Podcasts about cleaner fuels

Gary Louis, recently retired President and CEO of Seaboard Energy, sits down with Jeff Earl, Clean Fuels Director of State Governmental Affairs, to discuss Seaboard Energy's journey with biodiesel and renewable diesel and the shared effort of increasing demand for clean fuel alternatives.For more information, visit Clean Fuels Alliance America. To suggest topics or guests for a future episode, email us at podcasts@CleanFuels.org.

Electrification is going a long way in decarbonizing small vehicles (like passenger cars) in the global transportation sector, which produces about 16% of global emissions. But for long-haul transportation: trucking, shipping and the aviation industries, electrification is far from being technologically ready. Enter a controversial solution: biodiesel. Biodiesel is a fuel derived from organic matter like plants, algae or animal fats, which started to popularize globally just this century. However, early generation biodiesel had its drawbacks: first - they are not a perfect replacement for the fuels used in diesel engines, and can only be used as an additive to fossil diesel: decreasing, but not eliminating carbon emissions. Then there was the fact that clearing forest land to grow crops to make biodiesel could produce more emissions than just using fossil diesel.Two companies: Neste and ClearFlame, are among a growing cohort of energy producers exploring more sustainable replacements to diesel fuels.We spoke with Chris Cooper and Matt Leuck (Neste) and BJ Johnson (ClearFlame) about the use of renewable liquid fuels, like renewable diesel that is made from organic waste (like spent cooking oil), that can be used as a 100% replacement for fossil diesel in engines. Stay tuned for Climate Now's next episode, where we explore how renewable diesel is produced, how it compares in terms of environmental impact relative to fossil- and first generation bio-diesels, and how much and how fast the market for renewable diesels could grow. Key Questions:What is renewable diesel? Is it really renewable?Does renewable diesel have emissions, and how do they compare to fossil diesel?How is renewable diesel being used today, and how might it's use expand in the future?Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.Contact us at contact@climatenow.comVisit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

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Energy and chemicals group Sasol expects to invest the bulk of the R15-billion to R25-billion it is budgeting to facilitate a 30% reduction in its carbon emissions by 2030 between 2025 and 2027, having spent only modest capital on such projects to date. The expenditure forms part of the JSE-listed group's yearly ‘maintain and transform' capital budget, which is expected to rise to between R26-billion and R27-billion in its 2023 financial year. Sasol will invest between R500-million and R1-billion during the year on projects designed to improve its environmental performance ahead of a scale-up in such expenditure from 2025 onwards. The bulk of the ‘transform capital' will be directed towards the introduction of process changes particularly at the group's Secunda complex, which is regarded as one of the largest single-site emitters of carbon dioxide globally. These include technology changes allowing for the displacement of coal with gas, the possible briquetting of coal fines to reduce its use of mined coal and the ramping down of coal-fired boilers as it begins procuring renewable energy from independent power producers (IPPs). The company says it has agreed key terms with IPPs for more than 600 MW of wind and solar to be introduced before 2025 and is planning to procure 1 200 MW by 2030. CEO Fleetwood Grobler reports that Sasol is working on future gas supply options, including the possible integration of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) through Maputo, in Mozambique. It has, however, been able to extend the gas supply “plateau” from Mozambique by two years to 2028, following infill well drilling. The prospect of a “gas cliff” has come into focus again recently after Sasol Gas announced, and later delayed, the implementation of a 96% hike in the price of pipeline gas from August 1. Had the increase been introduced, the price of gas charged to South African customers would have increased from R68.39/GJ to R133.34/GJ. The Industrial Gas Users Association of Southern Africa warned that its members were not only facing the prospect of an “untenable” hike in prices, but also the prospect of gas shortages as production from Sasol's Mozambican wells tapered. Sasol says drilling is under way in a bid to find more gas and that it is now moving to explore acreage adjacent to its existing production wells. The company is also in advanced talks to finalise a term sheet for 40 to 60 petajoules (PJ) of LNG as additional incremental gas supply toward the latter end of the decade over and above its current 160 PJ requirement. GREEN HYDROGEN & NATREF REPURPOSING In parallel, the group intends moving ahead with an initial green hydrogen project at Sasolburg, in the Free State, where it will convert an existing 6 t/d electrolyser to operate on renewable electricity. The final investment decision for the green hydrogen project has been made with the aim of producing the first green hydrogen volumes towards the end of 2023. Details of the project will be announced once Sasol's investment partner, the Industrial Development Corporation, also approves the investment. The group is also studying larger green hydrogen prospects that are likely to proceed only after 2030, including the possible creation of a green hydrogen hub at Boegoebaai, in the Northern Cape. Grobler expresses particular enthusiasm for using green hydrogen to produce a “drop in” sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which will be produced using the group's existing Fischer-Tropsch assets. “SAF remains one of the most promising pathways for the hard-to-abate aviation sector to decarbonise in future. “The SAF drop-in offering is an attractive aviation-fuel solution and the market is expected to grow massively in the years to come,” Grobler says, revealing that it is currently refining its “go-to-market” strategy in collaboration with others. He has also announced that a low capital solution has been found to produce Cleaner Fuels 2-compliant diesel at the Natref refinery, in the Fr...

