Despite the plant complexities and challenges relating to feedstock supply, biofuels are growing in demand. Many oil refineries and producers worldwide are starting to move into this arena, investing to find improved ways of making biofuels work more effectively, with reduced environmental impact.
Recognising the opportunities to transfer capability to this growing sector, in early 2007 Aker Solutions formed a joint venture with Praj Industries of India - a global leader in biofuels technology for over two decades. The relationship between the joint venture partners is well established. Through a strategic alliance formed in 2006, the two companies created a solid platform on which to develop biofuels projects in Europe. With strong market interest in the alliance and the fact that Europe will follow a binding guideline of 10 per cent biofuels blending by 2020, the two companies extended their association by forming the JV, BioCnergy Europa B.V. The new JV is based from the Netherlands, with Praj holding a 60 per cent share and Aker Solutions holding 40 per cent.
“BioCnergy™ offers European customers access to the complete scope of services required for license, plant design and construction, with seamless integration and application of the Praj technology,” says Ronald van der Vlist, Managing Director of BioCnergy™. “And several key players in this market segment have already recognised this unique capability.”
Unlocking the potential
Infrastructure and transport logistics in terms of feedstock supply, access to blending facilities and steam and power, are all important factors, as is the need for flexibility in terms of future upgrade and capacity increases. Balancing the many commercial factors in a biofuels plant can be very complex, so technology selection and project definition are two critical stages. Aker Solutions' execution capabilities and extensive European market knowledge, combined with the cutting-edge, technological expertise of Praj, enables BioCnergy™ to deliver customised and value-for-money solutions to the market.
“Through our Project Execution Model™, Aker Solutions possesses immense experience in concept selection and optimisation to map out the necessary considerations,” explains van der Vlist. “Our ability to draw upon sound project execution experience and best practice is invaluable to achieving a productive, flexible and reliable biofuels plant.”
Shashank Inamdar, CEO of Praj, agrees, “At Praj we have the technology and the process design, but we needed the strong project execution element that Aker Solutions can provide. Our clients demand a full solution, and the market is asking BioCnergy™ to bid on new projects and to do feasibility studies, so there is a lot of interest. The market is moving in this direction. There are emerging new stakeholders in Europe.”
The challenges of a newcomer
Van der Vlist, continues, “With economic growth driving energy consumption, the challenge is to find acceptable and sustainable alternative energy sources to help meet this demand. Biofuels is a new and emerging industry, which of course has many hurdles ahead, but offers some very real and exciting opportunities.”
“With so many variables the choice of feedstock will change regionally over the short to long-term. The challenge then is to assess the long-term availability and cost of a feedstock. For example, wheat is currently expensive in Europe, but a plant being built now will be operating for the next 20-30 years,” continues van der Vlist. “Another key consideration is whether there is an outlet for the by-products, to draw greater sustainability benefit from the plant.”
"Supply of feedstock, such as ethanol, has been variable over the last year, so Praj’s research and development into alternative options, such as cellulose and other energy crops, are very important to the BioCnergy™ offering going forward. The continuous R&D effort in our Matrix centre in Pune is therefore of ultimate importance.”
There are much publicised discussions about the issues relating to biofuels, particularly associated with food crops and other feedstock production, potential environmental conflicts and more. Concerns are being raised about the potential impact upon the food chain, for example, with the diversion of corn or wheat into ethanol production. Whilst the global cereal supply and demand situation is moving closer together and stockpiles are decreasing, there are many factors influencing supply and pricing.
“The appropriate discussion is not food versus fuel, but for what purpose can we use the land. One of the challenges is to find crops that can grow on lower quality soil (one of Praj's developments in this area is sweet sorghum), and of course the next generation biofuels,” concludes van der Vlist.
Indeed what many in the industry feel is that to do nothing is not an option any more. The next generation biofuels may be some way off, but the prospect for success is there!
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