Bio-diesel Production based on Waste Cooking Oil: Promotion of the Establishment of an Industry in Ireland ALTENER CONTRACT No. XVII/4.1030/AL/77/95/IRL Final Report, Sept 1997 W. Korbitz, Austrian Biofuels Institute, Vienna, Austria. B. Rice, A. Frohlich, R. Leonard, Teagasc, Oak Park Research Centre, Carlow, Ireland.
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Bio-diesel Production based on Waste Cooking Oil:
Promotion of the Establishment of an Industry in Ireland
ALTENER CONTRACT No. XVII/4.1030/AL/77/95/IRL
Final Report, Sept 1997
W. Korbitz, Austrian Biofuels Institute, Vienna, Austria.
B. Rice, A. Frohlich, R. Leonard, Teagasc, Oak Park Research Centre, Carlow, Ireland.
Bio-diesel production based on waste cooking oil:
promotion of the establishment of an industry in Ireland
1. Introduction
The acceptance of rape methyl ester produced to an agreed high quality specification as
a replacement fuel for diesel engines has grown steadily throughout the EU. Has
recently been reached on a CEN specification for bio-diesel, following an initiative of
the EC (Commission of European Communities, 1993). In Ireland, a demonstration
project has been completed in which a bus, two mini-buses, a pleasure cruiser, an
articulated truck and several light transport vehicles have travelled over 100,000km on
rape methyl ester (Rice, 1995).. Few technical problems were encountered, and the
reaction of fleet managers was generally positive. Public reaction to the concept of an
indigenous, renewable fuel with several environmental advantages has been
enthusiastic.
The main problem which has impeded the development of bio-diesel production from
rape-seed oil in Ireland is its high cost, which is determined mainly by the cost of the
oil. Several possibilities have been identified as potential lower-cost feedstocks:
(i) Waste cooking oil from the catering industry: Over 100,000t of oils and fats
are imported into Ireland each year (Central Statistics Office, 1997). The usage of
oils and fats amounted to 35.4 kg per capita in 1995, below the EU average of 41.9
kg(Anon, 1997). Trade sources estimate that about 45-50,000t (15 kg per capita) of
this material is used for cooking, mainly in households or in catering. No estimate is
available of the amount of waste cooking oil that is potentially collectible for
recycling, but about 5000t is collected at present, mainly from the catering trade.
Estimates of collectible waste cooking oil from other countries vary from 13 kg per
capita per year in Belgium to 5 kg per capita per year in Austria (Pelkmans 1996,
Mittelbach 1996). Mittelbach also shows that 41% of the waste oil in Austria arises
from catering and industrial use, which is relatively easy to collect (Mittelbach,
1996).
If the Austrian data is applicable to Ireland, it suggests that about 10,000t of waste
oil could be collected from catering and industrial users. If the same holds
2
throughout the
3
EU, then the total amount of readily collectible waste cooking oil exceeds 1 million
tonnes. The use of this material for bio-diesel would allow the production of the
industry to be more than doubled from its present level.
The end user of the collected product throughout the EU at present is almost
exclusively the animal feed industry. There is a risk that tightening controls on
animal feed quality may eventually put an end to this usage; this has already
happened in Austria and Germany. It is likely that the uncollected waste oil is being
dumped into sewage systems or land-fill sites, thereby generating additional waste
disposal problems.
Waste oil collectors do not usually make any payment for the oil, but collection and
cleaning costs are high. The price available from the animal feed industry in Ireland
has varied between £IR140 and £IR220 per tonne in recent years
The quality of this material may be expected to vary between countries,
depending on the vegetable oil used, and variations in cooking practices and
waste oil storage and collection systems.
Bio-diesel has been produced from waste cooking oil in a small plant in Austria
for several years (Mittelbach, 1996). Preliminary trials have also been carried
out by Teagasc in Ireland. While results have been generally satisfactory, More
development and demonstration work is required if an industry is to be
established.
