Demo plant to produce biofuel for ships
21.01.2025
Source: E & M powernews
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute Umsicht want to use a special pyrolysis process to produce a biofuel for maritime shipping from residues such as rice husks.
Synthesizing marine fuels from agricultural residues: This is what the new EU project "Seafairer" is all about. Ten project partners are involved under the leadership of the Technical University of Denmark. The Fraunhofer Institute for Environment, Safety and Environmental Technologies (Umsicht) in Sulzbach-Rosenberg is responsible for the technology.
Three different sources are to serve as raw materials for the biofuel. One is rice husks from Valencia in Spain, one of the largest rice-producing regions in Europe. Another material is agave plant fibers, which are left over from the production of spirits such as tequila and mezcal in Mexico. The Mexican partner, Centro Mario Molina, will collect the so-called bagasse and make it available. The third input material is biowaste from Bavaria, which is left over from the screening of biowaste for composting or biogas plants. According to Umsicht spokesperson Frederik Betsch, this waste fraction is currently unusable and ends up in waste incineration. This normally incurs disposal costs of around 70 euros per ton.
Innovative pyrolysis technology
Umsicht has developed and patented the pyrolysis technology "Vinter" (vertical intermediate thermochemical conversion) to extract fuels from the residues. In this process, the carbon-containing residues are heated at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. The result is a pyrolysis oil in which longer-chain carbons are cracked. In addition to the biogenic crude oil, from which the marine fuel is synthesized, two further fractions are produced: a biochar, which is used, for example, to improve the soil and can thus achieve a negative CO2 balance, and a hydrogen-containing synthesis gas, which will supply the process itself with energy and heat, for example to dry the feedstock.
"The advantage of Vinter technology is its great flexibility in terms of input materials," says Betsch. "This enables the use of biogenic residues, which are relatively abundant globally and do not compete with food and animal feed production. In the project, we will scale up the technology from the current throughput capacity of 65 kilograms per hour to demonstration scale," continues the institute spokesperson. This should increase the throughput to 250 kg/h. The aim is to produce "at least 6,000 liters of bio-crude oil" in the project.
Advanced biofuels
There are two options for using the future bio-ship fuel. The first is to blend 10 to 30 percent (B10 to B30) of the fuel directly with very low sulphur bunker oil (VLSFO) in accordance with the quality requirements of the ISO 8217:2024 standard. The second path is aimed at the medium to long-term requirements of industrial maritime shipping. In this case, the bio-crude oil produced in the process would be upgraded through hydrodeoxygenation, whereby a higher blending ratio (B50 to B100) would be possible up to a fuel quality equivalent to marine diesel oil (MDO).
Several factors were important for the selection of the residual materials. Firstly, they should be available regionally in concentrated form and not previously used in the circular economy. Secondly, they must come from "fair" sources that do not cause indirect land use change (iLUC). Only then can the products derived from them also be considered advanced fuels under the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II. And only then can they also be counted towards the renewable fuel quota that the EU prescribes for all those who place mineral oil on the Community market.
6,000 liters for ships in the port of Valencia
The fuel is to be tested at the end of the project from the port of Valencia during a 30-day campaign in the Mediterranean. "On board, emission values as well as fuel and engine performance will be measured live by the Research Center for Combustion Engines and Thermodynamics Rostock GmbH (FVTR)," explains Betsch.
The Seafairer project stands for "Sustainable Energy and Alternative Fuels from Advanced Intermediate Renewable Energy carrieR technology". The EU is funding the project, which was launched in September 2024 and will run until 2028, with 10 million euros. Partners include the management consultancy KPMG and the Danish start-up Sagava, which want to develop a business plan for the technology.
Author: Oliver Ristau
