Green Fuels

Bali Biodiesel…

Green Fuels — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:16:30 +0000

FIRST BIODIESEL FACILITY OPERATIONAL IN BALI, INDONESIA

Green Fuels installs FuelMatic GSX 3 to convert the island’s UCO into clean burning biodiesel

The biorefinery manufacturer Green Fuels is in Bali this week commissioning a turnkey biodiesel facility for Caritas Switzerland, an NGO that focuses on socio-economic development in disadvantaged communities around the world. Green Fuels has installed its 3,000 litre per day FuelMatic GSX 3, the newest and smallest of its processors, which offers the same fully automated technology as the larger FuelMatic GSX processors but at a lower price.

James Hygate, CEO of Green Fuels, said, “The FuelMatic GSX 3 seems to be the key that unlocks the benefits of community-scale biodiesel production. We installed one in South Africa earlier this month and one in Australia last month. There’s a lot of interest in it, especially since it has all the trademark Green Fuels hi-tech features such as our automated GFM process control system, patent pending GSX glycerol separation technology, internal methanol recovery, and stainless steel construction.”

The Bali installation is a prime example of how important it is for biodiesel production to be community-friendly. Thorsten Reckerzügl, the NGO’s country representative, explained. “This is the first time biodiesel has been introduced on the island and it’s the first time used cooking oil is being recycled here. It’s a big deal. We needed a system that was affordable yet hi-tech enough to deliver on our promises. We also needed one that could be located where we wanted it near the local municipality because we need to co-operate closely with them.”

Caritas has established a non-profit social enterprise to run the biorefinery. “We wanted to be able to develop local skills and Green Fuels has trained a Balinese crew to run the biorefinery. With its touch screen controls the FuelMatic GSX 3 is very easy to use, plus it can be diagnosed and managed remotely by Green Fuels if that ever becomes necessary,” Reckerzügl said.

Finally, he cited the importance of the system’s own low carbon footprint. “We couldn’t have introduced a biorefinery that damaged one of the world’s most unique holiday destinations. The Green Fuels system emits no carbon, uses waterless purification and leaves so little waste it’s hardly noticeable. Frankly, the whole process was made easy for us with such a user-friendly system,” he said.

Aside from a cleaner environment and economic development, Caritas’s primary goal in installing the biorefinery is to take used cooking oil out of the island’s food chain. They conducted an in-depth survey among more than 340 hotels and restaurants and found that 50 – 60% of used cooking oil was sold to waste pickers and then on to informal food stalls.

“Often unbeknown to their owners, customers and tourists, overused cooking oil forms carcinogenic substances, posing a serious risk to human health,” Reckerzügl said. “We also discovered that 10 to 20% of used cooking oil is disposed of with solid waste or ends up in waterways. At landfill sites the used cooking oil forms methane as it decomposes, a greenhouse gas about 25 times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide. The oil which ends up in waterways pollutes the aquatic environment and drinking water.”

Caritas has initial commitments totalling 1,000 litres of used cooking oil per day from about 150 hotels and restaurants, with scope for more participants as the dangers of overusing cooking oil become more widely appreciated. Jerry cans will be distributed to the participating hotels and restaurants for the collection of their used oil. The project is co-operating with IDSIA, a Swiss university, which has developed software to optimize the collection route.

Caritas will sell the biodiesel for use in local transport and to hotels and other customers who can use it to generate power and heat, reducing their carbon emissions and demonstrating their ecological and social responsibility. They hope to replicate this project in other tourist areas where there are similar needs for health protection, environment cleaning and job creation.

Thorsten Reckerzügl of Caritas, left, and James Hygate of Green Fuels

By Royal Appointment

Green Fuels — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:54:42 +0000

We have been granted a Royal Warrant, the ultimate British acknowledgement of quality, by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in recognition of our supply of biofuel and biofuel related equipment since 2007. What a great way to start a new year!

Royal Warrants are granted only to those who have consistently supplied goods or services to the royal family for no fewer than five years out of the most recent seven, and are granted only by The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales.

We are all really proud of this highly prized mark of excellence, quality and reliability. We love our work and always strive to give our best to every customer. The Royal Warrant is the ultimate recognition of the reliability of our equipment and the consistently high quality fuel that can be produced.

We’re particularly pleased it was granted by The Prince of Wales. He started supporting intelligent environmental practices long before most people understood the climate change imperative.

The Royal Warrant took effect from 1 January 2013. It also applies to Green Fuels subsidiaries Green Fuels America Inc. and Green Fuels Asia Ltd.

A very proud CEO – James Hygate with H.R.H The Prince of Wales.

