DEBATE - Rajmi Manatunga

Oil crisis: Minimising the impact

Ever since man discovered oil as a source of energy, the importance of and the demand for oil has only increased. The emergence of oil not only saw the gradual demise of the ‘coal age’, but its effectiveness as a source of energy caused yet another industrial revolution, enabling mankind to improve their lives with new technological inventions powered by oil.

Consequently, almost every aspect of today’s life, whether it is travelling, working, or cooking your simple meal, is inextricably linked with oil, coming in all forms like petrol, diesel and gas.

However, this dependence on oil which is an exhaustive energy source, has for years caused problems for nations across the globe, resulting in what has come to be known as the ‘oil crisis’.

Over the past half a century, the world economy and the economies of most countries have experienced constant pangs owing to soaring oil prices, attributed to the gradual depletion of oil deposits worldwide and the capricious decisions of the OPEC.

The impact of the oil crisis on developing countries like Sri Lanka whose energy requirements are largely met by oil, has been severe due to its ripple effects on the cost of living, as is evident from situation we are facing after the price of oil hit the US $ 135 mark last month.

Beyond these economic repercussions, the energy crisis is also a global problem as scientists have already predicted that in the 25 years to come, mankind will run out of all oil resources.

What measures could the Government take to address this crisis arising from the sky-rocketing oil prices? Is it time for Sri Lanka to minimise its dependence on oil and adopt a rational energy policy that focuses on renewable energy sources like wind power or natural gas? What is the role of the public in facing the oil crisis? Does it require a shift from our lifestyles of motor vehicles, televisions and air conditioners and other products powered by oil and electricity?

Have your say on the above topic as we take up the burning issue of ‘oil crisis’ on Daily News Debate next week. Send in your contributions (limited to 1,500 words) before June 30, 2008 to ‘Daily News Debate’, Daily News, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, PO Box 1217, Colombo, or via e-mail to

[email protected]
 

Achieving self-sufficiency in energy

Dr. Janaka Ratnasiri

During the past few years even before the present oil crisis came up, the government has realised the potential of biomass as a source of thermal energy, both for industrial purposes and electricity generation, as an alternative to petroleum oil.

The Cabinet of Ministers in 2005 has declared Grilicidea as the fourth plantation crop for cultivating as energy plantations. The Ministry of Science and Technology and also the Bioenergy Association of Sri Lanka have been promoting the cultivation of grilicidea for this purpose.

This short rotation coppice (SRC) crop was found to produce biomass on a sustainable manner with the highest yield even under adverse climate conditions.

Trials conducted by the S&T Ministry have shown that one hectare of grilicidea produces about 20-30 tonnes (t) of wood annually depending on the density of planting.

Considering only the more conservative figure of 20 t/ha, the thermal energy that could be generated from a hectare is about 340 GJ, which is equivalent to the heat content of 8t of oil.

Again, studies conducted by the S&T Ministry have shown that there could be at least 1.7 Mha of degraded marginal land not suitable for food crops available for energy plantations.

Energy from wood could be utilised more efficiently through gasification than in traditional systems in all industrial applications (other than in applications where extreme high temperatures are required) and in the generation of electricity.

Currently, two power plants (1 MW each) fired with biomass are supplying electricity to the national grid, and seven more with total capacity of 18 MW are planned.

In addition, several industries who previously depended on furnace oil or diesel for operating their kilns and ovens, have now switched over to grilicidea-fired gasifier systems. The investment on the gasifier system could be recovered within a short time from the money saved in reduced fuel costs.

Petroleum oils consumed in industrial and power sectors in 2006 were 260kt and 1,000 kt, respectively, and to replace these amounts with biomass, only 160kha of grilicidea plantations are required.

This extent of land could be easily found in Sri Lanka, being about 1/10th the land available for energy plantations as estimated by the S & T Ministry.

Even in industries like ceramics where extreme high temperatures required, dual fuel systems comprising a combination of wood and petroleum oil could achieve the required temperatures with reduced intake of oil.

The other significant consumer of oil is the transport sector. In 2006, Sri Lanka has consumed about 1,800kt of gasoline and diesel for driving vehicles. Could this also be replaced with wood energy? The answer is “Yes”, but not immediately as in the case of industries. This again uses gasification of wood to begin with.

Gasification involves combustion of any fuel (coal or wood) under restricted sup[ply of oxygen so that carbon in the fuel is converted only to carbon monoxide (CO) instead of getting converted to carbon dioxide as with normal combustion.

