Turning Whole Plants into Fuel in Four Simple Steps

A new process can turn plants into energy-dense fuel by combining the power of fermentation and chemical reactions

 

A recipe for fuel: take the carbohydrates like starch and cellulose that make up the majority of plants. Use enzymes to break them down into fructose, the sugar found in fruits and honey. Mix this fructose with salt water and hydrochloric acid. Add a solvent—in this case butanol also derived from plant matter—to protect the resulting hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from reacting with the water, then extract it. This versatile molecule can be used to create plastic polymers or other chemicals. And by the way, adding a copper-coated ruthenium catalyst can also convert the HMF to DMF (2,5-dimethylfuran), a fuel that provides more energy than ethanol.

"It should be a great fuel," says James Dumesic, a chemical engineer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who, along with his colleagues, discovered the new process, "DMF has the energy density of petroleum."

He notes that DMF could rapidly replace ethanol, because it not only provides more energy but also has a higher boiling point (allowing DMF to blend more easily with gasoline) and it does not react with water (ethanol absorbs atmospheric water vapor, which degrades its potency). Plus, this process, reported in Nature, works faster than the several days it takes Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast to ferment plant sugars into ethanol, because it is chemically controlled and therefore can be completed in hours.

But DMF, despite its apparent benefits, has yet to be extensively tested as a stand-alone fuel in engines. "We make relatively small quantities," Dumesic says. "I don't know of studies at very high concentrations [of DMF showing] how good of a fuel it would be. But you can make a very good case for this as a blending agent," much as ethanol is currently used.

And DMF may yet fail another important test. Whereas the process may be environmentally benign—using plant-derived butanol and hydrogen as well as simple salt water—the resulting molecule may not be. "We can't find information pro or con about the toxicological impact of DMF. That has to be looked at carefully," Dumesic says. "Does this make sense from an environmental point of view? Or are we making another MTBE?" (MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, was added to gasoline beginning in 1979 to help it burn more fully, but the cancer-causing chemical was widely banned in the U.S. after it was discovered to be leaking into and contaminating ground water.)

If DMF does pass that test, however, it could be available shortly and cost no more (and potentially less, depending on the utility of side products like HMF) than ethanol. "We could make this happen within the next few years if we are told from an environmental safety point of view that this would be a good thing to do," Dumesic says. "The process we are talking about here is very much like a petroleum process and the knowledge of the petroleum industry in scaling things up could all apply here."

Engineers develop higher-energy liquid-transportation fuel from sugar

June 20, 2007

by James Beal

Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and combine it with water molecules and sunshine to make carbohydrate or sugar. Variations on this process provide fuel for all of life on Earth.

Reporting in the June 21 issue of the journal Nature, University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical and biological engineering Professor James Dumesic and his research team describe a two-stage process for turning biomass-derived sugar into 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), a liquid transportation fuel with 40 percent greater energy density than ethanol.

The prospects of diminishing oil reserves and the threat of global warming caused by releasing otherwise trapped carbon into the atmosphere have researchers searching for a sustainable, carbon-neutral fuel to reduce global reliance on fossil fuels. By chemically engineering sugar through a series of steps involving acid and copper catalysts, salt and butanol as a solvent, UW-Madison researchers created a path to just such a fuel.

Currently, ethanol is the only renewable liquid fuel produced on a large scale," says Dumesic. "But ethanol suffers from several limitations. It has relatively low energy density, evaporates readily, and can become contaminated by absorption of water from the atmosphere. It also requires an energy-intensive distillation process to separate the fuel from water."

Not only does dimethylfuran have higher energy content, it also addresses other ethanol shortcomings. DMF is not soluble in water and therefore cannot become contaminated by absorbing water from the atmosphere. DMF is stable in storage and, in the evaporation stage of its production, consumes one-third of the energy required to evaporate a solution of ethanol produced by fermentation for biofuel applications.

Dumesic and graduate students Yuriy Roman-Leshkov, Christopher J. Barrett and Zhen Y. Liu developed their new catalytic process for creating DMF by expanding upon earlier work. As reported in the June 30, 2006, issue of the journal Science, Dumesic's team improved the process for making an important chemical intermediate, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), from sugar.

Industry uses millions of tons of chemical intermediates, largely sourced from petroleum or natural gas, as the raw material for many modern plastics, drugs and fuels.

The team's method for making HMF and converting it to DMF is a balancing act of chemistry, pressure, temperature and reactor design. Fructose is initially converted to HMF in water using an acid catalyst in the presence of a low-boiling-point solvent. The solvent extracts HMF from water and carries it to a separate location. Although other researchers had previously converted fructose to HMF, Dumesic's research group made a series of improvements that raised the HMF output and made the HMF easier to extract. For example, the team found that adding salt (NaCl) dramatically improves the extraction of HMF from the reactive water phase and helps suppress the formation of impurities.

In the June 21, 2007, issue of Nature, Dumesic's team describes its process for converting HMF to DMF over a copper-based catalyst. The conversion removes two oxygen atoms from the compound lowering the boiling point, the temperature at which a liquid turns to gas, and making it suitable for use as transportation fuel.

Salt, while improving the production of HMF, presented an obstacle in the production of DMF. It contributed chloride ions that poisoned the conventional copper chromite catalyst. The team instead developed a copper-ruthenium catalyst providing chlorine resistance and superior performance.

Dumesic says more research is required before the technology can be commercialized. For example, while its environmental health impact has not been thoroughly tested, the limited information available suggests DMF is similar to other current fuel components.

"There are some challenges that we need to address," says Dumesic, "but this work shows that we can produce a liquid transportation fuel from biomass that has energy density comparable to petrol."

'Investments in renewable energy reach USD 100 bn in 2006'

BANGKOK: Climate change worries, high oil prices and increasing government support top a set of drivers spurring soaring investments in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries, which reached USD 100 billion last year, a new UN report says.

