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Monday, February 26, 2007 Will Cellulosic Ethanol Take Off?Fuel from grass and wood chips could be big in the next 10 years--if the government helps. By Kevin Bullis
Cellulosic ethanol, a fuel produced from the stalks and stems of plants (rather than only from sugars and starches, as with corn ethanol), is starting to take root in the United States. This month, Celunol, based in Cambridge, MA, broke ground on an ethanol plant in Louisiana that will be able to produce 1.4 million gallons of the fuel each year starting in 2008. Other companies are moving forward as well with plans to build plants. But experts from industry and environmental groups say that without loan guarantees and other incentives, the nascent industry will fail to emerge from the current demonstration phase to produce commercial-scale quantities of ethanol. And without that, it may be impossible to meet President Bush's ambitious goal of producing 35 billion gallons of renewable fuels a year by 2017. Cellulosic ethanol is attractive because the feedstock, which includes wheat straw, corn stover, grass, and wood chips, is cheap and abundant. Converting it into ethanol requires less fossil fuel, so it can have a bigger effect than corn ethanol on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Also, an acre of grasses or other crops grown specifically to make ethanol could produce more than two times the number of gallons of ethanol as an acre of corn, in part because the whole plant can be used instead of just the grain. That's good news because many experts estimate that corn-ethanol producers will run out of land, in part because of competing demand for corn-based food, limiting the total production to about 15 billion gallons of fuel. (Already, corn-ethanol plants--existing and planned, combined--have a capacity of about 11 billion gallons.) The greater productivity of cellulosic sources should eventually allow them to produce as much as 150 billion gallons of ethanol by 2050, according to a report by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). That's the equivalent of more than two-thirds of the current gasoline consumption in the United States. But it will take some time to reach these levels of production. Even producing enough cellulosic ethanol to meet the president's 35-billion-gallon goal will be difficult. That will require that roughly 15 billion gallons would come from non-corn-grain sources such as cellulosic ethanol (about 5 billion gallons might come from biodiesel culled from oils in crops such as soybeans). And reaching 15 billion gallons by 2017 will be a challenge. Currently, according to the ethanol industry's list of producers in the United States, none of the ethanol comes from cellulosic biomass. Cellulosic-ethanol companies are hopeful that they can meet this goal. Colin South, the president of Mascoma Corporation, also based in Cambridge, says that if all goes well, cellulosic ethanol could supply half of the 35-billion-gallon goal by 2017. But so far Mascoma has only announced plans to build a demonstration facility with a capacity of about half a million gallons of fuel per year. That facility should be ready in 18 months, South says. But as is the case with the new Celunol plant, the facility's primary purpose would be to demonstrate that the company's technology can work at a large scale; it will not always operate at full capacity, as the system is used to test new cost-saving technologies.
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Comments
m_albertson on 02/26/2007 at 1:06 AM
4
I find it interesting that the folks who helped build the Internet, like Vinod Kholsa (and even Al Gore) are very bullish about Cellulosic Ethanol. Other respected minds like Richard Branson and Alan Greenspan are also touting Cellulosic Ethanol. If you look at where the technology and industry was a couple years ago, you might say that Cellulosic Ethanol has already taken off. It's moving so fast, it is very hard to keep track of it. Sites like <a href="http://www.InvestInCellulosicEthanol.com"> www.InvestInCellulosicEthanol.com </a> and the Energy Blog are the only ways I've been able to keep up.
infidel2 on 02/27/2007 at 12:20 AM
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ahmedj on 02/26/2007 at 3:29 AM
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concerned1 on 02/26/2007 at 7:53 AM
2
gfschue on 02/26/2007 at 8:36 AM
2
csnyder on 03/14/2007 at 11:59 PM
2
jagoudge on 03/19/2007 at 4:01 PM
1
The problem would be much less with perenial plants. Further, if the waste from alchwere to be returned to the fields either
CHSReb on 11/25/2007 at 8:55 PM
2
Farmers have always plowed under the harvest "leftovers" and I see no reason to stop them. (Equipment could be modified to collect the stalks in a seperate truck if we so desire.)
