California Energy Commission awards $4.96M to four biofuels projects
In California, the California Energy Commission has approved eight grants that leverage more than $9.6 million in state funding with $11,969,855 in private funds. The projects will reduce petroleum use, cut pollution and provide jobs by advancing the manufacture of electric vehicles and vehicle batteries, adding vehicle charging stations, and encouraging the use of biofuels. The $9,612,515 is funded from the Energy Commission’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Transportation program.
The four biofuel projects to receive funding are:
Biofuel production – $1,989,101 to Great Valley Energy LLC to test the feasibility creating biofuel from a crop new to the Central Valley – sweet sorghum. A salt-tolerant crop that needs one-third less water than California-grown cotton or corn, sweet sorghum can yield as much ethanol per bushel as corn, and can be used for food, forage and fiber as well as fuel. Team partners will provide match funding of $2,000,270 to install a pilot sorghum separation and testing facility in Hanford.
If the testing is successful, the team will consider building smaller-scale ethanol plants distributed across the Valley to be close to the sorghum fields to lower transportation costs. Each of the commercial refineries could create an additional 20 jobs. By 2020, Great Valley Energy estimates it could have 15 small dispersed plants, each capable of producing 3.15 million gallons of ethanol a year. The total annual production of more than 47 million gallons would, over an eight-year period, displace more than 7 million barrels of petroleum and reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of 1.6 million tons of CO2.
Biofuel production -$1,900,000 to the City of San Jose to build and demonstrate a new system that turns trash into natural gas that can be used as a transportation fuel. The project team, which includes international biomass gasification specialists, will provide $4,214,624 in match funding to create a facility to produce methane at the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant.
The resulting transportation fuel could save the City $450,000 a year by using natural gas in its vehicles, and the urban wood waste, yard waste and other biosolids used to make the fuel will no longer have to be landfilled, generating additional savings. San Jose may also be able to sell excess heat and electricity created by the project. The project is expected to reduce the City’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1,600 tons of CO2 annually. Approximately 15 construction jobs will be created by the demonstration project, and the City is still determining how many full time workers will be needed to operate the plant.
Biodiesel production – $1,000,000 to East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) to make an estimated 300,000 gallons of biodiesel each year at its existing wastewater treatment plant in Oakland. The process will utilize waste fats, oils and grease, a feedstock that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 88 percent compared to regular diesel – providing an important air quality improvement.
If successful, the project also could provide an important revenue stream for wastewater treatment plants across the nation. California wastewater treatment facilities alone could produce as much as 60 million gallons of biodiesel a year, creating 150 to 300 permanent jobs in the process.
For the research project EBMUD and its project team will provide $1,575,000 in match funding to construct a facility to receive waste fats, oils and grease and install two 30,000 gallon storage tanks. While lighter fats and oils are well suited to become biofuels, heavy greases such as brown grease are challenging to convert. East Bay MUD will test improved ways to harvest the heavy greases and to reduce the sulfur content of biodiesel.
Biodiesel distribution – $69,233 to the Western States Oil Company to convert an existing, 8,000-gallon retail tank used for premium gasoline into one that can dispense wholesale biodiesel. Because the tank is immediately adjacent to the Kinder Morgan Pipeline Terminal in San Jose, delivery trucks leaving the terminal will be able to easily access the biofuel. The wholesale tank will hold 99 percent biodiesel, which will be mixed in the truck or trailer truck to make blends of 5 percent, 20 percent and up to 99 percent biodiesel.
The project lowers the price of biodiesel by reducing the cost of distribution in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay area. By displacing petroleum-based diesel, the 5.25 million gallons of biodiesel the new facility can blend and distribute each year will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 32,000 tons of CO2. Western States Oil will provide funding of at least $217,380 to match the Energy Commission grant.
Biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent if made from soybeans or up to 88 percent if made from waste grease. A lack of biodiesel terminals, bulk storage and blending facilities, however, limits California’s ability to use the renewable fuel.
Category: Fuels