The report on "Global Investment in Renewable Energy, 2004-2006" by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released Thursday revealed that investment capital flowing into renewable energy last year was a record, climbing from USD 80 billion in 2005 and showing no sign of abating.

The report says that investors poured USD 71 billion into companies and new sector opportunities in 2006, a 43 percent jump from 2005 or up 158 percent over the last two years, and the trend is continuing in 2007 with experts predicting such investments of USD 85 billion this year.

In addition to the USD 71 billion, about USD 30 billion entered the sector in 2006 via mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and asset refinancing.

While renewable sources today produce about two percent of the world's energy, they now account for about 18 percent of world investment in power generation, with wind generation at the investment forefront. Solar and bio-fuel energy technologies grew even more quickly than wind, but from a smaller base, the report says.

Renewables now compete head-on with coal and gas in terms of new installed generating capacity and the portion of world energy produced from renewable sources is sure to rise substantially as the tens of billions of new investment dollars bear fruit.

Biofuels from Sorghum does not Compromise Food Production, Saves Water

The pioneering project to produce ethanol from sweet sorghum , being implemented jointly by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and Rusni Distilleries, has achieved a significant milestone with the first batch of ethanol flowing out of the distillery at Mohammed Shapur village in Andhra Pradesh, India.

The ethanol produced at the distillery marks a major success in the public-private partnership project. The project generates ethanol as a biofuel from the sugar-rich juice extracted from sweet sorghum stalks. This provides the resource-poor farmers of the drylands with a source of additional income even while they do not lose out on food security.

According to Dr William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, the production of ethanol has turned the dream of ICRISAT and Rusni Distilleries into a sweet reality. Sweet sorghum ethanol does not compromise food security since the farmers can continue to use the grain for food.

"The project successfully blends ICRISAT's scientific capability in developing sweet sorghum varieties with higher juice availability with the entrepreneurial capability of Rusni Distilleries. This we have linked with the dryland farmers through the grass-roots networking strength our other partner Aakrithi Agricultural Associates of India (AAI)," added Dr Dar.

Though the Rusni Distilleries plant introduced the pioneering technology to prepare ethanol from sweet sorghum, it has been designed to be able to use multiple feedstocks. "We can produce ethanol from sugarcane juice or from any grain including sorghum and corn grains that farmers have in excess after meeting their needs," said Mr AR Palaniswamy , Managing Director of Rusni Distilleries. "This ensures that we run the plant and provide employment to farmers throughout the year."

ICRISAT's crop breeding successes with sweet sorghum will soon help overcome the problem of getting sweet sorghum throughout the year for the distillery. With the sorghum breeders at the Institute having developed hybrids that can be planted at any time of the year, the limitation of planting only during the crop season has been overcome.

With the monsoons approaching Peninsular India and the sowing having started for the Kharif (rainy) season, ICRISAT, Rusni Distilleries and AAI have launched a campaign with the dryland farmers of Andhra Pradesh, encouraging and helping them to plant sweet sorghum.

According to Mr G Subba Rao, Director of AAI, the aim is to cover at least 4000 acres during this Kharif season. The farmers have been identified in village clusters, and seeds of improved varieties have been distributed to them. A mechanism has also been designed to collect sweet sorghum stalks from the farmers, have them crushed at the cluster centers and the syrup transported to Rusni Distilleries.

ICRISAT is leading a consortium of partners for developing sweet sorghum as a source of biofuel under the National Agricultural Innovation Program of the Government of India . Under this project, ICRISAT and partners are developing a proposal to strengthen molecular research and breeding of sweet sorghum, and strengthen linkages between the farmers and Rusni Distilleries.

Through its ethanol from sweet sorghum project, ICRISAT has been promoting the idea of generating bio-fuel without compromising on food production. "Our emphasis with the sweet sorghum project is that ethanol is produced from the sweet juice available in the stalk of the crop plant, unlike in the use of grains in other plants. The farmers will continue to use the sorghum grain, while they can earn an additional income from selling the juice," said Dr Belum VS Reddy , ICRISAT's Principal Sorghum Breeder.

ICRISAT's emphasis counters the global debate against biofuels, which are said to be taking away food crop agricultural lands for growing biofuel crops. Already countries are taking policy decisions that will prevent conversion of land available for food crops for growing biofuel crops. The Xinhua News Agency reported that the Chinese Government has asked biofuel crop growers to switch to crops such as sweet sorghum for their projects. The Philippine Government has also decided not to use corn for bioethanol production and has invested in research and development of other crops such as sweet sorghum and cassava for this purpose.

Sweet sorghum has other benefits over sugarcane and maize as feedstock for ethanol production. It requires only one half of the water required to grow maize and around one eighth of the water required to grow sugarcane; and has the least cost of cultivation which is around one fifth of the cost for growing sugarcane.

Sweet sorghum is also a carbon neutral crop , according to the Latin American Thematic Network on Bioenergy (LAMNET). This means that the amount of carbon dioxide that sweet sorghum fixes during its growing period is equal to the amount it emits during crop growth, conversion to ethanol and combustion of ethanol.

The first batch of ethanol produced at Rusni Distilleries makes available the crop and technology necessary to launch a global pro-poor biofuel revolution.

Senate Impasse Over Renewable Energy

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats, eager for a vote on energy legislation, ran into staunch Republican resistance Thursday to requiring that utilities use more wind, solar and other renewable sources to produce electricity.

The impasse over renewable fuels came as Democrats said they would seek nearly $13.7 billion in tax breaks to promote clean energy, biofuels, more fuel efficient vehicles and conservation.

The Senate Finance Committee intends to discuss the tax plan on Tuesday, according to the committee chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. The proposal would extend dozens of tax breaks, such the one for building wind turbines. It also would create incentives such as tax credits for technology to capture carbon dioxide - the leading greenhouse gas - from power plants.

