Bioenergy Food Politics

This is an interesting new development. The link between biofuel and rising food price has been on the agenda for several years. Higher food prices have made American corn-belt farmers happier but there has been riots against rising corn prices in Mexico.

In New York, Vinod Khosla and Big Oil started a “food fight” at the Wall Street Journal’s ECO:nomics conference, where Khosla accused the American Petroleum Institute for linking food price increases to ethanol production, saying “The API started issuing press releases about food. Suddenly they got interested in the welfare of poor Africans.”

The Brazil bioethanol production has also been critizied for its food-connection. We had a case in Finland where the ALTIA ethanol plant program was discontinued due to the "rising price of metals (China) and locally produced crops in the area". The huge demand for water was also discussed.

“We have never said anything about ethanol being responsible for food prices,” said American Petroleum Institute President Red Cavaney. “It was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in recent Congressional testimony who linked a 4.5% increase in food prices to rising worldwide demand and the amount of corn going to ethanol.”

Who says what?

Khosla suggested government rules mandating that service stations dispensing more than $5 million worth of fuel a year should have E85 pumps. Recently, “Vinod you are still totally clueless” and “there will be pie in the sky by-and-by” were among comments hurled at Khosla in response to a three-part series of articles posted at Grist.

Figthing for distribution rights...Consumers make their decisions at the pump, right!

The second series focused on Biomass, including regulatory standards , “better agronomy for energy crops” , and “cellulosic ethanol yields“.

Cellulosic ethanol yield is a big issue in Finland. We're trying to get in grips with this movement. New ideas about improving they yield are circulating in the visionary meetings, but the basics are still handled by F-P technology.

Among dozens of responses, writers accused Khosla turning “self delusion” on carbon cycles into a “mass delusion”, adding comments such as “cellulosic ethanol is such BS and that’s not just for the fertilizer.”

Cellulosic ethanol...what is new?

Among other proposals, Khosla endorsed a CLAW standard for sustainable production of biomass:

• C — COST below gasoline
• L — low to no additional LAND use; benefits for using degraded land to restore biodiversity and organic material
• A — AIR quality improvements, i.e. low carbon emissions
• W — limited WATER use,

Khosla was but was pilloried by critics of CLAW for ignoring soil degradation from fertilizers and the practice of monoculture. Other writers questioned where all the trucks would come from, to transport miscanthus or switchgrass from field to refinery.

Cellulosic ethanol...from harvesting residuals and the roots. First thinnings can also be used for this purpose. However, the day will come when fertilizers have to be brought back to the woods.

Cellulosic ethanol planti in production

First American Cellulosic Plant in Production

KL Process Design Group specializes in bio-fuels project development, engineering, construction, and plant management with an emphasis on ethanol made from both grain and cellulose.

Today (Jan 30, 2008), KL researchers continue to refine patent-pending technology as the first demonstration unit to process waste-wood material comes on line near the Black Hills National Forest. The Upton, Wyoming plant, Western Biomass Energy, is expected to come on line in August 2007 and will be the first biomass ethanol plant not using acids or having a full dependency on specialized enzymes to release cellulosic sugars from lignin fibers.

I got the information from Biofuels Digest.

Posted by Cindy Zimmerman.

Cellulosic ethanol is now in production at the first small scale waste wood commercial facility operating in the U.S.

Helge: This is big news -- Cellulosic ethanol

Located just 1 mile South of Upton, Wyoming, the plant was engineered, constructed and is operated by KL Process Design Group. This is the result of six years of development efforts between KL and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Helge: Corn ethanol is going to stay for a long time.

“It is now possible to economically convert discarded wood into a clean burning, sustainable alternate motor fuel” said Randy Kramer, president of KL Process Design Group, a design firm that has been working in corn ethanol. “We’re proud of what this small company has accomplished, and believe that our design will be a cornerstone from which we can build our country’s renewable fuel infrastructure providing a better source of motor fuel, starting today.”

Helge: Building the plants small enough and they can be placed anywhere.