Picture by Philip Haigh, Rail magazine.

McDonald’s McDiesel to go

Green Fuels — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:35:45 +0000

Green Fuels customers, Neutral Fuels, have just marked two major milestones.

First, their main customer, McDonald’s, has driven more than a million kilometres on 100% biodiesel made from their used cooking oil in Dubai. Using Green Fuels equipment, Neutral Fuels has been converting McDonald’s own used cooking oil successfully into 100% biodiesel since August 2011.

Second, Neutral Fuels has opened a new FuelMatic biorefinery in Dandenong, near Melbourne in the Australian state of Victoria. Already half of McDonald’s 225 Victoria outlets are running on biodiesel produced from their own used cooking oil and the remainder are expected to join the effort early next year.

Replicating the success in Dubai, McDonald’s Victoria will run on the closed loop business model developed by Neutral Fuels with the support of McDonald’s UAE logistics supplier, Allied Keystone Logistics (now Martin-Brower). In this model 100% of McDonald’s used vegetable oil is collected from 100% of their restaurants, converted into 100% biodiesel and then pumped back into 100% of the delivery fleet in an ongoing recycling process. Delivering these sustainability objectives has been made possible through the use of Green Fuels FuelMatic GSX bio-refineries.

McDonald’s is clearly committed to biodiesel, proving every day that it is a long-term sustainable alternative to fossil fuel and that it makes sense not just for the environment but for their bottom line too.

A great video of this story can found on the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/greenfuels?ref=hl#!/photo.php?v=376690252425265&set=vb.116466695114290&type=2&theater

And the winner is…

Shirley — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:20:30 +0000

Last week we won Sustainable Manufacturer of the Year at the inaugural Made in the South West Awards run by Insider Media Ltd. What a great feeling, hearing our name called out, collecting our trophy onstage, enjoying the acknowledgement, and then the best moment… letting the awesome Green Fuels team know that we – they – had done it.

This prestigious event was launched to highlight and celebrate excellence in manufacturing throughout the South West and to recognise the region’s most innovative and successful companies, particularly businesses that have embraced sustainability, innovation and exporting. We truly appreciate the recognition.

Dave Harvey, the event’s host, said: “The Made in the South West Awards represents a real opportunity for businesses to declare their credentials and heritage.” He described them as a symbol of the region’s ongoing commitment to quality and excellence as the UK looks to manufacturing to rebalance its economy.

Bonnie Dean, chief executive of Bristol & Bath Science Park and one of the event’s keynote speakers, said her organisation saw itself as an innovation enabler. We liked her statement that the UK remains second only to the US in idea generation. She also drew our attention to the fact that there are 5,000 PHD students in the South West, one of the highest concentrations in the UK.

Here’s another interesting fact we learnt, this time from Graham Cole, the chairman of AgustaWestland and regional chairman designate of the CBI. Apparently in the South West when we start a new business we have a reputation for sticking at it and don’t give up until our businesses succeed. As a consequence we have the lowest “business death rate” in the UK.

Everyone was talking about the government’s industrial strategy which aims to see manufacturing’s contribution to GDP increase by 25 per cent. Cole made a valuable point when he said that such a strategy had to be forever rather than just during a crisis and we agree. He also talked about more effective working between large companies and small and medium-sized businesses, a subject dear to our hears because we seek out and work with a number of South West businesses, including fabricators and controls specialists, to provide locally manufactured world class products.

This is exciting time for the manufacturing sector and we’re happy to be part of it.

Sandy

Shirley — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:30:41 +0000

Watching Superstorm Sandy unfold on CNN and Sky over the past few days has felt eerily like watching the sci-fi movie, The Day After Tomorrow. Made just 8 years ago, the movie depicts New York at the mercy of intensely violent weather: massive and brutal floods, hurricanes, tidal waves, etc.

We’ve been struck by the frequency of news conferences given Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor Andrew Cuomo and other key disaster managers as they have kept their cities fully informed throughout this highly volatile situation. They’ve given us a master class in communication and we’ve been awed by their honesty and clarity.

There was a moment that particularly resonated with us when, during one of Mayor Bloomberg’s press conferences, he said that Sandy had to result in a re-examination of the effects of climate change and, particularly, what could be done to mitigate it. And Governor Cuomo said on Tuesday: I don’t think anyone can sit back anymore and say, ‘Well, I’m shocked at that weather pattern’.

Is Sandy a taste of things to come? is a fascinating article on CNN’s website showing how climate change is affecting weather patterns: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/31/us/sandy-climate-change/index.html?iref=allsearch. In short, and quoting directly from CNN’s article: “The melting of Arctic ice, rising sea levels, the warming atmosphere and changes to weather patterns are a potent combination likely to produce storms and tidal surges of unprecedented intensity, according to many experts.”

