BioZio Blog

Research on Oil Yielding Feedstock Increase Day after Day

2010-04-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

The requirement of biofuels is definitely required so as to meet the fuel needs Hence, many bio feedstock are under research, many are giving promising results; yet there are bottlenecks faced by the researchers in making these feedstock commercially viable.

Previously, First-generation feedstock were widely researched for fuel purposes, taking into consideration the food-fuel debate those feedstock are being avoided and more priority is given to the second-generation and the third generation feedstock. These seconds genration feedstock include weed such as Miscanthus or Camelina, whose biofuel potential was deciphered in the recent past. Recently, the use of algae which is a third generation feedstock is being widely researched due to the advantage offered by it to grow even in waste water.

Higlighted below are the feedstock which are believed to have a great potential in yielding oil in the near future. They are as follows:

Soy oil is used in about 60 percent of the biodiesel made in the United States today, but that is expected to change in the near future.

Dozens of potential feedstocks have been tested and many show promise.

With a grant from the Iowa Power Fund, Renewable Energy Group - an Ames, Iowa-based biodiesel company - tested 34 feedstocks.

The feedstocks included two types of algae, beef tallow, borage, camelina, canola, castor, choice white grease, coconut, coffee, corn oil, cuphea, evening primrose, fish, hemp, linseed, mustard, palm, poultry, rice bran, soybean, sunflower, used cooking oil and yellow grease.

Some lesser-known feedstocks were also tested:Each feedstock was tested for 15 characteristics, including moisture, free fatty acid, oxidative stability and cloud point.

Babassu oil - Extracted from the seeds of the babassu palm tree, the babassu is common in Brazil, Mexico and Honduras. The kernels are 60-70 percent oil.

Hepar oil - A byproduct of the heparin manufacturing process, hepar oil is derived from the mucosal tissues of animals, such as pig intestines and cow lungs.

Jatropha oil - From a shrub also known as the physic nut, jatropha is native to Mexico, Central America, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Paraguay.

Jojoba oil - An evergreen perennial shrub that grows in Arizona and Mexico, jojoba dehulled seeds contain 44 percent liquid wax.

Karanja oil - A medium-sized evergreen tree that grows in India, karanja seed contains 27-39 percent oil.

Fendler's bladderpod oil - Also known as Lesquerella, Fendler's bladderpod is used similarly to castor oil.

Moringa oleifera oil - Native to India, Africa, Arabia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific, South America and the Philippines, Moringa seeds contain between 33 and 41 percent oil.

Neem oil - A large evergreen tree found in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Malaya, Indonesia, Japan and tropical regions in Australia, neem kernels contain 40-50 percent acrid green to brown-colored oil.

Perilla oil - Cultivated in China, Korea, Japan and India, the perilla plant's seeds contain 35-45 percent oil.

Stillingia oil - From the Chinese tallow tree, stillingia seeds contain 45-60 percent oil. The tree is used to prevent soil erosion and grows on marginal land in eastern Asia.

Tung oil - From the tung tree, tung seed is similar to linseed, safflower and soybean oil.

“In our commercial operation, we're already doing some of the things the ‘Feedstocks Report' supports. It shows how you can use combinations of feedstocks to meet quality and economic targets for production,” said David Slade, senior manager of technical services for Renewable Energy Group

The report is exciting, because it shows people in the petroleum industry that feedstocks can be used in combinations to meet quality and economic targets for biodiesel production, said Slade.

Eventually, science may find a way to make customized/genetically engineered oils with the properties needed for biodiesel.

Though not there yet, many scientists and biodiesel enthusiasts hope algae can be customized for biodiesel production.

Commercialization of algae is expected in 2013, said Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the Minnesota-based Algal Biomass Organization.

The Algal Biomass Organization has 173 members and was formed to facilitate commercialization and market development of microalgae biomass specifically for biofuels production and greenhouse gas abatement.

It's not very likely that algae for biodiesel will be raised outside in the northern states, but there are several companies that are looking at raising algae in brackish or non-potable water with access to light and heat.

Algae can be raised in sludge water, wastewater treatment facilities, salt water and outdoor ponds in warm climates.

The young industry has several challenges, though.

Companies that are developing algae biodiesel are keeping the information proprietary at this time. Other challenges include acquiring algae feedstocks, finding ways to make algae biodiesel profitable, and keeping protozoa at bay.

“The other challenges are light and keeping the heat right,” said Rosenthal. “Too much light isn't good, and will stunt the growth, but not enough will be a problem. If you don't have enough water, that's an issue too.”

Eventually, algae could be raised in conjunction with animal waste lagoons, she added. Algae can use the carbon dioxide and nutrients from waste to grow rapidly, creating a symbiotic relationship.

http://www.theprairiestar.com/articles/2010/03/12/ag_news/technology/tech10.txt

All Flights will Run on Camelina Fuel by 2025

2010-03-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

Biofuel Market researchers claim that 1 billion gallons of Camelina biofuel would be produced for aviation and other biofuel sectors by 2025.This prediction has been made considering the following factors:

a. Land Availability
b. Land-use Change.
c. Crop-yields.

Interestingly, this will create about 25,000 jobs producing over $3.5 billion income for American and Canadian farmers.

A sustainability company - Sustainable Oils who specifically work on Camelina claims that they will produce about 100 million gallons of camelina based jet fuels to about 15 airlines by 2014. They have already run many test flights and strongly believe that Camelina will be a major contributor to the aviation industry.The camelina renewable jet fuel was made from a 50-50 blend of camelina-derived fuel and conventional JP-8 jet fuel.

Sustainable Oils
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Malaysia Will Permanently Shift to Biofuels by 2011

2010-03-25T01:15:00.000-07:00

The Malaysian government recently announced that by 2011, all vehicles in Kualampur will run on a 5% blend of palm-oil mixed with diesel. This has been delayed over the past few years due to price fluctuations.

Malaysia is the world's second-largest exporter of palm oil after Indonesia, and the two countries account for 85 percent of global production. Being the world's second-largest palm oil producer, this plan will be soon implemented in stages in several central states from June 2011 and the extra costs which incur will be borne by the petroleum companies. The fortunes of Malaysia's biofuel industry waned in late 2008 when the price of crude oil tumbled, triggering a crash in the palm oil price which made supply uncertain, jeopardizing the long-term contracts and the industry needs.

