BiofuelsNow and Tomorrow

Tom Williams

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

FLC Far West / Mid-Continent Meeting

September 2005

The National Bioenergy Center

• Focused on achieving DOE goals– Reduce dependence on oil– Build U.S. bioenergy industry– Reduce global warming

• Argonne National Laboratory• Idaho National Laboratory• National Renewable Energy Laboratory• Oak Ridge National Laboratory• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

• The National Bioenergy Center is a virtual center created to advance technologies for producing fuels, chemicals, materials, and power from biomass.

• It supports the science and technology goals of the Department of Energy’s Biomass Program by working with a multi-laboratory consortium of:

Environmental Benefit of Biofuels

Wood chips Switch grass

Poplar trees

Sugar cane residueMunicipal Solid Waste

Alfalfa

Biomass Resources

From 2000 Supply Curve by ORNL From 2000 Supply Curve by ORNL

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Mill

ion

dry

to

ns

per

yea

r

$20 $30 $40 $50 GigatonVision

Forest Residues (and thinnings)

Urban Wastes

Ag Residues (and grain crops)

Mill Residues

Energy Crops

3.5 billion 3.5 billion BOEBOE

2005 Study

U.S. Biomass Resources

While the growing need for sustainable electric power can be met by other renewables…

The Unique Role of Biomass

… biomass is our only renewable source of C-based fuels and chemicals

Biomass Benefits

• Abundant

• Renewable

• Carbon-neutral

• Available worldwide

• Only sustainable source of hydrocarbons

Biomass can:• Be used with the existing petroleum

infrastructure• Fill the gap between energy

demand and petroleum availability.

Established and Emerging Bioenergy Markets

– Co-firing, CHP, and small modular power – Sugar, corn & lignocellulosic ethanol– Biodiesel and bio-based lubricants– FTL’s as diesel substitute (Europe)– DME as a substitute for LPG (Asia)

• Longer-term potential diesel substitute– BTX and aryl ethers from biomass lignin

• Gasoline blending• Chemicals

– Biobased plastics and resins (co-product)

Biomass Electricity

• Direct combustion – 9700 MWe• Cofiring with Coal – 400 MWe• Biomass gasification

– Small 3-5 kW systems in field verification tests

– Larger systems demonstrated

Source: U.S. Climate Change Technology Program. Technology Options. DOE/PI-0002, November 2003 Small Modular Gasification System

Biomass Gasification

Ethanol

Current ethanol sources

• Made from the starch in corn kernels

• Available in blended motor fuels

• Cost ~ $1.22/gal

Advanced feedstocks

• Made from cellulosic materials – corn stalks, rice

• Technology under development

• Cost ~ $2.73/gal $1.32/gal

• Near-term use as a fuel blend

• Longer-term as a bulk fuel will require energy crops

Basics of Biomass Chemistry

and the

Evolution of Biorefineries

Starch: 70-75% (Corn) Readily hydrolyzed Basis for existing U.S. ethanol plants Easily separable and fermentable to fuels & chemicals

Oil: 4-7% (Corn) 18-20% (Soybeans) Readily separable from feedstock Starting material for clean biodiesel Readily converted via chemical routes

Protein: 20-25% (Corn) 80% (Soybean Meal) Mostly used as a feed Underutilized as a polymer building block Potential feedstock for chemicals and resins

Key Constituents of Edible BiomassKey Constituents of Edible Biomass

OH

OHO

O

OH

OH

OHO

O

OH

OH

OHO

O

OH

OH

OHO

O

OH

OH

OHO

O

OH

OH

OHO

O

OH

OH

OHO

O

OH

7

7

7O O

O

O O

O

CH3CH3

CH3

O

NH

O

O

O

O

NH

OHO

NH

O

NH

NH2

O

NH

SHO

O

O

NH

NHN

O

NH

S

O

NH

OH

Lignin: 15-25% Complex aromatic structure Very high energy content Resists biochemical conversion

Hemicellulose: 23-32% Xylose is the 2nd most abundant

sugar in biosphere Polymer of 5C and 6C sugars Readily hydrolyzed

Cellulose: 38-50% Most abundant form of C in biosphere Polymer of glucose Resistant to hydrolysis

LignocelluloseLignocelluloseConstituentsConstituents

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HOHO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HOHO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

OHO

HO

H3CO

OH

OCH3

OCH3

O

O

O

OH

OCH3

OCH3

H3CO

OO

HO

H3CO

HO

OCH3

OCH3

OHO

HO

H3CO

OH

OCH3

OCH3

O

O

OH

OCH3

OCH3

OCH3

O

O

O

OH

HO

O

O

O

O

OH

HO

OH

OH

O

O

O

OH

HO

OH

OH

O

O

O

OH

HO

OH

OH

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HOHO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HOHO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

O

OO

OH

OH

OH

HO

HO

OHO

The Biorefinery Concept

Focus on Conversion Processes to Enable Integrated Biorefineries

StarchHydrolysis Fermentation

of Sugars

Glucose ProductRecovery

Starch

FermentableSugars

• Ethanol• Chemicals

• Food Products• Animal Feed

Products

Focus on Conversion Processes to Enable Integrated Biorefineries

StarchHydrolysis

LignocellulosicBiomass

Fermentation of Sugars

Glucose

C5 Sugar(s)

C5/C6 Sugars

Pre-treatment

CelluloseHydrolysis

ProductRecovery

Starch

FermentableSugars

• Ethanol• Chemicals

• Food Products• Animal Feed

Products

Focus on Conversion Processes to Enable Integrated Biorefineries

StarchHydrolysis

Thermo-chemicalConversionLignocellulosic

Biomass

LigninResidue

Fermentation of Sugars

Glucose

C5 Sugar(s)

C5/C6 Sugars

Pre-treatment

CelluloseHydrolysis

ProductRecovery

Starch

FermentableSugars

• Ethanol• Chemicals

• Heat & Power• Fuels & Chemicals

Pyrolysis Oil Syn Gas

• Food Products• Animal Feed

Products

Economic Projection for Lignocellulosic Ethanol

Enzymatic Hydrolysis PartnershipNREL has worked with Genencor & Novozymes for 4 years– Focusing on enzyme biochemistry, cost, and specific activity– Investigating the interaction of biomass pre-treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis

The RESULT: G.T. 10-fold reduction in cost contribution of enzymes ($/gal EtOH)

-1

+1

+2

-2

cellodextrin

Y82

CBH1 from T. reesei

E1 from A. cellulotiticus

Integrated Biorefinery Partnership Dupont-DOE Integrated Corn Biorefinery

• Goal: Process Design Package for farmers to produce

ethanol, chemicals and power from entire corn plant

• 4-yr R&D project timeline • $38 million (50% from Dupont)

IntegratedCorn

Biorefinery(ICBR)

corn

corn stoverpower

bioethanol

chemicals400%AAGR

Driven by ethanol and

demand for Dupont’s SoronaTM

polyester