 

Senators late Thursday rejected a proposal to allow limited natural gas development in waters off the mid-Atlantic coast despite a long-standing drilling moratorium.

A proposal to let Virginia seek a waiver to the drilling ban for a large portion of federal waters off its coast was defeated 43-44.

Democrats were forced to set aside - at last until next week - their renewable fuels proposal after it became clear they lacked the 60 votes to proceed.

The bill would require power companies to increase use of wind turbines, solar panels, biomass, geothermal energy or other renewable sources to produce at least 15 percent of their electricity by 2020. Only about 2.4 percent of the country's electricity is produced that way now.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the measure's chief sponsor, said the mandate is needed to stimulate expansion of fuel sources other than coal and natural gas. He said if his plan is enacted, greenhouse gas emissions from power plants will fall by nearly 7 percent from levels projected for 2020.

Opponents argued that some regions of the country couldn't meet the requirement and that it would cause electricity prices to increase in those areas, especially across the South.

By a 56-39 vote, senators rejected a GOP alternative that would have allowed utilities to meet the requirement by also building more nuclear power plants and taking conservation measures.

Republicans balked and refused to allow a vote on Bingaman's measure.

If the early going is any indicator, it looks like a bumpy path toward final approval for the energy bill before the Fourth of July recess as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has promised.

It also was evident that there will be a tough fight over increasing automobile mileage standards. Senators close to the auto industry released their proposal, which they say automakers can achieve, unlike a plan already in the overall energy bill.

The substitute calls for increasing auto fuel economy by 30 percent to 36 miles per gallon by 2022 and for sport utility vehicles and small trucks to reach 30 mpg by 2025.

"It will force industry to bend and not break," said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.

The energy bill now has an increase to 35 mpg for both cars, SUVs and trucks by 2020 and 4 percent higher each year after that.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., prompted a sharp floor debate Thursday when he proposed allowing natural gas development in waters along the Atlantic coast where a drilling freeze has been in place for a quarter-century.

Warner, R-Va., wanted the Senate to let his state seek a waiver from the Interior Department to the freeze. The plan brought a quick responses from senators from other coastal states.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said such drilling off Virginia "could cause a ripple effect ... and the consequences can be very significant." He added, "This would leave other states helpless.

The debate on the renewable fuels proposal was equally divisive.

Senators from the South said utilities in their states could not meet the 15 percent requirement because they lack the wind power and other renewable resources prominent elsewhere, especially the West.

"I'm not impressed with wind being the national energy source for America," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who led the opposition to the renewable fuels standard.

Twenty-three states have renewable fuels requirements; nine of them are equal or more aggressive than the proposal federal requirements.

But Bingaman said, "You don't drive development of these technologies if it's up to each state to decide whether to participate."

He rejected claims that some regions could not meet the mandate. The senator noted, for example, that much of the South has an abundance of trees and other plants to make biofuels as well as other renewables aside from wind.

The measure also would permit utilities that cannot find enough renewable sources to buy credits from other utilities that have exceeded the 15 percent or from the Energy Department, Bingaman said.

That did not sway Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

He said that in his region, utilities would have no choice but to buy credits at 2 cents per kilowatt-hour and "the cost is going to be very significant ... with nothing to show for it."

The renewable fuels proposal has been the subject of intense lobbying by utilities. The Georgia-based Southern Co. (SO, News) has made killing the measure its legislative priority.

Sessions said the Tennessee Valley Authority, which like Southern is a leading electricity provider in the South, estimated it would cost $410 million a year by 2020 for it to meet the 15 percent renewables.

Bingaman questioned those costs. He cited a report from the federal Energy Information Administration that said the renewable fuels requirement would add less than 1 percent to the cost of electricity in 2020 and cause natural gas costs to decline. The report also said the requirement would triple the use of biomass and increase the use of wind by 50 percent and solar cells by 500 percent.

Critics of the bill disputed the agency's cost findings, saying it did not examine regional price increases.

(This version CORRECTS Sen. Bond's party affiliation to Republican instead of Democrat.)

Lawmakers push alternative fuel efficiency proposal

WASHINGTON - A group of lawmakers close to the auto industry on Thursday put forward an alternative to proposed fuel efficiency requirements in the Senate that would give automakers more time to reach the new standards and advance alternative vehicles.

Automakers have strongly opposed a plan in a Senate energy bill that would establish stronger fuel economy requirements.

"It will force the industry to bend but not break," said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., who joined with Michigan Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow and Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor to announce the proposal.

The plan would require passenger cars to meet a fleetwide average of at least 36 miles per gallon by 2022 and 30 mpg for pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans by 2025

 

The Senate is expected to vote next week on a proposal to require that manufacturers' fleets average 35 miles per gallon for cars and trucks by 2020, an increase of about 10 mpg over current levels. From 2020 to 2030, automakers would face 4 percent annual increases in the efficiency requirements.

Automakers have said the Senate plan would cost them billions of dollars and force them to alter their offerings of larger vehicles. While the industry has traditionally opposed fuel economy increases, company officials indicated their support for the alternative.

Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said the Pryor-Bond plan would be "the greatest technological challenge this industry has ever faced" but represented a vast improvement over the current Senate plan.

"We're willing to roll up our sleeves and be a part of the solution," said General Motors Corp. spokesman Greg Martin.

But they will face a considerable fight. The current proposal sailed through the Senate Commerce Committee and backers of the plan say they have broad support.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., one of the chief proponents of the Senate bill, said the alternative was a "major step backwards" because it would accomplish less than half of the fuel savings, greenhouse gas reductions and savings for consumers as outlined in her bill.

Feinstein said her bill "strikes the right balance - and sets forward a significant, achievable standard for the future."