The CO and hydrogen (H2) generated in the process are fed into the combustion chamber where it is ignited to generate thermal energy. The combination of CO and H2 is also referred to as producer gas or syngas. It is also called “town gas” then the gas is distributed among city residents in pipelines for use in cooking and heating purposes.

Syngas could be used to operate motor vehicles, and this was in fact done during World War II days when the supply of petroleum oil was restricted.

Because of bulkiness, gasifier equipment were mounted on a trailer. With the availability of cheap petroleum oil, this technique was later abandoned, except in one country. That was South Africa (SA) who could not obtain oil in the world market during apartheid days.

They were therefore compelled to use syngas to run their vehicles. However, they did not feed syngas direct into vehicle engines, but developed the technology to synthesis liquid fuels from syngas.

The two gases CO and H2 present in syngas do not react with each other under normal conditions and will remain as separate gases. However, in the presence of special catalysts and under elevated temperature and pressure, they react to form hydro-carbon compounds that could be used as fuels.

The hydro-carbons synthesised from syngas depend on the type of catalyst and reactor conditions. The common hydro carbon synthesised is the simplest hydro carbon which is methane.

Since natural gas which is widely used today as a fuel contains mostly methane, this synthesised gas is referred to as Substitute Natural Gas (SNG). Another compound synthesised is Dimethy1 Ether(DME), which is a diesel substitute, except that its heating value is little less than that of petroleum diesel.

DME which is a gas at normal temperature and pressure can be liquefied like LPG and used in its place. Methanol, which is a gasoline substitute, is another compound synthesised in this process.

Pilot scale plants are in operation for the manufacture of all these fuels in a number of countries, and it is a matter of time when they become operational at commercial scale. The current escalation of oil prices will accelerate this process.

The other strategy is to go back to World War II days and run vehicles with syngas. For this, compact gasifiers which could be mounted within or outside the vehicles on the rear, particularly in buses, need to be developed.

The utilization of biomass is more efficient with direct combustion of syngas than with synthesized fuels. Further, gasification is a more efficient path of utilizing land than with cultivation of sugar and starch containing crops for the production of ethanol or cultivation of oil bearing crops to produce bio-diesel.

For the operation of vehicles with synthesised fuel, taking the worst conversion factor, replacing 1800 kt of oil consumed annually in the transport sector with synthesised fuels would required about 13 Mt of biomass annually.

This amount could be produced from 650 kha of grilicidea plantations. Direct combustion of syngas would reduce this amount.

This extent, along with the land required to meet other energy sources, is still well within the extent of land found available for energy plantations.

In addition, nearly 4 Mt of agriculture residue is available annually for gasification and this could be collected from agriculture farms where various crops have been cultivated, according to a study carried out by a team of scientists from the University of Moratuwa.

Hence, there is potential for Sri Lanka to be totally independent of petroleum oil in domestic, commercial, industrial, transport and power sectors, not only meeting the current demand but also future demand as well.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has already taken the initiative to promote the use of wood energy through gasification, and has undertaken studies on land availability for energy plantations. However, the allocation of land and cultivation of SRC crops need to be accelerated in view of the current high oil prices.

The Ministry could subsequently take the next step of gathering a group of scientists to undertake studies on synthesising transport fuels while providing the necessary funding.

Even if the technology were to be purchased from overseas, there has to be a team of scientists here to assimilate the technology and implement the project in the country.

Oil-Need for new innovations

Miran Perera

As we move forward with the coming years our country faces major challenges. One is the energy fuel crisis. The crying need of the day is energy more energy cheaper and renewable energy which in simple terms, means fuel, More fuel, cheaper fuel and renewable fuel.

The ever increasing expenditure on fuel oil imports is causing economic imbalances, price hikes and hardships for the people. Price of gasoline has increased many folds and the oil import bill has shot up to many millions.

Moreover the growing use of Petroleum fields in the ever increasing number of automobiles is causing rapid degradation of the atmospheric environment in our major cities due to vehicular exhaust emissions bringing about atmospheric pollution.

New innovations as alternatives for oil has been experimented all over the world. All across Asia Governments are searching for crops as fuel that can help them offset a dependence on imported oil that can only sky rocket as their economies soar.

Palm oil and sugar cane are the dominant crops in the region but everything from coconuts to castor oil to cowdung is being tested for fossil fuel alternatives such as ethanol and bio diesel. Most experts believe that using current technologies there isnt enough land to make a serious dent in oil consumption. Some scientists say production will consume more conventional energy than it will save.

To meet the twin problems of fuel oil scarcity and air pollution caused by the growing use of fossil fuels alternate renewable and clear burning fuels should be explored for the use in Motor Vehicles.