KL’s cellulosic ethanol plant is converting waste wood into a renewable fuel. The current production facility is utilizing soft woods, but successful test runs have occurred making use of waste materials such as cardboard and paper.

Helge: The fuel from food controversy isn't with cellulosic ethanol

KL also announced today that the cellulosic ethanol it will be producing at the Wyoming plant will be used to fuel the American Le Mans Series Corvette Racing team running on E85.

Listen to an interview with Randy Kramer here: Go to the page to listen to the MP3

Mascoma finalizes switch from Greece to Rome (NY) for pioneering cellulosic ethanol plant | Biofuels Digest

Helge: I think Cellulosic Ethanol can become a big thing. But we're not yet there. It takes a lot of time to get to the full scale. We've lots of talent around this question. But we need to get down to the practical. The down to earth work is evolving. We've a team. There are several teams around the globe. We might need to work together: share, learn and cooperate. Open source innovation is needed to get cellulosic ethanol off the ground.

Mascoma finalizes switch from Greece to Rome (NY) for pioneering cellulosic ethanol plant | Biofuels Digest: "Mascoma finalizes switch from Greece to Rome (NY) for pioneering cellulosic ethanol plant In New York, Mascoma has decided to move the location of its proposed cellulosic ethanol plant from Greece to Rome (NY), citing the need to be closer to biomass sources and the suitability of the former Griffiss Air Force Base as a facility.

The switch had been mooted for some time and in September Mascoma appeared before the Oneida County Board in support of its plans to open in Rome. The proposed demonstration plant would produce 500,000 gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol, and will commence production by March. The plant has received $14.8 million in assistance from New York state."

Biofuels Digest is a great source of Information

Biofuels Digest is a great source of Information. Today I saw what ExxonMobile thinks about biofuels.

"In Florida, Scott Nauman, Manager for Economics and Energy at ExxonMobil, said that biofuel production will only make up 3 million barrels a day out of an estimated 116 Mbd by 2030, and that hydrogen will not play a significant role in transportation before 2030 either."

Helge: 3 out of 116 Mbd is a very small number. Biofuel is and will continue to be a niche product.

He said that while ExxonMobil is not opposed to blending ethanol with gasoline, the company has no immediate plans to increase biofuels in the supply chain.

Helge: The big companies are not opposing...

ExxonMobil is injecting $100 million into a 10 year, $225 million cellulosic ethanol R&D project in partnership with GE and Stanford University, but Nauman said that "cellulosic ethanol will not happen in the next 5-15 years" on a commercial scale.

Helge: Cellulosic ethanol. That's the point. We talk the same language. The cellulosic ethanol and other downstreams might be used for something else.

Biofuels Digest - business and financial news for ethanol and biodiesel producers, consumers and regulators

Helge: About cellulosic ethanol...

Biofuels Digest - business and financial news for ethanol and biodiesel producers, consumers and regulators: "In Massachusetts, cellulosic ethanol developer Mascoma acquired Celsys BioFuels, a cellulosic ethanol production technology company founded by a Purdue University team last year. The founder of Celsys will become the CTO of Mascoma. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed. Dartmouth professors Lee Lynd and Charles Wyman founded Mascoma in 2005 and raised $34 million from General Catalyst Partners and Atlas Ventures."

Biofuels Digest - business and financial news for ethanol and biodiesel producers, consumers and regulators

Helge: There is still a lot of room for R&D and unique innovations. This is a very new industry. What could we learn by looking back 100 years in time?

Biofuels Digest - business and financial news for ethanol and biodiesel producers, consumers and regulators: "The Lowdown on Biofuel Subsidies and Mandates November 2nd, 2007

Since the biofuel industry is young and capital-intensive, subsidies and mandates have been put into place to reduce the risk for investors, and increase the availability of capital for the rapid expansion of the industry.

The good news? Ethanol and biodiesel production has boomed in the United States. Ethanol production will reach 5.6 billion gallons this year - not a gigantic dent in the overall national fuel demand of 140 million gallons - but an impressive start.