Instead of hauling our suburban yard waste to the nearest landfill, it could be trucked to a city rail line collection point. (I've got eight large 60 lbs. bags out front they could have right now.)_It would then be shipped to the regional ethanol plant for conversion. Switchgrass and other fast growing grasses could be "mined" in the same manner. We could use our plant waste for energy production and never touch our food stocks.
Granted Cellulosic ethanol isn't a reality yet. With research, I believe it will be inside this decade.
Yes, I believe every household in the next decade will have a hybrid plug-in on one side of the garage for short trips and a diesel/biodiesel truck or flex fuel car on the other.
We will obtain our electricty generated by coal, nuclear, wind, fuel cell, and solar sources. Solar photovoltaics is making huge strides these days as are fuel cells.
Ford motor already has fuel cell vehicles that look like a standard compact sedan, and can run over 200 MPH, but it's going to take some refining before we can own one. (Did I mention it cost a kings ransom and weighs 6700 Lbs.?) Yes, solutions are on the way. Some are close. Some will take decades. Cellulosic Ethanol is part, but not all the solution. Giving the Arabs our hard earned dollars is not a practical option for the next decade.
donstrcklnd5 on 05/28/2008 at 5:08 PM
3
mbmurphy777 on 02/26/2007 at 10:59 AM
14
The problem with ethanol is that it is expensive to transport and store, has poor energy density, but most of all it will get burned at 20-25% efficiency in an internal combustion engine. Hence the "field" to wheels efficiency is low.
The above scheme allows biomass to be converted into electricity (some of the syn gas created could be diverted into ethanol production if you wanted to) and charcoal. This could then be burried and thus sequester carbon from the atmosphere, or it could be converted into more electricity. This would displace quite a bit of fossil fuel generation.
Plug in hybrids could utilize this electricity to mitigate much of daily driving. It would be much easier to create and distribute the lower amount of liquid bio fuels that would then be needed under a PHEV paradigm.
This would give a much higher "field" to wheels overall efficiency, streaching that finite resource further.
Burrying some of the charcoal by mixing it into soil greatly enhances the ability of the soil to hold on to nutrients etc:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Feb06/AAAS.terra.preta.ssl.html
rick2653 on 02/26/2007 at 1:12 PM
5
Gasification cellulosic ethanol, as your own article dated 1/19/07 entitled "Creating Ethanol from Trash" points out, could provide 25% of US gasoline consumption with ethanol created from gasification of Municipal Solid Waste, all for $.05-.95/gallon.
This technology should be kick-started by DOE. It is such a sweet answer to so many problems from overfull landfills, groundwater contamination, health issues of many sorts and most importantly(for the ethanol debate), gasoline displacement!
Enzyme cellulosic ethanol now has many supporters, not the least of which are the 100's of corn ethanol producers who are currently being squeezed by increasing costs of corn! They will figure it out. And they need help. But I hope they don't suck all the oxygen from the fabulous idea of creating ethanol form Municipal Solid Waste as well as other forms of biomass.
cdlewis on 02/26/2007 at 3:31 PM
4
Well the Paper Industries are rapidly declining in Canada and the United States. Technologies like e-ink, (electronic paper), will eventually replace paper as we know it.
There are numerous paper mills being idled that know how to effectively break down trees into fuel stocks that are capable of creating 100 megs. of power a day to power these mills.
These mills, since they already effectively break down wood chips should be utilized for bio-fuels.
Take the State of Maine for instance. Maines forests are an incredible self-renewing resource. In 2000 , Maine was as heavily forested as it was in 1600. The forests were nearly cut in half during the mid-1800's but have steadily returned. Today, with 17.8 million acres acres of forested land (approx. 90% of the state). Maine is the most heavily forested state and has been stable for several decades, (double the timber since 1952). This coverage helps shape Maine's image and it's way of life.