Most prominent Eco- friendly fuel candidates are the Bio Solar fuel Ethanol, Natural gas, Propane and Hydrogen. Amongst these the most suitable renewable clear burning and clean alternate fuel for a country like Sri Lanka having the economy based on Agriculture is Bio solar Fuel Ethanol. Sri Lanka is not endowed with any fossil fuel deposits.

Therefore it is imperative that the government falls in line with the world trends and thinking connected with the dwindling future availability of fossil fuels. The fuel crisis is likely to have extremely undesirable repercussions. The world market price of crude petroleum has constantly been increasing, and it may continue to increase according to reports.

As a result of high fuel prices the local prices of diesel and petrol too have been increased considerably during the past months, causing an increase in the cost of almost everything, including transport and power.

The cascading effect of increasing fuel prices specially the price of diesel is causing considerable economic hardships to the poor resulting in a decrease in their buying power.

India, Indonesia and the Philippines are at the forefront of using seeds from the wild bush called ‘Jatropha’ to produce bio diesel a fuel derived from natural oils that can be blended with conventional diesel.

Though mostly in the development stage many claim Jatropha is on par with soya bean and rapeseed oil which are used in the United States and Europe. Many say it grows almost anywhere and burns cleaner than traditional diesel. But hurdles remain including lack of processing facilities and almost non existent commercial farming.

Australia, Thailand and India use sugarcane or molasses to produce ethanol which can be mixed with Gasoline to run cars. Most of these countries use a mix of 5% ethanol and 95% gasoline with plans to increase that amount to as much as 20% in the coming years.

Producing ethanol this way is land intensive and ensuring there is enough to meet demand is a problem. Malaysia and Indonesia are expected to be leading producers of palm oil for use in Biodiesel, especially for Europe.

Thailand is expected to add palm oil to its domestic biodiesel mix. Concerns remains however over how the fuel would perform in cold weather and the environmental impact of more plantations. The Philippines and some pacific islands are turning to coconut oil mostly for power generation and diesel fuel.

It is cheaper than traditional fuels and the transport costs are low. But most lack the capacity for large scale production. The oil energy scenario is deteriorating throughout the world. Non renewable resources are being rapidly depleted with consequent environmental and economic damages.

According to current estimates all known reserves of oil, natural gas and uranium accumulated over millions of years will be exhausted within the next 30 to 40 years, and coal within the next 250 years.

The haphazard use of these resources has accelerated global warming, acid rains, oil spills, explosions nuclear contaminations and energy wars.

On the hopeful side is solar energy, wind energy, water movement and photosynthesis in plants which is absolutely free, where all plants convert solar energy in to chemical energy by combining carbondioxide from the atmosphere with water making carbohydrates which are very abundant and environmentally responsive.

Photo synthetically derived bio solar fuel ethanol ‘Home grown’ fuel useable as blends with gasoline and diesel in present day automobiles without any engine modification offers an immediate solution to help meet the growing fuel oil scarcity and dependency on imports of foreign fuels.

Increasing diesel prices which demands new innovations will have a corresponding effect on the cost of production of all our exports including tea, rubber, coconut and garments etc... resulting our exports being uncompetitive in the world market.

It is essential that the consumption of fuel should be reduced. In many other countries such as China, Thailand, Philippines etc.. action has already been taken to reduce fuel power consumption and cut down wastes. If we reduce our energy consumption by 10% it will result in a considerable amount of saving. Hence it is essential that short term and medium term measures are taken to reduce fuel consumption.

Minimising the Impact - Some Solutions

C.I. Gunasekara

My comfortable little Maruti Suzuki has 800cc engine and does 60 MPG. Whereas 2000cc engine does 20MPG. Restrict car imports to maximum 1500cc engines.

Permit cars with engine above 1500cc provided they are paid for abroad and increase import duty according to size of engine. Punitive duty for very big engines. Official car of India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was a 1400cc Morris Oxford.

Annual car licence fees should be revised thus:

a. Cars with engine capacity up to 1500cc - No Change.

b. Cars over 1500cc should pay an increase in proportion to size of engine.

Many Govt. and Mercantile sectors give executive perk of car with unlimited fuel consumption. Restrict “Ad-lib” usage with appropriate maximum depending on distance house to office etc, etc. Govt. and Mercantile will financially benefit too.

Encourage use of Motor Cycle by Press stressing financial advantage, parking etc. wearing helmets should be optional. Like India.

Long Term-Halve number of people wanting oil Proper and effective family planning another subject.