The Carolina Environmental Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and King Mongut

1
The Carolina Environmental Program at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel
HillandKing Monguts University of Technology
Thonburi
Who are we?

• Exchange Program
• Environmental classes with Thai and UNC students
• UNC students engage in independent research
  projects addressing environmental issues in
  Thailand.
• Opportunity for Thai students to take a semester
  of masters classes at UNC and participate in
  graduate level research.

2
Introduction Energy in Thailand

• Trend of Increasing Energy use1
• total energy demand in 2003 was 56,289 ktoe, an
  increase of 6.2
• 400,000 million baht was spent on imported oil
• Almost 85 of the 55 million liters of diesel
  consumed per day is imported
• Roadmap for Biodiesel Development and Promotion2
• by 2011
• Increase consumption of alternative energies from
  0.5 to 8
• Use 2.4 million liters of biodiesel per day
  nationwide
• Tax incentives

Table 4 Chart of Current Biodiesel Production
Plants in Thailand
1 "Thailand Energy Situation." Department of
Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency
(DEDE), Ministry of Energy Thailand. 2003.
available online at http//www.dede.go.th/dede/st
atpage/energy2003/eneintroeng03.htm. 2
Renewable Energy In Thailand Ethanol and
Biodiesel. Department of Alternative Energy and
Development and Efficiency, Ministry of Energy.
Bangkok 2004.
3
Current Production
Factory Name Feedstock Alcohol Catalyst Capacity
Chitralada Palace, Bangkok WVO Ethanol NaOH 250 l/batch 2 batches/week
Royal Navy, Bangkok Palm Olein Oil Methanol KOH 1000 liters/day
Raja Biodiesel, Surat Thani WVO and Coconut Oil Ethanol NaOH 20,000 liters/batch, max 3 batches/day
Prince Songkla Univ. Trat Palm Stearin Oil Methanol NaOH 1 ton/day
Riverside Hotel, Bangkok WVO      
Business Research
4
Biodiesel Basics
Transesterification

• What is Biodiesel?
• A domestic, renewable fuel for diesel engines
  derived from natural oils like soybean oil, and
  which meets the specifications of ASTM (American
  Society Testing and Materials) D 6751 1

• Benefits
• Environmentally friendly feedstocks
• blend with diesel in normal engines
• Low emissions
• Positive energy balance2

1 National biodiesel board. 2 Sheehan, John, et
al. Life Cycle Inventory of Biodiesel and
Petroleum Diesel for Use in an Urban Bus Final
Report. National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
May 1998
5
Research Design
Energy Analysis
Waste Vegetable Oil Collection in Bangkok
Pre-processing
Transesterification Reaction to create biodiesel
from feedstock oils
Jatropha Agricultural production Oil
purification
6
Energy Balance for Biodiesel Production in
Thailand
7
Feedstock Option 1

• Jatropha Curcas

8
Value of Jatropha

• Jatropha grows wild and in infertile soil
• Oil can be extracted from the nuts after just 6
  months (as opposed to 3 for palm nuts)
• The nuts are about 60 oil by weight
• It is not presently used in any other ways
• The biodiesel has favorable ignition qualities

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Jatropha cultivation for biodiesel appears ideal
it is energy positive?

• ENERGY INPUTS
• Labor
• Fertilizer
• Transportation

• CULTIVATION
• Propogation
• Fertilization
• Harvesting
• Deshelling
• Crushing
• Pressing
• Filtering

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Transportation
emissions
Bags
2 month seedlings
Fertilizer
groundwater
Transportation
emissions
Kernals
Press cake
88-334l/day 4.4-16.7
1,666-1,912l/day 83.3-95.6 Crude oil
12
APPROACH

• Land productivity varies widely between the
  research level oil production in Thailand and
  longer established cultivation in other
  countries. Literature ranges of 1200 to 2400
  liters of oil per hectare can be expected,
  therefore 3 land area scenarios were considered
  1200l/ha, 1750l/ha, and 2000l/ha.

