Libtech in LibrarianLand

North Americans Learn Waste to Energy Recycling

The schematic above shows an Indiana municipal waste to ethanol production plant due to begin construction this year and be completed within two years. The idea of turning garbage and waste into energy is catching on–even in the urban environment.

The gravity pressure vessel uses high transient pressure to work at higher transient temperatures in a fast reaction chamber. Higher transient temperatures enable the use of less acid to induce short interval very weak acid hydrolysis.

The first stage of the reaction chamber at the bottom of the gravity pressure vessel is wet oxidation providing only sufficient oxygen to react with organic debris dissolved in water which will use some of the lignin and other dissolved materials to provide exothermic heat to help sustain the process. It has been observed that slightly alkaline conditions also aid in dissolving portions of the lignin from the cell walls. Cellulose fibers are known to be refractory to short duration wet oxidation at these temperatures.

The second stage of the reaction zone reduces the pH condition to initiate de-polymerization of the cellulose using carbonic acid derived from later process fermentation steps, and supplemented using sulfuric acid or maleic acid in proportions at the operator’s discretion.

The reaction time is determined by the flow rate and distance between the point of acid injection and alkali quench, which is nominally engineered to be between one and ten seconds. The de-polymerized cellulosic materials are then cooled and depressurized by returning the fluids to the surface, and then cleaned and fermented to produce ethanol. __GCC

Several other current waste to energy projects are being implemented in Austin, Greenwood South Carolina, and Ontario ( Lafleche Environmental, a cutting-edge engineered landfill in eastern Ontario ).  Even Iraq is trying to get in on the act.

It is difficult to pin down the largest biofuel plants at this time, since so many are in the planning and early construction phases, and some of the production claims for this list may not be quite true. Even so, this is a good starting point. The main point I would like to make is that while 1st generation plants are based upon food crops as feedstock, the 2nd and 3rd generation plants are following close on their heels–and the 2nd and 3rd generation plants will be based upon non-food feedstocks such as cellulosic biomass, algal oil, and non-edible seed oils.

1.Dynoil LLC is developing a new biodiesel refinery near Houston, Texas, USA - and it might be the world’s largest. Though the development timeline is not clear, once completed the refinery will process roughly 100,000 barrels of vegetable oil each day. It is estimated it will produce 1.5 billion gallons of biodiesel fuel each year.

2. SE Energy’s proposed plant in Chesapeake, Virginia, USA. Projected production capacity: 320 million gallons per year.

3. Dominion Energy Services, LLC has broken ground for a $400-million integrated biodiesel and ethanol refinery in Innisfail, Alberta, Canada, it will consist of a combined 300 million gallon per year production facility (100 million gallon ethanol, a 100 million gallon canola crush facility and a 100 million gallon biodiesel) on commencement in the third quarter of 2008, and will use about 1 million tonnes of wheat and 900,000 tonnes of canola a year for raw residue.

4. Brasil Eco Energia, associated with David DeWind, alongside other Brazilian and US investors, plans to build the largest biodiesel plant in the world, in Brazil, using soybeans as raw residue to create 220.5 million gallons of biodiesel a year.

5. Energen Development Limited (EDL), a Jamaican firm, plans to put up a 120 million gallon per year ethanol plant in Kingston, Jamaica by end 2008.

6. Agri-Source Fuels plant in Dade City, Florida, USA. Current production: 40 million gallons of B100 biodiesel per year, and has a production capacity of 120 million gallons per year. Agri-Source Fuels will open another 18 million/gallons per year plant in Pensacola, Florida, by end of 2008.

7. Imperium Renewables plant in Grays Harbor, Washington, USA. Production capacity: 100 million gallons per year, opened on August 15, 2007, with raw product mostly oil derived from canola grown in USA and Canada.

8. Louis Dreyfus plant near Claypool, Indiana, USA. Production capacity: 250,000 gallons of biodiesel per day, which adds up to more than 80 million gallons per year.

9. Canadian Green Fuels Inc. last week announced plans to put up a new plant and upgrade its existing plant in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Proposed production capacity: 63.4 million gallons of biofuel products a year, and will run on energy it creates and is expected to produce biodiesel, biofuels, bio-oil, and bio-additives.

10. Oilsource Holding, LLC and Greenline Industries, LLC, in a joint venture, will in the first quarter of 2009, commission a 60 million gallon per year biodiesel plant in Miami, Florida, USA with production commencing in early 2010.

11. North Prairie Productions broke ground last spring on a site in Evansville, Wisconsin, USA for a biodiesel plant that will produce 45 million gallons of fuel per year on completion later in 2008.