The Malaysian government is very keen on implementing this as soon as practical as they very strongly believe The policy will benefit the country as biofuel is environmentally friendly and it will reduce the country’s dependence on petroleum diesel. It will also strengthen the palm oil prices and enable the planters, especially smallholders, to benefit from the stronger palm oil price. The ministry said it will discuss the implementation mechanism with petroleum companies, while the government will set up six petroleum depots with blending facilities.

The government has said the switch to biofuel will help reduce the cost of fuel in Malaysia, where petrol is subsidised, but conservationists have criticised oil palm plantations for destroying wildlife habitats. One of the challenges is meeting the sustainability criteria that are being debated worldwide .Malaysia -- which aims to be the global leader in biodiesel -- has approved 56 licences for biodiesel production, which account for a production capacity of 6.8 million tonnes.

Full Article

Airlines Will Use Biofuels to Fight Climate Change

2010-03-19T01:50:00.000-07:00

Food-waste, plant sources, flax, marsh grass etc. are going to be widely used as feedstock for biofuel production in a decade claim the aviation experts .These are the efforts taken by some airlines to fight climate change.

The aviation experts are having a big focus on feedstock such as Jatropha, algae etc.which cause least or no destruction to the environment. The concern among many environmentalists previously was that the use of plant derived fuels would greatly destruct the forest. In Northern part of Europe, Camelina is being used as a fuel to run aircrafts.

The airplanes emit roughly 2% of the green house gases and the emissions from the aircraft even from a high altitude remain in the atmosphere, at least the emissions in the ground are absorbed by the soil and the ocean.

By 2012, all the flights entering into and leaving the European airports will be subject to the European trading program as in the airlines will be allowed to emit only certain amount of carbon-dioxide and they will be given targets for buying and selling carbon credits.

The International Air Transport Association strongly believes that by 2020, the fuel efficiency will be increased by 1.5% and by 2050 the carbon emissions from the aircrafts will be nearly reduced to half.

For more information

Cheap Cellulosic Ethanol using Immobilised Enzymes...

2009-10-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

As discussed in my previous posts, cellulosic ethanol has got bright prospects and is definitely going to be the best replacement for fossil fuels. The reason behind this is the fact that the cellulosic biomass is abundant in the planet. This also has the advantage of being a non- crop when compared to other food crops from which ethanol can be derived.

Conventional method of cellulosic ethanol production involved the plasmification of the organic matter resulting in the mixture of hydrocarbons. Organisms such as the bacteria are then added to the bacteria, which produces ethanol. This method is employed by many of the companies working on cellulosic ethanol commercialization.

Yet another method which was used is to directly digest the cellulosic biomass using enzymes to produce ethanol. This method is a bit more expensive than the first method and most importantly, a lot of by-products are lost during cellulose degradation.

To commercialize the cellulosic ethanol and to overcome these bottlenecks faced currently, researchers from the Louisiana Tech University have patented and discovered a new approach of immobilizing enzymes which digest the cellulosic biomass. This nanotechnological approach of immobilizing enzymes makes use of a charged particle which gets attached to the non-catalytic domains of the enzymes or uses extracellular matrix proteins to bind the enzymes.

This method of using immobilized enzyme is expected to drastically reduce the cost of cellulosic ethanol production. It is expected to save about $32 million and is capable of producing about 16 billion gallons of cellulose based ethanol, claims the LTU. Apparently, the cellulose ethanol commercialization has the capacity to reduce the carbon emissions to about 89 % when compared to gasoline based fuels.

Interestingly, the cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant in LTU is the first of its kind and they are very sure that Louisiana will be one of the main contributors in the cellulosic ethanol production.

For those of the scientific bent and those willing to decipher how the whole thing works can attend the Louisiana Tech’s Energy Systems Conference on November 5 at the Technology Transfer Center in Shreveport.

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Cellulosic Ethanol through the Thermochemical Route may serve to be the best way to derive Cellulose based Biofuels..

2009-09-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

This post throws light one of the research efforts on the thermochemical route to derive celluose based ethanol. Scientists at the Concordia University after having worked on for many years have discovered a thermo-catalytic process, which can convert cellulosic biomass into ethanol .

The researchers there believe that this is a one-step process and this method is extremely energy efficient. The researchers are waiting to get this method patented and who knows? This might be the best method to derive cellulosic ethanol from cellulosic biomass such as waste.

Researchers from the University also claim that the ethanol they produce through this thermochemical route can directly be fed into the vehicle avoiding the step of any biorefining.

For those interested – Full article

About the Thermochemical process to derive cellulose based ethanol .
The thermo chemical route is the best way to produce cellulosic ethanol claims different scientists. Thermo chemical conversion of biomass into fuels is the solution that will be able to allow countries to meet the ethanol demand while not placing stress on food resources or land use.

Thermo chemical conversion process involves three main steps:

Gasification, wherein the biomass is dried, reduced in particle size and mechanically fed into a gasifier. . It then heated to a high temperature in an oxygen-limited steam environment to produce synthesis gas which is then scrubbed to remove trace elements. The use of gasification allows many types of waste biomass to be used as a feedstock since it is reduced to its basic components. Waste biomasses such as forestry residues, mill residues, agricultural waste, MSW, etc. are considered to be ideal feedstocks since essentially the same syngas is produced from all of them.

Catalysis wherein the cleaned syngas is passed over a catalyst in a fixed bed reactor; the catalyst converts syngas into an alcohols mixture of methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, and water.

Purification wherein the alcohol mixture is dehydrated, and the water is recycled. The alcohols are then separated to specification purity for different uses, including liquid fuels.

The bioethanol thus produced from the thermochemical route helps in reducing the GHG as discussed in the previous post. Apparently, it also solves the problem of carbon dioxide sequestration.

More about the thermochemical route to produce Cellulosic Ethanol

Cellulosic Ethanol Feedstock- Will Switchgrass be the Best Choice?

