Hey, thanks for taking a look at my topic. I am working on a school project and I am trying to do some research to find out if it is financially viable to run a power generating station on WVO. I picked this project because I have seen people run small diesel generators on WVO and also cars so I am trying to answer the question as to why nobody is doing this on a large scale?

Are there any industrial level diesel generators that can run (or be converted to run) on wvo? Is there any extra steps that need to be taken to run large generators on WVO compared to the smaller generators people are using at home? Is there a "limit" to how much power you can get from wvo vs straight diesel?

I'm also looking for any resources about existing power generation projects, id like to know some info about the type and cost of the equipment they are using, the output power, the fuel used, and environmental impact compared to a straight diesel generating station.

if any of you guys can help with the above questions i'd really appreciate it, thanks

This has been discussed multiple times and you'll be happy to know the answers to your questions are all available here with just a little research through the site.

quote:

I am working on a school project and I am trying to do some research to find out if it is financially viable to run a power generating station on WVO.

The simple answer is "no".
Running a large power generation operation on wvo is in most cases not financially viable.

Small home power generation IS financially viable (sometimes) mainly because the small amounts of wvo that must be gathered to operate small generators can be gathered for a very low cost. When very large amounts of wvo are gathered the cost rise and the value of it on the "yellow grease" commodity market is higher than the value of the energy it would produce (in most cases).

To become finacially viable a wvo fueled power station must be able to utilize the "waste heat" and take advantage of the subsidies available to producers of electricity in "peak use" periods. In addition one must be able to access (industry) subsidized payback of "peaking station" equipment and get EPA waivers to use wvo as fuel. In all cases I am aware of this required that a legitimate research project be undertaken which requires the use of VO based fuel.

None of these are insurmountable obstacles but they do make large scale production of electricity from wvo a significantly less attractive option (than say a natural gas fueled station) to those who might provide the original equipment loans needed for such a venture. Each of the larger than home scale power generating units I have consulted on were funded privately.

I don't know about any large scale WVO for electricity projects but there are certainly large generators running vegetable oil. Wartsila makes a specific (large) genset for this application.

I think that all such applications ought to be cogeneration plants, not just burning WVO or new vegoil for electricity, but also using the waste heat for useful purposes. Doing that, efficiencies can be in the 80-90% range.

There are large engines running on WVO. There is a 2000HP Cat engine running a huge rock crusher, in New Mexico, on WVO.

The larger reciprocating engines, and engines originally designed for heavy oil, make excellent candidates for burning WVO. Turbines also are not very fussy about things like fuel acidity. For example, they are able to use "biooils" (made from wood wastes) that are too acidic and watery for a reciprocating diesel engine.

So... no reason WVO cannot be used for larger scale generating. But to not do it as cogeneration is simply wasteful.

It would be interesting to compare the efficiency of running one larger engine as cogeneration in a distributed energy setup (small community, let's say), and then using electric vehicles for transport, compared with using a number of diesel vehicles and burning the WVO in the vehicles directly.

Good luck with your project!

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Power Generation News

Wärtsilä Equipment Selected For Italian Bio-Fuelled Power Plant

Wärtsilä has been contracted to supply the engineering and equipment for a new bio-fuelled power plant being built in Gorizia, in northern Italy. The 34 MWe power plant will generate baseload electricity for the national grid, as well as heat to be supplied to a steam turbine for further electricity production. This order, when delivered, will bring the total output of electricity in Italy generated by Wärtsilä equipment to more than 1300 MW. Some 800 MW of this output is running on liquid biofuel, which represents a considerable contribution towards reducing the country's reliance on fossil fuels.

"Our presence in Italy is already substantial, and this latest contract is a continuation of this success," comments Marco Gollinelli, Vice President, Wärtsilä Power Plants in Italy in announcing this order. Wärtsilä first began testing the use of liquid biofuels in 1995, using rapeseed oil as the fuel source. Since that time tests have continued and expanded, with the first commercial operation for Wärtsilä engines running on liquid biofuel taking place in 2003 in Italy. Today, Wärtsilä has a market share of more than 95% for power generation from liquid biofuels in Italy.

Delivery of all equipment to the Gorizia power plant is scheduled for May 2010, and the plant is expected to be in full operation by next autumn. The order was placed in September by Energia Pulita S.p.A of Italy, and comprises two Wärtsilä 18V46 engines running on liquid biofuel, as well as liquid biofuel auxiliaries, the control system and radiators. Energia Pulita is a member of the Italian Setramar Group, a company active in a number of industry segments including energy production.

