Research on Alternate Energy - BioFuels

Research on Alternate Energy - BioFuels
There is a lot of confusion about the terms used. This is an attempt to put together these definitions.

Good definition of Fuels -
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/index.html

Conventional BioDiesel

Advanced BioDiesel

1. Biomass-based - hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel (HDRD) reactions for producing renewable diesel (also called Renewable Diesel).
   Cellulose Biomass based use plant matter composed primarily of inedible cellulose fibers (stems and branches) -
   Crop residues (such as corn stalks, wheat straw and rice straw), wood waste, and even municipal solid waste are potential sources of cellulosic biomass.
2. Undifferentiated advanced biofuel

Renewable Diesel is produced now by:

1. Stand Alone Plants
2. Existing Refineries - like ConocoPhillips/Tyson plant which uses existing oil refinery to make the Renewable Diesel - also called Co-Processed Renewable Diesel

Pasted from <http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2808&q=&page=2> :

For 2009, the RFS mandates 10.5 billion gallons of conventional biofuel and 600
million gallons of advanced biofuel, which includes 500 million gallons of
biomass-based diesel and 100 million gallons of undifferentiated advanced
biofuel. The industry doesn’t anticipate having difficulty meeting the increased
conventional biofuel standard, particularly with another 3 billion gallons of
capacity under construction. However, the advanced biofuel category presents a
new issue for the industry. Advanced biofuels in the legislation are defined as
anything other than corn-starch-based ethanol that achieves a 50 percent
greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction when compared with fossil fuels.

Stu Porter, manager of business development and projects for BBI
International, highlighted the biomass-derived diesel production mandate of 500
million gallons by next year. He noted the emergence of hydrogenation-derived
renewable diesel (HDRD) reactions for producing renewable diesel. The HDRD
pathway differs from conventional biodiesel production in that it uses hydrogen
and a catalyst (such as platinum, palladium, rhodium or ruthenium) from
virtually the same feedstocks used to produce biodiesel.

According
to Porter, the only drawback HDRD renewable diesel has is that there are no
present specifications for HDRD as a pure fuel or a blend component in ASTM
standards whereas biodiesel specifications are clearly outlined in ASTM for B5,
B20, B100, and B5 Bioheat home heating oil. Otherwise, HDRD requires no special
tank storage, can be pipelined to a blending site and it may be pipelined to
retail distribution centers. HDRD plants are also typically larger to achieve
economies of scale.