12. Cargill plant in Iowa Falls, Iowa, USA. Current production: 37.5 million gallons a year. Built in 2006. If there is less soybeans on Iowa supermarket shelves, most of it is going to the plant courtesy of Iowa Soybean Association. __Source

While biofuels makers will move away from food crops as feedstocks–for economic reasons if for no others–for the time being the higher costs going to farmers for maize, soybeans, canola oil, and other crops will certainly help the local economies of the farm regions involved.

If farmers are smart enough to find ways to stay in the biofuels market even after it moves into more cellulosic crops and non-food oils, the current transient benefit to North American farmers could become a more permanent benefit.

Reports from Australia including this and this, suggest that Australian bioresearchers and farmers plan to get in on the bio-refinery and bio-energy world market in a significant way.

Bio-energy is one more form of solar energy, along with solar, wind, and wave energy. The biorefinery concept will simply extend the theme to include other petro-substitute chemical besides merely fuel.

Via: World Business Council for Sustainable Development

By The International Herald Tribune:

Water supply shortages are becoming a problem of global proportion. In the past month, 2,000 farmers in India were arrested for stealing water; the regional government of the Spanish province of Catalonia said it was going to import water by boat and train beginning in May to provide summer supplies; the Queensland Water Commission in Australia put local residents on the toughest water restrictions; and in Atlanta, residents filed lawsuits against the municipal government in protest over faulty water pipes and failing sewer systems.

According to the World Water Institute, a mere 2.5 percent of the earth’s ground and surface water is accessible for human use. This finite resource, maintained by the earth’s hydrologic cycle, is used for everything from drinking water to sanitation, agriculture and industrial processes. Undermined by overuse, pollution and inefficient infrastructure as well as natural occurrences like drought, humankind’s water supply is nearing its limit.

In a report released last month, the investment bank JP Morgan addressed the risk looming water supply shortages pose to companies. It included data from the World Resources Institute that half the world already faced water stress, or the deterioration of fresh water resources in quantity or quality, if not outright shortage.

The bank, echoing numerous entities tracking the issue, cited three primary factors for the supply-demand imbalance, including population growth, urbanization and climate change.

According to Antoine Frérot, chief executive of Veolia Water in Paris, all the necessary technologies and processes are there to resolve the issue directly, transforming wastewater into potable water. “They are already in place,” Frérot said. “And the wastewater is there where we need it, just downstream of the cities. This would prevent overuse of freshwater.”

Municipalities are using highly treated reclaimed wastewater to supplement the water supply, in some cases even for drinking. Frérot said Veolia had built and was operating a wastewater plant in Singapore that recycled gray water into water pure enough to drink, but for use by local semiconductor makers. It has accomplished a similar feat in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, where a wastewater recycling plant supplies about 250,000 residents with drinking water.

The problem, Frérot said, is not a lack of ability but a lack of interest. Until recently, public concern over the sustainability of water supplies has been relatively low in all but the most parched segments of the globe.

This could soon change. Based on present consumption levels, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development projects that by 2030, about 47 percent of the world’s population will be living in areas with severe water stress. To the OECD, based in Paris, the situation represents, “one of the greatest human development challenges of the early 21st century.”

Challenging, but rife with opportunity. Over the next 20 years, the United States is expected to spend about $1.2 trillion on repairing and upgrading its water management infrastructure.

Read the entire article

Via: Oilweek

CALGARY _ For Canadians paying big bucks to fill their gas tanks, it might seem unfair that one of the country´s biggest energy companies racked up more than $1 billion in quarterly profit, an 86 per cent increase over last year.

While big oil producers are attractive targets on which to pin the blame for soaring pump prices, the CEO of Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) said it´s a lot more complicated than that.

“These prices at the gasoline pump are driven primarily by the worldwide price of crude oil, which as a producer we are essentially price-takers in that marketplace” rolling with whatever happens to be the going amount, Ron Brenneman told reporters in Calgary Tuesday.

The huge increase in energy-industry profits has been driven largely by the meteoric rise in the price of crude oil, the main commodity these companies produce.

Crude oil flirted with the record-breaking US$120 a barrel mark on commodity markets Monday, but has since retreated to around US$115 _ still nearly double what it was a year ago.

Increasing demand from China and other growing economies, geopolitical jitters, production snafus and market speculation have all been contributing to the soaring cost of crude.

The high prices have been a boon for Petro-Canada and its peers in what people in the industry call the “upstream” business _ the segment that actually draws the oil out of the ground.

But on the “downstream” side _ refining and selling petroleum products _ profits were not so hot, Brenneman said.