Helge: We're looking into cellulosic ethanol and other added value products.

The bad news? Ethanol pure-plays like Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) are not exactly swimming in profits. In fact, their gross margins are down alarmingly thanks to the increased cost of corn and the reduced price of ethanol on spot markets as more production comes online. That’s one of the reasons why pure-plays have “risk” written all over the reports from analysts who follow their stocks."

Helge: Is corn the way to go? Big players are entering the market. This industry will be booming 2010 - 2015.

KL Process Design Group specializes in bio-fuels

klpd.html: "KL Process Design Group specializes in bio-fuels project development, engineering, construction, and plant management with an emphasis on ethanol made from both grain and cellulose.

Our leadership experience ranges from past military leaders to seasoned managers in the ethanol industry. Our process engineering experience is rooted in the petrol-chemical industry. This experience provides unmatched process engineering inherently focused on efficiency

Today, KL researchers continue to refine patent-pending technology as the first demonstration unit to process waste-wood material comes on line near the Black Hills National Forest.

The Upton, Wyoming plant, Western Biomass Energy, is expected to come on line in August 2007 and will be the first biomass ethanol plant not using acids or having a full dependency on specialized enzymes to release cellulosic sugars from lignin fibers."

Helge: A few words about the company...

Our services: KL Process Design Group means Integrity, Professionalism, and Hard Work represent our values when delivering our turn key services to our partners. Today we deliver the most energy efficient ethanol plants in the industry.

Domestic Fuel » Cellulose

Domestic Fuel » Cellulose: "KL Process Design Group First Cellulosic Plant Posted by Chuck Zimmerman KL Process Design Management TeamWhile we’ve been listening to people talking about when someone will build a commercially viable cellulosic ethanol production plant one company has actually gone ahead and done it. That’s what KL Process Design Group claims. I met with their leadership team at the Cellulosic Ethanol Summit.

Go to page and listen to the story. Pictured are (L-R) Dave Litzen, Tom Slunecka, Randy Kramer and Steve Healey."

Let's take a look at some of the locations and the working model...

I sat down with Dave and Randy for an interview to learn more about how they’ve been able to accomplish this. For one thing they’ve been working with the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, the Wyoming Business Council and the Wyoming Department of Forestry.

Helge: The podcast is very good, gives and insight to what the group has been doing...

Through experimentation and research they’ve been able to produce ethanol from their Western Biomass Energy plant in Upton, WY.

They get their feedstock from ponderosa pine wood chips/waste in the foothills of the Black Hills of Eastern Wyoming.

Basically, they’re not only making ethanol from the wood waste but they’re helping with the forest management which includes thinning to prevent forest fires. That sounds like a two-fer to me.

They’re going to be going at this cellulosic business in a kind of non-traditional way as you’ll hear in the interview.

For example, they’re looking at smaller plants and customers who have a need to take care of waste products that pile up and become a problem like wood mills and anyone involved in silviculture.

This means that the ethanol they produce will come from many sources. I think you’ll find the interview very interesting.

• The group had corn ethanol plant as basic model
  
• In process of starting probably the first Wood waste ethanol plant in US
• Commercially viable production units using cellulose in the process
  
• Started development 2001 - 2002
• Started from demonstration unit
• Testin, research, own design
• The association with the school
• Backgrounds in chemicals and oil
• Ferment it to ethanol
• Improving the equipments
• They have very solid data
• Commercial and pre-commercial facility
• Refining the process and the plant
• Ahead of others
• Looking at business models
• Sawdust from plywood operations
• Hudson Bay in Canada
• Large piles of sawdust
• 5 to 10 million gallons per year
• City landfills
• A lot of opportunities out there
• The thinnings in the national forests
• Getting the material to the the plant
• This instead of burning in the forests
• Wood mills
• Silviculturers
• Ethanol
• Bioplant boiler takes the lignin and transforms it to heat and electricity
  
• It's not new science
• It's been around for quite long time
• Water usage is a big issue in ethanol and biodiesel production
  
