Plant guts: Pictured here are the insides of a new cellulosic ethanol plant that converts agricultural waste into fuel. Inside the tank on the right, fungi produce enzymes that can break down cellulose.
Shelly Harrison Photography
A 1.4 million gallon demonstration-scale plant will use waste biomass to make biofuel.
A biorefinery built to produce 1.4 million gallons of ethanol a year from cellulosic biomass will open tomorrow in Jennings, LA. Built by Verenium, based in Cambridge, MA, the plant will make ethanol from agricultural waste left over from processing sugarcane.
The new Verenium plant is the first demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the United States. It will be used to try out variations on the company's technology and is designed to run continuously. Verenium wants to demonstrate that it can create ethanol for $2 a gallon, which it hopes will make the fuel competitive with other types of ethanol and gasoline. Next year, the company plans to begin construction on commercial plants that will each produce about 20 to 30 million gallons of ethanol a year.
Until now, technology for converting nonfood feedstocks into ethanol has been limited to the lab and to small-scale pilot plants that can produce thousands of gallons of ethanol a year. Since these don't operate continuously, they don't give an accurate idea of how much it will ultimately cost to produce cellulosic ethanol in a commercial-scale facility.
Almost all ethanol biofuel in the United States is currently made from corn kernels. But the need for cellulosic feedstocks of ethanol has been underscored recently as food prices worldwide have risen sharply, in part because of the use of corn as a source of biofuels. At the same time, the rising cost of corn and gas have begun to make cellulosic ethanol more commercially attractive, says Wallace Tyner, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. A new Renewable Fuels Standard, part of an energy bill that became law late last year, mandates the use of 100 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels by 2010, and 16 billion by 2022.
So far, however, there are no commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants in operation in the United States, although a number of facilities are scheduled to start production in the next few years. The Department of Energy is currently funding more than a dozen companies that will be building demonstration- and commercial-scale plants. One of these, Range Fuels, based in Broomfield, CO, plans to open a commercial-scale plant next year. It will have the capacity to produce 20 million gallons of ethanol and methanol a year.
Verenium will use a combination of acid pretreatments, enzymes, and two types of bacteria to make ethanol from the plant matter--called bagasse--that's left over from processing sugarcane to make sugar. It will also process what's called energy cane, a relative of sugarcane that's lower in sugar and higher in fiber. The high fiber content allows the plants to grow taller, increasing yield from a given plot of land.
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Is important. I would prefer a recycled feedstock waste byproduct like the leftover bagasse from sugar production. But the article points out that their long term goal is a dedicated energy cane (virgin?) feedstock.
That's why the bio-diesel industry is appealing. They can recycle used cooking oil to make the bio-diesel fuel. The feedstock is already there for the taking, so it does NOT need to be subsidized.
My concern about bio-deisel from cooking oil is simply the supply. I can't imagine there is nearly enough cooking oil out there to actually supply any appreciable number of vehicles. I would guess that once this process is established, and money is being made from this process, all the cane waste that currently exists around the world will be diverted to the process. It is just a matter of economics, and will happen at some point as the process matures and develops.
Absolutely no way the meagre amount of leftover cooking oil will ever supply more than a fraction of a percent of fuel demand. It's a drop in the bucket, and the nascent biodiesel industry along with biodiesel hobbyists are already tapping that supply out.
That said, I feel biodiesel from more commercially oriented, purpose-built industries and crops might be a better solution than ethanol. Biodiesel would seem to be easier to produce and has more energy per liter than alcohol. Cars running biodiesel go 30 to 50% further on diesel than alcohol. It's much less hazardous that methanol and less flammable than ethanol. It would be nice if more diesel cars were available in this country to take advantage of diesel today and biodiesel tomorrow.
Correct...If the roughly 11 billion liters of waste vegetable oil annually (mainly from industrial deep fryers in potato processing plants, snack food factories and fast food restaurants) could be collected and used to replace the energetically equivalent amount of petroleum (an ideal case), almost 1% of US oil consumption could be offset. However, use of waste vegetable oil as a fuel competes with some already established uses (source: wikipedia so feel free to dispute it!).