“If you look at the distribution of our profits, the majority of it comes from the upstream part of our business, where crude oil prices basically dictate the revenue and ultimately the bottom line,” he said.

“We actually had negative refinery margins for a period of time in the first quarter, so that´s how volatile these margins can become. In other words we were losing money on every barrel that we were refining into gasoline,” he said.

“It´s a commodity market and sometimes commodity markets respond to supply and demand in a way that isn´t necessarily logical.”

There is not a lot that oil companies can do to reduce gas prices, since it costs a lot of money to produce it, said Chris Feltin, a stock analyst with Tristone Capital in Calgary.

“They´re not going to produce it for free or at a loss, so as your input costs increase the cost for the finished product also must increase,” he said in an interview

“The only thing that´s going to change that is if demand falls. That´s where things like hybrid vehicles and reduced dependency on oil could result in potential reduction in gasoline prices, but that´s a much longer-term effect.”

Lanny Pendill, an analyst with Edward Jones, said about two thirds of the cost of gasoline just comes purely from the price of crude oil.

“A big chunk of the remaining portion of the cost of gasoline is taxation. Of course they have no control over what the government wants to tax you for the fuel,” he said in an interview.

“I can see where people would want to point fingers at large oil companies because of the profits they´re claiming, but at the same time these people were pointing fingers at them back in 1998, 1999 when oil prices were down at $10 a barrel and a lot of these companies were having severe financial issues,” Pendill said.

“It is a cycle. We´re probably closer to the top of the cycle now. Times are good for these companies. But they are price-takers. They are not price-setters.”

To most Canadians, $1 billion in profits may seem like a staggering figure, but the analysts say Petro-Canada will use that money for extremely expensive megaprojects, like the $15-billion Fort Hills oilsands development in Northern Alberta, a $2.2-billion refinery expansion in Edmonton and a $1-billion coker in Montreal.

“It´s not like this money is just sitting there without being put to good use,” Tristone´s Feltin said.

“What happens when oil prices are high, is the operators can afford to look in some of the higher cost, higher risk operating areas globally,” he said, citing Libya and Trinidad and Tobago as examples.

Five Reasons Why Mom Blogs are the Ones to Watch

Mom blogs are poised to become the next big “It” when it comes to the internet–they’re gathering power like no other blogging niche and will only get bigger and better. Here’s why:

1. Moms can blog at home

You don’t need a PhD, an office or a small business loan to start up a blog and this especially appeals to mothers who are looking for ways to bring in extra income while they’re at home with their children. It’s a job that they can do while the kids are napping or away at school and allows women like me who have left the work force to raise a family to feel part of the tech age–always a benefit when your days are filled with diapers, dishes and drool.

Mom bloggers don’t have to leave their day jobs and they don’t have to make enough money to live off of–all they need is a little extra to pay for soccer lessons or a family vacation.

2. Moms need the sociality of the net

I couldn’t possibly count the number of days that I’ve spent without the live interaction of another adult (except maybe the clerk at the grocery store). Women want–no we crave and demand–social interaction and for those of us whose office is our home the internet and blogging opens up a new world of friendship, debate, learning and conversation. No longer do we have to pretend to hold conversations with Steve on Blues Clues just to talk to another adult, now we can blog. Women need to read about other moms’ struggles and disasters–it’s how we feel that maybe our own traumas aren’t so bad–and there are more and more moms daily that are discovering how the world of mom blogs helps them feel connected to other women.

3. Moms have a wealth of material to use

Tech blogs are just about technology, celebrity blogs are strictly about celebs but a mom blog could focus on parenting, protecting the environment, politics, crafts, food, homeschooling, gardening, household products, design, travel or just funny stories.

They’re usually written with an emotion and personality which connects with readers in ways that other niches often can’t and they speak about subjects that naturally carry strong emotions: home, family, marriage, children, the environment–all of which encourage dedicated readers. A blog about the latest techy gadget, while interesting, doesn’t carry the emotional weight that a post about home and family does. While other bloggers may sneer over moms posting stories about life with little ones and the oddities of every day life there have been plenty of writers from Erma Bombeck to Dave Barry to Jerry Seinfeld that have built careers on noticing life’s quirks and inconsistencies and mom blogs are cashing in on this.

4. Moms are record keepers

Blog means “web-log” and most blogs are started as online journals. Moms naturally tend to be the record keepers for their families whether it’s a newsletter, scrapbook or photo album and more and more women are turning to blogs as an easy way to keep their family’s diary. Staying in touch with Grandma, recording a child’s growth, these are the reasons women are turning to blogs and even though 99% of them will never see traffic outside of their family those who blog read other blogs. And who are they going to read? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not TechCrunch.

