Energetic use of natural vegetable oil in Austria

Transcription

1 Energetic use of natural vegetable oil in Austria page 1 Energetic use of natural vegetable oil in Austria Josef Rathbauer, Heinrich Prankl, Kurt Krammer BLT Federal Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Austria Rottenhauserstraße 1, A-3250 Wieselburg, Tel: ; Fax: extension 45 Summary In Austria the production potential for rapeseed oil amounts to approx. 345,000 t per year taking into consideration cultivation limits. Current production amounts to approx. 80,000 t of rapeseed oil on the basis of national production. For the production of rapeseed oil a sufficient amount of oil presses of different categories haven been installed. Because of the price development interest in the direct use of natural vegetable oil in vehicles and in combined heat and power plants (CHP) has increased considerably. 1. General data Austria, potential Austria has an area of 83,900 km² and 8.1 million inhabitants. Thus, 1 ha land can be used by each inhabitant. The wooded area amounts to approx. 39,000 km². This corresponds to a share of 47% in the total area. Due to the decline in people working in the agricultural sector and the topography the wooded area has recently grown by an average of 7,700 ha per year. A fact which stresses the importance of using wood for the production of biogenous energy. Only two-thirds of the annual increase in wood of 31 million cubic meter is used. The consequence is a continuously rising stock of wood in the forests. All plans and drafts envisage the use of this existing biomass. Agricultural acreage amounts to approx. 34,000 km². The share of arable land is decreasing steadily and currently amounts to 1.38 million ha. The area of permanent grassland is also decreasing and amounts to 1.92 million ha. Table 1 contains statistical data regarding arable land and oilseeds. Until 1995 renewable raw materials cultivated on fallow land were added to the respective crop, since 1996 these data have been included in the category fallow land. Table 1: Arable land and oilseed cultivation land in Austria (Grüner Bericht 2000) oilseeds [ha] winter rape 3,941 40,844 87,307 64,775 51,334 spring rape and turnip rape sunflower ,336 28,550 24,249 22,336 soybean --- 9,271 13,669 18,541 15,537 squash ,957 12,004 10,376 poppy ,567 1, other (safflower, linseed, 5,831 6,871 1,415 8,027 7,866 milk thistle, etc.) fallow land* 14,522 20, , ,441 (7,557 rape) 110,806 (5,981 rape) arable land total 1, , , , , * since 1996: incl. renewable raw materials (1995 these were added to the respective crop). In table 2 the average rape yields per hectare are listed. The average amounts display rather mediocre results. Under favourable conditions 45 dt per ha are yielded.

2 Energetic use of natural vegetable oil in Austria page 2 Table 2: Oil seed rape yields per hectare (Grüner Bericht 2000) [dt/ha] Winter rape for oil production Rape used in crop rotation should not exceed a share of 25%. Taking into consideration this limit and the values listed before a maximum cultivation area of 345,000 ha is available. With an oil production of approx kg/ha (1087 l/ha) a maximum amount of rapeseed oil of approx. 345,000 t/ha can be produced in Austria. 2. Oil processing plants In Austria three categories of oil processing plants exist: 1. larger processing plants 2. agricultural cooperatives (partly combined with biodiesel production) 3. individual agricultural plants In table 3 the annual amount of oilseed processing (partly estimations), the technology used and the different forms of use of the respective vegetable oil are summarised. Table 3: Vegetable oil processing plants in Austria 1. Larger plants Bruck/Leitha: 250,000 t/a rape and sunflower; mechanical presses and subsequent extraction, partly or fully refined, edible oil, vegetable oil for technical purposes, biodiesel Aschach: 40,000 t/a rape; mechanical presses, fully refined, edible oil 2. Agricultural cooperatives/ industrial plants 3. Individual agricultural plants Asperhofen: press output approx. 800 kg/h, no oil processing at the moment, AME (edible oil methyl ester) Mureck: approx. 3,000 t/a rape, RME (rape seed oil methyl ester) Güssing: approx. 3,000 t/a rape, RÖ (rape seed oil), RME Starrein: approx. 3,000 t/a rape, RME, RÖ Höhmbach: approx.. 1,000 t/a rape, additionally further small amounts, edible oil, vegetable oil for technical use Heidenreichstein: approx. 1,000 t/a rape; edible oil, RÖ Kautzen: 610 t/a rape (2001), fuel Oberwaltenreith: 3,200 t/a milk thistle, oil as by-product Approx small-scale plants with continuous screwpresses; esp. rape; edible oil direct sale, PÖ Unknown number of intermittent presses for the production of edible oil A large part of the plants listed in the 2nd group would still have free capacities for vegetableoil processing. The continuously changing amounts of raw materials available constitute an economic disadvantage. 3. Vegetable oil in vehicles The idea to use vegetable oil as a fuel in engines is as old as the diesel engine itself. Rudolf Diesel recorded this idea in 1911 in his patent specification, his engine was operated with peanut oil, as petroleum was only available in pharmacies at a very high price.