Certainly there is a growing body of evidence showing what we, along with many others in the cleantech industry, have understood for years now: the disappearance of summer ice cover in the Arctic is linked to the climate change that results in violent weather like Superstorm Sandy.

The movie was frightening then and the actuality is frightening now, not because a Sandy is not survivable (and how many other cities could have come out of such a storm shining as heroically as New York has done?) but because, in our highly efficient lives, weather is the one thing we cannot control. Isn’t it?

The greenhouse gases (such as CO2, sulphates, and other pollutants like unburnt hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide) which are emitted into the atmosphere by fossil fuels are the biggest contributors to the melting of Arctic ice, which contributes to rising sea levels, which contributes to the warming of the atmosphere, which changes the climate, which results in weather patterns that give rise to superstorms such as Sandy.

Clean burning biodiesel, by comparison, can reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 80%, virtually eliminates sulphur emissions, and reduces other pollutants by between 40 and 90%. Biodiesel made from used cooking oil has other benefits too: it takes this waste out of the environment in the most effective way possible and it is sustainable, unlike fossil fuel.

Now how can we help you help yourself by helping the planet?

Expert Export

Green Fuels — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 10:57:40 +0000

Being sought out by the media is always rewarding for us, particularly when the medium is the Financial Times, one of the world’s most respected publications.

The piece that appeared on Tuesday in a special report on the British Chambers of Commerce quoted our Chairman, Colin Hygate, on how fundamental UK Trade & Investment (the promotion arm of the BCC) has been to our success as an exporter. Along with the other exporters quoted in the article, it also gave him a chance to suggest where, in our experience, there was room for improvement in their service offering.

Although Green Fuels is neither a big company nor, quite rightly, a household name, 90% of our business is export. We trade with such a wide variety of countries, from South America to North Africa and the Middle East to the Far East, and the one common barrier to trade that we come u against almost everywhere is access to finance and its impact on cash flow. Indeed, the FT article concludes that this is probably the biggest issue facing UK exporters today.

Colin explains. “The problem most exporters experience is the ability of our customers to get financing. The UK has a system to overcome this – export finance guarantees – but they are so complex, and therefore time-consuming, that it is extremely difficult to justify getting involved for contracts of less than £5m. Given that our processors are priced way below £1m, this is a real barrier to trade.

UK Business Secretary Vince Cable is well aware of this, and other barriers, and has recently announced a new business bank which aims to give the burgeoning export market better access to cash. It is absolutely true that growing this market is an important route to a better financial future for the UK. Here’s hoping this initiative makes a real difference.

The Financial Time article can be found here: http://on.ft.com/RVhK9B

Meet our new baby, the FuelMatic 3

Shirley — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:46:43 +0000

Haven’t found the biodiesel processor that’s right for you yet? How about this one: the 3,000 litre/750 gallon FuelMatic 3.

This is now the smallest Green Fuels FuelMatic processor and is especially community friendly in a world increasingly concerned about climate change and reliance on the volatile price of unsustainable fossil fuels. And with communities in mind, it’s been designed especially to produce our trademark high quality biodiesel from used oils high in free fatty acids (FFA), in other words, the worst quality used cooking oils. Of course it also converts virgin oils, animal fats and tallow.

It’s ideal for business owners with vehicle fleets who want to reduce their fuel costs as they reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that dangerously accelerate climate change. You already know, don’t you, that moving from fossil diesel to biodiesel is painless? Diesel engines can use biodiesel as a direct fuel replacement without any adaptation.

Another advantage that makes the FuelMatic3 especially viable for community biodiesel production is that it pays for itself quickly. It has all the same great technological features as our bigger processor, effectively, giving customers the same benefits at a lower price. It’s cost effective enough to allow entrepreneurs to set up community scale biodiesel production to serve local fuels needs.

Consider too that our customers can get to market within 3 months, many times faster than previous generations of biodiesel technology, which means that they reach profitability quicker. The capital set-up costs are lower, there is no complex fit out, and our processors are assets which retain their residual value.

We’re excited about this processor, not just because it’s always exciting welcoming a new baby to the family, but also because it extends our range to 4 models, going from this small one to the 8,000 ℓ/2,000 gal, then the 20,000 ℓ /5,000 gal and finally our biggest processor, the 50,000 ℓ /13,000 gal.

What makes us the market leader?