(ii) Oil from alternative oil-seed crops: One alternative crop, camelina sativa, is
being examined at Oak Park. Camelina sativa is a spring annual oilseed plant of
the genus Cruciferae which grows well in temperate climates and on poor soils, and
matures earlier than other oilseed crops. Its oil yield is similar to that of rape, but
it requires lower fertiliser and pesticide inputs, which leads to a lower cost and a
more favourable energy ratio. Modern plant breeding technology may well
succeed in combining low-input requirements with desirable oil characteristics
in this and other oil-seed crops.
(iii) Tallow: About 100,000 tonnes of beef tallow is produced annually in
Ireland. Much of the lower-grade tallow has been used in animal feed
compounds, but the future of this market has been brought into question by the
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outbreak of BSE in 1996. Legislation to ban the use in animal feeds of tallow
from brain and spinal offals is to take effect throughout the EU in 1998, and will
generate a supply of tallow for which there is no existing market. In addition, a
reduced demand for tallow in animal feeds has reduced its price and increased
its attractiveness as a bio-diesel feedstock.
Preliminary laboratory tests at Oak Park suggest that a good quality bio-diesel
could be produced from tallow, but that much more work was needed to
establish process requirements and methyl ester properties.
2. Objectives and project participants
2.1 Objectives:
The overall objective of the project was to establish the feasibility of, and provide
technical support for, the establishment of a small-scale bio-diesel plant in Ireland.
Dublin Products (a project partner) are considering the feasibility of building such a
plant to utilise their supplies of waste cooking oil and tallow, with Newgrain (another
partner) to assemble oil-seed crops and supply vegetable oils. Sufficient bio-diesel was
produced by Teagasc to allow a full evaluation of the bio-diesel, including vehicle tests,
to take place. Local technical support for all phases of the project was provided by
Teagasc. The Austrian Biofuels Institute made available to the project the wealth of
Austrian experience in bio-diesel production, especially in raw materials selection,
production technology and quality control.
A breakdown of the objectives of the proposal was as follows:
(i) To define process requirements for the production of good quality bio-diesel
from waste cooking oil, tallow and unrefined camelina oil.
(ii) To examine the possibilities for blending waste cooking oil with camelina oil
and tallow to produce a bio-diesel of high quality at reasonable cost.
(iii) To specify the design parameters of a plant suitable for small-scale production
of bio-diesel from the above-mentioned materials.
(v) To monitor the performance of a range of vehicles operating on the bio-diesel
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produced from these feedstocks.
2.2 Participants:
2.2.1 The Oak Park Research Centre of Teagasc co-ordinated the project. Oak Park has
national responsibility for research on arable crops, including energy and industrial
crops in Ireland.
The main aims of the Oak Park bio-fuels research program are to find ways of reducing
the cost of bio-diesel and to stimulate the development of bio-diesel production in
Ireland.
Teagasc has facilities for oil extraction (IGB Monforts Gmbh, KOMET S-87G press)
and for the esterification of batches of up to 350 litres of vegetable oil, and laboratory
facilities for quality control and process development.
Teagasc extracted oil from seed provided by Newgrain Ltd. Esterification and blending
was carried out by Teagasc. It also liaised with the Austrian Bio-fuels Institute re plant
design, quality control, assessment of plant oils and tallow as feedstocks, and selection
of appropriate blends.
2.2.2 Dublin Products, Dunlavin, Co Wicklow is a privately-owned company,
established in 1973. It assembles and processes abattoir offals and butchers' wastes into
tallow and meat and bone meal. It also assembles and cleans waste cooking oil for
supply to animal feed compounders. The company handles 2000 tonnes of waste
cooking oil and produces about 15000 tonnes of tallow per annum.
Dublin Products is considering the feasibility of constructing a bio-diesel production
facility on the site of its existing plant at Dunlavin, Co. Wicklow. It is presently
exploring the financial and fiscal aspects; technical problems are also being examined,
with a view to starting construction as soon as possible. The raw materials envisaged are
waste cooking oil and tallow, available on site, and oil from seed crops assembled by
Newgrain. Support facilities such as steam, water and electricity as well as an
administrative unit are already available on the Dublin Products site.