2009-09-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

As discussed in my previous posts, the cellulosic biomass constitutes to be the most abundant biological matter in the planet. Almost anything and everything can be used as a cellulosic biomass. Plants such as switch grass have been recognized as the best bionergy crops for producing cellulosic ethanol.

Benefits of using Switch grass:

1. They are perennial bionergy crops.
2. They have high energy efficiency.
3. Comparatively, they are economically feasible.
4. It does not require as much nitrogen as a corn crop and is harvested once per year
5. Switchgrass produce 13 times more energy from the crop than is put in, which exceed soybeans at 3:1 or sugarcane at 8:1.
6. The advantage of switchgrass is that it is drought resistant, making it less of a burden on irrigation supply, and produces more energy than corn.
7. Switchgrass and corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions up to 90%. Such ethanol produces 80% more energy as compared to the amount of energy used for processing.
8. Estimated average greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from switchgrass were 94% lower than estimated average greenhouse gas GHG from gasoline .

Commercialization of Switchgrass :

Switchgrass can be a prospering renewable fuel in the future. Many companies have started building refineries that convert biomass to ethanol. Some companies are producing improved strains of yeast and enzymes that can produce better switchgrass and corn ethanol in the future.

These developments will open new doors of opportunities for farmers, investors, biotechnology firms, and project developers in near future. Some companies are trying to produce switchgrass from the wastes generated during the production of cellulosic ethanol.

Improvements and developments in the field of genetics, biotechnology and agronomics may further enhance the sustainability and biofuel yield of switchgrass. Research is underway in finding the best bioenergy crop for cellulosic ethanol.

For those of the scientific bent - Full article

Cellulose based Biofuels can Tackle Climatic Change

2009-09-29T02:13:00.000-07:00

In one of my post earlier, I had mentioned the fact that cellulose based ethanol might prove a solution for good health as well as will help tackling the weather change. Check out the link!

Cellulosic ethanol is considered better for the environment as well , as it reduces the carbon emissions. This has been brought into light by the scientists in Singapore and Swiss. Most importantly, the carbon diosixde emissions can be reduced by about 80 % and using cellulosic ethanol is indeed a clean energy solution.

Scientists and researchers believe in the potential of the cellulosic biomass as it is the most abundant biological material present and it is also known to reduce the environmental costs to a considerable extent. Using cellulose based fuels will serve dual purpose, they will reduce the fossil-fuels dependency and also will help tackling the climate change.

Estimates from 173 countries show that about 82.93 billion liters of cellulosic ethanol can be produced from the world’s waste available thereby reducing the carbon foot-prints to a considerable extent.

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Other related blog posts

Cellulosic Ethanol is better for Health!
Cellulosic Ethanol will soon help Acquiring Energy Independence Cellulosic Ethanol Feedstock Infrastructure is Slowly Developing
Cellulosic Ethanol - A General Review...

Cellulosic Ethanol will soon help Acquiring Energy Independence..

2009-09-29T01:10:00.000-07:00

Collaboration between the Royal Dutch Shell and the World Leader in Cellulosic ethanol- Iogen are together planning to use post-harvested wheat stalks as their biomass. They are planning to use specialized enzymes for breaking down the cellulose in farm-raised fibers and converting it to sugars fermented into beer that is then distilled into ethanol.

Cellulosic ethanol has identical molecules to conventional ethanol made from corn or sugarcane. The difference is that cellulosic ethanol is derived from the non-food plant portion – in this case agricultural residue. Fuel derived from waste products, as cellulosic ethanol is, is a better long-term solution than using food crops for fuel.

They strongly believe that the Cellulosic ethanol will perform as well as any other bio-derived ethanol product as the research in this field has brought into light, the fact that cellulosic biomass is the most abundant raw material in the planet.

One of the major bottlenecks solved faced is the transportation issue; Iogen and Shell are putting in their full efforts to size their production-facility and efforts are underway to minimize the transportation costs.

Ethanol is usually shipped via truck or rail rather than piped through typical petroleum-based channels because of concerns over water and particulate contamination.

Ethanol is alcohol-based and thus corrosive, components can be damaged and engine fires sparked by leaking hoses, rings and gaskets if a consumer pumps more than a 10 percent blend of ethanol into a system not suitably engineered for the fuel. Extinguishing an ethanol blaze requires firefighting foam differing from that used on petroleum conflagrations; repairers concerned about shop fires have been urged to ensure that their local departments have the correct foam onboard the response apparatus.

As discussed earlier, Cellulosic ethanol’s non-grain content could fuel a wider field of acceptance than conventional ethanol because it lessens the likelihood of food riots such as those that broke out last year in Africa, Mexico and Haiti over surging corn prices.

Cellulosic ethanol has a kernel-free makeup and it is poised to overcome the maze of issues surrounding maize and global crop allotments. It addition to wheat straw, cellulosic ethanol can be created from discarded corn stalks, barley straw, wood chips and sawdust, switchgrass, algae and other municipal solid wastes.

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Cellulosic Ethanol Feedstock Infrastructure is Slowly Developing

2009-09-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

POET has secured a funding of about $6.85 million for producing 700 tons of cellulosic biomass. POETS with its research team are finding ways to curb the barriers faced by the cellulosic ethanol industry.

The feedstock of choice are the “Cobs” by this American cellulosic ethanol company. As discussed earlier, the major advantage with cellulosic ethanol is the fact that it can use multiple feedstock . Any feedstock which has contains cellulose can be used.

The work of this cellulosic ethanol company is that they are going to redesign the cobs to make it economically viable . Research efforts are underway to find the best harvesting methods to produce cellulosic ethanol commercializing.

This company will secure few more millions next year, and this will be widely used to develop the feedstock infrastructure for cellulosic ethanol production.

Apparently, POET is also taking considerable efforts to go hand in hand with the equipment manufacturers to make the cob-harvesting technology easier than before.

They have also planned to encourage the farmers and other people by giving away incentives to those who are early adopters of this cob-harvesting technology.

About POET

POET is proud to be a pioneer in unlocking the power of cellulosic ethanol. They have been in this field for the past 20 years and they have started turning biomass into fuel with a remarkable efficiency. Earlier, they were produicing ethanol from corn, however, now they are concentrating on cellulosic ethanol.