Supporters of Feinstein's plan have said it would give automakers flexibility because it would take into account a vehicle's dimensions in calculating the efficiency requirements and allow automakers who exceed the rules to trade credits. By 2020, the fleet average would need to be 35 mpg, unless government regulators find that it would not be cost-effective.

Levin and Bond stressed that their version offered more guarantees that the fuel-economy increases would be met.

"We gave tough goals and reasonable deadlines and we're saying you have to meet them - end of story," Bond said.

Under their approach, each auto manufacturer would need to produce and sell 50 percent advanced technology vehicles, such as hybrids or clean diesels, or flexible fuel vehicles by 2015. That would appeal to Detroit's automakers, which have pledged to boost production of flexible-fuel vehicles, and Toyota Motor Corp., which is aggressively pursuing hybrids.

It would also call for about $950 million in funding, or twice what the Bush administration has requested, to jump-start research and development of advanced vehicle technologies, such as batteries, hybrids, diesels and hydrogen storage. The plan would also attempt to increase the availability of biofuels.

Congress has made little progress in raising fuel economy standards during the past two decades. The fleet of passenger cars are required to get an average of 27.5 mpg, while SUVs, pickup trucks and vans must get an average of 22.2 mpg. That's a combined average of about 25 mpg.

USDA, DOE announce $18 million solicitation for biomass R&D

Washington, D.C., June 14, 2007 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a combined total of up to $18 million will be available for research and development (R&D) of biomass-based products, biofuels, bioenergy and related processes. USDA and DOE are issuing these grant solicitations for several types of projects aimed at increasing the availability of alternative and renewable fuels, which will help further President Bush's energy initiatives, including Twenty in Ten. The Twenty in Ten Initiative promotes greater energy security through increased efficiency and diversification of energy sources. USDA will provide up to $14 million and DOE will provide up to $4 million.

The $18 million solicitation will fund projects in four categories (the share of overall funding is noted in parenthesis): the development of technologies to convert cellulosic biomass into intermediaries for bio-based fuels (45 percent); product diversification (30 percent); feedstock production (20 percent); and analysis for strategic guidance (5 percent).

Since 2002, USDA has awarded $58.1 million in grants to 55 projects in 27 states and the District of Columbia under the Biomass Research and Development Initiative. Since the beginning of 2007, DOE has announced nearly $1 billion in funding for biofuels R&D.

Maximum award amounts will not exceed $1 million. Eligible applicants include state and federal research agencies, national laboratories, private-sector groups and nonprofit organizations. The closing date for pre-applications is July 11, 2007.

"I am hopeful that these projects will play a critical role in furthering our knowledge of how we can cost effectively produce more homegrown, bio-based products to help reduce our reliance on imported sources of energy," DOE secretary Samuel Bodman said.

Cellulosic Ethanol from Bagasse for $1.00 per Gallon

 

Brazil's Dedini SA, a leading manufacturer of sugar and biofuel equipment, has announced that it has demonstrated a cellulosic ethanol process on an industrial scale, a development that could revolutionize the industry by boosting the competitiveness and energy balance of biofuels.
Dedini's São Luiz Mill in São Paulo state began producing cellulose ethanol from bagasse - the leftover cane stalk after the sucrose is pressed out - at about US$ 40 cents a liter in 2002. Production costs have now fallen, due to improvements in processing technologies, to below €20/US$ 27 cents a liter (US$ 1.02 per gallon).

"This means the fuel is cost-competitive with oil at US$42 a barrel," said Dedini Operations Vice President José Luiz Olivério at the seminar.

Further commenting, Oliverio said "this will be able to boost a mill's ethanol output by 30 percent without planting one more cane stalk". In short, a hectare of sugar cane will deliver a third more ethanol and now yield up to 9000 liters, three to four times more than corn.

The technology uses two pretreatment steps to convert bagasse, the lignocellulose-rich byproduct from cane processing, into ethanol: (1) pretreatment of the biomass with organic solvents, and (2) dilute acid hydrolysis. The innovation consists of adding a first stage pretreatment step which allows the diluted acids to do their work much faster and more efficiently.The liquid hydrolyzates are then easily fermented and distilled into ethanol. Because of the speed of the process, the proprietary technique has been dubbed 'Dedini Rapid Hydrolysis' (DHR).

By pretreating the biomass with organic solvents, the lignocellulose is decomposed, which allows for a much faster attack of the acids. The hydrolyzed fraction that is then to be turned into ethanol is easily fermentable because it consists of hexoses - a monosaccharide consisting of 6 carbon atoms.

Dedini's first large scale demonstration facility produced 5000 liters per day. The objective is now to optimize the technique by means of process integration, automation and by increasing the stability and safety of the sensitive conversion process. Olivério thinks it must be possible to go beyond the current 30% increase in sugar cane ethanol production per hectare, and achieve a doubling within a few years.

China May Switch to Non-Food Fuel Crops for Production of Ethanol

BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) -- China may entirely switch to non-food materials such as cassva, sweet potato, sorgo and cellulose in producing ethanol fuel as a substitute for petroleum, said a government official.

    The country would approve no projects designed to produce ethanol fuel with food from now on, an official of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) told a seminar on China's fuel ethanol development held in Beijing on Saturday.

    "Food-based ethanol fuel will not be the direction for China," said Xu Dingming, vice director of the Office of the National Energy Leading Group, who was also at the seminar.

    China has been trying to avoid occupation of arable land, consumption of large amount of grain and damages to the environment in developing the renewable energies.

    The current four enterprises engaged in producing corn-based ethanol would be asked to switch to non-food materials gradually, according to the NDRC official who declined to be named.

    The four enterprises in Jilin, Heilongjiang, Henan and Anhui have a combined production capacity of 1.02 million tons of corn-based ethanol per year.

    The country has become a big producer and consumer of ethanol fuel in the world after the United States, Brazil and European Union, according to the NDRC official.