2.2.3 The Austrian Biofuels Institute is an association of experts established to promote
and co-ordinate biofuels research and development within Austria, and also to
streamline international liaison. It represents a very large volume of accumulated
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experience of bio-diesel technology, including quality standards, process control and
raw material requirements. Within this group, W. Korbitz of Korbitz Consulting, Wien,
Austria has already made a study of the potential for bio-diesel production from rape in
Ireland. Korbitz made available to the project the resources within the Institute to
provide support on the selection of technology and plant design parameters, on the
suitability of raw materials and the selection of suitable blends, and on quality control
procedures for the raw materials used and the bio-diesel produced.
2.2.4 Newgrain Ltd., Charlesland House, Delgany, Co. Wicklow, is an approved Grain
Producer Group comprising ten growers. One of their objectives is to identify new
market opportunities for the group, and they see the production of oil-seed crops for
bio-diesel production as one such opportunity.
Their main immediate role was to supply a small area of set-aside grown oil-seeds to
Oak Park for extraction, to make an evaluation of the costs and benefits to the farmer of
oil-seed production on set-aside in comparison with fallow, and to study the feasibility
of setting up a small oil extraction facility at their own premises, the oil to be supplied
to Dublin Products for blending and esterification.
3. Materials and methods
3.1 Camelina seed production:
Camelina seed, mainly from the variety Hoga was obtained from crops grown by members
of the Newgrain group. Five farmers sowed camelina sativa seed on a total of 7.3 ha of
their set-aside areas. Guide-lines for the husbandry of the crop were issued to each farmer
before planting (Appendix 1). Crops were sown in April and harvested in September 1996.
3.2 Oil extraction:
The oil was pressed with a KOMET S-874 (IGB Montforts Gmbh) bench-scale press fitted
with a seed hopper, oil tank and meal bagging arrangement to allow continuous operation.
Suspended solids were removed from the oil by settling and decanting. Oil for laboratory
use was refined by the addition of sufficient potassium hydroxide in 70% aqueous solution
at 30-35oC, and the solids were removed by centrifuging.
7
3.3 Esterification:
Prior to esterification, waste cooking oil was heated to 120oC to bring the water content
below 0.5%
Laboratory esterification was carried out in a 250 ml conical flask equipped with a
magnetic stirrer. Either 1.8 g potassium hydroxide dissolved in 33.5 ml methanol (Method
1) or 2.5 g potassium hydroxide dissolved in 24 ml methanol (Method 2) was added to 120
g vigorously stirred oil. Stirring was continued for 1 hour at room temperature, the mixture
was transferred to a separatory funnel and the glycerol was allowed to separate for a
minimum of 3 hours. After draining off the glycerol, the methyl ester was transferred into a
clean separatory funnel. It was washed gently with one volume of water, and was left over
a second volume of water until most of the methanol was removed.
Pilot plant scale esterifications were carried out similarly, except up to 350 kg oil was used
with the corresponding amounts of methanol and potassium hydroxide, and both the
glycerol and water layers were allowed to separate overnight. Residual water was removed
by heating and, in some batches, methanol was removed by distillation before washing.
Before esterification, waste cooking oil was heated to 40oC, and tallow to 50oC. Camelina
oil was esterified at ambient temperature.
Over 7 tonnes of waste cooking oil was esterified in twenty-two 250-350 kg batches after
preliminary cleaning by Dublin Products. Eight batches of the camelina oil extracted from
the Newgrain seed and four batches of beef tallow supplied by Dublin Products were
esterified.
The effect of storage temperature on the properties of the tallow supplied by Dublin
Products was examined at Oak Park.
Three light vehicles were operated on five bio-diesel blends based on the three feed-stocks
already described during the period Oct. 1996-June 1997. Vehicle monitoring included
iMethods recommended in EU draft specification (1) iiHandbook of analytical methods for methyl esters used as diesel substitutes, FICHTE, Vienna. iiiDetermined in the laboratories of Bundesanstalt für Landtechnik, Wieselburg, Austria
n.d. = not detectable
11
Table 4.3 (contd): Properties of waste cooking oil methyl esters
iMethods recommended in EU draft specification (Commission of European Communities, 1993) iiHandbook of analytical methods for methyl esters used as diesel substitutes, FICHTE, Vienna. iiiDetermined in the laboratories of Bundesanstalt für Landtechnik, Wieselburg, Austria * Commission of European Communities (1993) **'O Norm C 1190 (1995)
12
While the bio-diesel specification suggests a winter CFPP of at least -15oC, the
environmental conditions under which the fuel is to be used should be taken into account.