Cellulose is the main component of plant cell walls and is the most common organic compound on earth. It is more difficult to breakdown cellulose to its basic components in order to convert them into ethanol, but our ability to do it efficiently will radically expand the range of materials that can be used for ethanol production.

Although cellulosic ethanol is chemically identical to the ethanol, the processes for handling the raw material feedstock, breaking it down and fermenting it pose serious biochemical and engineering challenges. POET‘s research team has set out to curb away the bottlenecks faced by the growing cellulosic ethanol industry.

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Cellulosic Ethanol - A General Review...

2009-09-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

Cellulosic ethanol is an alternative fuel made from a wide variety of non-food plant materials such as agricultural wastes such as corn stover and cereal straws, industrial plant waste like saw dust and paper pulp, and energy crops grown specifically for fuel production like switchgrass.

By using a variety of regional feedstock for refining cellulosic ethanol, the fuel can be produced in nearly every region of the country. Though it requires a more complex refining process, cellulosic ethanol contains more net energy and results in lower greenhouse emissions than traditional corn-based ethanol.

Cellulosic biofuels are fuels which are produced from wood, grasses, and other non-edible parts of plants. The biofuel is produced mainly from lignocelluloses. This product is found mainly in corn stover, switchgrass, and even wood chips which are the byproduct of farming and lawn maintenance.

There are many advantages to using this kind of fuel, but it requires a much greater amount of processing than standard fossil fuel production, which has limited its use in the United States. However, this hasn’t stopped scientists and researchers alike from looking into the best cellulosic biofuel producers.

Switchgrass and miscanthus are the two main biomass materials which are being observed in studies today, mainly due to their high productivity per acre grown. While these two plants are at the forefront of bio-technology, cellulose is found in every natural green plant, bush, or tree. Because of this, many scientists believe with the right technology, in the future we will be able to reduce our dependence on foreign oil entirely through the burning of cellulosic biofuels. Apparently, research is underway to find out more about the prospects of other feedstock which can be used as a cellulosic biomass.

The main problem with relying on cellulosic biofuels is the procedure in which they are produced. They must be fermented before they are combusted to produce ethanol gas, and this process requires acres and acres of space in order to function properly. If products are recycled properly, this waste could be turned into a fuel which could power tomorrow’s cars and power plants.

Provided below is the list of companies who have had secured funds for cellulosic ethanol research.

• Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, LLC of Chesterfield, Missouri, up to $76 million.

• ALICO, Inc. of LaBelle, Florida, up to $33 million.

• Blue Fire Ethanol, Inc. of Irvine, California, up to $40 million.

• Broin Companies of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, up to $80 million
.
• Iogen Biorefinery Partners, LLC, of Arlington, Virginia, up to $80 million.
Range Fuels (formerly Kergy Inc.) of Broomfield, Colorado, up to $76 million.

Why Cellulosic Ethanol? - Link to my previous post

a. Cellulosic ethanol production prevents the danger that food cropping
b. Supply of raw material is also more abundant than corn-based ethanol production.

c. Use of fertilizers and watering essential for corn for ethanol production is also not required to such an extent for cellulosic ethanol.

d. The best thing I love about CE is that the fact that traditional ethanol cellulosic ethanol uses only lignin, which has energy content equal to coal, it doesn’t use fossil fuels during manufacture Lignin is a bi-product of the conversion process from bio-mass to ethanol, and does not need to be procured extra. Thus, no expensive fossil fuel is required for the cellulosic manufacturing process,

e. Most importantly, the amount of harmful CO2 produced while using the lignin is totally compensated by the absorption from the original plants in photosynthesis.

f. The usage of the perennial switch grass for cellulosic ethanol also bodes well for the environment and efficiency. This grass has a deep root system which helps prevents soil erosion and contributes toward soil fertility.

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Cellulosic Sugar to Cellulosic Ethanol has been made much easier by the London Company...

2009-09-28T04:37:00.000-07:00

Comet Biorefining, a London company, is a leader in the field of biomass conversion and biomass pretreatment. Comet's knowledge and experience in the pretreatment of biomass spans numerous raw materials and many end use applications. This sustainability company has announced a new sugar technology to digest a wide range of cellulosic biomass and convert it into ethanol fuels.

This cellulosic ethanol technology employs cellulosic ethanol feedstock such as wood chips, switch grass and corn cobs to produce cellulosic sugars and then convert it into fuels. For the production of these cheap pre-treatment methods were used and these sugars were shipped to the biorefineries wherein they are converted into ethanol.

The greatest advantage with this cellulosic sugar is the fact that if remains stable for a long-time even after pre-treatment due to its high –density. Hence, this advantage makes it possible to be shipped or transported to biorefineries in farther places as well.

This breakthrough will definitely reduce the capital and operating costs of the biofuel companies , whooonly processes the cellulosic sugar for bioethanol . This will further help them to focus more on developing better enzyme technology to carry out the steps to make biofuel from the broken down sugar.
Comet Biorefining has demonstrated this unique technology at pilot scale and estimates that cellulosic sugar can be produced for as low as 7 cents per pound based on laboratory testing. Comet Biorefining plans to build a demonstration facility in 2010 and partner with biofuels technology developers to provide them with cellulosic sugar for their processes. Comet Biorefining's goal is to license its Cellulosic Sugar Technology worldwide.

Pilot and demonstration plants have shown promising results, and the London company believes that even small pretreatment plants can provide cellulosic sugars for large biofuel industries thereby making their biofuel production economically viable.

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Cellulosic Ethanol Industry Recognizes Another Potential Feedstock..

2009-09-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

There are loads and loads of feedstock containing cellulose as a biomass to derive ethanol fuel. Recent studies show that alfalfa can be used as a cellulosic biomass. Alfaalfa, commonly known as the Lucerne grass is by far the most popular legume and research studies have revealed that it can serve as one of the best feedstock for cellulosic ethanol production.

I actually listened to Dave Miller, a biotech researcher interview about the potential os cellulosic ethanol and here is an outline of what he said: He feels that this crop has great potential than other cellulosic biomass due to the fact that it is environmentally very friendly. Moreover, it is a very good crop for crop-rotation and most importantly, it fixes nitrogen and prevents soil erosion as well.