Green Fuels — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:50:10 +0000

Let’s put some substance beneath our claim to be the world’s leading manufacturer of biodiesel production equipment. These are amongst the advances our technology and methods bring to the
biodiesel industry.

GSX TECHNOLOGY
Biodiesel production requires the separation of glycerine which has traditionally been done by energy and cost intensive equipment such as settling tanks and centrifuges. We patented our unique glycerine separator technology, GSX, to replace these cumbersome options. With no moving parts, energy consumption is significantly lower, as are operating expenses and capital costs. We don’t know of anyone else doing this. Process efficiency is most important in biodiesel production as continuous processes must operate for more than 90% of the available time to maximise profitability. In addition, reducing variability introduced by complex process steps like centrifuging is critical to producing consistently high quality fuel. Reducing operating costs and minimising downtime leads to very efficient production.

FLASH DRUM TECHNOLOGY
To recover methanol from the biodiesel after purification, we have developed a unique flash drum technology to replace traditional distillation tower technology which can be expensive to buy and operate. Linked to our control system, our flash drum technology is a more reliable process with lower operating costs.

MINIMISED WASTE
Our entire production process minimises waste to a relatively small amount of spent resin that is suitable for normal solid waste disposal or incineration.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
The environmental impact of our products is very low as there is no release of greenhouse gas and our plant is designed to create a small footprint.

WATERLESS PURIFICATION
Our product range is enhanced by waterless purification which requires minimum resource input and provides consistent results. In many locations water consumption is not acceptable and the contaminated discharge is a further problem for the owner to manage. Currently we have a number of projects running in remote locations in Africa and Latin America where water is a scarce and valuable resource and is expensive to handle because significant energy is required to dry biodiesel after washing. Our waterless purification technology has few moving parts, offers chemical precision, reduces operating costs and reliably automates processing.

Innovation… or just good old-fashioned problem-solving?

Green Fuels — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:37:47 +0000

We were recently asked to describe our attitude to innovation. The questions were specific: how do
you encourage people to come up with new ideas; how do you separate good ideas from bad; what
role does research play in developing new products; what role does customer feedback play in the
development process… you get the idea.

You might already have picked up that we consider ourselves to be a highly innovative company.
We submit, as humbly as anyone is able when making such a big statement, that we are the world’s
leading manufacturer of biodiesel production equipment. We say this because the way we do
things has changed biodiesel production from a high cost, expensive-to-run, feedstock-intensive
and cumbersome operation to a community scale modular operation that can be deployed virtually
anywhere and either scaled up or moved to another location with ease. However, answering these
questions proved more difficult than you might imagine.

To be honest, we had simply never thought about the subject before. What we discovered when we
did try to define our innovation process was that… well, we don’t have one. We don’t sit down formally
once a week and say, “Right, let’s innovate”. We simply find solutions to challenges in what seems to
us a very organic way.

A company like ours has many advantages over bigger organisations. Our flat structure enables us
to act nimbly and because we’re small each of us has to trust each of us and, in turn, be trustworthy
ourselves. This empowers our people and fosters creativity. Because we work with customers
all over the world, we have to delegate responsibility to our international representatives, and this
cultivates an environment in which they – usually in response to a location-specific installation
challenge – can present ideas we may not otherwise be exposed to. What we do know is that we love
what we do and we’re frequently intrigued, curious and excited by new prospects.

We’ve deployed plant to such a variety of locations, from rich inner city London to poverty-stricken
Chiapas in Mexico, that we have depth of experience to draw on when we need to solve problems.
We want to sell our products and we’re happy to get to know new markets. We go to site and take
time to understand each location’s unique needs. If a potential customer presents us with something
we haven’t seen before, we automatically draw on our most appropriate resources and work together
to understand and serve it. We seldom question our ability to make our processors work in pretty
much any environment.

For example, process efficiency is most important in biodiesel production as continuous processes
must operate for more than 90% of the available time to maximise profitability. We were never
happy with the traditional methods of using settling tanks or maintenance-intensive centrifuges to
separate glycerine in our processes, and instinctively we all felt there must be a better way. We talked
about this and worried at the problem separately and together, and when we looked again we had
developed what has become our unique glycerine separator technology, GSX.

We developed our unique flash drum technology because we had a potential customer with a very
limited budget. We examined one of the more costly (to buy and operate) parts of our plant, the
traditional distillation towers used for methanol recovery. We also examined the parts of our plant that
couldn’t be sacrificed and in so doing realised that our sophisticated control system could be linked to
our flash drums for this process, so creating our unique flash drum technology.
Turns out that innovation is just something that happens and we’re willing to bet that the same is true
of most companies that find themselves pioneering new and better ways of doing things.