5. Mom blogs wield economic power

In Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point he writes of the importance of mavens–those who are trusted for their opinions and who pass along information on what products, services and ideas are the best–and mom blogs are the maven nesting grounds. Moms want to know which products work and which don’t; they want to give an opinion on what’s worked for them and share their experiences with others and advertisers are just beginning to discover this advertising pot of gold.

Because women are generally the buyers for their homes in everything from clothing to food to minivans mom blogs talk about things that can be bought and sold, products that can be promoted and services that most households need. Proctor and Gamble, Sony or General Electric can throw up their logos on PerezHilton and that might make them look rather hip but if they can get Dooce to say she liked their stuff that’s when the sales start rolling in. You’ve heard “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”? Well she who does the shopping then blogs about it rules the net.

Via: Next Big Future

Saskatchewan’s portion of the Bakken oilfield, US plus Canada Bakken producton 131,000 bopd end of 2007

When Crescent Point first acquired Bakken lands and production in the Viewfield area near Stoughton in 2006, the initial estimate was 500 million to one billion barrels of oil in place.

Saskatchwen Bakken production is at least 56,000 barrels of oil per day (Just adding recent Crescent Point, Petrobank and Tristar numbers at the end of 2007). A lot of drilling activity in 2008 which has not been reported yet.
Tristar has 10,000 bopd production and has 650 net drilling locations

The MLI/NAL [Manufacturers Life Insurance/NAL Oil and Gas Trust (NOIGF.PK)] partnership acquired two private companies, Tiberius Exploration and Spear Exploration, for a total of $115 million. The new partnership receives 3,336 acres of land, 2.1 million barrels of P+P reserves and a current 925 barrels of daily production.

Petrobank drilling 135 wells in the Bakken by themselves and 38 wells with partners in 2008. Here is the end of 2007 report

Another important Petrobank forecast for oil production news: they expect get get approvals and have their THAI (superior Alberta oilsand project) approved and with its first 10,000-15,000 barrels of oil production started late 2009. It will be expanded to 100,000 barrels of oil per day in 2010 through 2012.

The North Dakota and Montana Bakken production was 75,000 barrels of oil per day as of October 2007. So the combined Canada and USA Bakken numbers are at least 130,000 barrels of oil per day.

“Now we’re saying four to five billion barrels of oil in place,” Stangl said. “We’re not saying what the reserves are; the reserves will be a percentage of that. But it gives you an idea how big the pool is.”

While it remains to be seen how much of that oil is recoverable, Stangl said production from the Viewfield area alone has increased to about 30,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) from virtually nothing five years ago. I had covered Crescent Points latest production news.

Another major player in the Bakken is Petrobank Energy, which has about 12,000 BOPD of Bakken production in Saskatchewan. Petrobank gets about 150,000 barrels per well

The Calgary-based company plans to drill 150 wells and spend $400 million in the area this year alone.

Saskatchewan’s Bakken play has produced about four million barrels of oil since production began in 2002.

FURTHER READING

Painted Pony is also a small company operating in Saskatechwans part of the Bakken

In January of 2008, Painted Pony (PPY-A/TSXV) expanded its exposure to the Bakken light oil play by executing an additional farm-in agreement allowing access to 3,280 gross (2,904 net) acres in the Midale area. Under the terms of the agreement, Painted Pony and its partner will pay 100% to earn 66.6% in the lands. Painted Pony will operate and have a 60% cost interest (to earn 40%) in the lands. The Company has committed to drill four wells on the farmin lands.

Painted Pony commenced an active operated exploration and development program in May 2007, targeting light, sweet oil in the Bakken formation in SE Saskatchewan. To date, Painted Pony has drilled a total of 10 (3.7 net) wells in Saskatchewan. Currently 5 (1.9 net) wells are producing and an additional 4 (1.3 net) wells are expected to be on production before the end of the first quarter of 2008. Production for December 2007 averaged 120 bbls/d, from 1.2 net Bakken formation wells and 0.5 net Midale zone wells. The Company currently has three drilling rigs employed drilling Bakken horizontal wells and plans to drill another 6 (2.4 net) wells by the end of March 2008. Painted Pony has a planned 40 well Bakken horizontal well drilling program for 2008.

At Kisbey, Painted Pony has drilled a total of 6 (1.7 net) horizontal Bakken oil wells to date. At Midale, 3 (1.5 net) horizontal Bakken wells have been drilled to date. Painted Pony estimates a drilling inventory of 100 plus potential drilling locations for Bakken oil within the approximately 59,000 net acres it has access to.

