Newsletter/ nawaros^® 02/02

Content

C.A.R.M.E.N.-Forum 2002
What's new at C.A.R.M.E.N.
"Blauer Engel" (i.e. 'blue environment angel') for wood pellet heating boiler
Austrian environmental label for pellets and briquettes
C.A.R.M.E.N. at the education fair in Cologne
Year Book 2001
Co-operation network for renewable energies
Oil change not necessary
Latest news from the Competence Centre
International expert forum
The recycling of bio-oils
A hot subject: grain combustion
The market for farm products in figures 2001
Goats spinning silk

C.A.R.M.E.N.-Forum 2002

Quality management for rapeseed oil fuel, biodiesel and biogas
On the 8th April 2002 the 9th C.A.R.M.E.N.-Forum is taking place in town hall of Straubing. The subject is the quality of rapeseed oil fuel, biodiesel, and biogas. "Essential Quality Definition", "Quality and Plant Manufacturers" and "Practical Experience" are the topics. The addressees are practical users: Farmers, plant manufacturers, energy and environment technicians, consultants, planning offices, representatives from the authorities and all those interested in the subject. "Constantly good quality standards for fuels won from biomass and for biogas plant construction help to enter into real competition with fossil fuels," C.A.R.M.E.N. employee Robert Wagner says.

The Bavarian Minister of Agriculture and Forests, Josef Miller, opens the Forum and presents perspectives of biogene fuels from a Bavarian point of view. Edgar Remmele starts the section "Rapeseed Oil Fuel" with his lecture "Quality Standard for Rapeseed Oil as a Fuel". Volker Wichmann of the University of Rostock reports on experiences with the 100-Schlepper-Programm (i.e. the '100 Motor Tractors Programme'). Erhard Luber of the Deutz-Fahr Generalvertretung Gebr. Brand talks about the refitting of motor tractors to rapeseed oil fuel and brings a corresponding tractor along. The Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture extended the refitting period of the 100-Schlepper-Programm until the 30th September 2002. EUR 2.8 million are available for the programme. It is supposed to show the suitability of vegetable oil as a fuel for farm machines. Due to this extension the new engines with high-pressure injection systems can now be tested, too. The model test is scientifically accompanied by the institute for energy and environmental technology of the University of Rostock

. In the section 'Biodiesel' Dr. Thomas Wilharm of the Analytik-Service Gesellschaft mbH specifies the quality criteria for biodiesel. The biodiesel plant in Ochsenfurt und the Campa® biodiesel produced there are presented by Dr. Ralf Türck of the Agrar Technik GmbH. Peter Berghoff reports on the experience of the car manufacturer AUDI with this biofuel. In the section 'Biogas' Dr. Jochen Bauer of the RAL-Gütegemeinschaft presents the RAL quality seal for the construction of biogas plants. It is treated in detail how far his seal can make a contribution to the quality of biogas plants and thus prevent losses. Claus Rückert, engineering consutancy Rückert, reports on his practical experience of quality in the biogas plant construction. The current state of the biogas technology is presented by Hans Mitterleitner of the Landtechnik Weihenstephan. Information: In the internet under http://www.carmen-ev.de or from C.A.R.M.E.N. employee Carmen Weber. The participation is free; a registration is necessary.

Wood pellets - handbook and product list
From the end of March on, a market survey on the available wood pellets and the pellet firing plants can be obtained from C.A.R.M.E.N. The brochure contains a handbook and a product list. In the paragraph "Wood Pellets" information such as production and energy input, characteristics, standards and quality requirements is given. The chapter on pellet heating systems lists all firing systems with their advantages and disadvantages. The comprehensive appendix has general information on wood and wood combustion, but also on solar facilities, the redevelopment of heating systems, low-energy houses, the combustion of grain, as well as standards and ordinances. The product lists of wood pellets and firing plants are already to be found in the internet under: http://www.carmen-ev.de, "Market-Place". C.A.R.M.E.N. takes advance orders which are not binding; the price is not fixed yet.

"Blauer Engel" (i.e. 'blue environment angel') for wood pellet heating boiler

Wood pellet firings make an efficient and low-emission use of regenerative fuels for heating possible. The Umweltbundesamt (i.e. the 'German Federal Environment Office') is presently working out a basis for awarding the environmental label for wood pellets with the slogan 'low-emission and energy-efficient'. It will relate to wood pellet heating boilers according to DIN EN 303-5 with a nominal thermal output up to 50 kW that are exclusively suited for the use of wood pellets as a fuel according to DIN 51731. With this label tested wood-fired boilers are to be marked that efficiently use pellets and emit only few pollutants. Information: Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsförderung, tel.: +49-30-884594-16, fax: +49-30-8825439, e-Mail: Esther.Hoffmann@ioew.de, (http://www.ioew.de).