Table 4.4 shows the average ambient temperature distribution for an inland region of
Ireland. On average, the occurrence of temperatures below -10oC is less than one hour per
year. From this it would appear that a CFPP of -10oC would be very safe, and that a value
of -8oC (exceeded only 4.8 hours per year) should very rarely cause problems. For summer
use, a CFPP limit of 0oC should be adequate.
Table 4.4: Occurence of low temperatures at an inland Irish meteorological station
(Kilkenny, mean,1960-74)
No. of hours per year at or below temperature
Temperature (oC) May-October November-April Full year
0 11.4 444.0 455.4
-1 5.0 286.9 291.9
-2 1.7 181.5 183.3
-3 0.5 110.7 111.2
-4 0 65.5 65.5
-5 0 34.0 34.0
-6 0 17.7 17.7
-7 0 7.7 7.7
-8 0 4.8 4.8
-9 0 2.0 2.0
-10 0 0.9 0.9
The effect of CFPP-depressant additives on the low-temperature performance of waste
cooking oil esters was inconsistent (Table 4.5). Some samples showed improved CFPP
levels, others gave lower pour points but unchanged CFPP.
Table 4.5: Effect of additives on low-temperature properties
13
of waste cooking oil ester.
Sample Additive Amount
(ppm)
Cloud point oC
CFPP oC
Pour point oC
none +3 -1 -3
1 CP7134a 300 +1 -1 -10
CP7134a 600 +2 -4 -12
Lubrizol 2000 +3 -6 <-18
none +3 -4 -3
CP7134 250 0 -4 -6
2 CP7134 500 +1 -5 -9
CP7134 1000 +1 -5 <-21
Lubrizol 2000 +1 -4 <-21
An alternative approach is to blend the methyl ester with mineral diesel oil. Blends of
equal proportions of waste cooking oil ester and mineral diesel gave CFPP values close
to what would be needed in the Irish climate (Table 4.6).
Table 4.6: Low-temperature properties of blends of waste cooking oil ester and mineral diesel oil
WCO ester
%
Mineral diesel
%
Cloud point oC
CFPP oC
Pour point oC
100 0 +3 -3 -3
80 20 +3 -5 -6
60 40 +3 -8 -6
40 60 +3 -11 -9
20 80 +3 -12 -18
0 100 +3 -15 <-21
More detailed analysis of one batch (oil and ester) showed higher than normal polymer
levels in the oil, which reflected in excessive CCR values in the ester (Tables 4.7 and 4.8).
14
However, only two out of twenty-two batches had CCR values exceeding the limit of 0.1 in
the ONORM specification (no limit is specified in the draft EU specification), and the
average value was less than 0.07. This suggests that polymerisation is unlikely to be a
major problem in the larger batches of a full-scale bio-diesel plant operating on waste
Table 4.8: Analysis of WCO methyl ester sample (carried out at Karl-Franzens-
Universität Graz)
Parameter Test method Value Density (15oC) DIN 51757 0.877 g/cm3 Viscosity (40oC) ISO 3104 5.27 cSt Water ASTM D 1744 0.14% Methanol Gas Chromatography 0.05% Free Glycerol Gas Chromatography 0.0045% Neutralization Number ONORM C 1146 0.79 mg KOH/g Sulfated Ash DIN 51575 0.012% Conradson Carbon Residue DIN 51551 0.16% Triglycerides Gas Chromatography (Plank) 0.28% Diglycerides Gas Chromatography (Plank) 0.16% Monoglycerides Gas Chromatography (Plank) 0.25% Total Glycerol Calculation 0.122% Iodine No. (calc from fatty acid comp) AOCS, Cd 1c-85 96.2
4.2 Camelina oil
4.2.1 On-farm production of camelina sativa seed: About 13 tonnes of seed was produced
15
by five Newgrain farmers. All the areas were ploughed in spring. Two growers sowed with
a single-pass cultivation-sowing system without any other cultivation; the others carried out
one or two cultivations before sowing. All crops were sown with pneumatic machines.
