78th PERF meeting : ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF BIOFUELS
November 18-19, 2008
Location
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Environmental Impacts of Biofuels
The Fall 2008 PERF Meeting was hosted by ExxonMobil in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. at the Salon A (Marriott Philadelphia Downtown) . The theme for this PERF meeting is Biofuels and this meeting is for the first time organized in conjunction with the American Institut of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting.
INTRODUCTION:
Government , private and industry sectors are actively working to address the challenges associated with biofuels development thru research on new technologies and pathways to convert various biomass feedstocks into petroleum substitutes. The goal of the PERF Meeting on Biofuels is to examine the state of "second generation" biofuel alternatives in order to promote research, and develop technology solutions. The alternatives of particular interest are:
- Ethanol from Lignocellulose
- Synthetic Fuels via Biomass Gasification
- Biofuels via Biomass Pyrolysis
- Biofuels from Farmed Algae .
The Board of directors met on November 17. At the same time was hold the Research Project Manager Discussion Group. This group gathered to define the future of the PERF organisation and the axis of work for the next two years.
The technical meeting started on November 18 at the Salon A, Marriott Hotel.. On November 19 , there were additional technical presentations and roundtable discussions on Biofuels. Business items (status report and project proposals) took place on November 19 as well
AGENDA, SPEAKERS and MINUTE
You can download the agenda of the meeting by clicking here, the list of attendance and the overall introduction to each presentation.
BIOFUELS DISCUSSION GROUP
The discussion group was led by Todd Ririe, BP
Goal: Summarize the Lessons Learned from what we have heard:
Are we comparing apples to oranges - need a defined set of metrics/references to use for comparisons - distributions of numbers
Public perception that growing crops does not have consequences - defining trade-offs
Economics - data available, needs to be collected,
EISA type of assessment appropriate for decision making purposes - as in traditional oil and gas plays
Product application e.g mogas vs electricity
Infrastructure availability to consumer, time-line needed
Comparison to other fuels
Energy efficiency upstream & downstream
Public perception issue
Relevance to Oil and Gas industry?
"Mandate" from regulators to increase use of biofuels- how does the scientific community respond to this?
Is growing row crops the most efficient way of getting alternatives to gasoline/diesel?
Potential to use Waste to produce energy
Do we have enough feedstock to supply process and demand?
Impact of throwing away wastes e.g. corn stover
What can PERF do??
· Education
· Provide emissions data in a life-cycle analysis
· Biofuels workgroup - collation of data, whitepaper via API, EPA, university, publication
· Question and answer format e.g PERF bioremediation workshop document, API RBCA document
· Other bio-fuels than ethanol, "green" gasoline
· Process safety considerations
· LCA - gaps (e.g. unintended consequences lead to MTBE to ethanol??) .
PRESENTATION
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