It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
The Freeport LNG export facility appears to be back at full power, with the plant pulling as much natural gas as possible from pipelines.
Freeport LNG was shut down in June last year when a fire broke out at the plant and its return was delayed.
The full return of Freeport will help to ease concerns over LNG supply to Europe, with the plant accounting for 20% of U.S. exports before its shutdown.
The Freeport LNG export facility in Texas is receiving natural gas from pipelines at full capacity, suggesting that the liquefaction operations are back to full power, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing data from data provider Refinitiv.
The Freeport LNG export facility in Texas was shut down in June last year when a fire broke out and damaged the plant.
Two of the three trains at Freeport LNG have resumed full commercial operations in recent weeks after receiving regulatory approval in February.
The third and final train at the Freeport LNG facility received regulatory approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in early March.
By then, the other two trains had returned to full commercial operation, reaching production levels in excess of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), Freeport LNG, the company operating the export facility, said early this month.
At the end of this month, data on natural gas flows suggest that Freeport LNG is back to full operations.
According to Refinitiv data, quoted by Reuters, natural gas flows from pipelines to Freeport LNG were on track to rise to 2.1 Bcf/d on Thursday, up from 1.8 Bcf/d on Wednesday. That’s as much natural gas as all three trains at Freeport can process into LNG.
Until it was forced to shut down due to the fire in June, Freeport, responsible for some 20% of total LNG exports from the United States and generating $35 billion in revenue during the first nine months of 2022, served Europe well as the continent looked to squelch a growing energy crisis this winter.
The return of Freeport LNG is set to further ease concerns about LNG supply in Europe, which has managed its gas supply and demand well this winter, mostly due to long periods of mild weather and lower consumption because of demand destruction in the industry and energy savings from households.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Researchers Create Catalyst That Cleans Dirty Water And Produces Hydrogen
The project, which included researchers from the OSU College of Engineering and HP Inc. is important because water pollution is a major global challenge, and hydrogen is a clean, renewable fuel.
OSU’s Kyriakos Stylianou said, “We can combine oxidation and reduction into a single process to achieve an efficient photocatalytic system. Oxidation happens via a photodegradation reaction, and reduction through a hydrogen evolution reaction.”
A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.
Photocatalysts are materials that absorb light to reach a higher energy level and can use that energy to break down organic contaminants through oxidation. Among photocatalysts’ many applications are self-cleaning coatings for stain- and odor-resistant walls, floors, ceilings and furniture.
Stylianou, assistant professor of chemistry, led the study, which involved titanium dioxide photocatalysts derived from a metal-organic framework, or MOF.
Made up of positively charged metal ions surrounded by organic “linker” molecules, MOFs are crystalline, porous materials with tunable structural properties and nanosized pores. They can be designed with a variety of components that determine the MOF’s properties.
Upon MOFs’ calcination – high heating without melting – semiconducting materials like titanium dioxide can be generated. Titanium dioxide is the most commonly used photocatalyst, and it’s found in the minerals anatase, rutile and brookite.
Stylianou and collaborators including Líney Árnadóttir of the OSU College of Engineering and William Stickle of HP discovered that anatase doped with nitrogen and sulfur was the best “two birds, one stone” photocatalyst for simultaneously producing hydrogen and degrading the heavily used herbicide glyphosate.
Glyphosate, also known as N-phosphonomethyl glycine or PMG, has been widely sprayed on agricultural fields over the last 50 years since first appearing on the market under the trade name Roundup.
Stylianou observed, “Only a small percentage of the total amount of PMG applied is taken up by crops, and the rest reaches the environment,” Stylianou said. “That causes concerns regarding the leaching of PMG into soil and groundwater, as well it should – contaminated water can be detrimental to the health of every living thing on the planet. And herbicides leaching into water channels are a primary cause of water pollution.”
Among an array of compounds in which hydrogen is found, water is the most common, and producing hydrogen by splitting water via photocatalysis is cleaner and more sustainable than the conventional method of deriving hydrogen – from natural gas via a carbon-dioxide-producing process known as methane-steam reforming.
Hydrogen serves many scientific and industrial purposes in addition to its energy-related roles. It’s used in fuel cells for cars, in the manufacture of many chemicals including ammonia, in the refining of metals and in the production of plastics.
“Water is a rich hydrogen source, and photocatalysis is a way of tapping into the Earth’s abundant solar energy for hydrogen production and environmental remediation,” Stylianou said. “We are showing that through photocatalysis, it is possible to produce a renewable fuel while removing organic pollutants, or converting them into useful products.”