Fertiliser rates were 35-70 kg N, 25-40 kg P and 40-80kg K per ha. The N rates were lower
than recommended and may explain the lower-than-expected yields. No pesticides were
applied to any crop, and weeds or diseases were not a problem. Combine harvester settings
were generally similar to those used for rape-seed. The areas per grower, yields and
estimated production costs are given in Table 4.9.
Table 4.9: Camelina production costs and yields per grower.
Grower 1 2 3 4 5
Area (ha) 1.7 1.2 1.6 1.2 1.6
Estimated yield (t/ha) 1.9 2.3 1.5 - 2.5
Estimated production cost (£/ha)
Ploughing 32.1 27.1 34.4 29.6 30.0
Cultivations 19.8 17.3 24.7 20.0
Sowing 18.5 17.3 34.4 17.3 12.5
Fertiliser 84.3 59.3 55.5 74.0 91.4
Fert. Spreading 17.5 5 10 10 10.0
Pesticide 0 0 0 0 0
Spraying 0 0 0 0 0
Harvesting 61.8 61.8 56.3 - 64.0
Other 16.3 10.0 12.5 20.0
Total (less seed cost) 250 198 203 248
Seed production cost (£/t) 132 86 135 99
Individual comments No problems No problems Low yield due
to excessive
seeding rate
Late, uneven
emergence;
crop could not
be harvested on
heavy land
No pigeon
problems, no
seed shedding.
General growers comments (comparison with rape-seed production): No bird problems; easier to combine; no late sprays; less straw after harvest; a no-problem crop for the
grower.
All except one grower had a successful harvest. Grower no. 4 had a delayed, uneven crop
emergence on heavy land, which led to very late development. The field was not trafficable
16
when the crop finally reached maturity. The remaining crops were harvested without
difficulty. Moisture content was 10-12%; screenings were high, but could be reduced with
more experience of harvesting the crop and more suitable screen mesh sizes for the
combine harvesters. Growers were satisfied that the crop was easy to manage, and that they
would have little difficulty in producing it with their existing range of machinery.
Seed yields were from 1.5 to 2.3 t/ha. Production costs were estimated at £188-249/ha, or
£82-135 per tonne of seed produced. While production costs were lower than those of rape-
seed, yields would need to be improved and costs controlled if camelina is to become a
competitive feedstock for bio-diesel production.
4.2.2 Properties and esterification: The pre-wash ester yields obtained from eight pilot-
plant scale (350 kg) batches were higher than for waste cooking oil, and were affected
mainly by the acid value of the oil (Table 4.11). Losses in washing were due mainly to
deficiencies in the equipment used. Laboratory comparison of ester yields from camelina
and rape-seed oil using two KOH levels (Methods 1 and 2, section 3.2) suggested that there
was very little difference between the two (Table 4.10).
Table 4.10: Relative laboratory yields of methyl esters from refined camelina and rapeseed oils
Camelina ME n Rapeseed ME n
Method 1 97.9+0.5% 4 97.4+0.4% 5
Method 2 94.6+0.9% 4 94.5+0.2% 5 n = number of determinations
The fuel properties of camelina methyl ester were also within specifications with the
exception of cold filter plug point (CFPP). The average CFPP for the six batches was
similar to that of rape methyl ester made from local rape oil, which is to be expected
considering that both contain about the same amount of saturated fatty acids (Table 4.12).
Table 4.11: Characteristics of eight batches of camelina methyl ester
Solids are removed from the oil first by sedimentation and finally by passing through a
30-micron filter.
5.4 Small scale bio-diesel layout
5.4.1 Plant parameters
The main plant parameters are as follows:
Operating mode: Batch type.
Operating days per year: 333 (90% utilisation).
Batches per day: 3.
Annual capacity: 3000 tonne.
The batch esterification process takes place at room temperature and under normal
pressure. To achieve maximum yields, it would be preferable if the plant had the ability
to pre-esterify FFA, but the plant costing that follows does not include this technology.
The oil pre-treatment vessel heats the waste cooking oil or tallow to over 1000C to boil
off any excess water present in the feedstock.
Mixing commences and continues for 30 minutes and then comes to rest for one hour to
allow the glycerol phase to separate out. The glycerol is decanted from the reaction
vessel and the ester/oil mix is transferred to the second tank where the remaining 25%
of the reagent is added to complete the esterification.