13
LABORFor the 30 year productivity lifespan of
jatropha, approximately 5,000,000 MJ of labor
energy are needed for farming per square
kilometer and 7,400,000 MJ are needed for oil
extraction per square kilometer
14
LABORDepending on productivity land area
scenario, this totals to 75,400,000 MJ
51,700,000 MJ or 45,300,000 MJ (45-75
terajoules) for the 30 year production cycle.
15
TRANSPORTATIONDiesel energy needs for running
the tractors include establishing the field,
spreading fertilizer, and harvesting in each of
the different scenarios and with variable plot
shape. This is assumed to be an internal flux
because the tractors can run on the crude oil
produced. The range is 35-133 terajoules.
16
FERTILIZERThis is according to the energy
requirements described by Sima Pro of the
fertilizer used at Kaseasart University
(151515). An estimated .4-.7 terajoules are
required
17
SUMMARYA total input of 81 to 209 terajoules is
required for the 30 year production cycle of
jatropha oil, depending on the productivity of
the land and plot dimension. This can be
compared to the energy obtained from the oil at
an average of 37.5MJ/l, 821.3 terajoules is
expected. This is a significantly positive
energy balance
18
SUMMARY

• Transportation is the largest energy sink but is
  an internal flux if the trucks are run on crude
  oil. The demand is 4.4-16.7 of the total oil
  produced.
• Labor is generally not considered in an energy
  balance but has been here because of the absence
  of other energies in the production process in
  Thailand.
• Fertilizer can be internalized if the waste press
  cake is used as fertilizer.

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SUMMARY

• Looking at the most logical rectangular
  scenario 3, the total energy input is 95.1
  terajoules, or 50.2 terajoules not including
  manual labor. This energy input can be expected
  to yield 821.3 terajoules of product energy.
  Since one MJ of energy input can produce about
  8.64 MJ of product, the energy efficiency is
  calculated to be 864. This indicates a highly
  energetically productive process. The fossil
  fuel energy ratio is 2068, signifying that 2068
  MJ of energy are produced for every MJ fossil
  fuel energy input (assuming the tractors run on
  crude jatropha oil). Although these values are
  very energy positive one must keep in mind the
  anticipated progression of the energy produced
  into transesterification which will likely be
  more energy demanding.

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LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION

• This can be compared to more well established
  cultivation and oil extraction energy needs
  obtained from literature.
• Here is a summation of rapeseed energy inputs for
  agriculture and oil extraction that are
  applicable to jatropha.

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RAPESEED ENERGIESLooking at the 3 scenarios and
2 fertilizer options an estimated 123 to 368
terajoules of energy are needed for 30 years of
industrial style production of crude jatropha oil.
22
SUMMARYComparably, energy efficiency in this
case ranges from 667-223, still highly positive
although not as efficient as the labor intensive
operation. Fossil fuel energy ratio ranges from
3-18, certainly still positive but in need of
closer examination when transesterification is
factored in.
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Feedstock Option 2

• Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO)

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Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) Background

• Thai cooking often uses waste vegetable oils
• Produced from street vendors, restaurants, fast
  food, and food processing plants
• Cooking oils are often overused in Bangkok and
  can be dangerous to human health (1)
• Food vendors and restaurants will be fined 50,000
  Baht for using substandard vegetable oils by the
  Ministry of Public Health (2)

Pad Thai Cooking!!!
1 Siegmann K. and Sattler, K. Aerosol from Hot
Cooking Oil, A Possible Health Hazard. Journal
of Aerosol Science. 27(1) S493-S494. 19962
B50,000 on use of bad cooking oil. Bangkok
Post. 7 December 2004. Available online at
http//www.bangkokpost.com/News/07Dec2004_news05.p
hp
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WVO Uses

• WVO is most commonly used as an ingredient in
  animal feed, also used with oil based paints
• PAHs and other toxic chemicals found in WVO can
  bioaccumulate in an animals body and can harm
  humans (3)
• Biodiesel can be produced from WVO
• Currently WVO is used to produce in many areas
  around the world, most commonly known for by the
  fish and chips emissions of some cars in the UK

3 Scottish Environmental Protection Agency
Online. European Pollutant Emission Registrar
(EPER) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.
http//www.sepa.org.uk/data/eper/contextual_info.a
spx?si41. Accessed Nov. 25, 2004.
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Two Major WVO Questions

• 1) How much waste vegetable oil (WVO) is in
  Bangkok?
• 2) Energy Analysis How much energy is required
  for
• What is the best way to collect WVO?
• What pre-processing steps are required for
  biodiesel production from WVO?