• Food versus energy debate is also a big issue; controversial
  
• The water consumption issue
• A zero discharge plant in mind
  
• The group learned a lot about fermentation from corn processing
• Process simulation has been used for decades in the oil and chemical industries
  
• Simulation has not been used to its full potential in ethanol process planning
  
• Reverse engineering
• Has designed the most efficient corn ethanol plant in US
• Take those techniques
• Water minimizing plants
• Ewaporate cooling
• Process simulation
• The consumer, the average person in the street
• It's different, a component from a larger energy perspective
• Compare to a forest fire of thinned material
  
• Biodiesel doesn't come from just one resource

Greenpeace: Neste Oil and the rain forests

Greenpeace is accusing Neste Oil, Finland for destruction of rain forests. The brand new biodiesel plant in Porvoo uses palm tree oil imported from Malesia and Indonesia.

Finnish Altea planned an ethanol plant at Koskenkorva, Finland. This plant would produce ethanol from grain.

The forestry giants StoraEnso and UPM Kymmene both have plans to start full-scale production of cellulosic biodiesel. StoraEnso and NesteOil are building a pilot plant in Varkaus. UPM Kymmene and Andritz haven't decided about the location of their biodiesel unit.

It's estimated that the Finnish forests could support six fulls scale bioethanol plants located at various places around the nation. Transport of forest residuals should not become too long.

Greenpeace: Neste Oil tuhoaa sademetsiä | Uutinen | Kauppalehti Online: "Greenpeace: Neste Oil tuhoaa sademetsiä Perjantai 12.10.2007 klo 15:46 (päivitetty pe 15:47) STT TIINA SOMERPURO/KLNeste Oil on osasyyllinen sademetsien tuhoon, ympäristöjärjestö väittää. Neste Oil on osasyyllinen sademetsien tuhoon, ympäristöjärjestö väittää.

"Ympäristöjärjestö Greenpeace vaatii Neste Oilia keskeyttämään biodieselin tuotannon. Neste käyttää biodieselin valmistuksessa palmuöljyä, jonka tuotanto tuhoaa sademetsiä Malesiassa ja Indonesiassa, Greenpeace väittää. Järjestön mukaan biopolttoaineiden käytössä on järkeä vain silloin, kun niitä tuotetaan kestävästi ja käytetään energiatehokkaissa autoissa. STT"

Ethanol Producer Magazine

Helge: The idea of building a global Task Force or Rapid Action Force is in line with experiences all over the world. We're heading towards an new bio-based industrial era and it's going to take all the communication skills and collaboration abilities to find the right working models. I guess, we have created an exceptional organizational model, but there is still plenty of work ahead waiting for intelligent solutions.

Ethanol Producer Magazine: "Conversation and Collaboration The ethanol industry is poised to take a giant leap, as techniques to commercialize cellulosic production methods move closer to becoming a reality.

Conversation and Collaboration.
We've the same strategy.
We need to talk.
Community
Building.

But the old saying, “Look before you leap,” was one of the messages that came out of two recent conferences focused specifically on the developing cellulosic ethanol industry.

Challenges, such as securing project financing, manufacturing cheaper enzymes, producing more flexible-fuel vehicles, and developing the blending and pumping infrastructure for renewable fuels, still loom large, leaving plenty of opportunities for more dialogue and collaboration.

By Holly Jessen With big risks comes the possibility of big rewards. It’s a commonly understood truth that many hope rings true for the emerging cellulosic ethanol industry.

Because the industry is still in its infancy, some of the risks are more apparent than the rewards at this stage.

Industry leaders, while being caught up in the excitement surrounding the industry, are stressing the importance of balancing that excitement with discussion concerning the obstacles that could impede progress toward production on a commercial scale, and coming up with solutions to overcome those obstacles.

Recognizing that, a variety of people gathered at two separate U.S. cellulosic ethanol conferences held in the fall of 2006.

Nearly 300 people the ‘Cellulosic Ethanol Summit: Integrating Communities in the Value Chain to Build a New Industry’ on Nov. 13-15 in Washington, D.C., while another conference, ‘Commercial and Financial Viability and Prospects for Growth’ held Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in Chicago, Ill., drew more than 200 people.