The second stage of the esterification continues for 30 minutes followed by a one hour
separation period. The remaining glycerol is decanted and the glycerol is pumped to a
storage tank without removing any methanol or neutralising the potassium salts.
Following removal of the glycerol phase, the ester is pumped from the reactor into the
methanol recovery column. The recovery unit distils the methanol by flash distillation
and uses a desorption column to collect it. The recovered methanol returns to the
methanol holding tank.
When the methanol has been removed from the ester, the batch receives a light washing.
After a 30-minute rest period the water impurity phase is decanted. Depending on the
32
level of residual impurities observed from the quality control checks the ester may need
to be washed a second time.
The following tanks are required for raw material and product storage:
Tank Capacity (tonne) Days’ storage-supply.
Oil storage (WCO) 70 7
Methanol storage tank 22 14
Ester storage tank. 66 7
Glycerine phase storage tank 26 7
KOH holding tank 3 14
Service and equipment requirements
Electric capacity requirement approx. 30kWh
Steam heat supply 4 bar or hot water 120oC 16kWh
Cooling water 3 bar, 18oC 20kWh
Chilling water 3 bar, -15oC 9kWh
Compressed air at 6-7 bar (oil free)
Nitrogen at 5 bar (purity 99.5%)
A flow-chart showing the main features of the proposed plant lay-out is shown in fig.
5.1
33
Normal
High
Normal
High
Dry Store
Blend
Normal
High
Esterify
Pre-esterify
Winter bio-diesel
Summer bio-diesel
Fuel
quality control
Fuel propertychecks
Fuel storage Process
Free fatty acids
Polymers,saturated
fats
Water content
Feedstockstorage
Reception
Tallow
Waste cooking
Intake quality control
(polymers, free fatty acids,
water, contaminants)
Fig. 5.1: Flow-chart of a reception, processing and storage lay-out for a small
bio-diesel plant
34
6. Plant costing and economics of production
6.1 Introduction
The following costs are based on information brought forward from the trials carried out
and from the literature, e.g. extractable oil content, yields, amount of reaction
chemicals, recoverable methanol and energy requirements, as well as costs obtained
from equipment suppliers.
Two scenarios are explored; the first considers the capital cost of a bio-diesel plant
alone, on the assumption that waste cooking oil and/or tallow are the sole feedstocks,
while the second includes an extraction plant on the basis that part of the feedstock
requirement comes from camelina seed. The costings show the effect of the most
important variables on the overall cost of bio-diesel production
6.2 Background
• The bio-diesel plant is to be set up adjacent to an existing waste cooking oil and
tallow assembling company and can be supplied with waste cooking oil at a
price of £220/t and tallow at £150/t after cleaning.
• There already exists a collection, cleaning and storage facility for waste cooking
oil and tallow adjacent to the proposed site.
• The proposed plant location is in the centre of an arable area suitable for the
production of oilseeds.
• The glycerol by-product will be sold without any refining for £80 per tonne.
• The capital cost estimate for this size and layout of plant is based on quotations
from companies involved in the construction of bio-diesel plants.
• Initially, the fuel will be used in company vehicles and sold to a small number of
fleet-owners, so marketing and distribution costs would be low. In the longer
term, niche markets offering the prospect of premium prices will be explored.
35
• Literature-based estimates have been used for facility capital cost, energy costs
and fixed and variable running costs.
• A rate of return on investment of 20% per annum is required.
6.3 Cost of an oil extraction plant
6.3.1 Operating costs Total operating costs are estimated to amount to about 7 pence
per litre of oil extracted (Table 6.1). It is assumed that labour can be shared with the
esterification plant or the other on-site operations, so the cost of a part-time operative is
included here.
6.3.2 Capital costs: The total cost of a plant with a capacity of 750 tonnes of oil per
year is estimated at £113,800. Assuming a required return on capital of 20%, the capital
cost is estimated at about 3 pence per litre of oil extracted.
Table 6.1: Operating cost for a 750 tonne oil extraction plant.
Labor. £/year
Part-time operator @ £8/hr. 10,000
Energy.
