A bottle is the raw material of turbid trench oil, and a little impurity can be seen at the bottom of the soy sauce-colored liquid. A bottle is a colorless and odorless biodiesel sample. I saw two very different samples of oil. What is the connection between the two? The person in charge of the center introduced that the waste oils such as trench oil, which are seen as “disgusting”, are turned into waste and converted into clean, low-carbon biodiesel. Now it can achieve large-scale production and even efficient and continuous driving.
“Products made from waste oil are also known as second-generation biodiesel. Compared with the first-generation biodiesel made from edible fats such as rapeseed oil and palm oil, the former does not involve issues such as competing for food and land, but also Recycling underground oil to reduce potential food safety hazards is becoming more and more popular. “Liu Dehua, Director of the Institute of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, told reporters that the global demand for biodiesel has exceeded 40 million tons…
Technology continues to break through and demand rises year by year. What is the prospect of second-generation biodiesel? The reporter launched a further investigation.
Brand new technology gives a bath to trench oil
Because of its advantages such as non-toxicity, low sulfur, and good combustion performance, biodiesel can not only be used in harmony with petrochemical diesel at any ratio, effectively improve the lubricity of low sulfur diesel but also help diesel engines reduce exhaust particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfide, etc. Pollution emissions, especially second-generation biodiesel based on waste oils and fats, also play a role in ensuring food safety.
“The reason for the development of the second-generation biodiesel is because we have the development foundation of technology and equipment.” Li Lin, vice president of Beijing Sanju Environmental Protection New Materials Co., Ltd. introduced that the equipment used to produce biodiesel is called a suspended bed hydrogenation unit. It is also China’s first self-developed, internationally leading, inferior heavy oil processing demonstration device. “Previously, the unit mainly processed heavy and inferior raw materials such as coal tar and asphalt. By improving the process technology, adjusting catalyst characteristics, and optimizing important operating conditions such as reactors, it can now also treat various waste oils such as trench oil, which is sufficient to overcome the impurity content of raw materials More bottlenecks and more difficult purification. ”
“Traditional oil refinery’s fixed-bed hydro refining process is used to treat trench oil, which can easily cause catalyst poisoning and coking, difficult to achieve stable operation, high product processing costs and insufficient stable quality, which will affect further promotion and use. With this new production route, The device can achieve long-cycle operation, higher conversion efficiency, and better economy. “Li Lin said.
The reporter learned that following the production of second-generation biodiesel meeting EU standards in early July this year, the first batch of 5,000 tons of products was officially exported at the end of August for shipment to the European port of Rotterdam. At the same time, Sanju Environmental Protection has reached cooperation intentions with international companies such as Gunwo Group, the world’s third-largest oil trader. “The current production capacity is about 60,000 tons, and there has been a trend of oversupply. We are planning to install a new, larger unit.” Li Lin revealed.
The “last mile” of the sales terminal is waiting to be opened
Since we are not worried about the market, why do domestic-related companies, including Sanju Environmental Protection, “stay close and seek further” and sell their products to the international market? Several business people said that it was mainly a policy-driven result.
“In Europe and the United States, the policy has explicitly required the use of biodiesel and included it in the relevant assessment of carbon dioxide emission reduction. Although the blending ratio of biodiesel in different places is different, it is mandatory to add, otherwise, petrochemical diesel cannot enter the market. In addition, these countries’ own production is difficult to fill demand, and imports have increased year by year. “Andy Lau explained.
In contrast, China currently has neither a mandatory addition of biodiesel nor a clear plan for promotion and use. The downstream market has been restricted for a long time, and the “last mile” of products entering the sales terminal has been delayed. “It is both proud and sad.” Andy Lau lamented that being recognized by foreign markets shows that the product quality is excellent, but good products can only be sold “a thousand miles away”, and the domestic market needs to be opened urgently.
In addition to the market, another bottleneck for second-generation biodiesel is raw materials. Li Lin revealed that waste oil such as trench oil can be used for the preparation of biodiesel. Affected by catering habits, China’s consumption of edible oils is large, coupled with the country’s increasing requirements for the harmless use of waste oils and resources, and the supply of raw materials should be sufficient. “However, the source and quality of domestic trench oil are still unstable. Currently, in addition to collecting trench oil, we also import raw materials such as palm acidified oil and rancid oil from Malaysia and other places. I hope that in the future, a complete drainage oil collection system will be established. ”
For example, as Li Lin said, for most production enterprises in China, obtaining raw materials is still a difficult problem.
“In Europe and other places, the production of second-generation biodiesel is often small and medium-sized enterprises. The sources of trench oil are scattered, and it is difficult to collect them uniformly. It is difficult to organize hundreds of thousands of tons of production at once. At present, in most parts of the country, the drainage oil collected as “raw material” has not yet formed a circulation chain, and the poor flow of channels has led to the unknown flow of many drainage oils.
A manufacturer who did not want to be named also said that buyers and sellers usually agree on acquisition indicators, but due to the large difference in the quality of waste oils and difficult testing, in the absence of standardized testing methods, the two parties are prone to disputes and raw material procurement risks. Larger.
The industry expects policy “push”
Many people in the industry believe that with the continuous breakthrough of technology, China has the basic conditions to promote biodiesel. If it is to be applied in a large area, the policy still needs to be pushed.
“At the technical level, there is no problem from trench oil to biodiesel. There is no problem in production, deployment technology and basic supporting facilities. The most urgent promotion condition is policy support.” Liu Dehua suggested that due to carbon dioxide emission reduction, atmospheric For practical considerations such as pollution control, the state should clarify the provisions for adding biodiesel as soon as possible and encourage them in terms of production and operation, promotion and sales, and taxation.
From the perspective of the enterprise, Li Lin admitted that most enterprises have invested a lot of funds and energy for research and development, but the price of China’s biodiesel blended fuel is still the same as that of standard diesel. “Combined with the environmental protection value of biodiesel, cost differences and other factors, can the state support the corresponding tax reduction or subsidy policies to give enterprises some support.”
Taking Shanghai, China’s first biodiesel scale application as an example, Yin Qiang believes that in addition to focusing on the front-end links, the key is to get through the “last mile” into the gas station and achieve quality management of the entire chain of products.
“Leaded by the Shanghai Food Safety Office, Shanghai first established a good source management system to achieve ‘receivables and receipts’, supplemented by strict supervision to prevent leaks in the collection, storage and transportation processes. Second, through survival of the fittest, a family has finally identified Production enterprises, centralized production and centralized deployment, have strict testing and strict supervision of production raw materials and end products. In addition, a special budget is also set up to reduce the burden on enterprises in the form of subsidies. Yin Qiang said, “Promotion and application is a systematic project “Every link from the collection, production, processing to deployment, sales, and so on, requires perfect standards and specifications. It can’t be achieved by the producer alone, and the government’s strength is very important.”