Wärtsilä power plants can operate on vegetable oils such as palm oil and oil from the jatropha plant, a non-edible, high energy fruit grown on semi-arid or marginal land in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Earlier this year, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland successfully conducted tests demonstrating the ability of Wärtsilä engines to operate on animal, as well as vegetable-based, oils. In particular, fish oil and chicken oil were found to be particularly suitable as sources of renewable energy.

For more information: www.wartsila.com


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Hope this helps,
JohnO

quote:

I am trying to answer the question as to why nobody is doing this on a large scale?

I think the main reason no one appears to be fuelling large gensets on VO (in the US) is that it is not financially competitive with natural gas. While the US has little control over the price of liquid fuels made from crude oil it DOES over the price of natural gas. European contries have very little control over either.

There are several pilot projects in Europe which use large diesel engines (modified to use SVO) to generate electricity during peak periods (mostly). But none in North America that I am aware of. I think this is mostly due to the relative cost of energy in Europe (compared to NA) and the willingness of European govts (and industry) to provide research grants for sustainable energy proof of concept projects. These are not required to be financially viable however as their main value is in providing long term operation data.

In NA the presence of large volumes of natural gas appears to remove much of the incentive to fund such projects. Liquid fuels (such as VO) are much more viable as a replacement for other liquid fuels used in transportation than as a fuel source for a powerplant (which can easily be connected to a piepline. This may change if serious "cap and trade" legislation is implemented as VO is close to carbon neutral and natural gas is not.

quote:

Is there a "limit" to how much power you can get from wvo vs straight diesel?

"Technically" there is a limit to how much power VO can produce in any given engine compared to petrodiesel per gallon...since VO contains less energy per gallon than diesel does. But as several very large diesel engine makers have discovered this can be "adjusted for" with some fairly simple modifications to the injectors and boost pressures. So as a practical matter the limitation is not a serious problem.

In my own experience I have found gensets run on WVO AND natural gas appear to be more viable (long term) than those run only on WVO.

RE: Natural gas...."Biogas" is renewable and economically viable in Europe and North America and is much more likely to be the fuel that will be used for electricity generation and cogeneration projects in Canada and the USA than is WVO. I was recently talking with a German fellow while on a canoe trip, who was telling me about the farm they recently set up with a biogas generator (cogen) system. 5MW of power and all the hot water you'd ever want on a dairy operation for washing and heat. And no complaints from the NIMBY contingent about the smell of manure or the visuals of wind turbines. We supplied kits for a project a couple of years ago for the conversion of new engines to SVO. The company involved has focused on biogas instead, the economics of biogas are more favourable.

Now in Ontario, you have the new Green Energy Act, and that leads North America in Feed-In Tariff legislation, so I expect that biogas projects will really take off there, and hopefully other Provinces and States won't be long adopting similar legislation.

So vegetable oil fueled projects will be mostly found in places where there is no natural gas, little opportunity for biogas generation, very high diesel prices. For example, some Island nations where there are plenty of coconut plantations that are in decline due to the expense of getting the product to market. The coconut oil is used in some central generating stations on the larger islands, in place of diesel fuel.

Another place that is possible is in remote communities. For example, across Canada's north, and across Alaska, there are many communities that rely on diesel fuel brought in by ship or air for community sized generators. Vegetable oil could replace the diesel fuel. There would be less problem of contamination, and it would be safer to transport.

Another place you might see WVO used in larger scale power generation is Taiwan. They have new legislation requiring frequent changes of cooking oil in restaurants, and the uptake for biodiesel is not keeping up with supply.

There are a few large WVO power plants in Europe.
I looked into it a bit. I found the same hurdles Dana did.
Googe 'Steve Spence'. He's got a small Lister wvo genset powering his farm.
And lots of info.

Here in Connecticut they have a requirement to be 20%(?) renewable by 2020.
WVO might get some preferntial legislation, but not w/o a lobbyist.

What makes a certain fuel economically viable or not compared to other fuels is very often not a simple case of supply and demand.

There are many things that distort pricing. Subsidies to the oil and gas industry that are not matched by equivalent subsidies to renewable energy are the main barrier to renewables. So, yes, lobbying for, at minimum, a level playing field, is necessary. And often, preferential treatment for new renewable energy industries is necessary to allow them to develop.