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WVO in Bangkok

• I conducted a survey to determine the amount and
  status of WVO in BKK
• Areas Surveyed
• MBK Mall
• Tesco/Lotus and Big C
• Street Restaurants and Stalls in the Bangmod area
• Notable Limitations
• 1) Small survey results are not statistically
  significant
• 2) I cant speak Thai

• Findings
• WVO from chain restaurants and fast food is often
  already collected
• Most street vendors and street restaurants do not
  have their WVO collected
• I could not contact or communicate with WVO
  collection businesses

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WVO Amounts in Bangkok
  Small Street Stalls or Restaurants Large Street Restaurants Supermarkets Malls Total
Max WVO week (liters) 14 63 490 5,600 6,167
Shops in BKK 16,000 500 65 20 16,585
Total WVO per week (liters) 224,000 31,500 31,850 112,000 399,350
Tanks of B100 per week 2,800 394 398 1400 4,992
Tanks of B2 per week 140,000 19,688 19,906 70,000 249,594

• To Summarize
• Malls produce 500-800 liters/day
• Supermarkets produce 20-70 liters/day
• Small Street Restaurant / Stalls produce up to 2
  liters/day
• Large Street Restaurants produce up to 10
  liters/day
• Estimates for number of shops in BKK
• 10 small street stalls and restaurants per square
  kilometer in BKK
• 65 supermarkets (Tesco, Big C, Carrfour, etc)
• 20 large malls in BKK

• Max Amount of Biodiesel Produced
• Current Mandate B2 (2 biodiesel) 250,000
  tanks/day (80 liter fuel tank capacity)
• B20 Fuel (20 biodiesel) 25,000 tanks/day
• Pure Biodiesel B100 5,000 tanks/day

How much energy does WVO collection require?
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Energy Required for WVO Collection

• Two Scenarios Pickup Truck vs. Large Collection
  Van
• Pickup truck requires more energy (1.7 MJ/liter
  of biodiesel) but is also more smaller and more
  accessible to BKK city streets (street stalls and
  restaurants)
• Large Collection van requires less energy (0.9
  MJ/liter of biodiesel) but is less mobile and
  suitable for areas of high WVO density (malls
  supermarkets)
• Between 2-5 of the energy in biodiesel is
  required for collection and transportation of WVO

Pickup Truck Large Van
Traffic Type BKK City Traffic BKK City Traffic
Distance Traveled for Collection and Return Trip 2x Diameter of City (80 km) 2x Diameter of City (80 km)
Amount of WVO that can be Collected Three 200 liter drums (600 lit) Seven 300 liter drums (2100 lit)
MPG for Pickup truck (miles/gallon diesel) 11.00 6.00
Total Diesel Consumed (gallons) 4.52 8.28
Diesel Energy Used w/ Diesel Heat Loss (kJ) 981321.73 1799089.84
Electricity Energy Used for pumping oils w/ Transmission Loss (kJ) 24690.60 77199.28
Total Energy Consumed (kJ) 1006012.33 1876289.12
Total Energy per liter of WVO (MJ/ lit WVO) 1.676 0.938
Energy in Biodiesel Used for Collection 4.9 2.8
After collection, what steps are needed to
process WVO for biodiesel production?
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Preprocessing of WVO

• Cooking with oils create forms contaminants in
  oil
• Free fatty acids and water can disrupt biodiesel
  production
• Preprocessing can destroy the free fatty acids
  and water

Inputs
Outputs
Settling Tank Purpose Remove large particles
andwater by gravity separation
Wastewater and solid wastes
Filtered Waste vegetable oil
Esterification Reaction Purpose Reduce FFA
content 70C, 400 kPa
Methanol, Electricity, H2SO4
Recovered Methanol
Glycerine Washing Column Purpose Remove water
and acid25 C, 200 kPa
Treated Waste Vegetable Oil
Glycerine Electricity
Methanol Recovery Column Purpose Recover
methanol70 C, 30 kPa
Waste Stream (glycerol, water, and H2SO4)
Electricity
Zhang Pre-processing of Waste Vegetable Oil, 2003
(4)
4 Zhang, Y. et al. "Biodiesel production from
waste cooking oil 1. Process design and
technological assessment." Bioresource
Technology. 89(1) 1-16. 2003.
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Preprocessing Energy of WVO

• Largest energy sink in pre-processing is the
  production of methanol
• Almost 1/3 of the energy in biodiesel is required
  to pre-process WVO
• Alternative
• Dont Pre-process the oil!
• The Royal Chitralada Plant does not process their
  oil and maintains very high yields (98.4)

Zhang Collection and Pre-treatment Process Zhang Collection and Pre-treatment Process
WVO Collected (liters) 1160
Zhangs Pre-Treatment  
Electricity Used (kJ/hr) 70750
Methanol Used (kg/hr) 128
Energy used for creation of methanol MJ (5) 12727
Sulfuric Acid Used (kg/hr) 10
Energy used for creation of sulfuric acid (MJ) (6) 3.41
Total Energy Consumed (MJ) 12965
Total Energy per liter of WVO (MJ/lit WVO) 11.2
Energy in Biodiesel consumed in collection and pre-processing 32.87