President George W. Bush’s goal to make cellulosic ethanol viable in six years is ambitious. Yet, it’s something the U.S. DOE’s Larry Russo believes can happen.

“When we see the charts of where we are, and where we were, it’s doable but not without some hard work,” he says. "

POET to present at Cellulosic Ethanol Summit

POET to present at Cellulosic Ethanol Summit: "POET to present at Cellulosic Ethanol Summit Director of Corporate Affairs will discuss Project Liberty Press Release from Poet SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (October 8, 2007) Doug Berven, Director of Corporate Affairs for POET, will discuss progress POET has made toward the development of cellulosic ethanol technologies and provide an update on POET's cellulosic initiative, Project Liberty, at the Infocast Cellulosic Ethanol Summit.

About POET. POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world, is an established leader in the biorefining industry through project development, design and construction, research and development, plant management, and marketing. Formerly known as Broin, the 20-year old company currently operates 21 production facilities in the United States with six more in construction or under development. The company produces and markets more than 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol annually. For more information, go to http://www.poetenergy.com.

The summit will be held on
October 15 to 17, 2007 in Washington, D.C.
It will bring high-level governmental,
agricultural, financial and commercial players
together to stimulate the cross-industry
relationships that will be critical
for our nation to achieve
biofuel objectives.

Project Liberty, the transformation of a 50 MGPY grain-to-ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa into an integrated corn-to-ethanol and cellulose-to-ethanol biorefinery, is jointly funded by POET and the United States Department of Energy.

Once complete, the facility will produce 125 million gallons of ethanol per year, of which 25 million gallons will be from corn fiber and corn cobs.

By adding cellulosic production to an existing grain ethanol plant, POET will be able to produce 11 percent more ethanol from a bushel of corn, 27 percent more from an acre of corn, while almost completely eliminating fossil fuel consumption and and decreasing water usage."

R-Squared Energy Blog: Ethanol from Biomass: A Sustainable Option?

Helge: Found Robert Rapier's blog this morning and have been reading it. He is very concerned that we are stumbling into the future unprepared for the formidable energy challenges ahead. More information to be found on his blog.

Let me introduce...

Robert Rapier

• Gender: Male
• Industry: Engineering
• Occupation: Chemical Engineer
• Location: Scotland : United Kingdom

About Me

The mission of R-Squared is to discuss a cornerstone of our society: Energy. I am very concerned that we are stumbling into the future unprepared for the formidable energy challenges ahead.

My career has been devoted to energy issues. I have worked on cellulosic ethanol, butanol production, oil refining, natural gas production, and gas-to-liquids (GTL).

I was born in Oklahoma, received my M.S. in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University, and recently left Montana for an assignment in Scotland.

Interests

• Alternative Energy
• Ethanol
• Biodiesel
• Wind Power
• Solar Power
• Peak Oil
• Biotechnology
• Science
• Biology

R-Squared Energy Blog: Ethanol from Biomass: A Sustainable Option?: "Ethanol from Biomass: A Sustainable Option? The Promise of Cellulosic Ethanol I have mentioned a couple of times the research I was involved in during graduate school.

I have provided a couple of links (under 'Links') that describe this research in detail. Briefly, we were trying to turn biomass (switchgrass, corn stover, wheat straw, and municipal solid waste) into ethanol and various organic acids and ketones.

Biomass consists of many organic components, but it is primarily the cellulose component that gets turned into ethanol, hence the term cellulosic ethanol.

Cellulosic ethanol has two major advantages, and one major disadvantage over ethanol from grain. The first major advantage is that large fossil fuel inputs in the form of fertilizer are not required to produce the biomass.

Therefore, cellulosic ethanol has a much better energy return on energy invested (EROI) than grain ethanol.

The second advantage is that the feed stock will be cheap, or even free (in the case of municipal solid waste, you can earn money by just accepting the waste).