The collaboration that included graduate student Emmanuel Musa, postdoctoral researcher Sumandeep Kaur and students Trenton Gallagher and Thao Mi Anthony also tested its photocatalyst against water tainted by two other often-used herbicides, glufosinate ammonium and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. It worked on water containing them as well – even water with those two compounds plus PMG.
***
Its quite unusual to see a catalyst that works in dual mode offering two benefits. The “degradation” is offered as the PMG result, with the formation of glycine, formic acid, and phosphoric acid as the major degradation products.. Those are useful chemicals that will still need separated out from the water. Perhaps the research team is working on that.
The hydrogen production action isn’t clear about the water’s oxygen. The press release and paper aren’t real clear on that. Hopefully the process isn’t simply making a mixture of oxygen and di hydrogen gas.
For now this work is just proven to function. To get to process engineering, there is a path that will need worked through. One does hope the work continues. All three herbicides are out in the environment and in some places really need the cleaning done.
FYI, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is commonly seen as 2,4,-D and glufosinate ammonium is usually seen as a component of herbicide compound products.
This is progress in the catalyst field. It seems the prime motivator is herbicide treatment with hydrogen production a side benefit. One wonders if the priorities reversed would offer a worthy benefit. These herbicides are used worldwide and the cleanup where high concentrations are located is a worthy enterprise. The duel action discovery might make a contribution to the hunt for ever more energy efficient catalysts.
Cambridge University researchers have created an eco-friendly plant-based film, utilizing cellulose nanocrystals and reflective layers, that could cool buildings, cars and other structures without requiring excessive external energy.
Through structural color, specific colors can be achieved without pigments which can absorb sunlight and generate too much heat, enabling a wider range of colors for the cooling film.
The colorful bi-layered film generated over 120 Watts of cooling power per square meter, comparable to that of many types of residential air conditioning units.
Silvia Vignolini, Ph.D., the project’s principal investigator at Cambridge University (U.K.), started the explanation with, “To make materials that remain cooler than the air around them during the day, you need something that reflects a lot of solar light and doesn’t absorb it, which would transform energy from the light into heat. There are only a few materials that have this property, and adding color pigments would typically undo their cooling effects.”
Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) is the ability of a surface to emit its own heat into space without it being absorbed by the air or atmosphere. The result is a surface that, without using any electrical power, can become several degrees colder than the air around it. When used on buildings or other structures, materials that promote this effect can help limit the use of air conditioning and other power-intensive cooling methods.
Qingchen Shen, Ph.D., also at Cambridge University, who is presenting the work at ACS continued, “Some paints and films currently in development can achieve PDRC, but most of them are white or have a mirrored finish. But a building owner who wanted to use a blue-colored PDRC paint would be out of luck – colored pigments, by definition, absorb specific wavelengths of sunlight and only reflect the colors we see, causing undesirable warming effects in the process.”
But there’s a way to achieve color without the use of pigments. Soap bubbles, for example, show a prism of different colors on their surfaces. These colors result from the way light interacts with differing thicknesses of the bubble’s film, a phenomenon called structural color. Part of Vignolini’s research focuses on identifying the causes behind different types of structural colors in nature. In one case, her group found that cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), which are derived from the cellulose found in plants, could be made into iridescent, colorful films without any added pigment.
As it turns out, cellulose is also one of the few naturally occurring materials that can promote PDRC. Vignolini learned this after hearing a talk from the first researchers to have created a cooling film material. “I thought wow, this is really amazing, and I never really thought cellulose could do this.”
In their recent work, Shen and Vignolini layered colorful CNC materials with a white-colored material made from ethyl cellulose, producing a colorful bi-layered PDRC film. They made films with vibrant blue, green and red colors that, when placed under sunlight, were an average of nearly 40° F cooler than the surrounding air.
A square meter of the film generated over 120 Watts of cooling power, rivaling many types of residential air conditioners.
Shen said the most challenging aspect of this research was finding a way to make the two layers stick together. On their own, the CNC films were brittle, and the ethyl cellulose layer had to be plasma-treated to get good adhesion. The result, however, was films that were robust and could be prepared several meters at a time in a standard manufacturing line.