However, efforts are on the way to “redesign” the crop to reduce the lignin content. The problem the cellulosic ethanol industry is facing is the high-lignin which poses the problem of pre-processing. That s the reason why Dave Miller and his team are planning to genetically modify the alfalfa and redesign the crop it for easy biomass digestion.

Preliminary efforts by Dave Millers group revealed that alfalfa has greater potential as a cellulosic biomass feedstock, when compared to other cellulosic biomass. In addition, Miller says preliminary work shows alfalfa is competitive with other feedstock for its ability to convert to cellulosic ethanol and that a corn/alfalfa rotation creates a very favorable carbon footprint for ethanol production.

Why alfalfa?

1. Great potential as a cellulosic biomass.
2. Can be used as a rotation crop.
3. Prevents soil erosion
4. It being a legume fixes nitrogen to the soil.
5. Preliminary tests show that alfalfa is better than many other cellulosic biomasses.

For the large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol, many feedstocks which are cellulosic in nature can be considered as a feedstock and identification of crops such as alfalfa is indeed a major breakthrough in the development of the cellulosic ethanol industry.

Check out the Full Article

Cellulose based Ethanol has a Great Potential.

2009-09-28T01:28:00.000-07:00

As discussed in my earlier posts, cellulosic ethanol is the most abundant biological material present on earth and deriving oil from it is indeed an excellent idea. There are a number of economic, social and sustainability issues faced by this industry. Research is underway to curb these bottlenecks so as to start using a sustainable biofuel such as Cellulosic Ethanol.

The major advantage offered by the cellulose based ethanol fuel is the fact that the feedstock is very cheap. However, purification of the feedstock seems to pose a problem when economic barriers are taken into consideration. These impurities, if not properly removed even damage the equipments.

Using cellulosic ethanol might not interfere with the food chain, as only non- food crops are being used as a biomass. The problem, here again, is the complexity of the cellulosic molecule; it is extremely hard to digest (or) hydrolyze the cellulosic material, which requires lot of expensive enzymes to break – up them unlike the starchy y materials. I think the solution of using the wonder bacteria would solve the problem of digesting the cellulosic biomass and has gained a lot of popularity among the ethanol researchers.

U.S is one of the top-leaders in cellulosic ethanol research and considerable research is being taken by the researchers there to gain some energy independence. The ethanol from cellulose (that is the way they term the name), also known as EFC employs cost effective methods such as acid-hydrolysis. Generally, there are three methods to digest the cellulosic biomass (a) Acid-hydrolysis (b) enzymatic-hydrolysis (c) thermo chemical processes. However, most popularly used method is the acid –hydrolysis due to the cheapness of sulfuric acid.

Acid-hydrolysis can be either dilute or concentrated; dilute-acid hydrolysis is usually performed at high temperatures and pressure. The barrier we face here is that the fact that, when high temperatures and pressure is applied it sometimes damages the equipment. Hence, specialized equipment having the ability to withstand high temperature and pressure must be brought into use. These specialized equipments are available only in exorbitant prices. Yet another issue is the efficiency of this method is only 50% thereby yielding less sugar. The biggest advantage of dilute acid processes is their fast rate of reaction, which facilitates continuous processing. However, the feedstocks must be reduced in size in order to make it a continuous process.

Research efforts in various places have brought in a solution for this problem; the cellulosic biomass consists of the C5 and the C6 sugars. As I said earlier, the problem we are facing at the moment is lesser yield of sugar during hydrolysis. This can be very much increased by first performing a mild process, wherein, only the five-carbon sugars get broken up and then a harsher process, to extract the six-carbon sugars. This solution is still not being widely employed. Research is underway.

The concentrated acid hydrolysis uses comparatively milder temperature and pressure. When compared against the acid-hydrolysis, it yields higher quantities of sugar. The problem here is, the process is extremely slow and research is still underway to find a cost-effective acid-recovery system.

The potential of enzymatic hydrolysis, thermochemical proceses and their bottlenecks faced by them can be obtained from this link. Thus, producing ethanol from cellulosic has a great potential due to the vast availability of the biomass feedstock. However, the routes to cellulosic ethanol are still not techno-economically feasible.

Cellulosic Ethanol Showstoppers...

2009-09-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

As discussed in the previous posts, cellulose based ethanol have great prospects, however, there are many bottlenecks witnessed to commercialize the production of cellulosic ethanol.

DOE has identified the various barriers witnessed by the cellulosic ethanol industry. These include the economic, sustainability, storage barriers, which have been briefly explained in the preceding paragraphs.

Provided below are the highlights of the bottlenecks faced by the cellulosic ethanol industry:

Summary of the bottlenecks faced by the Cellulosic Ethanol Industry:

1) The enzymes used in cellulosic biomass production are too expensive. The solution for those was produced by certain thermophilic baceteria, but research is still underway to find if they are the best choice for the biomass breakdown.
2) Efforts are still on the way to find robust organisms which can utilise all the sugars even in impure environments.
3) Research is underway to find microorganisms which can aerobically ferment to produce cellulosic ethanol. This will help a great deal in reducing fermentation costs.
4) Removing the impurities generated by fermentation is very expensive.

Bottlenecks related to Cost:

1) Efforts are still underway to commercialize the cellulosic ethanol production and make is economically viable. The pretreatment methods are still expensive and the industry is still in its nascence.
2) Biotechnological research which includes genetic modification makes the investors worry about the risk they might create to the native population.
3) Cellulosic biomass is still expensive due to issues such as transportation, as discussed in my previous post. Also, the biomass feedstock are changeable. For example, unknown quantities of the biomass might be lost to extreme weather.
4) High capital costs are still a big problem faced by the cellulosic ethanol industry.
5) There is yet another problem with ethanol; it costs more than and still gives about 34% lesser energy than gasoline.

Bottlenecks related to Storage:

1) Even if pretreatment is made cheaper, there are some harvesting issues which have to be overcome to enable the large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol. There are still no harvesting machines to harvest the cellulosic biomass.
2) The harvesting machines which are currently available will not be able to handle tons of biomass.
3) There are still issues for storing the wet biomass, which if not properly stored might result in rotting and lead to spoilage, making it unusable.