5 Chemlink Australia. Methanol (methyl
alcohol). Available at www.chemlink.com.au/metha
nol.htm. Accessed Dec 9, 2004. 6 Rasheva, D. et
al. "Energy efficiency of the production of
sulfuric acid from liquid sulfur," Energy An
International Journal. 2(1). 51-54. 2002.
32
Waste Vegetable Oil Conclusions
To Transesterification
WVO Generation
WVO Collection
WVO Processing
Preprocessing to remove Free Fatty Acids and
Water requires a significant amount of energy 1/3
of the energy contained in biodiesel must be used
for WVO processing Preprocessing of WVO may not
be a mandatory step, as observed at the Royal
Chitralada Palace
Larger vehicles are collecting larger load of WVO
require less energy than smaller
vehiclesSmaller vehicles may have better access
to some areas in Bangkok Overall a small amount
of energy is consumed to collect WVO in Bangkok
Malls 500-800 lit/daySupermarkets 30-70
lit/dayStreet Restaurants 2 lit/day Some WVO
is already collected at many chain and fast food
restaurants Enough WVO is found in BKK to fill
up 250,000 tanks of B2 biodiesel per day
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Biodiesel Formation Process

• Transesterification

34
Current Production of Biodiesel Thailand
Chitralada Palace Plant

• 2 started in May 2004
• Has produced about 13 batches

• 280 liters/batch
• WVO, ethanol, NaOH

Khun Nititporn, engineer. Royal Chitralada
Projects, Bangkok. Biodiesel Research Project
Plant located at the Chitralada Palace, central
Bangkopk, Thailand. October and November 2004.
Website http//kanchanapisek.or.th/kp1/index.html

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Current Production of Biodiesel Thailand
Naval Dockyard Plant

• Royal Navy
• 500 liters/batch (5-6 hours)
• 2000 liters/day
• Palm oil, methanol, KOH
• December 2004 plant analysis to determine
  material and electricity used
• Biodiesel used in Navy boats, cars, and buses at
  various blends
• Also conducted quality tests for emissions and
  effects on engines

1 Captain Somai Jai-In. Royal Thai Navy.
Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand. November 2004.
Website http//www.navy.mi.th/. 2 Padkuntod,
Pathomkanok. Royal Navy experiments with
running on the fats of the land. The Nation.
July 18, 2004. Available online at
http//www.nationmultimedia.com/page.arcview.php3?
clid11id102645usrsess1.
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Production steps
1
2
Heat Vegetable Oil
Mix Alcohol catalyst

3
Transesterification
5
Alcohol Recovery
4
Separation of Co-products
Crude Glycerin Refining
Biodiesel Water Washing
6
7
8
Waste Water Treatment
Glycerin
Biodiesel
37
Chitralada Palace Plant
Energy and Material flows for 1 batch biodiesel
38
Royal Navy Plant

Energy and Material flows for 1 batch biodiesel
INPUTS
OUTPUTS
Transesterification
Materials Palm Oil 500 liters Methanol
100 liters KOH 5.00 kg Water
1000 liters
Biodiesel 500 liters
Glycerin 100 liters
Waste Water Quantity unknown
Electricity 55.8 MJ (estimate)

Recovered Methanol Quantity unknown
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Energy Balance for 1 liter biodiesel
Navy
Chitralada
Energy number for Biodiesel from Al-Widyan,
Mohamad I., and Ali O. Al-Shyoukh. Experimental
evaluation of the transesterification of waste
palm oil into biodiesel. Bioresource Technology
85253-256. December 2002.
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Energy balance for biodiesel production
Waste Vegetable Oil
including preprocessing including preprocessing including preprocessing
  Chitralada Navy
Feedstock Production 11.959 11.624
(Transportation)    
Transesterification 13.000 3.270
Net Energy Input 24.959 14.894
Energy in Biodiesel 34.200 34.200
Energy Gain 9.241 19.306
Not including preprocessing Not including preprocessing Not including preprocessing
Chitralada Navy
0.182 0.177
   
13.000 3.270
13.182 3.447
34.200 34.200
21.018 30.753
including labor energy including labor energy including labor energy
  Chitralada Navy
Feedstock Production 4.785 4.472
(Transportation)    
Transesterification 13.000 3.270
Net Energy Input 17.785 7.742
Energy in Biodiesel 34.200 34.200
Energy Gain 16.415 26.458
Not including labor energy Not including labor energy Not including labor energy
Chitralada Navy
2.559 2.392
   
13.000 3.270
15.559 5.662
34.200 34.200
18.641 28.538
Jatropha
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Why Biodiesel-Economically?