    China Oil and Food Corporation (COFCO), the country's largest oil and food importer and exporter, would focus on sorgo in the production of non-food-based ethanol fuel, said Yu Xubo, president of COFCO at the seminar.

    COFCO, which owns the Heilongjiang enterprise and has a twenty-percent stake in the Anhui enterprise, aims to produce five million tons of ethanol fuel based on sorgo in the near future.

    COFCO is leading the way in developing cellulosic ethanol fuel under a cooperation agreement with Denmark-based Novozymes, which leads the world in researches into the key enzymes needed in large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol.

    The current cost for producing ethanol fuel from stalks of corn, which are discarded by farmers, is still too high.

    Novozymes is working on the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol both in the United States and China.

    "We are optimistic about China's prospect of making it work ahead of the U.S., as the cost of collecting the stalks of corn are much cheaper in China," said Steen Riisgaard, president and CEO of Novozymes.

    There is much opposition both in China and in the world to corn-based ethanol fuel, which is believed will lead to higher corn price.

Brazil May Become First to Produce Economically Viable Cellulosic Ethanol

Brazil Ethanol Could Stay Champ As Cellulosic Tech Matures

SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazil's sugarcane sector is likely to be one of the first industries in the world to produce economically viable ethanol via new cellulosic technologies, participants at a Sao Paulo ethanol conference said Monday.

The reason is simple: Feedstock costs alone account for a full 75% to 80% of the cost of ethanol produced from residual biomass, whether it comes from sugarcane, wood chips, switchgrass or corn husks, said Isaias de Carvalho Macedo, a researcher at the country's Interdisciplinary Center for Energy Planning, or NIPE, at the University of Campinas.

At the same time, Brazil already has much of the logistical infrastructure in place to collect the excess sugarcane mass, or bagasse, which will also cut down on initial costs, said Helena Chum, a senior adviser at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab, or NREL.

"In the U.S., the harvesting of corn stover and all that infrastructure still needs to be put in place," she said. "Here in Brazil, it already exists."

Sugarcane bagasse is one of the easiest materials in the world, at first, to convert into ethanol via cellulosic technologies, due to its structure, she said.

"Corn stover is also a relatively easy material, but technically speaking, it is a little more difficult to break down than cane bagasse," Chum said.

Together, Brazil and the U.S. jointly produce more than 70% of the world's ethanol.

However, Brazil is the world's lowest-cost ethanol producer and the leading ethanol exporter. Local producers also traditionally collect bagasse from the fields to burn it for the co-generation of electricity.

If new ethanol technologies take off, Brazil could almost double its ethanol output - set to hit over 20 billion liters in the ongoing 2007-08 season - to 36 billion liters per harvest, without expanding planted area beyond its current 6 million hectares, said Nilson Zaramella Boeta, the head director of Brazil's leading private cane research center, the Center for Cane Technology, or CTC.

More Steps Seen Needed

Despite Brazil's head start on biomass collection, there are certain fundamental steps that also need to be implemented to make the logistics of the operation viable, Boeta said.

For starters, existing sugarcane mills will have to be adapted in order to receive and dry all the bagasse at the start of industrial process, rather than at the end of the industrial process.

Brazil will have to stop burning its cane leaves as an aid to manual harvesting - a practice that is already being phased out gradually by the country's top sugarcane-producing state of Sao Paulo as mechanization of the industry progresses.

Although Brazil already transports a great deal of its cane bagasse, it leaves a portion of this bagasse as well as other excess cane biomass, such as leaves, in the fields, Boeta said.

All that would have to be stored and transported in a cost-competitive fashion, he said.

Boeta had no estimates for how much this would cost.

In the U.S., it costs around $23 per ton to collect biomass from towns close to a production facility, and could cost $40 to $50 per ton, if not more, to collect the biomass from towns that lie further away, Chum said.

Technical Difficulties

Researchers in both the U.S. and Brazil continue to experiment with ways to diminish the costs of producing ethanol from residual biomass, conference speakers said.

By all accounts, it will take at least another five years for new enzymatic technologies to be implemented on an industrial scale, they said.

For example, the cost of producing ethanol enzymatically via corn biomass today continues to be two to 2.5 times higher than traditionally produced corn ethanol, Chum said.

"It will cost a little less than this for bagasse-produced ethanol versus regular cane ethanol," she said.

Huge technical and economic advances have already been made, and more are sure to follow, once economies of scales are achieved on an industrial level, she said.

Just a handful of years back, it cost $6 per gallon to produce ethanol from residual biomass in the U.S., Chum said.

"Now it's fallen to about $3 per gallon in 2007, while the cost of producing enzymes has fallen 20-fold in the past four years," she said.

By 2012, if the cost-cutting trend continues, the cost of producing ethanol via cellulosic technologies could slip to a cost-effective $1 per gallon.

But Brazilian researchers added that they believe, for the moment, that the dawn of second-generation ethanol for commercial production is still far off.

"Enzymes have to cost about 5 U.S. cents per liter, here in Brazil, just for us to begin thinking of its economic viability," said Elba P.S. Bon, the scientific coordinator of Brazil's Bioethanol Project, a project to study ethanol output via new cellulosic technologies that is financed by the country's Science Ministry.

"Right now, they cost 47 U.S. cents per gallon (12.4 U.S. cents per liter)," she added.

The speakers were talking at the two-day Sao Paulo-based Ethanol Summit, sponsored by Brazil's main sugarcane association, the Union of Sugarcane Industries, or Unica.