Subject-matter at school: Renewable resources

For controlling the high fuel quality and for minimising pollutants the test guidelines for awarding the Austrian environmental label "Brennstoffe aus Biomasse" (i.e. 'Fuels from Biomass') ZU 38 was revised on behalf of the Austrian Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management. In order to make a low-emission combustion possible, demands on the raw material and on the production as well as criteria for the storage, transportation, and analysis of the heavy metals content are defined. Information: Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Mr. Tschulik, Stubenring 1, A-1010 Wien, tel.: +43(1)51522-1650, fax: -7649, e-Mail: andreas.tschulik@bmu.gv.at.

C.A.R.M.E.N. at the education fair in Cologne

With the motto (i.e. 'Agriculture and Food - Learning to make the Experience') associations and organisations of agriculture and food industry are presenting themselves with a special exhibition from the 19th to the 23rd February at the education fair in Cologne. Education and information material for various school years is introduced. Topics are for example milk, genetic engineering and renewable raw materials. The direct experiencing and feeling is well to the fore when cereals can be felt at a "cereal column" or when feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling is tested in a "course of the senses".

Apart from C.A.R.M.E.N., the following associations and organisations will appear at the common stand at the fair: Auswertungs- und Informationsdienst für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten e.V. (aid), Bonn, Bund der Deutschen Landjugend (BDL), Bonn, Bundesverband Deutscher Pflanzenzüchter e.V. (BDP), Bonn, Bund für Lebensmittelrecht und Lebensmittelkunde e.V. (BLL), Bonn, Centrale Marketing-Gesellschaft der deutschen Agrarwirtschaft mbH (CMA), Bonn, Deutscher Bauernverband (DBV), Bonn, Deutsche Landfrauenvereinigung e.V. (dlv), Berlin, Information.Medien.Agrar. (IMA), Bonn, Talking Food, Bonn. Information: C.A.R.M.E.N., Monika Benz.

Year Book 2001

The just published Jahrbuch Erneuerbare Energien 2001 '(i.e. 'Year Book of Renewable Energies 2001') gives background information and perspectives of the market, programmes of support, and politics. On request, the reference book comes with a CD-ROM which apart from the data and charts of the book also contains a link collection. The production of the book was attended by a renowned group of experts to which also C.A.R.M.E.N. employees Christian Leuchtweis and Gilbert Krapf belonged.
Information: http://www.jahrbuch-erneuerbare-energien.de.

Co-operation network for renewable energies

In order to support the innovative power of small and medium-sized companies in Bavaria, the Zentrum für rationelle Energieanwendung und Umwelt (ZREU) (i.e. the 'Centre for an Efficient Use of Energy and Environment') and C.A.R.M.E.N. are setting up a network for co-operation within the framework of an EU project. The aim is to strengthen the competitiveness of companies from the sector of renewable energies by interlinking regional resources. The network wants to show the way to the spreading of risk, to cost-saving and to a common use of know-how. Companies and associations interested can register for free.
Information: ZREU, Dr. Alexandra Babeck, tel.: +49-941-46419-20, fax: -10, e-Mail: babeck@zreu.de, (http://www.zreu.de).

Oil change not necessary

Up until now is has been considered problematic to use chemically unaltered vegetable oils as substitutes for lubricants from petroleum. Vegetable oils age under a high lubricating oil temperature because they contain unsaturated hydrocarbon chains. However, vegetable oil can lubricate engines, too, at least those engines that work on the "Plantotronic" principle.

Here, a diesel engine is operated in an untypical manner: The used oil is in small quantities drawn off the oil sump in proportion to the fuel consumption and put into the fuel pipe. By filling in fresh oil the oil in the sump is replaced and the low durability of the vegetable lubricant is compensated.
First advantage: There is no waste oil. The used oil is added to the diesel and also combusted without disadvantageous emission properties.
Second advantage: The nearly CO2-neutral vegetable oil lubricants are a real alternative to climate-polluting mineral oils.
And third: An oil change by hand is not necessary; a lower wear is achieved. In two district heating power plants engines with the "Plantotronic" principle are already being tested.

The use in emergency power units also makes sense. A diesel car which covered 120,000 km within two years without any difficulties also speaks well for the ecological principle.
Information: Fuchs Petrolub AG, fax: +49-621-3802159, e-Mail: rolf.luther@fuchs-oil.de and FNR, tel. +49-3843/6930-0, fax: -102, e-Mail: info@fnr.de.

Latest news from the Competence Centre

Straubing, 28th January 2002
The Bavarian Minister of Agriculture, Josef Miller, officially inaugurated the Technologie- und Förderzentrum (TFZ) (i.e. the 'Technology and Development Centre') during a ceremony in the Kompetenzzentrum für Nachwachsende Rohstoffe (i.e. the 'Competence Centre for Renewable Resources') in Straubing. By practice-orientated research, novel applications for agricultural products are to be developed in the TFZ in future. Therefore, the present staff is to be enlarged from ten to 25 people. To reach the full research capacity, a technical school, a greenhouse section and works premises are set up.