Bottlenecks related to Preprocessing:

1) To find the best methods or organisms for preprocessing, properties of the biomass must be researched extensively.
2) Apparently, the issues in removing the impurities present in the biomass is posing problems for large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol.
3) These impurities present are removed by employing methods such as grinding, compacting and blending.
4) If these preprocessing steps are not done properly, it might damage the equipment.
5) The harvest season of each cellulosic biomass is different because of which it is a bit difficult to harvest the cellulosic biomass to pre-process them and store them.
6) A multi-step process is required for a enzymatic break-down and this is really expensive. Though many cellulosic ethanol companies are coming up with innovative pre-treatment ideas, no pretreatment method as been confirmed to be entirely economically viable.
7) When these microorganisms or enzymes are added to the fermenter , sterilization is required so as to maintain a sterile environment and to prevent contamination and the issue here is , when batch sterilization is done it might pollute the waterways if the impurities from the equipment is improperly disposed.

For those of the scientific bent - Full article

Cellulose Based Ethanol - Biofuel of the future!

2009-09-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

This post will prove extremely useful for people who stronlgy believe in the prospects of cellulosic ethanol.

We all realise the fact that the carbon- dioxide released by the fossil-fuels are mixing up with the atmosphere, increasing the levels of this noxious substances leading to global warming in the planet and this is the reason why I believe people should go in for biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol.

It is also beleived that the cellulosic ethanol can reduce about 85% of the emissions when compared to gasoline. Further sequesteration of the carbon- dioxide will lessen the emissions of poisonous susbstances like carbon-monoxide, sulfur and other dangerous gases.

Global availability of biomass feedstocks also would provide an international alternative to dependence on an increasingly strained oil-distribution system as well as a ready market for biofuel-production technologies.

Many people have been arising questions as to how much energy is required to produce ethanol? It requires very less energy to produce ethanol from cellulsic biomass and this is the reason why research is going on in different universities and various companies to produce cellulosic ethanol.

For those who believe in the future of the Cellulosic Ethanol Industry-Full Article

This article also provides further links showcasing the prospects of the cellulosic ethanol and its developments in the US.

Another Microbe to Save the Cellulosic Ethanol Industry..

2009-09-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

Qteros, a lab based in Massachusetts, has achieved historic efficiencies in our one-step, biomass-to-ethanol conversion process. They have now identified a bacterium which can very easily digest the waste biomass and convert it into rapid ethanol.Research is underway to furthermake their cellulosic ethanol production economically viable and environmentally sustainable.

The Qteros scientist believes that, by using this amazing microbe, one can get 70 grams of ethanol per litre of the fermentation broth in a single- step. This is quite effective on the cellulosic biomass feedstocks which are industrially pretreated.

Clostridium phytofermentans, more popularly known as the Q microbe is believed to have brought the most economical way to derive biofuels from cellulosic biomass. The Q Microbe (Clostridium phytofermentans) was discovered approximately 12 years ago in Massachusetts’ Quabbin Reservoir by a University of Massachusetts research team led by Susan Leschine, a microbiologist at the university. It was collected in a sample for another survey and its potential was not realized until about eight years later.

Why is this microbe different from other enzymes, which are already being used in the Cellulsic Ethanol industry ?

1. People might arise questions such as to why this is better than enzymes, the answer is, it , unlike the enzymes digests the cellulosic biomass in a single step while the enzymes undergo a multi-step process to digest these waste. Enzymatic hydrolysis is considered to be the most cost-effective way to make the biofuel, and the Q Microbe is expected to be cheaper to use than other enzymes because it can do its work naturally in one step, whereas other enzymes undergo multiple steps to break-down the sugar molecules.

2.The Q microbe can digest switchgrass, corn stover, wheat straw, sugar cane bagasse, and wood pulp. It generates its own enzymes thereby fermenting the C5 and C6 sugars. Also, the Q Microbe so far has been effective with almost all biomass, while other enzymes only work on particular substances.

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2G biofuels from non- food crops will replace fossil fuels

2009-09-26T00:19:00.000-07:00

2G biofuel sources includes almost all the non- food crops available on earth. Yup! I am talking about the cellulosic biomass, which is considered to be the most abundant biological material present in the planet. Cellulosic biomass is anything and everything such as waste, woody biomass, weeds such as Miscanthus. Many people believe the idea of cellulose based ethanol due to the fact that it used inedible waste products to produce Ethanol and this will even the solve the problems of waste disposal.

Producing cellulosic ethanol is still in its nascency, due to the fact that pretreatment procedures have still not been made economically viable. With the help of Synthetic Biology, 15 new fungal enzyme catalysts have been identified. These enzymes are considered to be stable and can easily digest the cellulosic biomass into sugars at high temperatures. Efforts are on the way to identify more organisms to easily break-down the cellulosic biomass, mostly derived from the waste.

Reference to this link will give you additional details about the recent discovery of a new fungus which which produces myco-diesel from waste. Improvements in Biotechnology, plant genetics and recombinant engineering technology are sure to exploit the biofuel potential from cellulosic biomass in the near future.

A Thermophilic Microbe - Solution to make Cellulosic Ethanol a Reality!

2009-09-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

TMO Renewables, a world leader in cellulosic ethanol production, in late June, developed a fermentation technique using a thermophilic bacterium, which can digest the cellulosic biomass rapidly to produce ethanol. This will be more useful in warm countries as they bacterium thrive well. The new process helps to produce ethanol from any cellulose-based material, most notably corn, domestic waste (paper, food) and second-generation feedstock such as leftovers from agriculture and industry such as straw from cereal crops, doing so in a highly-economical way that is practically carbon neutral.

The funny thing here is England, because of its weather might not be able to use this heat-loving bacterium in their country. There are better prospects for this in countries such as the U.S and representatives from this British company claim that about 25 ethanol plant owners have expressed interest in TMO’s process, TMO has also invited the attention of China, who are also interested in converting the rice husks and forest waste in their country into biofuels.