Source: Grace Fan, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-11-3145-1489; mailto:brazil@dowjones.com

Mitsubishi Claims Highest Commercial Solar Cell Efficiency

Mitsubishi Electric Develops Practical Use Multi-Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell with World's Highest Conversion Efficiency Rate of 18.0%

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503)(President and CEO: Setsuhiro Shimomura) announced today its achievement of a world record¹ photoelectric conversion efficiency rate ² of 18.0%³ in a 150mm square practical use multi-crystalline silicon solar cell, an improvement of 1.2% over our previous models. We plan to present our technology at the Fukuoka 17 ^th International Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference in December 2007.

¹ As of May 31, 2007

² Efficiency that solar light energy is changed to direct current electrical energy

³ Results from evaluation by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science And Technology (AIST), a public verification agency

Background and intent of development

Due to increased global awareness of environmental preservation, photovoltaic production volume has been increasing as PV systems have garnered attention as a source of renewable energy. Silicon is an essential component in the wafers used to make solar cells, however the supply of silicon has not been able keep up with demand. Therefore, research continues in making thinner wafers that use less silicon and improving efficiency while also increasing electrical output.

We achieved the world's highest conversion efficiency rate of 18.0% by adding a low reflectivity surface texture on the multi-crystalline silicon as well as developing a process to print electrodes on the surface of the silicon (metallization) and reducing shade loss of front grid electrodes. In the same surface area as previous products, we have achieved a 7% greater electric output, making it suitable for even smaller installations such as narrow roofs.

Main features of cell

1. Increased light absorption using a unique Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) method

Using a nano-sized mask material, the RIE method uses highly reactive ions generated by RF plasma, letting ions precisely etch the target materials. This decreases reflectivity from the texturized surface of the multi-crystalline silicon, increasing the amount of absorbed light ⁴.

⁴ Based in part on the result of the NEDO commissioned project for R&D of innovative next generation photovoltaic system technology

2. Suppresses reduced electrical performance in crystalline

New metal electrode material reduces metallization time by approximately half that of previous models, and sustains electrical performance of crystalline.

3. Expanded effective electrical output surface area

Using modified screens and front metal electrodes we reduced shading loss of front grid electrodes by 40% compared with our conventional cells

Future developments

We will begin introducing this technology into our mass produced photovoltaic modules after the end of 2007. Pairing this with our power module, which has the industry's highest energy conversion efficiency ⁵, will increase output of solar power systems. Mitsubishi Electric is committed to global environmental preservation and sustainable society through the spread of photovoltaic systems.

⁵ PV-PN04F: 95.5%, PV-PN06F: 95.0% as of May 31, 2007. Based on JIS C8961 regulated rated load efficiency

Patents: 10 domestic and 10 international patents pending

About Mitsubishi Electric

With over 80 years of experience in providing reliable, high-quality products to both corporate clients and general consumers all over the world, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503) is a recognized world leader in the manufacture, marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development and satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation and building equipment. The company recorded consolidated group sales of 3, 855.7 billion yen (US$ 32.7billion⁶) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. For more information visit http://global.mitsubishielectric.com

⁶ At an exchange rate of 118 yen to the US dollar, the rate given by the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market on March 31, 2007.

New O2Diesel blend being tested by Department of Defense

New O2Diesel blend being tested by Department of Defense

By Lindsey Irwin

O2Diesel Corp., global manufacturer of ethanol/diesel fuel blends, has developed a new renewable fuel blend for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The fuel is currently being field tested in a non-tactical equipment fleet at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nev. According to the company, the fuel, known as BiO2Diesel™, is comprised of 28 percent renewable sources, containing ethanol, biodiesel and the company's proprietary, biomass-derived additive technology.

While the specifics of the biomass-derived additive are proprietary company knowledge, O2Diesel's President and COO, Rick Roger, said that the additive acts as the binding agent that allows the ethanol and the diesel to be blended and to be stable in a continuous, homogeneous form.

Roger also told BMM that emission testing on the new fuel blend was completed at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, and demonstrated the synergy between the company's core ethanol/diesel blend and biodiesel, particularly with respect to the key regulated air pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), where the ethanol/diesel component was able to offset a large part of the NOx increase normally associated with the use of biodiesel.

 

"As a result of the fuel being plant-derived, there are significant greenhouse gas benefits, which has been documented through a study completed by Argonne National Laboratories," Rogers said. "Because the fuel is 28 percent renewable, it also allows the country to further reduce its dependence on foreign oil."

Further testing at Nellis AFB will show how the fuel performs under real-world challenges such as storage and handling, as well as use in extreme heat and cold and humidity. BiO2Diesel™ is being tested in a broad array of non-tactical vehicles. Currently, the DOD is the largest single consumer of diesel and distillate fuels in the United States.

"O2Diesel's work with the DOD will be aimed at meeting targeted deliverables and milestones, rather than operating on a set timeline," Rogers said.

Roger also indicated that further testing has shown that BiO2Diesel™ has demonstrated synergy when used with other renewable fuels and exhaust after treatment devices with the ability to further enhance emission reductions.

"While BiO2Diesel™ offers substantial emission reductions with an unmodified diesel engine as a standalone product today, we also offer the opportunity to combine with other emission reduction technologies and renewable fuels to achieve a compound effect on total emissions reduction," he said.

 

 

Converting Waste to Diesel Takes Guts, Tires, Plastic…

Converting Waste to Diesel Takes Guts, Tires, Plastic…

Changing World Technologies Inc. commercialized a process that mimics the way nature creates fuels through extreme pressure and heat without hazardous emissions. The company is currently selling renewable diesel produced from turkey processing scraps, and soon plans to deploy its municipal solid waste process technology.

By Anduin Kirkbride McElroy

The concept of turning wasted material into useful products is what makes the biomass world revolve. The obvious benefits and opportunities have inspired thousands of ideas and theories on how to turn various wastes into energy, including electricity, natural gas, steam, fuel cells and fuel. Yet few of these technologies have actually resulted in the building of a pilot facility, much less a commercial demonstration plant.