Minister Miller contratulated C.A.R.M.E.N. to their first anniversary in Straubing. The C.A.R.M.E.N. staff of 21 members has successfully been working in Straubing for exactly one year now. With C.A.R.M.E.N. and the TFZ two out of three pillars of the Competence Centre are already standing. The third pillar is the Wissenschaftszentrum (i.e. the 'Science Centre'). The co-ordinating committee for the Competence Centre, which is formed by eleven representatives from research, economy, politics, and associations, was introduced by name. It will give advice to the three pillars of the Centre and participate in the operations scheduling.

International expert forum

Under the title "Rapeseed Fuel in Tractors and District Heating Power Plants" an international expert forum with a limited number of participants is taking place from the 25th to the 26th February in the town hall of Straubing. C.A.R.M.E.N. is the co-organiser. Conference proceedings are planned.
Information: Technologie- und Förderzentrum im Kompetenzzentrum für Nachwachsende Rohstoffe, tel.: +49-9421-300-112, fax:-111, e-Mail: bernhard.widmann@konaro-sr.bayern.de.

The recycling of bio-oils

Mineral oils have to be separately collected from bio-oils if recycling products with a clear quality are to be produced. There are many disposal units for mineral oils, but most of them do not accept bio-oils. Here are the names of two companies which deal with the recycling of bio-oils:
Karo As Umweltschutz GmbH, Mr. Seffer, Bahnhofstr. 82, 31311 Uetze-Dollbergen, Germany, tel.: +49-5177-85214, fax:-211; Baufeld-Chemie GmbH, Mr. Weiss, Riesenfeldstr. 87, 80809 Munich, tel.: +49-89-35488-800, fax: -997.

A hot subject: grain combustion

The Ring Junger Landwirte (i.e. the 'Circle of Young Farmers') invited those interested to an information event on "Heating with Grain" in the restaurant Murrer in Aiterhofen on the 24th January. The organiser dealt with a subject that is getting more and more interesting for farmers due to the low grain price (see also nawaros 01/2002).

In the well-attended room of the restaurant Dr. Ruth Brökeland, project manager of the energy department of C.A.R.M.E.N., reported on the legal situation and the emission properties of grain combustion. She emphasised the urgent need for action for legislator, research, and technical development. Mr. Stoye of the company Öko-therm talked about the experience in the field of the further development of wood-fired facilities where grain can also be used. From the point of view of a chimney sweep Hans Ritt, responsible for the district and for the technical attendance of the trade guild, described experiences with grain combustion.

It became clear that there is an enormous technical development potential in optimising grain combustion facilities. First, however, the legal situation has to be cleared up and the emission properties must distinctly improve. Information: C.A.R.M.E.N., Dr. Ruth Brökeland.

The market for farm products in figures 2001

The Zentrale Markt- und Preisberichtstelle (i.e. the Central Market and Price Reporting Agency') published a current report of the market for farm products for the year 2001. It has data on the complete and the food industry and on the fields of wood and forest. Changes on the agricultural market are described for the years 1996 until 2001. Facts, background information, and forecasts complete the book.

Information and order: Zentrale Markt- und Preisberichtstelle für Erzeugnisse der Land-, Forst- und Ernährungswirtschaft GmbH, Germany, tel.: +49-228-9777-0, fax: -300, e-Mail: info@zmp.de.

Goats spinning silk

Anchor lines, the threads wheel weaving spiders secure their webs with, rank among the most stable kinds of silk in the animal kingdom. Related to its weight, silk is five times stronger than steel, more elastic than nylon, featherweight and distinctly more stable than the high-tech fibre Kevlar that is used for bullet-proof waistcoats. Scientists who do research on different kinds of materials have long wished to produce artificial spider silk that is very similar to the natural one.

They can see fields of application for example in medicine, as artificial sinews and dressings, furthermore for extremely unbreakable biodegradable fishing-lines, parachutes and car body parts. Up until now it has not been possible to win the necessary proteins from breeding spiders. However, Canadian scientists of the company Nexia Biotechnologies were able to decipher the responsible genes and to build them into the genome of mammals. These cells finally produced a desired protein in large amounts. From that, American scientists of the U.S. Army Soldier Biological Chemical Command produced the threads much in demand. In further tests a second protein is to be integrated into the process.
By that the scientists hope for longer molecules and a higher tensile strength. The aim is the mass production of silk proteins in the milk of goats.
References: NETZZEITUNG.DE, 18th January 2002 (www.netzzeitung.de), SPIEGEL ONLINE, 18th January 2002 (www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft).