The Future of Biofuels in Alabama

1
The Future of Biofuels in Alabama
Larry Fillmer Executive Director AU Natural
Resources Management Development
Institute October 2008
2
The Road We Are Traveling Today

• Economy
• We send over 700 billion per year across our
  borders for oil
• U.S. thinks of itself as a bastion of
  productivity we use twice as much energy per
  unit of output as our European competitors
• National Security
• U.S. imports 65 of its oil
• Oil supplies vulnerable to regional geopolitical
  instabilities
• World consumes about 2 barrels for every barrel
  discovered
• Took 125 years to use a trillion barrels second
  trillion will take 30 years
• Demand growing rapidly in Asia and other
  developing countries

Source Dr. Jim Fischer
3
What Does Energy Independence Look Like?

• Brazil Ethanol
• 90 of cars are flex fuel
• Sugar cane is the regionally appropriate
  feedstock
• 30 Years Experience
• Continuous Process 24/7/365
• Typical Ethanol Operation 50 Million Gallons
  /year

4
Alabamas Abundant Natural Resources

• Alabama has 22 million acres of forestland in
  sustainable production today
• 14.6 million tons of unused forest residue and
  unmerchantable timber are generated each year in
  Alabama
• An additional 15 million tons of biomass could be
  produced from dedicated agricultural energy crops
  to provide an additional 2 billion gallons of
  fuel annually
• 25 million gallons per year of ethanol can be
  produced from the sludge generated by Alabamas
  pulp and paper mills
• 130 million gallons per year of liquid fuel can
  be generated from Alabamas municipal wood waste

5
Challenges for Developing Alabamas Bioeconomy
depend on

• Application of sustainable practices for
  production of biomass feedstocks
• Development and implementation of cost effective
  systems to produce, harvest, process, and
  transport biomass feedstocks
• Advancement of core technologies dealing with the
  separation, purification, and conversion of
  biomass components to a range of products
• Public policies and development of appropriate
  legislation to foster a bioeconomy

6
Achieving the Vision

• State of the art educational programs producing
  graduates able to advance a new bioeconomy
• Cooperative RD and extension programs leading to
  demonstration and commercialization projects
• Highly coordinated infrastructure of RD and
  extension facilities

7
Auburn Signature Efforts

• Biomass feedstock production logistics
• Biomass harvesting, handling, densification,
  transportation
• Biofuel production
• Pretreatment and fermentation methods for
  cellulosic biomass to ethanol
• Biomass gasification and gas-to-liquids processes
  to produce synthetic diesel fuel, gasoline, and
  aviation fuel
• Biofuel testing and certification
• Energy Partners Program - small-scale systems
  for use by farms, businesses, and municipalities
• Biodiesel production
• Gasification / heat and power generation

8
By the year 2025

• An expanded bioenecomy in Alabama founded on
  sutainable, integrated food-fiber-fuel farming
  systems resulting in
• 2.5 billion gallons per year of liquid fuel
  produced from lignocellulosic feedstocks
• 15 million tons per year of biomass for power
  generation
• 15 new biorefineries specializing in liquid fuel
  productions from sources such as municipal solid
  waste, urban wood waste, and other regionally
  appropriate energy crops
• Bioeconomy linked with the states other
  enterprise sectors and
• 5000 new jobs.