The disadvantage, however, is the reason cellulosic ethanol has yet to make a major impact. The enzymes required to free the fermentable sugars from the cellulose are very expensive.

Historically, these enzymes have added as much as $5.00 a gallon to the cost of producing cellulosic ethanol.

However, substantial R&D efforts by a number of companies have brought the costs of these enzymes down to around $0.30 per gallon of ethanol."

The agricultural, biotech,
biorefinery developer
and financial communities
gather for the leading
industry building event

Helge: Robert's blog is great.

Andrew Kaduk said...

Robert, your stuff is GREAT! I am linking your page!

March 27, 2006 1:44 AM

Robert Rapier said...

Thanks for the compliment, Andrew. It means a lot. I had put off starting a blog for a long time, because I thought that there were so many out there, nobody would ever read it. I am glad to know some people are reading it.

Helge: Please, continue with the great work. I will read your blog in the future. I'm working with a global market research concerning international biotechnology microbiology process improvement needs. We've a talented group that is ready to deliver new solutions to improve energy efficiency and yield and yet provide cleaner waste waters from e.g. forestry industries. We try to figure out how read the global market is for a bio-based economy. The technology has been around for ages. New ideas and developments can improve existing processes. But we also need a new mindset. We've to look at the whole value chain. There is a need for a global community discussing the pro's and con's.

Cellulosic Ethanol Summit in Washington 15-17 October

Helge: Found this information. The summit is organized in Washington, DC October 15-17,2007. I guess, we would have to do something like this in Finland as well.

Cellulosic Ethanol Summit: "The agricultural, biotech, biorefinery developer and financial communities gather for the leading industry building event Building Bridges in the Cellulosic Value Chain About the Summit The Cellulosic Ethanol Summit has quickly established itself as the major place where all the communities in the cellulosic ethanol value chain come together in one location to discuss how to build a new national cellulosic ethanol industry.

Helge: The value chain. We've to understand the whole.

Again, this year, leaders from the agricultural, industrial biotech, biorefinery developer and financial communities will gather to share their communities' perspectives on what is needed to form an efficient and effective value chain to commercialize cellulosic ethanol production. No single community will be able to create a viable cellulosic ethanol industry.

Only through intense
cooperative efforts
will this be possible

This means that all the communities in the value chain will need to obtain a detailed understanding of the capabilities, challenges and needs of the other communities in the value chain in order for the industry to move forward.

Helge: Building the community, creating the knowhow, establishing a culture...

The Summit provides an important opportunity to initiate profound conversations between the various communities in the value chain and it provides a powerful venue where these communities can fully understand how to build links within the value chain that are necessary to make the cellulosic ethanol industry a reality."

Helge: Initiate profound conversations...The importance of dialog.

The Summit provides a unique forum where each community discusses their activities in getting prepared to support a national cellulosic ethanol industry, outlines the key technical, organizational, economic and financial challenges it faces and then identifies the types of relationships with others that need to be established to truly support its role in the value chain.

Helge: The relationships of parties involved. The advantage of open global innovation attitude.

The Summit also provides a rich opportunity for offline discussions, where everyone will have the chance to meet other groups from the value chain and to establish ongoing relationships, thus serving as a springboard for more profound relationship building in the future.

About the Pre-Summit Briefing

Developing a Feedstock Logistics Infrastructure
to Support the Cellulosic Ethanol Industry: Status and Outlook

As a prelude to the Summit, this all day briefing will provide an excellent opportunity for attendees to obtain a report on the status of industry activities to develop a feedstock logistics infrastructure for collecting and shipping large volumes of biomass to biorefineries.

Helge: The role of innovative information broadcasting...

A division of Information Forecast, Inc.,
A California Corporation

In our 20 years of experience designing hundreds of face-to-face educational conferences, we the people of Infocast have helped deliver the future to over fifty thousand attendees—through powerful insights, the highest quality information and the finest opportunities to interact with experts and peers. We pride ourselves that 75% of our revenues are from repeat customers.

ScienceDaily: Cellulosic Ethanol: Fuel Of The Future?