3 Energetic use of natural vegetable oil in Austria page 3 In times when draught animals were used in agriculture, approx. 10% of the arable land had to be used for feeding the animals. With exactly this share in arable land the entire fuel requirement of an agricultural enterprise could be covered. The first successful tests with vegetable oil-diesel-fuel mixtures were carried out in the Federal Institute of Agricultural Engineering with a tractor with a single-cylinder precombustionchamber engine in the 1970s. The subsequent tests with a direct injection engine (43 kw) with a rapeseed oil-diesel mixture (50/50) was not very successful. After some 400 operating hours the test had to be stopped. [Wörgetter, 1981] Recently the interest in vehicles which can be operated with vegetable oil has increased. In most parts the German engine technology (conversion kits) has been adopted. Most of the vehicle owners produce the required vegetable oil themselves. The performance per vehicle amounts to 70,000 km vegetable oil operation. The converted passenger cars and light lorries are manufactured by the VW-group (VW, Seat, Skoda), Daimler-Chrysler, Renault, Ford and Mitsubishi. As far as the BLT is informed approx. 25 to 30 vehicles (mostly passenger cars, light lorries and only a few tractors) were operated with pure vegetable oil in February From the legal point of view rape oil or vegetable oil is not defined as fuel in the fuel regulation. However, the use of this liquid energy source in vehicles is not being punished. 4. Vegetable oil in combined heat and power plants In Austria the generation of power from renewable energy sources with the exception of water power is regulated by the Federal Act Regulating the Reorganisation in the Electricity Industry (Austrian Elektrizitätswirtschafts- und -organisationsgesetz, ElWOG, BGBl. Federal Law Gazette No. 143/1998), in the Energy Liberalisation Act (Austrian Energieliberalisierungsgesetz, BGBl. Federal Law Gazette No. 121/2000) as well as in the Ecoelectricity Act ( Austrian Ökostromgesetz, BGBl. Federal Law Gazette No. I 149/2002). The operators of distribution systems are obliged to purchase the electric energy offered to them from eco-electricity plants connected to their distribution system. As eco-electricity plants shall be acknowledged all plants which are operated on the basis of the following renewable energy sources: solid or liquid domestic biomass, biogas, landfill and sewage gas, geothermal energy, wind and solar energy. The same shall apply to multi-fuel furnaces with a high share in biogenic fuels and incinerating highly biogenic waste. Any other plants which are operated using waste or sewage sludge shall not be acknowledged as eco-plants. According to the Ökostromgesetz electric energy produced from renewable energy sources has to constitute to a continuously increasing extent of at least 4 % of the annual electricity supply of all Austrian system operators until Which means after approx. 2%; after approx. 3%; after at least 4%. In Austria the fees for feeding electricity from renewable energy sources into the system are still (2002) regulated by the individual provinces. As a consequence the fees vary considerably (see figure 1). The fees amount to 3.27 and cent/kwh, depending on the province and the feed-in time. Through the adoption of the new Ökostromgesetz the competence to determine feed-in tariffs is passed on to the Federal Government. Uniform feed-in tariffs are determined in a regulation by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs in accordance with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management and the Federal Ministry of

4 Energetic use of natural vegetable oil in Austria page 4 Justice and after the consultation of a working group to be set up by the conference of the heads of the provincial governments and will be available by the end of The minimum price regulations of the provinces will be valid until the new regulation will come into force. Feed-in tariffs, as of September 9, 2002 Wien Vorarlberg Tirol Steiermark Salzburg Oberösterreich Niederösterreich Kärnten Burgenland Cent/kWh Figure 1: Feed-in tariffs for electricity based on liquid biomass in the various Austrian provinces (source: EVA, Austrian Energy Agency) In February 2002 a total of 18 combined heat and power plants were operated with vegetable oil and 13 systems to be operated with vegetable oil were being built. The plants are made by Austrian and German manufacturers. The output ranges between 4 and 80 kw el. Due to the partly favourable economic conditions (low feed-in tariff, low rapeseed oil price) the demand for such plants has risen considerably. 5. BLT facilities In the Federal Institute of Agricultural Engineering the whole range of facilities for the processing and use of vegetable oil is available. The continuously operating oil press has a nominal throughput of seed of 100 kg rape per hour. After sedimentation the oil is transported to a filter press. The vegetable oil can either be used directly or be processed in the pilot esterification plant batch capacity 750 l into biodiesel. In the in-house laboratory various test methods for vegetable oil, biodiesel and operating fluids are well-established. The long-term experience in fleet tests, the engine test benches and an accredited test bench for measuring emissions and performance support the professional implementation of research projects.

5 Energetic use of natural vegetable oil in Austria page 5 6. Literature / Sources of Information BMLFUW: Grüner Bericht 1999 Bericht über die Lage der österreichischen Landwirtschaft 1999; Wien BMLFUW: Grüner Bericht 2000 Bericht über die Lage der österreichischen Landwirtschaft 2000; Wien Wörgetter. M.: Results of a long term engine test based on rape seed oil fuel; Beyond the energy crisis, Vol. III, Pergamon Press, Bundesgesetzblatt für die Republik Österreich BGBl. 143/1998: Elektrizitätswirtschafts- und organsiationsgesetz ElWOG Bundesgesetzblatt für die Republik Österreich BGBl. 121/2000: Energieliberalisierungsgesetz. Bundesgesetzblatt für die Republik Österreich BGBl. I 149/2002: Ökostromgesetz. Current information on feed-in tariffs, Austrian Energy Agency: Information supplied by various companies