Organic Power Ltd

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ORGANIC POWER LTD
Converting Organic Wastes into Biomethane for
Vehicle Fuel Naturally
Presentation for the Final BioProFarm
Conference By Christopher Maltin Brussels,
Tuesday 18th December 2007
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The First Global Biogas Congress

• The Future Role of Biomethane as a Transport Fuel
• 18th December 2007

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Introduction to Organic Power

• Dedicated to the whole concept of biomethane
• low energy anaerobic digester design
• production of biogas
• upgrading to biomethane
• promotion of biomethane for use in vehicles
• development of gas vehicles
• building and operating filling stations
• Lead European partner in the MADEGASCAR project
• (MArket DEvelopment of GAS CARs)

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Economics of biomethane

• Is biogas viable as a transport fuel?
• Definitely not!
• Biogas is NOT a transport fuel, it is an
  excellent fuel for stationary engines, e.g. to
  make electricity or for chopping up biomass or
  for compressing gas
• Biogas needs to be upgraded to biomethane for use
  in vehicles
• It is then by far the most environmentally
  friendly vehicle fuel in the world
• Whether or not it will become economically viable
  as uptake increases will depend on how the market
  values what is now referred to as waste and
  defines viable

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Economics of biomethane

• The most environmentally fuel in the world
• All other fuels, including renewable fuels, are
  merely less bad for the environment
• Methane is given off whenever organic materials
  decay
• Particularly if they decay naturally, without
  aeration
• Capturing this methane and using it as a fuel
  prevents it from becoming a greeenhouse gas which
  is 21 times worse that CO2 in terms of global
  warming
• Its use is actually doing good for the
  environment
• This is what makes it by far the most
  environmentally friendly vehicle fuel in the world

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Economics of biomethane

• Availability of feedstocks
• Less than half of all the food grown is actually
  eaten
• This means that more than half of all the food
  grown in the world is available as a source of
  biomethane
• Actually, if one includes sewage, the percentage
  is probably nearer 85 of all the food grown,
  everywhere in the world
• We are so ignorant, we call it waste but
  actually it is a valuable resource and can be
  transformed into energy
• And fertilisers, and materials, and solvents, and
  .
• But this presentation is about biomethane as a
  fuel

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Economics of biomethane

• Availability of feedstocks, continued
• If we continue to use energy as if we had the
  resources of three planets, and demand even more
  energy than all our food waste can produce, then
  we have to find other feedstocks
• All the energy comes from the sun
• The sun shining on water contaminated with
  organic waste will grow algae. Digesting this
  will give energy
• There are desert oceans which could grow algae
• We can grow energy crops on marginal land which
  is unsuitable for food production

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Economics of biomethane

• Economics of biogas production
• Other fuel producers need to buy their raw
  materials and process them
• Presently, anaerobic digester plant operators are
  paid to treat their raw materials
• Most process plants making any sort of fuel need
  expensive labour
• Biogas plants use millions of bacteria who do not
  charge large salaries, even though they work
  incredibly efficiently, 24 hours a day, every
  day, all year round!

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Economics of biomethane

• Economics of biogas production, continued
• Besides the basic feedstock, most fuel processing
  plants need additional treatment materials
• Biogas plants need none
• Most fuel producing plants need a lot of high
  grade energy, usually for distillation
• Biogas plants need low grade energy which can be
  solar energy or waste heat from another process

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Economics of biomethane

• Economics of upgrading biogas to biomethane
• This has been touched on by a number of speakers,
  and there are many proprietary technologies
  available
• Pressure swing adsorption, water scrubbing, amine
  solutions, liquefaction, etc
• Organic Power also have their own integrated
  upgrading technology, but that is not the subject
  of this presentation
• As more plants are built and the market matures,
  both the capital costs and the operating costs of
  upgrading plants will reduce

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Fuel quality issues

• Biomethane quality
• As with any new fuel there are plenty of
  perceived issues of what it might contain such as
  deadly bacteria, pathogens, pesticides,
  siloxanes, etc
• Those who have vested interests which are not
  aligned with renewable gaseous fuels are very
  anxious to actively encourage these myths and
  false rumours
• Actually, if I had trillions of tied up in
  infrastructure and research which relied on using
  liquid fuels, I would probably be doing the same!
• The reality is that, after properly upgrading to
  biomethane, there are no quality issues