ScienceDaily: Cellulosic Ethanol: Fuel Of The Future?: "Among the most promising alternatives are fuels derived from biological material. Currently, the main biofuel used in the United States is ethanol distilled from kernels of corn. There are about 140 corn ethanol refineries nationwide, which produce more than 5 billion gallons a year.

But critics say that corn ethanol alone won't meet the president's goal of 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels in 10 years, because cultivating corn to use only its grain would take up too much land.

According to the National Environmental Trust, producing 35 billion gallons of ethanol annually would require putting an additional 129,000 square miles of farmland-an area roughly the combined size of Kansas and Iowa-into corn production."

Cellulosic Ethanol: Fuel Of The Future?

Science Daily — In his Jan. 23 State of the Union address, President George Bush outlined his plan to reduce the nation's dependency on foreign oil by requiring the production of 35 billion gallons a year of renewable and alternative fuels by 2017, roughly five times the current target set by Congress of 7.5 billion gallons by 2012.

Traditional Refinery:

Technology Review: Will Cellulosic Ethanol Take Off?

Technology Review: Will Cellulosic Ethanol Take Off?: "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.

1. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
2. Less fossil fuel
3. Productivity
4. Land use
   

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.)

GREATER PRODUCTIVITY

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.

IT WILL TAKE TIME TO REACH THE PRODUCTION TARGETS

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.

MASCOMA DEMONSTRATION FACILITY

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.

Helge: Finnish industry leaders forecast that we could have six (6) biodiesel plants in Finland in the future.

Cellulosic Ethanol

GREEN GOLD TAKES A NEW FORM

Cellulosic Ethanol: "May 2005 eNews Bulletin Creating Cellulosic Ethanol: Spinning Straw into Fuel by Diane Greer April, 2005 In the Grimm Brother's fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin spins straw into gold. Thanks to advances in biotechnology, researchers can now transform straw, and other plant wastes, into 'green' gold - cellulosic ethanol.

CHEMICALLY IDENTICAL

While chemically identical to ethanol produced from corn or soybeans, cellulose ethanol exhibits a net energy content three times higher than corn ethanol and emits a low net level of greenhouse gases. Recent technological developments are not only improving yields but also driving down production cost, bringing us nearer to the day when cellulosic ethanol could replace expensive, imported 'black gold' with a sustainable, domestically produced biofuel.

1. Yield
2. Production cost
3. Low level of greenhouse gases
4. Replacing expensive imported black gold
   

National Resources Defense Council

Cellulosic ethanol has the potential to substantially reduce our consumption of gasoline. 'It is at least as likely as hydrogen to be an energy carrier of choice for a sustainable transportation sector,' say the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Union of Concerned Scientists in a joint statement.

END OF OIL DEPENDENCE IN SIGHT?

Major companies and research organizations are also realizing the potential. Shell Oil has predicted 'the global market for biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol will grow to exceed $10 billion by 2012.' A recent study funded by the Energy Foundation and the National Commission on Energy Policy, entitled "Growing Energy: How Biofuels Can Help End America's Oil Dependence", concluded "biofuels coupled with vehicle efficiency and smart growth could reduce the oil dependency of our transportation sector by two-thirds by 2050 in a sustainable way."

Wood-based Ethanol Plant Slated for Georgia

Wood-based Ethanol Plant Slated for Georgia: "Khosla's technology has the possibilities of being a closed-loop system; supplying ethanol with a portion of the syngas (containing all of the elements of the beginning of earth).

The remainder can be used to power the plant and excess to the grid. This is revolutionary technology that has many other applications ... if the government (local, state and federal) can understand the complexity of the technology and correct current regulations to adapt to the reality of the green revolution!"

Author: Greg Shipley | Date Posted: 10. February 2007

Corny Biodiesel

I'm moving over material from my KYMIJOKI VIRTAA blog.

2007.04.01 01.30
Corny Biodiesel

If America’s corn continues to become ethanol, we’ll pay for it at the grocery store, and other places as well. With 113 ethanol plants operating and another 78 under construction or in the planning process, that prediction could come true.

