Abstract:
Biofuels can be a suitable alternative to fossil fuels as low-carbon fuels because they mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of climate change caused by transportation and power generation. For this purpose, industry has focused on increasing production and improving the efficiency of the production process of biofuels and Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
The need for sustainable transportation fuels is a critical issue in all societies globally. Post Covid the need for personal F2F interaction and international travel has been reinforced. We can’t do without it. For ground transportation, electrification with batteries in EVs is growing rapidly. Though this has distance limitations. For long distance air transportation, the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel must grow as quickly as we can create it. However, this is neither easy nor cheap.
SAF and Biofuels have both technical and ESG challenges. The key to the S-sustainability is the use of bio renewable and recycled feedstocks. These are in limited supply and have wide variability nationally and regionally. We don’t want to have another food vs fuel conflict, as we have seen in the past. What we need to determine is how best can we create the most sustainable and cost-effective ways of producing SAF and Biofuels?
One of the tried and proven ways of determining how best to produce SAF & Biofuels, or any hydrocarbon fuel, is by utilising process simulation. To do this accurately each potential feedstock must be characterised, mathematically/digitally, so that the behaviour of each molecule, or groups of molecules, can be determined in a variety of process equipment. Simulation also offers a very effective way of tracking the Carbon Intensity of each molecule as it passes and changes through a process which can provide the CI audit trail of any fuel product. A critical step in certifying a fuel product’s greenness.
Our obligation, as the SPE, is that we must address all aspects of creating this sustainable part of the cyclic economy. In turn we must communicate these to the regulatory authorities and to the public to create clear understanding of the technical and ESG issues. This is so that the most effective regulatory polices are put in place which most benefit society both today and create a cleaner environment in the future, for our children and grandchildren.
This presentation will delve into some of the diverse feedstocks and the process synthesis routes for making SAF and Biofuels, addressing some of the issues around scalability and efficiency of these feedstocks. It will discuss process simulation technology which can be used to select economically viable and sustainable SAF and Bio Fuel production schemes, create and design new processes, optimise their operations, track CI, energy efficiency and minimise lifecycle cumulative emissions.
Speaker: Russell Byfield FIEAust CPEng NER APEC Engineer IntPE(Aus) RPEQ SPE
Russell has over 30 years’ international experience in the Petroleum and Process Industries.
Russell has held a variety of global, regional and international technical, managerial, directorial & chairman roles.
He has experience in refinery operations and planning, oil & gas field development, reservoir engineering, process facilities design, fabrication, commissioning and operations, technology commercialization, business strategy & planning and since 2000 has mainly focused on the modelling, analytics, digitalization, optimization and decarbonization of the Oil & Gas and process industries.
Russell has a Chemical Engineering Degree with Honours from Adelaide University, is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Chartered Professional Engineer, Registered Professional Engineer in Petroleum and Chemical Engineering and is a Past Chair of the Queensland Branch of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Gathering around 6PM, drinks nibbles and networking
Talk 6:45PM - 7:15PM
Q&A and further networking till 8:30PM
Cost (for registration in advance): Members $35 / Non-members $50 / Students-retired-unemployed $25 Please register through this website so we record your name and email address. We only receive payment by Paynow or bank transfer.
IMPORTANT: You will need to make a payment in advance.
Please pay by Paynow to WCW at 8337 4173. Remember to indicate your name in the reference. Official receipt will be sent to your email after the event. Payment at the door is $75 for everyone.
See you soon! Please feel free to contact Arinta via WhatsApp or email for any questions or clarification.