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General information
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Description
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General criteria
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Status of development: test series |
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Biofuels were tested by German DB AG (tests with RME in DMUs), Czech CD and Hungarian MAV and possibly others. |
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Time horizon for broad application: 5 - 10 years |
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Due to high barriers to be overcome and problems to be resolved, broad application will hardly be realised in the next five years.
Broad application is however generally doubtful due to economic and environmental drawbacks. |
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Expected technological development: basically exploited |
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cf. Technological potential outside railways |
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Motivation:
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The main motivation for the use of biodiesel lies in fuel availability, regenerativity (and consequent CO2 reduction) and lower toxic emissions.
Some railways may consider biofuels if fuel cells fail. |
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Benefits (other than environmental): small |
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Compared to natural gas In contrast to natural gas, biodiesel can be used on the same motors as conventional diesel. Land use Planting rape may be a reasonable alternative to make use of fallow land. |
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Barriers: high |
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Costs The production of biodiesel is very expensive and can currently only subsist with subventions. Infrastructure Biodiesel would require a parallel supply infrastructure (at least during parallel use with conventional diesel). Wear Due to its chemical properties, RME increases motor wear (especially on gaskets etc.). In many cases RME resistant motor components are required. Lubricant dilution Combustion temperature has to be carefully controlled, since low temperature may lead to the dilution of oil lubricant. Smell The exhaust of biodiesel has an unpleasant smell (similar to french fries!). Storage Being a natural product, biodiesel can be affected and destroyed by bacteria infestation. This may be a problem for fuel storage. Legislation CD (Czech Railways) carried out tests, but legislation prevents introduction into fleet. Environmental balance Cultivation of rape implies the use of toxic substances like pesticides and extensive area consumption. |
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Success factors:
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The production of rape depends to a certain extent on EU regulations (including limits for oil-seed cultivation). The European Commission plans a program for funding alternative fuels including biodiesel. |
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Applicability for railway segments: medium |
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Type of traction: diesel
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Type of transportation: passenger - main lines, passenger - regional lines, passenger - suburban lines, freight
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Virtually all diesel vehicles can run on biodiesel. |
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Grade of diffusion into railway markets:
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Diffusion into relevant segment of fleet: < 5% |
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Share of newly purchased stock: (no data) |
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RME or vegetable oil do not play any role in European rail operation yet. |
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Market potential (railways): low |
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In principle, railway diesel fleets could operate on biodiesel but limitations make a wide-spread use unlikely. |
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Example:
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No in-service use at present. |
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Environmental criteria
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Impacts on energy efficiency:
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Energy efficiency potential for single vehicle: not applicable |
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Energy efficiency potential throughout fleet: not applicable |
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Other environmental impacts: ambivalent |
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Economic criteria
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Vehicle - fix costs: low |
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There are some minor costs for modifying diesel engines (replacing non-RME-resistant components). The experiences from the automotive sector (bus fleet of German KWH – Kreiswerke Heinsberg) show refitting costs that are appreciably lower than for a refit necessary for natural gas use: about 3.500 EURO compared to 35.000 EURO per vehicle. These figures may not be transferable to railways. |
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Vehicle - running costs: not applicable |
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According to EU Commssion, price for biodiesel is currently about 0.30 EURO higher than diesel price (also depends on mineral oil taxation).
German DB AG calculates about 0,50 to 0,60 EURO/litre for RME, 20-25% more than for diesel. |
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Infrastructure - fix costs: medium |
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There will be costs for RME supply infrastructure (additional tanks in service stations etc.). Since a complete transition of the diesel fleet to RME is extremely doubtful, this infrastructure would be additional. |
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Infrastructure - running costs: increased |
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Parallel (RME diesel) infrastructure involving fuel supply and storage etc. would cause additional running costs. |
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Scale effects: low |
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Limitations for a wide-spread introduction will impede major scale effects. |
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Amortisation: not applicable |
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No amortisation due to increased running costs! |
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Application outside railway sector
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Status of development outside railway sector: in use |
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Biodiesel is already used in the automotive and truck sector. An example is Kreiswerke Heinsberg KWH, Germany, which migrated the whole fleet of busses to biodiesel by 1998. The production of rape-oil-methylester (RME-biodiesel) doesn’t hit upon substantial obstacles. |
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Time horizon for broad application outside railway sector: in 5 - 10 years |
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Broad application is doubtful due to economic and environmental drawbacks. Furthermore, agricultural capacity for rape production is a limiting factor. A rapid diffusion into the diesel fleet will be impeded by limited agricultural areas in Europe. Most rape is planted on fallow land. In the EU there is a limit for the production of oil-seed (Blair-House-Agreement) motivated by trade policies. Current capacities allow for a biodiesel production of 1,4 million tons. The potential may be considerably greater in Eastern Europe, especially Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, due to big stretches of fallow land. In Germany, the substitution of conventional diesel by biodiesel is much less than 1% (2000/2001). Even if all the areas permitted for rape cultivation were used, the degree of substitution would not exceed 0.5 %. |
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Expected technological development outside railway sector: basically exploited |
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There is some potential in the production of RME: - upgrade rape species
- optimise oil mills (resulting in an increased oil yield and improved oil quality)
- improve esterification technology (optimised use of energy, improved technology for separating and cleaning Methylester and Glycerin and quality control of production and distribution.
These improvements may also reduce production costs. |
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Market potential outside railway sector: small |
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A wide-spread introduction in the automotive sector is doubtful due to limitations set out in Time horizon for broad application. |
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Overall rating
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Overall potential: not promising |
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Time horizon: (no data) |
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At first sight, rape oil methyl-ester (being a regenerative fuel) promises substantial environmental advantages over diesel fuel from fossile sources. However, a thorough environmental assessment shows that the effects of biodiesel are ambivalent. In view of additional economic problems such as high price and lack of production capacity for generalised use, the potential of biodiesel for railway applications is very doubtful. |