Since creating these first films, the researchers have been improving their aesthetic appearance. Using a method modified from approaches previously explored by the group, they’re making cellulose-based cooling films that are glittery and colorful. They’ve also adjusted the ethyl cellulose film to have different textures, like the differences between types of wood finishes used in architecture and interior design, Shen explained. These changes would give people more options when incorporating PDRC effects in their homes, businesses, cars and other structures.
The researchers now plan to find ways they can make their films even more functional. According to Shen, CNC materials can be used as sensors to detect environmental pollutants or weather changes, which could be useful if combined with the cooling power of their CNC-ethyl cellulose films. For example, a cobalt-colored PDRC on a building façade in a car-dense, urban area could someday keep the building cool and incorporate detectors that would alert officials to higher levels of smog-causing molecules in the air.
Of worthy note, the researchers acknowledge support and funding from Purdue University, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the European Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the European Union and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
***
This might be quite the revolution in roofing, siding and automotive finishes. So far the results are quite encouraging. Lacking an estimate of cost is still out there and the practicality of refurbishing a building or car using a plasma treatment is something of a mystery so far.
But one can be sure there will be interest. The cooling effect, plus the aesthetic potential are great motivators. An iridescent color selection is sure to light up the automobile and designer fields with innumerable ideas.
Lets hope this technology is low cost. The heat gain to buildings and the cooking of car interiors out in the sun are likely quite high unrealized costs. For them to be moderated at a possible drop of 40° F is going to save a lot of electrical power and make cars much more efficient.
Cryptocurrency mining has led to concerns over its increasing electricity demand, particularly from fossil fuels.
Some regions, such as British Columbia, Canada, have attracted crypto mining due to a surplus of clean, inexpensive energy, bringing jobs but also raising concerns over energy use.
As the sector remains largely unregulated, there is growing consensus for greater regulations worldwide to enhance transparency and mitigate the environmental impact of crypto mining.
In recent years, the rise of cryptocurrency mining has caused concern for those hoping for a green transition, as the sector increases its electricity use year on year, causing the energy demand in certain regions to rise rapidly. Until now, crypto production has relied mainly on electricity generated from fossil fuels, including using flared gas from operations using carbon capture and storage technologies. We are seeing an acceleration in the rollout of renewable energy projects, but some worry that if the demand for electricity continues to rise, many regions will remain dependent on fossil fuels for their power. And while states are beginning to regulate crypto production, this is a slow process, and many companies remain largely unrestricted.
In Canada, many crypto miners are moving to the region to take advantage of the country’s clean, inexpensive energy supply. The industry has boomed in certain provinces, such as British Columbia (B.C.) and Quebec. In B.C., there are seven crypto-mining projects in operation, with six more sites under development. But the need for huge amounts of electricity to run operations is attracted greater attention.
At present, B.C. has an energy surplus, which has drawn in several crypto companies. Dan Roberts, an Australian cryptocurrency entrepreneur explained, “We can build a whole industry around this. We can go into those regional towns where they've been decimated by the end of the pulp-and-paper mill … rehire local workers, retrain them, and deliver all these benefits back into the community.” So, it’s easy to see why crypto miners have moved to the region, and many locals have welcomed them as they bring jobs and economic growth.
However, the province has just introduced an 18-month moratorium on connecting new crypto-mining sites to the electric grid, causing 21 new projects to grind to a halt. These projects would have used the same amount of power as 570,000 homes. The B.C. Energy Minister, Josie Osborne, believes the moratorium will give the province the time needed to consult with the industry and ensure the region’s energy is being used effectively. Osborne worries that the surplus in B.C. may not be seen forever and that the green electricity in the region should be used in a climate-positive way. She suggests that crypto mining does not help B.C. achieve its climate goals, and ultimately offers fewer job opportunities than many other industries.
And while some crypto miners are using renewable energy in their operations, many are not. Worldwide, there is a rising concern over the greenhouse-gas emissions involved with crypto-mining. According to a University of Cambridge industry tracker, which focuses on Bitcoin, the sector’s carbon emissions are still extremely high. The tracker found that if Bitcoin continues at its current rate of mining, it will release approximately 62 megatons of carbon-dioxide equivalent every year. This is comparable to the total emissions released in Serbia in 2019.
As people become more concerned over the electricity usage of crypto operations, many are calling for greater regulation of the sector, which remains largely unregulated. Officials from the G7 are planning to discuss regulations on the cryptocurrency industry to enhance transparency and consumer protection at the next meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, in May. Cryptocurrency will also be discussed at the upcoming G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington D.C., in April. At present, there is little coordination over crypto regulations, with some states or regions imposing their own restrictions on mining, but little national or international agreement.