1250kWh @ 4p/kWh per tonne oil pressed. 37,500
Repair and maintenance. 7,500
Insurance. 1,060
Total operating costs. 56,060
Operating cost £/t (oil pressed). 74.75
Operating cost p/litre (oil pressed). 6.88
The total operating and capital cost for the proposed 750 tonne oil extraction
plant therefore comes to about ten pence per litre of oil extracted (Tables 6.1, 6.2).
Table 6.2: Capital cost of a 750-tonne/year oil extraction plant
Capital Costs. £
36
Equipment/installation 85,800 Building, foundations. 10,000 Storage tanks 6,000 General engineering 2,000 Installation & commissioning. 10,000 Total capital costs. 113,800 Real annual cost of capital (20%) 22,760 Total annual operating cost (Table 5.1) 56,060 Working capital (1/12 of total costs) 6,568 Annualized working capital. 12.5 %. 821 Total annual costs (operating+capital) 79,641 Annual cost of capital 23,581 Capital cost (£/t oil extracted) 31.44 Capital cost (p/litre oil) 2.89
6.4 Cost of esterification plant
6.4.1 Operating costs: Total operating costs are estimated at £249,048 per annum. This
includes all raw materials other than the feed-stock oil, and is equivalent to 7.32p per
litre of bio-diesel produced, assuming an annual production of 3000 tonnes. A
breakdown of the operating costs are given in Table 6.3.
Table 6.3: Operating cost for 3000 tonne esterification plant.
Commission of European Communities, 1993. Proposal for a Council Directive
concerning the specifications for vegetable oil methyl esters as a motor fuel. May,
1993.
Central Statistics Office, 1997.Trade Statistics of Ireland, 1996. pp. 76 and 158.
Frohlich, A. & Rice, B., 1995. The preparation and properties of bio-diesel grade methyl
ester from waste cooking oil. Minutes of the activity meeting of the IEA, Vienna,
November, 1995. 11-18.
Mittelbach, M., 1996. The high flexibility of small scale bio-diesel plants. Production of
methyl esters in high quality using various feedstocks.Proc. 2nd European Motor
Biofuels Forum. Graz, Sept 22-25, 1996. pp. 183-187.
O Norm C1190 (1995): Vornorm-Kraftstoffe - Dieselmotoren, rapsolmethylester,
anforderungen. Vienna.
Pelkmans, L., 1996: Used vegetable oil methyl ester demonstration in Belgium. Proc.
Altener Conf. Renewable Energy Entering the 21st Century. Sitges Nov. 25-7, 1996.PP
1317-23
Rice, B. (1995): Promotion of the use of vegetable oil as a diesel engine fuel
extender/replacement in Ireland. Final Report, Altener Contract no. xv11/4.1030/93-12.
45
APPENDIX 1
Guidelines for the Production of Camelina Sativa
Camelina seed is very small (T.G.W. 1.4 g), about twice the size of white clover seed (T.G.W. 0.6 g). Careful seedbed preparation and sowing is essential to achieve a good plant stand. Soil Sample Take a representative soil sample before starting. Take more than one sample per site if local knowledge indicates differences across the site. Store the samples for collection by Oak Park. Pre-sowing preparation 1. Spread 3 bags 10:10:20 per acre and till-in 2. Use Treflan at 2.5 l/ha (1.75 pt/ac) and work into the top two inches of the soil.
Spray and till-in immediately. 3. Ideally roll before sowing with a Cambridge roller. If this is not possible and soil
conditions are very dry, roll with a light flat roller after sowing. 4. Because of the small seed size a fine level seedbed is required. Seed drill A light narrow row drill (e.g. Fiona, Nordsten, Amazone, Accord Pneumatic) is ideal. Seed rate Aim to sow between 6 and 8 kg/ha (5.5 to 7 lb/ac). Drill the seed as shallow as possible, making sure the seed is covered. Top dressing The total nitrogen requirement is around 90 kg/ha (72 units/ac). With 38 kg/ha (30 units/ac) supplied to the seedbed, top dress with 50 kg/ha (40 units/ac) once the crop has four leaves. Disease/pest control None.
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Expect to harvest the crop direct around the end of August/early September.