"There's a big difference between a pilot plant and a commercial demonstration facility," says Brian Appel, chairman and CEO of New York-based Changing World Technologies Inc. (CWT). CWT has developed one of the few waste-to-energy technologies to reach the commercial level, but commercialization is just one of many factors that distinguish this company. The company was named to Scientific American's 50 in 2003 in the energy category for its work to devise a method of turning solid waste into oil.

CWT's process sets the company apart from the rest of the pack. Many waste-to-energy technologies successfully produce electricity and methane by using a form of combustion. CWT's thermal conversion process (TCP), patented in 1993, is unique because it successfully recaptures the hydrocarbons and converts it into a renewable fuel without producing emissions.

 

In the process, organic waste material is converted into renewable diesel, solids and specialty chemicals. The renewable diesel is different from biodiesel because it doesn't contain alcohol. The process applies indirect heat and high pressure to emulate the Earth's geothermal process of converting organic matter into fuel. Thus, instead of changing the chemical composition through incineration, it simplifies the existing complex polymers into their smallest units, which can then be converted into new fuels.

Here's how the TCP works. The feedstock is first prepared with water and ground into slurry. The slurry is preheated to reaction temperature using high-pressure steam energy. Appel says the use of pressure makes the process efficient, with a net energy balance greater than seven. The heat comes from a boiler, which is powered by renewable diesel produced at the plant. The boiler heats water, which is contained in large pressure vessels.

The process is efficient because the water isn't allowed to vaporize. "It doesn't take a lot of energy to heat water up to the boiling point," Appel says. "It takes all the energy to cross that threshold from the liquid to the vapor phase, where you're constantly losing that energy to that vapor phase when you make steam. Instead of spending all that energy evaporating the water, we use it as part of the process."

Keeping the water under pressure enables the boiler to heat the water up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, which creates 600 to 700 pounds of pressure. "Once you're done cooking the material—when you let that pressure down—you get all of that energy released in the form of steam, which is used to preheat the incoming material," Appel says. "So not only are you not wasting energy evaporating off water that's in everything, but you're also then using that high-value steam as an energy source."

From the preheating treatment, the slurry is placed into a depolymerization reactor, where high pressure and heat separate out the bulk of the inorganic material. That organic material is then subjected to even higher temperatures and pressures in the hydrolysis reactor. Here, the water acts as a hydrogen donor to further break down complex molecules into shorter, useful and similar hydrocarbon molecules.

Finally, the molecules are separated into gases, renewable diesel, water and remaining solids. "After you go through the hydrolysis reactor, you then go through a series of polishing steps that are filters, dehydrators and normal steps that would be at a typical refinery to meet final product specification," Appel says.

Because the TCP doesn't incinerate or combust the waste, it doesn't produce harmful emissions. "Whatever is in the material is going to come out in its elemental form as a hydrocarbon," Appel says. "The typical bad actors we associate emissions regulatory policy around usually are from incineration- or combustion-type technologies." Chlorine, for example, isn't bad in itself, but when it's exposed to an open flame, toxic complex chlorine compounds are formed. Because nothing hits an open flame in the TCP, no such emissions are created.

The process is currently being used at CWT's commercial demonstration facility, Renewable Environmental Solutions LLC (RES) in Carthage, Mo. The facility, developed in partnership with ConAgra Foods and commissioned in 2004, processes agricultural waste—mostly turkey fat, bones and feathers. It has a nameplate capacity of 8 MMgy but is currently producing at approximately 70 percent capacity.

Though Appel says the fuel has performed well in blendability tests, the company isn't selling to the blend market at this time. RES diesel is used unblended in commercial industrial boilers within 100 miles of the facility. "We don't need a lot of customers because these are large boilers," Appel says. A customer with a 1,500-horsepower boiler uses more than 2 million gallons of fuel per year to make steam.
 

The industrial boiler market has been a good fit for the company. Local distribution has freed RES from high-distribution infrastructure costs. Additionally, boilers typically can accept less-refined fuels, giving the company more flexibility to refine its technology. The only downfall of marketing to fixed-engine markets is that the fuel sells for less than it would in the transportation market. To make up for the lower revenue, CWT produces a fertilizer coproduct from animal and agricultural waste that is registered for use in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.

The TCP technology was first developed in CWT's research and development, and engineering support facility in Philadelphia. The test facility was opened at its site in the Philadelphia Naval Yard in December 1999 and served as a pilot facility for the thermo-depolymerization process technology (later renamed thermal conversion process). Today, testing at this facility is focused on adapting the technology for new feedstocks, such as mixed agricultural wastes, municipal solid wastes, mixed plastics and tires. Specifically, it involves working with shredded residue waste, which is the plastic and rubber left over from shredded automobiles and appliances.

This mixed waste has a low value, and needs to be separated and prepared. "Those products are going to be a bit different than what you have from animal and agricultural waste," Appel says, describing the challenges associated with this new feedstock. "You're starting with different material and there's a lot more material that doesn't have the value of fertilizer."

 

When processing municipal solid waste, the leftover material is metal, both ferrous (containing iron) and nonferrous, which go to local metal recyclers. These metals leave the process in the form of oxides, and Appel says they would pass leeching tests to calculate levels of groundwater contaminants. "Nothing is hitting an open flame, and nothing is really going to any extreme temperatures and pressures—nothing that could melt any metals," Appel says. "The only solids that actually break down in the reactor at those temperatures are proteins."

CWT hopes to complete the pilot work by this summer and proceed into design for a commercial demonstration facility that would process up to 200 tons per day. "We're hoping to complete the design for the commercial demonstration plant by next summer and then have that plant operational two years from now," Appel says.

He says the company is working with the county of Los Angeles to site a commercial demonstration facility there. "I would also suspect that there certainly would be interest in putting one in Michigan, due to the presence of the Vehicle Recycling Partnership, which has been cofunding us on the development of the technology for the application of the shredded residue," Appel says. The Vehicle Recycling Partnership involves automobile manufacturers DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors, and is under the United States Council for Automotive Research. It conducts and funds research into recycling various automotive components.