• Supports to government energy policies

• The greatest concerns for Thailand are
• increase of energy security through the reduction
  of reliance on outside imports
• the strengthening of the agricultural sector.

42
Production Costing Analysis

• Looks at the costing of
• Inputs What is used in operation of each
  production phase
• Equipment
• Materials
• Outputs What is produced after the completion of
  each phase
• Products, co-products, and wastes

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The basis of this costing was feedstock

• Contribute to the majority of the cost
• Picking the proper feedstock is based on five
  items
• the actual per unit price or the cost
• the variability in quality or chemical content of
  the feedstock
• regular availability
• flexibility to increase supply to meet demand
• the cost of transportation and pretreatment

Ginder, Roger. Evaluating Biodiesel As A Value
Added Opportunity. Agricultural Marketing
Center. Ohio State University. 2004. Available
online at http//www.me3.org/issues/ethanol/
44
Jatropha-Plantation
Process
Outputs
Inputs
Plantation
Trucks Seedlings Fertilizer Water Propogation/
Harvesting Labor Pesticide
Oil Seeds
45
Transport to Crushing Mill
Inputs
Process
Outputs
Transportation
Trucks diesel crew
None
46
Deshell/Crush/Press
Inputs
Process
Outputs
Mill
Jatropha Oil
Labor Tools
47
Refining
Process
Outputs
Inputs
Refinery
Equipment Tools Crew
Refined Jatropha Oil
48
Transporation from Crushing Mill to
Transesterification plant
Process
Outputs
Inputs
Transportation
Trucks Pumps Electricity Diesel fuel
None
49
Transesterification
Process
Outputs
Inputs

• mixing tank
• Reaction tank
• motor, heater
• Washing tank (2)
• Centrifuge Separator
• Pump
• storage tanks (3)

Transesterification
Biodiesel Glycerol
Jatropha Oil electricty Water, crew of1 Menthanol
(ethanol) NaOH
50
Economics of Jatropha

• ADVANTAGES
• Not much fertilizer, water consumption etc.
• No competition with food industry

• Disadvantages
• Labor intensive
• May be transporation intensive

51
WVO-Collection
Inputs
Process
Outputs
Collection
Truck Pump
Unrefined WVO
Electricity Diesel Fuel Crew
52
Pretreatment
Process
Inputs
Outputs
Pretreatment
Settling Tank Reaction Tank Glycerine Washing
Column Methanol Recovery Tank Filtered
WVO Methanol Electricity H2SO4 (catalyst) Glycerin
e Water
Wastewater
Methanol Treated WVO
53
Transportation to Plant
Process
Inputs
Outputs
Transportation
trucks tanks diesel crew electricity
None
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Transesterification
Inputs
Process
Outputs
mixing tank Reaction tank motor,
heater Washing tank (2) Centrifuge
Separator Pump storage tanks (3)
Transesterification
Biodiesel glycerol
Wastewater

• TreatedWVO
• electricty
• Water, crew of1
• Menthanol (ethanol)
• NaOH

55
Economics of WVO

• Advantages
• Inexpensive without pre-treatment
• Stable supply in large cities

• Disadvantages
• Used in animal feed
• Large scale collection scheme may prove difficult
• May require energy intensive pre-treatment process

56
Conclusions

• Jatropha could be used in agricultural or rural
  communities
• May be an option for an expanded program covering
  all of Thailand
• WVO would be the best feedstock for large cities
  such as Bangkok

57
Further Research and Lessons from other nations

• Create a scheme for selling glycerol
• Come up with creative tax incentives and
  subsidies
• Precise Costing Analysis

58
conclusions?

• For both economic and environmental reasons
  feedstock and biodiesel production should be
  localized.

59
Research Ideas for Next Years Program
Expansions on Findings

• Collection of Waste Vegetable Oils In BKK
• Detailed collection plan for city streets
• Further analysis of current uses of biodiesel
  collection programs for WVO already in place
• Is pre-processing of WVO worthwhile?
• Compare the efficiency of biodiesel production
  using processed and unprocessed WVO
• Economic Plan of Implementation for Biodiesel
• Price Standardization Technique
• Creative Tax Incentives
• Analysis of Roadmap for Biodiesel by Thai
  government