Western Canadian oil and gas well drilling is expected to decline overall by 22 per cent in 2008, Saskatchewan should see a six-per-cent increase, according to the latest forecast by the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC). Saskatchewan is forecasted to drill 3,600 oil and gas wells this year, up from about 3,400 last year, while Alberta is expected to see a decline of 31 per cent to 9,575 wells in 2008. B.C. is forecast to see a four-per-cent increase to 900 wells in 2008, while Manitoba is forecasted to have a five-per-cent increase to 350 wells.

TORONTO – April 22, 2008 – Export growth is expected to remain flat until mid-2009 as the global economy continues to slow, according to the quarterly Global Export Forecast released today by Export Development Canada (EDC). The title of the forecast is “Now What?”, a reference to the heightened uncertainty that exporters and analysts are experiencing in assessing the current global economic slowdown.

“Like a hard-fought chess game, the Canadian economy has made very good moves in adverse conditions over the past two years and stayed out of trouble. But suddenly we’re in check,” said Peter Hall, Vice-President of Economics and Deputy Chief Economist. “While it took longer than expected for the US housing crash to spread, there is little doubt that we are in the middle of a significant slowdown. What remains uncertain among exporters is the depth and length of the downturn.”

EDC believes that deteriorating fundamentals, namely the still-strong Canadian dollar, the economic slowdown in the U.S. and lower commodity prices, will catch up with Canadian exporters this year. Overall, EDC forecasts total exports to fall by 2 per cent in 2008, with broad-based losses across most sectors, except for key commodities associated with tighter global food and energy markets. EDC anticipates meagre growth of 2 per cent in 2009, in line with mildly recovering global growth.

Easing global demand, the bottoming-out of the US dollar and a retreat in commodity prices will help deflate the Canadian dollar over the forecast period. While lower short-term interest rates in Canada will support the currency’s depreciation, EDC believes that the effect will likely be marginal as US short-term interest rates fall even further. As such, the Canadian dollar will trade around parity for most of the first half of 2008 before falling away during the second half. By year-end 2008, the Canadian dollar is expected to be trading in the range of USD 0.86 to USD 0.90.

“Looking forward, growth will be very lean until at least mid-2009. Excesses on the U.S. consumer front are simply too great to allow for a snappy 2001-style recovery,” continued Mr. Hall. “Even a significant dose of well-timed stimulus won’t be enough of an antidote.”

The slowdown in the U.S. has now spread from the consumer and is more generalized among other parts of the economy. Growth in the Eurozone is also expected to slow amid hawkish policy positions by the European Central Bank’s (ECB). Forward-looking indicators in Japan continue to suggest a recession, while the U.K. economic outlook has deteriorated due to housing market weakness and consumer excesses. Accounting for nearly half of global GDP, weakening in these markets will lower global growth to 3.8 per cent in 2008 and 2009.

Emerging markets will not escape the current global downturn unscathed. Economic growth is expected to slow to 6.8 per cent in 2008 and 6.4 per cent in 2009, down from 7.6 per cent in 2007. On a positive note, while emerging market growth will be slower, it will not be as slow as in previous global downturns. Emerging markets today have a greater ability to handle the current wave of financial turbulence than in the past. Four years of strong global demand, surging commodity prices and elevated liquidity have allowed many countries to lower and improve their public debt burdens, strengthen government balances, and accumulate significant foreign exchange reserves. They have also improved policy credibility and implemented productivity enhancing reforms.

By industry, this year’s contraction in exports will be broadly-based. Declines will hit 9 of 13 broad industry categories. Take away the high-flying energy and agriculture sectors, and the overall growth picture is considerably bleaker. Export growth by province will be varied. Gains will be strongest in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and New Brunswick, all riding on the strength of the agriculture and/or energy sectors. Significant declines will hit Ontario and Quebec this year, owing to industrial mix and dependence on the US economy.

EDC’s semi-annual Global Export Forecast addresses the latest global export conditions including perspectives on interest rates, exchange rates as well as export strategies to help Canadian companies minimize risk. It also analyzes a range of risks for which exporters should be prepared. The Forecast is available on EDC’s website at http://www.edc.ca/gef.

EDC is Canada’s export credit agency, offering innovative commercial solutions to help Canadian exporters and investors expand their international business. EDC’s knowledge and partnerships are used by 7,000 Canadian companies and their global customers in up to 200 markets worldwide each year. EDC is financially self-sustaining and is a recognized leader in financial reporting, economic analysis and has been named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for seven consecutive years.

Over 1.9 million votes were cast to choose this year’s Webware 100 award winners. The top 10 best Web 2.0 applications have been selected in 10 different categories including:

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