In the EU, some progress has been seen in regulating the sector, with the EU Council presidency and the European Parliament reaching an agreement on the markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) proposal last year. MiCA provides an EU-wide regulation for the quickly evolving sector. The regulatory framework is aimed at protecting investors and preserving financial stability while allowing for innovation and fostering the attractiveness of the crypto-asset sector.
While most action has been taken at the state level in the U.S., such as in New York, this could soon change. In Biden’s most recent budget blueprint for 2024, he proposed a new tax on electricity use for crypto mining. If the budget is approved, this could mean a 30 percent tax on mining operations, to be phased in over three years. This responds to concerns over the environmental impact of the industry.
It is clear that the electricity demands of crypto mining are high, whether the energy comes from fossil fuels or renewable sources. At a time when the world is trying to curb its energy usage and undergo a green transition, this is of high concern to those managing the energy sector. However, to date, there is little international coordination on crypto regulation. But, as some regions come to agreements, such as the EU, as the U.S. looks to introduce a tax on mining, and discussions commence at the international level, it is only a matter of time until the industry faces stricter regulations.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
Why U.S. Refiners Are Ramping Up Biofuel Production
Refiners are investing in high-value distillates such as diesel and renewable fuels, which are becoming more profitable as gasoline demand declines.
As the shale revolution has slowed down in Texas, the country is left with tons of refining capacity ready and waiting for the next step.
The U.S. has the potential to become a major exporter of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel thanks to its ready refining capacity.
No one knows exactly how many electric vehicles will hit the road in the coming decade, but one thing is certain: it’s going to be a lot. The precise rate of uptake depends on a lot of factors, from falling EV costs and improved technologies to policy support and incentives for manufacturers as well as drivers. What we do know is that reaching net zero emissions by mid-century will require an electric car fleet of over 300 million vehicles by 2030, and 60% of new car sales will have to be electric models.
In reality, we’ll most likely fall a little short of those numbers in the United States. According to projections from S&P Global Mobility, electric vehicle sales in the United States could reach 40 percent of total passenger car sales by 2030, and more optimistic projections foresee electric vehicle sales surpassing 50 percent by 2030. While this won’t quite get us to net zero by 2050, it marks a huge expansion of the current EV market. Already, electric vehicle sales are on a sharp upward trend in the United States (and around the world), with sales nearly doubling between 2020 and 2021, according to figures from the International Energy Agency.
This expansion is going to have widespread implications for the energy economy as demand shifts away from motor fuels toward electricity. This means that domestic motor fuel producers are going to have to evolve – or die. Industry analysts are predicting that most refiners will opt to increasingly focus their production on distillates rather than fuel, as traditional combustion engines begin to go the way of the dodo. More specifically, they are looking to “maximize diesel and biofuels production for exports.”
Diesel, in particular, is becoming more and more appealing, as global diesel inventories have declined and demand has spiked. Last year, diesel profit margins peaked at over $70 a barrel, more than double the profit margins of gasoline in the same time frame. At that time, United States refiners were exporting 1.57 million barrels per day of distillate fuel – an all-time record.
The market for diesel has cooled considerably since that peak – distillate profit margins are now around $31.35 a barrel – but margins are still nearly double their five-year average. According to reporting from Reuters, this will incentivize increased investment into diesel production (as well as other high-value distillates) in the current term, which will continue to influence the shape of the refining industry for years to come.
Most industry experts see this investment as a much safer long-term strategy than continuing to invest in gasoline production. Gasoline demand has already been lagging for quite some time now in the United States as fuel efficiency has increased in gas-powered cars, and the number of electric cars on the road has rapidly expanded. Distillate demand, on the other hand, will likely continue to grow 32% by 2045, mostly led by an increased need for both diesel and jet fuel.
Demand for biofuel and biodiesel, too, is on a growth trajectory. Refiners are leaning into this trend as well. According to Reuters, “oil refiners such as Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66 have been retrofitting oil refineries to produce biofuels such as renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.”
While the United States is lagging behind most of the world’s strongest economies in terms of clean energy spending and production, it is uniquely positioned to lead the pack in terms of biofuels exports. As the shale revolution has slowed down in Texas, the country is left with tons of refining capacity ready and waiting for the next step. This means that the United States could easily become the world’s largest exporter of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel in a remarkably short time span.