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Fuel quality issues

• Biomethane quality, continued
• Actually biomethane is better and less
  problematical than even Natural Gas as a
  transport fuel
• It is purer than fossil fuel natural gas, the
  quality of which varies depending on its source
  and from which pipeline it is taken
• European natural gas contains higher order carbon
  molecules such as propane, ethane and butane
• These hot gasses have been removed from the
  natural gas in pipelines in some countries,
  particularly in the United States of America

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Fuel quality issues

• Biomethane quality, continued
• Particularly when used as LNG for vehicles,
  properly upgraded biomethane is better than
  natural gas as it does not contain these higher
  carbon gasses
• Fossil fuel liquid natural gas sometimes has
  problems because during boil off the pure
  methane evaporates first, leaving behind a liquid
  which is slightly richer in propane, ethane and
  butane
• This can give rise to engine overheating problems
• Biomethane as a liquid cannot cause such problems
• It also contains less bacteria than are in
  natural gas
• And much less than in the air in this conference
  room!

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Dual fuel creating a new market

• Dual Fuel Vehicles
• This technology is usually applied to heavy
  trucks
• These trucks are fitted with modified diesel
  engines which also use gas as a additional fuel
• The diesel fuel creates the ignition which fires
  the gas
• These engines work very efficiently and it has
  been reliably shown that they can run on an
  average of 80 natural gas or biomethane and 20
  diesel, returning the obvious savings in cost and
  pollution
• The gas can either be LNG or CNG or both
• Hence creating an additional market for
  biomethane as a clean vehicle fuel

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Other transport markets

• Biomethane as not just a road fuel
• It has finally been accepted as being the most
  environmentally friendly vehicle fuel in the
  world
• Actually it is the most environmentally friendly
  fuel
• Apart from its use in road transport everything
  from motorbikes, Tuk-Tuks, cars, SUVs, vans,
  buses, and heavy trucks which travel on roads
• Biomethane can fuel trains or ships, where it is
  ideal as there is plenty of storage space for gas
  cylinders
• Or helicopters, or aeroplanes, or balloons
• Or almost anything which requires a clean, quiet
  pollution free fuel

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Situation in Somerset, England

• Organic Power is based in the southwest of
  England, in the county of Somerset
• The present situation as regards gas vehicle
  filling stations in our region is as follows

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Situation in Somerset
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Situation in Somerset

• This means we are almost bound to improve the
  situation during next year!

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Successful market incentives

• To date UK market incentives have been restricted
  to government grants and reductions in fuel duty
  and charges which have not stimulated the market
  for alternative fuels
• This is because the incentives have been short
  term (maximum 3 years) and so have had little or
  no effect on the market

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Successful market incentives

• Actually the UK has a market disincentive for the
  use of gas vehicles
• The UK were early adopters of gas vehicles,
  particularly buses, and because the technology
  was not fully developed, there were problems
• Although these early problems have all been
  resolved, people have long memories, especially
  fleet operators!

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World View

• As a company Organic Power are active all over
  the world
• We have first hand knowledge of what is actually
  happening elsewhere, including outside Europe

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World View
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World View

• Malaysia
• Special lane for gas taxis
• USA
• Reserved HOV lane can be used by gas vehicles
• Pakistan
• Free parking, and now 60 of vehicles are gas!
• Egypt
• Taxis receive loans, repaid during purchase of
  gas
• India
• No incentive diesel vehicles banned, drivers
  shot!

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World View
There are now 56,000 tuc-tucs in Delhi, running
on natural gas, and no two strokes!
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Innovative application

• Organic Power have considered that it is best to
  lead by example
• We are building a new gas filling station
• We have now received planning permission for the
  first gas filling station in Somerset
• This will be the first ever biomethane filling
  station in the UK
• We are converting vehicles to run on gas
• We have designed new gas vehicles

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Innovative application
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Innovative application
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Innovative application - Market players

• Project Initiators
• Organic Power Ltd
• Target operators
• Blue Mountain Foods
• Riverford Organic Food Deliveries
• Superplants
• Fine Foods
• Equipment suppliers
• Compair
• Gas Container Services

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Innovative application - Funding

• Possible sources of funding
• Organic Power Shareholders
• Energy Saving Trust
• South West England Regional Development Authority
• Local and County Council
• Gas Supply Company
• Equipment Suppliers
• Target operators

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• Biomethane for a better climate
• A better climate for biomethane
• All over the World

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ORGANIC POWER LTD
For a Cleaner, Quieter World
withBiomethane as a Transport Fuel
andOrganic Fertilisers
Naturally