Scrubber's uptick in the marine sector amid a favorable Hi-5 spread along with demand for high sulfur fuel oil for power consumption in Asia is helping HSFO retain its sheen. In Singapore, the world's largest bunkering port, January-July HSFO sales jumped 33.7% on the year, while many other ports in Asia such as India and Sri Lanka are seeing a marked rise in HSFO inquiries. In the power sector, high global gas and LNG prices have incentivized switching of gas to oil, where applicable. S&P Global Platts' Dr. Kang Wu, head of global demand and Asia Analytics, and Rajesh Nair, managing editor for Asia residual fuels, discuss high sulfur fuels oils and their evolving role in the market with Surabhi Sahu, senior editor for petroleum news.

Is it time switch towards cleaner fuels?  Guest - Andrea Reimer - Former Vancouver city councillor

Please RSVP to expedite check-in A live webcast will be streamed at 1:00 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing examining the health impacts of current octane sources and the need for cleaner, cost-effective octane providers. Octane is necessary for vehicle performance and increasing octane volumes would enable highly efficient engines. At the same time, octane-boosters in use today have historically been highly toxic compounds. But cleaner alternatives are available—namely biofuels.

Please RSVP to expedite check-in A live webcast will be streamed at 1:00 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing examining the health impacts of current octane sources and the need for cleaner, cost-effective octane providers. Octane is necessary for vehicle performance and increasing octane volumes would enable highly efficient engines. At the same time, octane-boosters in use today have historically been highly toxic compounds. But cleaner alternatives are available—namely biofuels.

Please RSVP to expedite check-in A live webcast will be streamed at 1:00 PM EST at www.eesi.org/livecast (wireless connection permitting) The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing examining the health impacts of current octane sources and the need for cleaner, cost-effective octane providers. Octane is necessary for vehicle performance and increasing octane volumes would enable highly efficient engines. At the same time, octane-boosters in use today have historically been highly toxic compounds. But cleaner alternatives are available—namely biofuels.

Eight Berkeley Lab scientists took the stage and in 8 minutes each explained the latest science on topics from solar-powered vaccine refrigerators and cool roof maps to radiation pills and space dust. Katie Antypas - Energy Efficient Supercomputing, Ronnen Levinson -Cool Roofs Through Time and Space, Musahid Ahmed - Combustion Science for Cleaner Fuels, Andrew Westphal - First Rocks from Outside the Solar System, Ben Brown - Enhancing Human and Planetary Health Through Responsible Innovation, Sylvain Costes - Promoting a Healthier DNA, Rebecca Abergel - A pill to treat people exposed to radioactive materials, Shashi Buluswar - Portable Solar Vaccine Refrigerator. Series: "Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory " [Science] [Show ID: 28969]

Eight Berkeley Lab scientists took the stage and in 8 minutes each explained the latest science on topics from solar-powered vaccine refrigerators and cool roof maps to radiation pills and space dust. Katie Antypas - Energy Efficient Supercomputing, Ronnen Levinson -Cool Roofs Through Time and Space, Musahid Ahmed - Combustion Science for Cleaner Fuels, Andrew Westphal - First Rocks from Outside the Solar System, Ben Brown - Enhancing Human and Planetary Health Through Responsible Innovation, Sylvain Costes - Promoting a Healthier DNA, Rebecca Abergel - A pill to treat people exposed to radioactive materials, Shashi Buluswar - Portable Solar Vaccine Refrigerator. Series: "Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory " [Science] [Show ID: 28969]