Our forests suffered in the past from mismanagement, but they are now better managed than ever. That's part of the reason why the forests are replenishing so well. We need to steer some of the Oil Industry Subsidies in D.C. to help seed these new potential industries!
Well managed bio-oil and cellulosic ethanol refineries, green friendly, sulfur free! Time goes on.
Cliff Lewis, choicez@tds.net
plasticdoc on 02/26/2007 at 7:43 PM
20
product to industry and the US government,I would consider growing alternative products which could be used for other areas;that is,I would not put all eggs in one basket.
kitk on 02/27/2007 at 12:29 AM
52
The soil depletion from using all stubble and stalk is a potential problem, yet still the sludge from the process would be a potentially good fertilizer, as only the hydrocarbons would be taken as fuel--BUT, it takes time and energy to move the processed sludge back to farmland!
It only takes a minute amount of fixed carbon to create terre verte, but it also takes time.
Yet, as pointed out, ethanol is a less dense fuel than gas, or if not, why did gasoline triumph over all others? And, like it or not, when the whole damned auto industry started, there were NO GOVERNMENT HELPING HANDS! Expecting real help from bankrupt government authorities--who pay for it by taxing everyone, including the new industries--is like waiting for Godot. He never really comes.
cdlewis on 02/27/2007 at 8:56 AM
4
djs on 02/27/2007 at 10:43 AM
18
Then, fermenting glucose to ethanol is done at high dilution (to avoid killing the yeasts doing it) followed by distillation and finally drying the ethanol. This consumes a good bit of energy.
Cellulose can also be converted by heating into a mixture of CO and H2 (carbohydrates have the formula H2CO); with a further addition of H2 you have methanol. The required technologies are already known; no breakthroughs are required.
bobhargraves on 03/02/2007 at 6:42 AM
7
Allergg on 03/09/2007 at 3:07 PM
1
I also believe we need to consider alternate fuels as a national emergency imperative. Our independence and sovereignty are being subverted by foreign oil.
risingblue on 03/22/2007 at 11:28 AM
3
daveorbit2 on 03/26/2007 at 7:42 PM
2
Ethanol does neither of these
CHSReb on 11/25/2007 at 7:53 PM
2
Henry Ford ran his Model T on Ethanol. (It is just our propensity to drink ethanol that has halted it's use as a motor fuel. I had an associate who ran a Volkswagon Beetle on Ethanol in the early eightys.) It was just this past year that Indy racing switched over to ethanol as a series fuel.
Probably more is known about methanol as a motor fuel than ethanol. Methanol has been the fuel of choice for Indy car racing since the mid sixtys, and the National Hot Rod Association has allowed and promoted it's use in multithousand horsepower engines since the mid seventies.
Both fuels should be explored as alternatives to gasoline/diesel fuels. Ethanol has an edge as to being less toxic, and a higher energy content per gallon. Methanol, due to its simplier molecular structure, has an edge with producing fewer environmental degrading gasses.
While the general public may have some concerns, the automotive "Hot Rod" community is eagerly looking forward to the abundent availability of E85. With a high octane number(100-105), and preliminary tests in performance vehicles showing a 5% increase in power over expensive racing gasolines, it looks like for once the environmentalists and Hot Rodders are on the same side.
donstrcklnd5 on 05/28/2008 at 5:19 PM
3
Draq Wraith on 03/01/2007 at 3:57 PM
8
Can you be sure that we are not?
D~W
reformer on 03/28/2007 at 9:09 PM
1
any other crop. After processing, the remains can be used for animal fodder and paper making.
donstrcklnd5 on 05/28/2008 at 5:27 PM
3
Native Grasses on 06/17/2008 at 11:58 AM
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doughboy on 05/07/2008 at 1:36 PM
1
boya on 06/22/2008 at 9:47 AM
2
CeEth Head on 06/30/2008 at 2:09 AM
1
boya on 07/04/2008 at 12:48 PM