BIODIESEL, THE ENVIRONMENT AND CARBON TRADING

The Greenhouse Effect

Biodiesel is made from the oil from plants, animals, and trees. Plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Animals absorb CO2 in the consumption of plants. Both plants and animals supply the carbon source in the oil.  When this oil is converted to fuel and burnt, it is simply returned to where it came from, and is considered carbon neutral.

Traditional mineral diesel is made from crude oil. Crude oil is fossilized plant material that absorbed carbon millions of years ago, hence the term fossil fuels. When burnt, it adds excess amounts of carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, upsetting the delicate balance of nature. In the atmosphere, the excess carbon dioxide released is said to trap heat which give rise to the greenhouse effect; similar to how windows trap heat in a greenhouse.

There are other gases beside carbon dioxide that add to the greenhouse effect. Different greenhouse gases can be compared with each other and are expressed as CO2 equivalents (CO2eq). These other greenhouse gases include methane, nitrous oxide and fluorocarbons (CFCs).

Life Cycle Emissions

The level of greenhouse gases emitted from any product can be calculated using a life cycle assessment.

In the case of biodiesel, a life cycle assessment includes a calculation of the carbon used in every step of its production, i.e. transporting the oil to the production facility; the amount of carbon used to create the raw materials, etc. While biodiesel is currently not considered completely carbon neutral, it certainly does offer environmental benefits when compared with mineral diesel.

The level of CO2 life cycle emissions for biodiesel will depend on the type of feedstock used and the assumptions made in the production process. The Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) has published data for calculating this based on research undertaken by the CSIRO.

The substitution of biodiesel for mineral diesel offers significant greenhouse benefits, because the life cycle of CO2eq emissions for biodiesel are far less than those for mineral diesel.

• Mineral diesel emits 2.67kg of CO2eq per litre of mineral diesel used.
• Based on CSIRO data, and the average blend of feedstock (ie 50% Used Cooking Oil, 25% tallow, and 25% Canola Oil), biodiesel emits 0.73 kg CO2eq per litre of biodiesel used.

Benefit:
A reduction of CO2eq emissions of 1.94kg per litre is gained by using biodiesel over mineral diesel fuel.

Biodiesel emits 0.73 kg of CO2eq per litre of fuel.  Therefore using BioMax Biodiesel will significantly reduce the carbon footprint over mineral diesel.

Carbon Trading

To provide an incentive for businesses to reduce the amount of CO2eq that they emit, Governments are implementing carbon trading schemes.

Carbon trading is where Governments put a limit on the amount of CO2eq that can be discharged into the atmosphere. To remain at or below the nominated limit, a business must acquire, sustain or reduce the CO2eq it “creates” from sources it uses to run the business, or acquire carbon credits from a source that is generating a reduction of CO2eq.
Replacing mineral diesel with biodiesel is one way of reducing CO2eq emissions.

The value of one tonne of CO2eq cannot be properly valued in Australia without carbon trading, however, it does enable us to put a value on the carbon displacing ability of biodiesel.

Example
Every thousand litres of mineral diesel burnt produces 2.67 tonnes of CO2eq gases.
Carbon credits [may] trade at $20/tonne of CO2.

Therefore: If a business uses 100,000 litres of Diesel, its fuel emissions will be 267 tonnes of CO2eq.

To offset this, the business will need to purchase $5340 of carbon credits, which will mean an additional cost of 5.34¢/L to the business.

If 20% of the mineral diesel is replaced with BioMax Biodiesel, i.e. a B20 blend made from 20,000 litres of biodiesel and 80,000 litres of mineral diesel, then the amount of CO2eq emitted is reduced to 228.2 tonnes, which means the business would need to purchase $4,564 of carbon credits; a saving of $776 or 15%.

Biodiesel Feedstock (Raw Materials)

“The Biodiesel Industry in Australia is growing rapidly”

The main feedstocks used in processing facilities in Australia are animal fats: beef, chicken and pork tallow; followed closely by used cooking oil (UCO); and finally, canola oil and other oilseed types, eg Palm Oil. Palm oil is not used in the manufacture of BioMax Biodiesel due to the negative environmental issues regarding its growth and its impact on Native rainforest.

The primary use of tallow, other than as a raw material for biodiesel, is in the manufacture of soap. Tallow is exported to countries such as Pakistan or China, where it is further processed and sold into non-food markets.

UCO is collected from fast-food outlets, restaurants and food-processing factories – it cannot be reused in the food industry. There is only a limited amount of this raw material available; however, it is a very important raw material for the Biodiesel Industry until cheaper feedstock can be developed.  

If canola were used as the primary feedstock, it would compete with food. At current prices, it is uneconomical to convert canola into fuel, so competition is unlikely. Food has already “won” –
but more because of the drought and world production issues than the demand for biodiesel.

New Generation Oil Sources

There are exciting new developments in feedstocks for biodiesel that could make biodiesel carbon negative or a carbon sink.

Our company is concentrating on the cultivation of micro-algae, which is not only rich in oil – its by-product can be used as an alternative animal food. We are well down the track in the research and development of this new form of oil from algae.

Algae can be produced from waste carbon dioxide from a source where carbon dioxide emissions are high (i.e. a coal power station).  The growth of the micro-algae is accelerated and the carbon is sequestered into oil that, in turn, can be used for biodiesel production.

This will make biodiesel a large carbon sink. And, once the oil is extracted, the algae biomass can be used as a feedstock for other industries.

The future of other raw materials for the biodiesel industry lies in crops which are unsuitable for food, and which can be grown on marginal land. The development of Jatropha in countries other than Australia, and other marginal land-based crops that have oil-bearing seeds, such as Mustard, Moringa Oleifera, and Pongamia pinnata, which the West Australian Department of Agriculture and Food has been testing, can grow on salty, low-rainfall land.

The biodiesel produced from this source of raw material will be a carbon sink, thus reducing atmospheric carbon levels, as opposed to the very small levels that biodiesel currently emits.

Biodiesel could provide Australian industry and farmers with a profitable and environmentally sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, without affecting food supply.

For more information refer to Environmental and Safety Information