As a comparison ANWR peak production would hypothetically cover roughly 1.3 mmbpd (about 4%) of our 20.8 mmbpd U.S. oil demand in 2006.
I doubt that ethanol (cellulosic or corn) or bio-diesel will EVER power 100% of transportation in this country (not even at a ratio of say 20% bio-fuel / 80% petrol). Bio-diesel is appealing to me just because it deals with waste cooking oil, although there
But the main reason that I don't see virgin energy crops (currently subsidized) as a serious sustainable fuel source is the increasing rate and severity of droughts, food shortages, and population growth in developing countries. A small fraction of the fuel demand is all that bio-fuel may ever provide unless we find alternative and substantially more efficient means of transportation.
The current trend has as much to do with the farm lobby as it does with the need for alternative fuels.
If you are worried about drought and crop failure, have the plant run on Kudzu. We haven't been able to figure out a way to STOP it from growing.
In the end, I don't think we can grow our way out of our fuel problems, no matter what we grow, or what kind of fuel we turn it into. The problem is simply in the low energy density of plants. Even if we can get 100% of the energy out of a plant (which is practically impossible), it will not be even close to how much energy you can get out of the same weight in petroleum.
The other variable in the equation is time. If we could have plants growing ultra-fast, and not stripping the ground of nutrients (which would require fertilizing, which uses petroleum), then the case for growing our energy might be better. But I think in the end we will need to develop energy sources that turn much more of the sun's energy into energy we can use. And I think that will only come with wind, solar, wave, tidal, etc. Those are the sources that don't need ongoing inputs, and condense the sun's (and sometimes the moon's) energy automatically for us, rather than us having to grow it and alter it for use.
Indeed. I just got a paper published in the journal 'Energy Policy' that reveals if ALL of US farm land was used to grow energy crops for ethanol, we could at most displace 12% of US transportation fuel in terms of energy consumed.
We'll need a mix of alternative energies to get anywhere.
We'll be hard pressed to ever supply as much renewable energy as we currently use with fossil fuels. Even electric cars powered by solar/wind/geothermal/hydro will be a part of the solution but even with biodiesel and ethanol probably won't add up to what we currently consume. We need smaller, more efficient vehicles, electric bikes, better passenger train routes, etc. We simply have to consume less - a gallon saved is a gallon earned. If we reduce our consumption 50% (which is doable, I've done it) then the production numbers are a lot easier to reach.
The energy cane they are talking about is sorghum cane. Forgive my spelling, but the sorghum is what was sometimes use in days gone by to make a type of mollassis that was use in farm animal food.
There seems to be a typo that might cause confusion:
2nd page, 1st paragraph: "Hemicellulose, however, is made of six-carbon sugars...."
2nd paragraph: "The five-carbon sugars in hemicellulose are then fermented...."
Why not liquefy cellulose directly?
Cellulose itself can be used as fuel directly. Trouble is that it is solid - the polymer fibers are too long. If the polymers could be broken down into shorter oligomers and then liquefied, in say ethanol or methanol, then this mixed fuel could be used to power engines.
So why go all the way to ferment cellulose into ethanol? Wouldn't it be more efficient to turn solid cellulose into "liquid cellulose"?...
Well, it sounds like progress, but like most new technologies we'll have to wait and see.
On the other hand, the DOE will put up most of the money to build the thing, and $1.28/gal will subsidize the output. If it takes that to maybe sell ethanol for $2/gal, then there is a long way to go.
Also, a commercial plant that produces 20-30 million gallons/year? That's next to nothing. As one post already reminds us, the DOE does not foresee cellulosic making a large longterm contribution to energy supply. There's not realistically enough biomass, and demand will continue to grow.
If you want to get the most energy from biomass for the least money, burn it for electricity.
Belatedly happened upon your post. Can anyone check my maths? More importantly, I see a lot of press release puff about how much cellulosic ethanol will be produced, but nowhere can I find how much feedstock in cubic yards or metres, and by weight is required to produce the claimed for likely production.
Can you help me? I have just calculated some numbers and they are so remarkable that I have a horrible feeling I've made a stupid mistake, and I'm damned if I can find it. I've "done the math" as our American cousins have it, three times now.
