Biomass Pre-Processing Centers
Research indicates that large biorefineries capable of handling 5000-10000MT of biomass per day are necessary to achieve process economies. However, such large biorefineries also entail increased costs of biomass transportation and storage, high transaction costs of contracting with a large number of farmers for biomass supply, potential market power issues, and local environmental impacts. We propose a network of regional biomass preprocessing centers (RBPC) that form an extended biomass supply chain feeding into a biorefinery, as a way to address these issues. The RBPC, in its mature form, is conceptualized as a flexible processing facility capable of pre-treating and converting biomass into appropriate feedstocks for a variety of final products such as fuels, chemicals, electricity, and animal feeds. We evaluate the technical and financial feasibility of a simple RBPC that uses ammonia fiber expansion pretreatment process and produces animal feed along with biorefinery feedstock.
Myths of ethanol
The age of oil is ending. Even if we could afford to borrow over $1
billion per day indefi nitely to import oil, we just can’t afford the cost
of our oil addiction in terms of national security dangers, environmental
damage and economic losses. Biofuels are among a small handful
of petroleum alternatives that can simultaneously provide enhanced
national security, environmental improvements and opportunities for
broad based economic growth.
Unfortunately, many myths and misconceptions exist about biofuels.
I will deal with some of the myths about ethanol, by far the dominant
current biofuel. These myths include: 1) the “people are going to
go hungry because of ethanol” myth, 2) the “there isn’t enough land
to produce enough ethanol anyway” myth, 3) the “it takes more energy
to make ethanol than you get from the ethanol” myth and 4) the
“ethanol will always be more costly than gasoline” myth.
Background on Ethanol Production. All fuel (and sippin’) ethanol
is the same. It is made by fermentation of sugars. The sugars
can come from sugar cane (Brazil), or from corn grain (U. S.).
“Second generation” ethanol, called cellulosic ethanol, will be produced
from the sugars in plant cell walls. Cellulosic ethanol can
be made from virtually anything that is or ever was a plant including:
wood chips, urban waste, straw, crop wastes, hay and yard
trimmings, and on and on. We can even grow “energy crops”:
Trees (willow and poplar are promising species) and highly productive
grasses such as switch grass and Miscanthus for their energy
content and then convert them to ethanol.
Cellulosic enzymes grant
DOE announced on February 26 its selection of four projects to develop improved enzymes for breaking down cellulosic biomass material into sugars, which can then be fermented into ethanol. The DSM Innovation Center, Genencor, Novozymes, Inc., and Verenium Corporation were all chosen by DOE for their proven ability to reduce the cost of ethanol by improving the performance of the enzymes. Among the many partners on the projects are four DOE national laboratories: Los Alamos National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories. For all four projects, DOE intends to invest up to $33.8 million over the next four years, subject to congressional appropriations, and when combined with the cost sharing from industry, up to $70 million will be invested in the effort.
Cellulosic ethanol is produced from a wide variety of non-edible plant materials, including corn stover, cereal straws, sawdust, paper pulp, and switchgrass. Cellulosic ethanol could be produced in every region of the country using locally grown materials, while producing a fuel that creates less greenhouse gases than corn-based ethanol. Within the last year, DOE has announced that it will invest $1 billion in biofuels research and development, $114 million in small-scale cellulosic refineries, $405 million in bioenergy centers, and $385 million in commercial-scale cellulosic refineries. See the DOE press release and DOE’s Biomass Program Web site.