CWT was founded in 1997 to determine a cost-effective way to eliminate waste, with energy production as the secondary goal. "Interestingly enough, the secondary became the primary," Appel says, as the nation became increasingly focused on domestic energy production and decreasing carbon emissions. During this time, Appel says they've "learned an awful lot."

"We still have work to do," he says. "This was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be because of all the different factors that come into play, but we've gotten over a lot of different hurdles." One of the highest hurdles to overcome was that virtually everything about this process was new. Early on, adjustments had to be made to fuel delivery systems and other customer requirements. The company also found that it was difficult to train and hire personnel. "We didn't have any analogous-type industry, where we could pull resources from," Appel says. "The training had a lot longer lead time because this all was new."

The biggest issue that the company still has to contend with is waste management. It takes a lot of material to create one barrel of oil. The company estimates that only 10 percent of agricultural waste can be fully converted to oil. With that in mind, the company requires very cheap feedstocks, a lot of storage space and a coproduct that is either valuable or can be disposed of affordably.

Additionally, Appel says the characterization of waste continually changes as recycling technologies and policies change what gets thrown away. "You get surges and spikes of these different shapes, sizes and density of materials, and it becomes an operational issue," he notes. "We had to build in much more flexibility than we had envisioned."
 

These are problems common throughout the biomass industry. Despite some of the difficulties, Appel is optimistic about the future for his company and confident in the value of his product. Recently, CWT got a boost from legislation that broadened the definition of renewable diesel eligible for tax credits. The legislation also included uses other than transportation. "At the end of the day, it's displacing fossil fuels," he says. "It doesn't matter if it's moving across the road or sits in the basement."
 

 

ISU evaluates lignin as additive in asphalt manufacturing

ISU evaluates lignin as additive in asphalt manufacturing

By Nicholas Zeman

Of the 2.3 million miles of hard-surfaced roads in the United States, approximately 96 percent of those are covered with asphalt. That's quite a market. Recent studies at Iowa State University (ISU), sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation, have been evaluating the lignin/phenol content of bio-oil and distillers grains as a manufacturing component of hot-mix asphalt (HMA). HMA is used to build new roads, but is used most prolifically in patches and repairs.

Including a low-cost antioxidant in the mix would increase the service life of low-volume roadways since asphalt is susceptible to oxidative degradation. The antioxidant characteristics of lignin make it an attractive additive for asphalt producers, according to Nicolaus McCready, graduate student at ISU. In the past, researchers have found that the addition of lignin increases the stiffness of asphalt, therefore increasing the high and intermediate temperatures at which asphalt can perform satisfactorily as pavement. In addition, lignin derived from wood products has been shown to act as an antioxidant in asphalt.

Little research has been done to evaluate the performance of lignin derived from bio-oil in this application, which ISU said can be extracted using a simple technique. ISU tested asphalt mixtures that had different lignin contents for elasticity and viscosity, and compared them with samples of pavement made with other ingredients. The lignin from bio-oil was found to be is insoluble in water and mixed well into asphalt.

 

Many different additives, such as elastomers, rubbers and plastomers, are available for asphalt binders and are commonly used to pave high-volume roadways. However, these are expensive, increasing the cost of HMA by up to $10 per ton. Many asphalt antioxidants have been studied in the past, but because of the toxicity of compounds like hydrated lime and zinc diabutyldithiocarbamate (ZDBC), their use has been limited. McCready said it is ISU's goal to find a "low-cost, environmentally friendly antioxidant for use in HMA pavements."

Since lignin can be obtained from the minimal further processing of distillers grains, a coproduct of ethanol production, McCready said distillers grains is a readily available feedstock for asphalt pavement that would be considerably cheaper than existing additives. Modifiers used in asphalt binders are currently selling for approximately $6,000 per ton. The ethanol industry is constantly looking for additional applications for its coproducts. Since the market for asphalt is so vast—about 500 million tons of HMA are produced every year with a cost of about $11 billion—this could be a welcome source of revenue for ethanol companies.
 

Biomass co-op to produce fuel pellets

Biomass co-op to produce fuel pellets

 

Go Show Me Energy Cooperative hopes to hold a grand opening ceremony in July at its Centerview, Mo., plant that will produce fuel pellets. Under construction since the fall of 2006, it is the nation's first farmer-owned biomass facility, said board President Steve Flick. Organizers hope the cooperative will become a model for other groups producing homegrown energy that would be utilized by nearby urban centers.

Phase one, to be completed this summer, is the pelleting plant with a capacity of 100,000 tons per year. The plant will use a mix of biomass sources: corn stover, annual rye grass, wheat straw and native grass-seed hulls. It will also use industrial biomass, Flick said, including ground coffee. The fuel pellets will be used by a local utility and packaged for pellet stoves.

Modeled after farmer-owned ethanol plants, the cooperative began selling equity shares in January and completed 90 percent of the $7 million drive within five weeks, Flick said. The members, from 22 counties in western Missouri and eastern Kansas, have biomass delivery rights dependent on the number of shares purchased in the cooperative.

Additional equity will be raised for the project's second phase—an adjacent 8 MMgy to 10 MMgy plant that will convert biomass to fuel. The choices at press time were diesel, butanol or ethanol, according to Flick. Construction is slated to begin in the spring of 2008 with start-up to begin the following year.

 

Flick said the fuel production plant will aim to supply local markets. "We want to do this so it's replicable, economical and at economies of scale that producers can manage with their energy partners," he said. "Our cooperative doesn't extend beyond 100 miles because of transportation issues."

In the future, Go Show Me Energy Cooperative also hopes to generate electricity from biomass at its Centerview facility.