Apparently, TMO has not received any public support from their own country, wherein the government policies in UK haven’t offered enough support because of which the biofuel industry has not shown considerable improvement in neither growth nor investments.

The advantage offered by this bacterium is that, it very easily digests the cellulosic biomass and converts it rapidly into bioenergy.

1. This bacterium produces ethanol rapidly; it doesn’t require much of heating or cooling, hence the energy required is very less. Most importantly, this organism can maintain itself at a very high temperature and to distill ethanol from the beer doesn’t require any additional input of energy.

2. This organism has the ability of digesting the longer chain sugars of the cellulosic biomass, thereby reducing the pre-treatment costs to a considerable extent.

3. Interestingly, the fermentation process is so rapid that the capital costs on fermentation vessels can also be minimized .On the whole the entire process can be made economically viable.

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The Cellulosic Ethanol Story...

2009-09-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

Fuel ethanol produced from substances like Cellulose can contribute significantly to reducing the use of petroleum and will help a great deal in solving the energy crisis. Developments in science and technology in a number of disciplines are required to make cellulosic ethanol dream come true.

Cellulose is the most abundant biological molecule in the world. Cellulose is a polymer of sugar. Polymers are large molecules made up of simpler molecules bound together much like links in a chain. Cellulose is a polymer of glucose, a simple sugar that is easily consumed by yeast to produce ethanol. Cellulose is produced by every living plant on the earth, from single-celled algae in the oceans to giant redwood trees. This means that cellulose is the most abundant biological molecule in the world.

The way it works is as follows:

The cellulose chains are broken down into individual links thereby releasing which can be further used to produce ethanol to be used as a fuel. Many companies like Iogen, NREL, Mascoma are employing their own enzymes to make this industry reach great heights. You can refer to my previous post, if you wish to know more details about the technology employed by the top leaders in the Cellulosic Ethanol Industry.

Conventional Ethanol Vs Cellulosic Ethanol:

Cellulosic Ethanol has a number of advantages when compared to the conventional ethanol. Differences between conventional ethanol and cellulosic ethanol have also been highlighted in my previous post. They share a lot of similarities as well . The technology for fermentation,distillation and recovery of the ethanol are the same.

Challenges faced by the Cellulosic Ethanol Indusry :

The major challenges are linked to reducing the costs associated with production, harvest, transportation, and up-front processing in order to make cellulosic ethanol competitive with grain-based fuel ethanol and gasoline.

The major processing challenges are linked to the biology and chemistry of the processing steps. Plant genetics research and biotechnology are giving researchers the tools to increase agricultural yield of cellulosic plant material that is tailor-made for conversion to biofuels.Advances in biotechnology and engineering will help a great deal in achieving the goal of making CE a reality

Issues with the Pre-treatment technology:

This is done to soften the cellulosic material to make the cellulose more susceptible to being broken down. There are some issues in pretreatment of cellulosic ethanol.. Better understanding of the chemistry of plant cell walls and the chemical reactions that occur during pretreatment is leading to improvements in these technologies which lower the cost for producing ethanol. The leading pretreatment technologies under development use a combination of chemicals (water, acid, caustics, and/or ammonia) and heat to partially break down the cellulose or convert it into a more reactive form.

I, along with companies like Iogen, TMO renewables ,Mascoma and many other sustainable minds believe that Cellulosic Ethanol will soon definetely solve the enrgy- crisis.

Full report

Cellulosic Ethanol is better for Health !

2009-09-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

This paper explains in detail about the environmental and other health benefits in using cellulosic ethanol. It also highlights other potential advantages of cellulosic biofuels.

Cellulosic Ethanol is believed to have fewer negative effects when compared to theother fossil0 derived fuels, as it emits fewer noxious substances. The study is the first to estimate the economic costs to human health and well-being from gasoline, corn-based ethanol and cellulosic ethanol made from biomass.

The authors found that depending on the materials and technology used in production, cellulosic ethanol environmental and health costs are less than half the costs of gasoline, while corn-based ethanol's costs range from roughly equal to about double that of gasoline.

Total environmental and health costs of

Gasolines - 71 cents per gallon,
Corn-ethanol fuel - 72 cents to about $1.45,
Cellulosic ethanol - 19 cents to 32 cents.

The paper also points out that other potential advantages of cellulosic biofuels, such as reducing the amount of fertilizer and pesticide runoff into rivers and lakes, may also add to the economic benefit of transitioning to next-generation biofuels. Filling our fuel tanks with cellulosic ethanol instead of gasoline or corn-based ethanol may be even better for our health and the environment.

For those of the scientific bent - Full article

Cellulosic ethanol – A Realistic Route to the Energy Crisis

2009-09-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

A study released earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Energy’s found that large volumes of cellulosic biofuels could be produced from already identified biomass sources and resources without displacing crop production.

The study, which was sponsored by General Motors, indicated that even without incentives cellulosic biofuels could potentially compete with gasoline with oil prices of between $70 and $90 per barrel by 2030, given the expected accelerated development of technology and feedstocks.

The report also found that the needed investment in cellulosic biorefineries would be comparable to that needed to expand domestic oil exploration and production to similar levels.

The only problem as discussed in my earlier post is the transportation issue. Experts believe that the CE industry, to a great extent, will contribute significantly to a low carbon transportation sector and the new green economy if the transportation issue is overcome.

There is yet another hurdle which has to be overcome, for a long- term survival of Cellulosic Ethanol. Dependence on federal subsidies, grants should will not help.

Some experts believe that playing field should be leveled, pointing out that the oil industry, which ethanol is competing against. Some others feel that ethanol subsidies may actually prove to be detrimental to the industry in the long run. The industry’s goal is to develop independent systems that are economical without governmental assistance.

Surprisingly, cellulosic ethanol projects have been able to secure reasonable levels of financial capital. The long-term future of cellulosic ethanol is not yet clear. However, research efforts show that it will be definitely a big answer to the world’s energy crisis.

Related blog posts
Cellulosic Ethanol Commercialization will be a Dream Come True!
Why is Cellulosic Ethanol Best as a Biofuel ?
NREL's Efforts to Commercialise Cellulosic Ethanol- Highlights

Why is Cellulosic Ethanol Best as a Biofuel ?

