why we must (and how we can) have sustainable …...why we must (and how we can) have sustainable...
TRANSCRIPT
Why We Must (and how we can)
Have Sustainable Biofuels:
AFEX™ Pretreatment Nears Commercialization
Bruce E. Dale
University Distinguished Professor
Dept. of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
Michigan State University
www.everythingbiomass.org
Presented at:
2014 BIO Pacific Rim Meeting
San Diego, California
8 December 2014
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(Renewable) Energy is Critical for Human Well Being
1. Rate of energy use (rate of doing work) strongly affects (determines?)national wealth and opportunities for human development
2. All rich societies use a lot of energy (~33% oil)
3. Fossil energy use makes us rich today—what energy sources will make our children and grandchildren rich? Answer: fossil energy cannot, it will be gone in the next few decades….
4. How will the billions of poor people in the world ever access enough fossil energy to develop their potential? Answer: they cannot, it will be gone in the next few decades…
5. Therefore, we must have renewable energy— terawatts of it—in the next few decades
6. Of all forms of (renewable) energy, liquid fuels are the most valuable and most problematic in terms of supply, price and price volatility
7. “Peak oil” is already here- it arrived in 2005
8. Only large scale, low cost, low carbon energy sources can reduce GHGs, provide energy security and long term prosperity
9. Only biofuels can replace petroleum in all mobile applications
Power Consumption and GDP (World Regions)
Relationship between 2009 per capita primary energy consumption and GDP per capita for main regions of
Worldwide Crude Oil Production –
Subdivided into World Regions and Top 10 Producers in 2010
Data is from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2011 and the associated database:
Peak (Cheap) Oil
Comparative Value of U.S. Energy Sources over Time
Prices are adjusted to 2005 US$ using the GDP price deflator. All values are for domestic production. Coal is
Won’t “Tight Oil” Save Us?
Some Basic Energy Facts:
Why Liquid Fuels are So Important
• Services we need from energy (current primary sources of these services: fossil and renewable)
– Heat (natural gas, coal— solar, wind, geothermal, biomass)
– Light/electricity (coal, natural gas, hydro/nuclear– solar, wind, geothermal, biomass)
– Mobility (liquid fuels from oil—96%, some ethanol & biodiesel, & CNG)-most commerce
• All energy services (all BTU, ergs, GJ) are not created equal—we value mobility (=oil) above all other energy carriers
• Electricity/batteries can never provide more than about half of mobility needs—and they cannot support most commerce (trade)
• Commerce moves by trucks, ocean shipping, rail & jet aircraft
• Liquid fuels: not “energy” is the key economic security issue—and right now liquid fuels means refined oil products
• The only potentially sustainable, very large scale source of renewable liquid fuels is sustainable plant matter— or “biofuels”
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Biofuels: A crime against humanity?
• “[I]t's a crime against humanity to convert agricultural productive soil into soil... which will be burned into biofuel.”– Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur, 2007
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Agriculture and Biofuels:
we are not asking the right questions
• We are asking: Can we impose a large new demand for
biofuels on the existing agricultural system?
• We should be asking: Can we redesign US (and world)
agriculture to produce biofuels, food/feed & large, positive
environmental services?
• Would you enter the Indy 500 race driving a golf cart?
• Would you use a toothbrush to sweep the floor?
• Agriculture has changed before; it can change again
• Examine actual land uses: most land is used for animal feed
• We do not “grow food” – we grow animal feeds
• One solution: think about the whole system and use land
efficient animal feeds to increase sustainable biomass output
per acre
www.glbrc.org 10
ENERGY
WASTE GASES
BIOREFINERY BOVINE
160 L
PRETREATMENT
PROCESS
PRODUCTS
DAILY FEED
3 ML Rumen
Fermenter
Train
2 M kg
(2000 tons)
Physical/
Thermochemical
Enzymes Break
Down Fiber
Microbes
Ferment Sugars
Physical
Microbes
Convert Fiber
Volatile
Fatty AcidsCH4 &
CO2
Fuel
Molecules CO2
14 kg
www.glbrc.org 11
AFEX™ PretreatmentDeployment & Applications
James Wynn, Director Biobased Technology DeriskingBIO Pacific Rim Conference December 2014
501(c)(3), non-profit
Derisking and acceleration of biobased technologies
Focused on transitioning the AFEX™technology to commercial scale by
2017
Current Modality
Under-utilized agricultural
residues
AFEX™ Pretreatment
Bulk Density (kg/m3) Durability (%)
Untreated Corn Stover 50 N/A
AFEX Pellets 575 99.2
Corn grain 760 99.71
1 Boac et al. (2008) Aplied Engineering in Agriculture 24, 637-643
• AFEX3 process converts corn stover into a “corn grain”-like commodity
AFEX ™ Feedstock Versatility
AFEX ™ Pellets Are a Versatile, Tradable Commodity
AFEX ™ Pellets for Biorefinery Use
AFEX Depot
Biorefinery
• 50 – 200 tons/day of biomass• Draw from 5-10 mile radius• Multi depots per biorefinery• Utilize grain infrastructure• Lower cost solution for large
biorefineries
AFEX ™ Depots: Decentralized Biomass Processing
Fermentation Performance (3800L Scale)
Fermentation time (h)
Glu
cose
(g
/L),
Xyl
ose
(g/
L)
Ce
llob
iose
(g/L
),Et
han
ol (
g/L)
Productivity = ≈2.0 g/LhTiter = >50 g/LYield = 0.46 g/g glucose and xylose
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Zymomonas mobilis 8b,
Challenges/risks AFEX™
Are high-solid loadings possible, whilemaintaining high yields?
Are sugars fermentable?
Can the process run “clean, not sterile”?
Will fermentation hit process performancebenchmarks (TPY)?
Will the process scale-up effectively?*
*to 3000L pilot scale at MBI facility
AFEX ™ Pellets for Biorefinery Use
AFEX ™ Pellets for Cattle Feed Use
Weight Gain in Cattle Feed Trial
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
9/1 10/1 10/31 11/30 12/30 1/29 2/28
Cat
tle
we
igh
t (l
b)
Date
AFEX
Control
• AFEX-treated corn stover was palatable• The cows remained healthy• Comparable weight gain• Meat quality was not affected
Challenges/risks AFEX™
Will animals eat pellets?
Will animals eating the pellets stay healthy?
Will the animals gain weight?
Will the product quality be acceptable?
AFEX ™ Pellets for Cattle Feed Use
• AFEX™ is a scalable, low-CAPEX pretreatment for:
─ Agricultural residues─ Energy crops
• Densification produces pellets that are storable and transportable
• AFEX™ pellets have multiple applications
─ Cattle feed (beef and dairy)─ Bio-refinery feedstock (fuel and
chemicals)