In an article by M.T.Klare it was announced that the U.S. Department of Energy has given grants of $385 Million towards the cost of manufacturing 6 cellulosic ethanol plants to go into production in 2012. That's grants not cost. This is where my problems start.
The plants are forecast to produce 130 million gallons of ethanol per year. Sounds a lot.
130 million gallons, at 42 gallons per barrel = 3, 095,000 barrels per year? Still sounds a lot.
Divide that by 365 = 8,479 barrels per day?
Global daily oil consumption is approximately 85 million barrels.
The U.S.A. produces 3% of global production but consumes 25% of global production.
So the U.S.A. consumes approximately 21,250,000 barrels per day?
There are 1440 minutes in a day. So the USA consumes 21,250,000 barrels divided by 1440 minutes = 14,757 barrels per minute?
The ethanol plants will produce, as above, 8,479 barrels per day. That is, 8479 /1440 = 5.9 barrels per minute?
There are 60 seconds in a minute. So the USA consumes 14,757 / 60 = 245.95 barrels per second?
The ethanol plants will produce 5.9 / 60 = 0.1 barrels per second.
At a consumption rate of 245.95 barrels per second, the plants will satisfy US consumption demand for 0.1 / 245.95 = 0.0004 of a second?
Where have I gone wrong? I can't believe this is right, but if it is, then as an exercise in pointlessness, it takes some beating, and is on a par with the EU's dash for wind.
Bob Trueman
Wales.
Cellulosic Ethanol as Alternative Energy Source.
The issue of energy as the bedrock of any economy
has not yet resonnated profoundly in the minds
of individuals and governments to provoke
uncommon emergency action world wide.
Though scientific alternative energy
break-throughs are being documented, none has
so far compared to energy from petroleum with
world wide supply.
Questions that come to mind include: what
would be the span or limitation of application
of ethanol, as alternative energy source..
What effective and efficient feasibility
studies have been accomplished so far? What
would be the cost of production, raw materials,
and human resources? How sustainable is ethanol production and for how long would available
resources sustain to overshadow any futher need for petroleum. It is doubtful, if at all,alternative energy could ever have broad application like petroleum oil and its
derivative products.
It is therefore on realization of uniqueness
of petroleum oil and its role in our
markets and on national economy of every nation that leaves critical
thinking mind wondering why global nations
have not surmmon a United Nation emergency economic session to discuss energy and
petroleum oil with consequential
devastating effects on economies,
and not necessarily, individual country,
forging its way on bilateral definition.
A stitch in time saves an eminent monumental
economic damage that has potential manifests
in the near future.
are these canes produced in US?
They are talking about canes. I am not sure how much of these canes can be produced in USA. Does anyone know?
Guest (jpdemers)
As the poster MakeSense noted above, you can release all of the energy in cellulose by burning it. My question is this: would it be more efficient, overall, to simply burn an energy crop in an ordinary electric power plant, and drive plug-in hybrid or all-electric vehicles? If you returned the ash to the soil, you'd pretty much have a closed system.
Hi I am a Agronomic Engineer and work in biofuels industry in Brazil. Do you guys have a clue about the leftover of the distilation process, the vinasse or stillage? Here in Brazil each liter of etoh produces 12 L of this residue and it is fully used as fertirrigation
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
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mcberta2
6 Comments
leftover
What is and what do they do with the process leftover?
Reply
jwer
7 Comments
Re: leftover
According to this website:
"Cellulose and hemicellulose in biomass can be broken down into fermentable sugars by either acid or enzymatic hydrolysis. The main byproduct, lignin, can be burned for steam or power generation."
Reply
Kevin Bullis
178 Comments
Re: leftover
Yes, they'll be using the leftovers to make steam for the process.
Reply
srd
2 Comments
Re: leftover
The left overs from the process also make excellent organic fertilizer.
I am from a little town about 10 miles from the plant and am also a designer of two of the fire protection systems for this plant. I have watched with great interest the progress of this plant. The US should invest much more money in ethanol production. Un this mornings paper there is a front page write up on the plans for Verenium. They will build several more plants in southern Louisiana over the next years.
I can see where this will go far.
These plants will use several types of waste products including grasses and wood chips in an effort to find the best producer of ethanol.
Reply