1. Corn flakes
2. 2 500 items at your grocery store includes corn
3. The ethanol industry is eating the American's breakfast, lunch and dinner

• Cellulosic ethanol
• It might take five to ten years to produce it economically
• Ethanol is less efficient but it's much cleaner
• A marked drop of pollution
• We wind up with mix of energies
• We've only touched the tip of the ice berg

Microbiology

• Demand for biodiesel will rocket in the future if we want to continue to drive cars
• Mixing it with petroleum
• The need for agricultural land
• We have to do things differently
• Methabolically transformed
• Microbiodiesel
• Inserting genes into the...
• The scale and yield is not good enough yet
• Bacteria
• A little more clever application of microbiology might lead to get microbiodiesel at your tank

A paper published in Microbiology in September 2006 describes how Escherichia coli can be metabolically engineered to produce alkyl esters, which the authors dubbed “microdiesel” (Rainer Kalscheuer et al. Microdiesel: Escherichia coli engineered for fuel production. Microbiology 152: 2529-2536, 2006).

Stick to wood and forget the food

• Wood based biodiesel

Wood-based Ethanol Plant Slated for Georgia

The Author: David Adams Date Posted: 8. Februaru 2007

Wood-based Ethanol Plant Slated for Georgia: "I attended the Atlanta agri-business breakfast Wednesday where the announcement was made by Georgia Governor, Sonny Purdue. 'It's going to change the geo-political nature of the world when you can take a passive waste product like biomass from Georgia and turn it into an alternative fuel,' Purdue said.

Some experts question the readiness of Range Fuels' two-step thermo-chemical inversion process. Unlike other cellulosic processes, it does not use bacteria or enzymes. But Mandich told me the company is ready for commercial production.

Any technical difficulties have been overcome, the company says. With 24 million acres of forest land, Georgia certainly has no shortage of woody biomass. Forestry Commission officials say they have data showing there is enough wood waste potentially to produce up to two billion gallons of ethanol a year. That is more than one third of Georgia's total consumption of gasoline. - David Adams The Fueling Station"

Helge: A lot is happening around cellulosic ethanol which is a better alternative to corn based ethanol production.

Wood-based Ethanol Plant Slated for Georgia

Wood-based Ethanol Plant Slated for Georgia: "8. February 2007 Wood-based Ethanol Plant Slated for Georgia Company funded by Khosla Ventures eliminates the use of enzymes in cellulosic ethanol production.

Broomfield, Colorado & Palo Alto, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Wood waste from millions of acres of indigenous Georgia Pine will be the main source of biomass for a new cellulosic ethanol production facility in Treutlen County, Georgia.

The plant, being built by Colorado-based Range Fuels, Inc., will use a two-step thermo-chemical conversion process to convert biomass into a synthetic gas and then gas to ethanol. 'The production of cellulosic ethanol represents not only a step toward true energy diversity for the country, but a very cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels.

It is advanced weaponry in the war on oil.' -- Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures, managing partner Founded by Menlo Park, California-based Khosla Ventures, Range Fuels' (formerly Kergy, Inc.) business model is to design, build, own and operate its plants.

The company estimates that the new plant -- combined with others to follow -- will have the capacity to produce over 1 billion gallons of ethanol per year. 'The state of Georgia has provided us with an excellent opportunity to use its abundant renewable natural resources to help solve fuel issues for the country,' said Mitch Mandich."

The Finnish companies StoraEnso and NesteOil and the competitor UPM Kymmene and Andritz ar planning full scale biodiesel plants. Pilot units are on the planning board. StoraEnso's pilot will be located in Varkaus, Finland.

Khosla Ventures has funded the company's proprietary technology -- known as the K2 system -- eliminates the use of enzymes, which have been an expensive component of traditional cellulosic ethanol production, and transforms otherwise useless products such as wood chips, agricultural wastes, grasses, and cornstalks as well as hog manure, municipal garbage, sawdust and paper pulp into ethanol through a thermo-chemical conversion process.