals, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleochemica... )

Anyway, the non-FF energy ratio you and the first answerer propose look fine. Solar/wind cover solar energy capture; wave energy captures moon gravitational energy.

If you are near a large population center, I would suggest straining vegetable oil and other fats by using a centrifuge and human excrement. (done in china) Or contract with a biomass/biofuel provider. Of course, biofuels should be either recycled FOG or algae-based.

Solar isn't just panels--it's also sterling engines and thermal panels.

Can you pipe in existing steam from industrial exhaust sources next door? (other industries or nuclear- the netherlands model)

Can you source nat. gas from landfills or anaerobic digesters of sewage waste or cattle feedlot waste? (see riverside, ca, usa)

Lastly, there is always "soylent green" aka Matrix Power Plants. ;)

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Another biomass option: producing ethanol from plant waste using less chemicals. Only problem is that it takes away from food production. Do you want food, or oleochemicals?

"Trash Today, Ethanol Tomorrow

"University of Maryland research that started with bacteria from the Chesapeake Bay has led to a process that may be able to convert large volumes of all kinds of plant products, from leftover brewer’s mash to paper trash, into ethanol and other biofuel alternatives to gasoline.

That process, developed by University of Maryland professors Steve Hutcheson and Ron Weiner, is the foundation of their incubator company Zymetis.

"The new Zymetis technology is a win for the State of Maryland, for the University and for the environment,” said University of Maryland President C.D. Mote, Jr. "It makes affordable ethanol production a reality and makes it from waste materials, which benefits everyone and supports the green-friendly goal of carbon-neutrality.

The Zymetis process can make ethanol and other biofuels from many different types of plants and plant waste called cellulosic sources. Cellulosic biofuels can be made from non-grain plant sources such as waste paper, brewing byproducts, leftover agriculture products, including straw, corncobs and husks, and energy crops such as switchgrass.

When fully operational, the Zymetis process could potentially lead to the production of 75 billion gallons a year of carbon-neutral ethanol.

The secret to the Zymetis process is a Chesapeake Bay marsh grass bacterium, S. degradans. Hutcheson found that the bacterium has an enzyme that could quickly break down plant materials into sugar, which can then be converted to biofuel.

The Zymetis researchers were unable to isolate the Bay bacterium again in nature, but they discovered how to produce the enzyme in their own laboratories. The result was Ethazyme, which degrades the tough cell walls of cellulosic materials and breaks down the entire plant material into bio-fuel ready sugars in one step, at a significantly lower cost and with fewer caustic chemicals than current methods.

Hutcheson projects a $5 billion enzyme market for biofuels. The energy bill passed by the U.S. Senate in December mandates oil companies to blend in 21 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol with their gasoline by 2022.

Hutcheson and Weiner won the university’s Office of Technology Commercialization Inventor of the Year Award in 2007 in the Life Science category for their enzyme system invention.

Founded in 2006, Zymetis entered the university’s MTECH VentureAccelerator Program, which provides hands-on business assistance to faculty and students interested in forming companies around university-created technologies. “MTECH VentureAccelerator helped us validate our market,” says Hutcheson. “They found space for our company. They helped us with licensing our technology, forming financial and business plans, and establishing trademarks.”

Zymetis also sought expertise from MTECH’s Bioprocess Scale-Up Facility (BSF) staff to determine how to mass-produce S. degradans. The BSF is part of the MTECH Biotechnology Research and Education Program, an initiative dedicated to research, education and the development of biotechnology products and processes for Maryland companies."

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The more human labor and "current sunlight" you can use, the more "sustainable" your efforts will be. Design from the ground up not to use electricity or fuel.

If you actually have money for this consulting work you are doing, you might check with IDEO.com or CommonCurrent.com staff.

Answer 2

Use of bio energy needs to consider how plant nutrients will be returned from the process to the land that must sustain the process with more fuel and agricultural produce.

Yes, certainly you should clean up the bleached earth  to the extent that is energetically feasible.

You do not specify whether the solar application you plan to use will be thermal or photovoltaic, nor why. It could be a combination.

Wind energy... we have to plan to have the construction strong enough to withstand winds much stronger than you have ever experienced.

Next question is, what is your most typical wind speed? It can be practical to  use even moderate wind speeds, but many commercially  available wind systems will be uneconomic with steady but low speed winds.

Will you actually be able to use a typhoon force wind? Or will its design top out effective use of wind way below typhoon strength. Typically, to avoid destroying the tower, a turbine sill be feathered, allowing the wind to pass through it without doing work when wind speed exceeds design maximum.

Now if one can build a short and very strong tower, one expects that over-speed limiters must be used to protect the rotors from self destruction.

Do you have a lot of cloud cover that would make the use of focused sunlight impractical? If most of your daytime has clear skies or light cloud, concentrating thermal  solar may be a major option.

Have you considered geothermal energy?