2009-09-25T04:56:00.000-07:00

Furious research has been going on in the efforts to commercialize Cellulosic ethanol and make it more cheaper.

As discussed earlier, cellulosic ethanol can be produced from a wide variety of cellulosic substances such as agricultural plant wastes like corn stover, cereal straws, and sugarcane bagasse. or cellulosic feedstock or plant wastes from industrial processes like sawdust, paper pulp as well as switchgrass.

Wastes like sawdust and paper pulp are especially useful, because they are already processed to a degree and eliminate a step from the cellulosic ethanol production process, saving cost.

Why do I think Cellulosic Ethanol is the best ?

a. Cellulosic ethanol production prevents the danger that food cropping will turn into more lucrative fuel-cropping.

b. Supply of raw material is also more abundant than corn-based ethanol production.

c. Use of fertilizers and watering essential for corn for ethanol production is also not required to such an extent for cellulosic ethanol.

d. The best thing I love about CE is that the fact that traditional ethanol cellulosic ethanol uses only lignin, which has energy content equal to coal, it doesn’t use fossil fuels during manufacture Lignin is a bi-product of the conversion process from bio-mass to ethanol, and does not need to be procured extra. Thus, no expensive fossil fuel is required for the cellulosic manufacturing process,

e. Most importantly, the amount of harmful CO2 produced while using the lignin is totally compensated by the absorption from the original plants in photosynthesis.

f. The usage of the perennial switch grass for cellulosic ethanol also bodes well for the environment and efficiency. This grass has a deep root system which helps prevents soil erosion and contributes toward soil fertility.

Problems with Cellulosic Ethanol:

The only disadvantage of cellulosic ethanol lies in the difficulty with which it is presently extracted from the feedstock. The cellulosic feedstock in process consists mainly of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin, and the idea is to extract fermentable sugars in order to synthesize into ethanol. But these sugars in cellulose and hemicellulose are bound in complex carbohydrates called polysaccharides, and separating these complex structures into simple sugars is not easy.

This leads to

a. Longer process time.

b. Low yield per unit of feedstock, making cellulosic ethanol somewhat less economical.

c. Common problems faced by both cellulosic ethanol and conventional ethanol is as follows:
Cellulosic ethanol and conventional ethanol have some challenges in common:

Development and availability of fuel-efficient cars using ethanol and an efficient infrastructure of raw material collection, processing and delivery. But in the long term given adequate research into developing efficiency and infrastructure, cellulosic ethanol appears to have the better potential for economy, environment-friendliness and waste management.

Therefore, what is required here is to increase the efficiency and quantity of production. Among all countries, Brazil has the most extensive domestic cellulosic ethanol industry based on sugarcane, and almost all its cars can run on ethanol.

Countries like Pakistan, India, China, Colombia, Australia, Thailand and Japan have also stepped into ethanol production to offset gasoline demands, though they still do not have significant production and delivery infrastructure.

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Cellulosic Ethanol Commercialization will be a Dream Come True!

2009-09-25T03:43:00.000-07:00

Many companies like DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, Iogen Corporation , Lignol, POET and Pure Vision Technology, have already produced cellulosic ethanol from demonstration plants or will do so within the year. Most are processing about 1 ton of material into ethanol daily. From that ton of biomass, they are producing between 70 gallons and 85 gallons of biofuels. Commercial production is expected to follow by 2010 or 2011.

Although financing obstacles might derail the below mentioned efforts by some top companies, experts believe that around 300 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol will be available for use.

For example, Coskata’s process is far more robust than originally estimated because the company can process cellulosic feedstock from agricultural sources, urban land waste, forests and a variety of manufacturing waste materials. Company officials also said once the process is perfected, ethanol from cellulosic sources would become price competitive with gasoline without any federal tax credit.

Another company which requires a special mention is POET. POET, the world’s largest ethanol producer, is currently working with agricultural equipment manufacturers and farmers to find the best way to harvest cellulosic feedstock. They are already producing cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs at a pilot-scale plant in Scotland apart and is also planning to produce a 25 million gallon producing cellulosic ethanol plant.

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Can a Bacterium Save the World's Energy Crisis ?

2009-09-25T03:11:00.000-07:00

This article is amazing! A tiny microbe can simplify the cellulosic ethanol production.

A team of researchers from the University of Florida have identified a bacterium names Paenibacillus, which is believed to make the cellulosic ethanol roduction easier.

This interesting microbe, found in decaying sweetgum tree, can break- down hemicellulose directly, avoiding further pretreatment. Because, earlier the problem faced was that when milder pretreatment was done, hemicelluloses weren’t broken down. Research is underway to find out of there are possibilities to genetically modify the bacteria so as to make ethanol itself. Hence, this bacterium helps a great deal in reducing the preprocessing steps for cellulosic ethanol production.

It is indeed amazing when I sit and think that a tiny organism can save the workd’s energy crisis. Amazing indeed! Cellulosic ethanol fuel is derived from plant material often thrown away as trash. Typically, the processes use genetically engineered bacteria or tricky chemical reactions to break down complex compounds in plant cell walls to produce simple sugar molecules that can be fermented into fuel-grade alcohol.

By engineering the bacteria already being used to produce ethanol to also process hemicelluloses the way this Paenibacillus does, the cellulosic ethanol production will be a lost more easier.

This was a accidental discovery. Actually, the scientist who identified this bacterium was using decaying sweet gum trees ( alligator trees) to grow mushrooms. He further wanted to study more about the genetics of the bacteria digesting the wood. The team has now mapped JDR-2’s genome, and Preston expects that, within the year, they will transfer genes behind JDR-2’s abilities to bacteria used to produce ethanol. This would be followed by the design of processes for the cost-effective production of ethanol from wood, agricultural residues and other potential energy crops.

Preprocessing cellulose is indeed an excellent idea and this bacteria might be the answer for it .But once you get down to getting all the sugar out you can gasify to make more out of the rest. Some companies like Range, Syntec and others have proved that this can be done. The yield approaching 200 gallons of alcohol per ton may be at hand.

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