Development of Cellulosic Biofuels

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Development of Cellulosic Biofuels
Chris Somerville Energy Biosciences Institute UC
Berkeley, LBL, University of Illinois
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The Energy Biosciences Institute(www.energybiosci
encesinstitute.org)

• 500M committed over 10 years
• Research mandate to explore the application of
  modern biological knowledge to the energy sector
• Cellulosic fuels
• Petroleum microbiology (bioremediation,
  biosouring, corrosion, recovery)
• Biolubricants

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Combustion of biomass can provide carbon neutral
energy
Sunlight
CO2
Photosynthesis
Combustion
Biomass
Work
It depends on how the biomass is produced and
processed
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Net GHG emissions from various fuels
From Americas Energy Future, NAS 2010
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Overview of Brazil sugarcane

• 8 M Ha planted in 2009
• 27 B liters ethanol, 2009
• 80-120 T/Ha
• 6400 L ethanol/Ha
• 429 mills
• Plantings last 5-12 y
• Large mill
• 22,000 tons/day
• 750 truck loads/day

http//english.unica.com.br/content/show.asp?cntCo
de D6C39D36-69BA-458D-A95C-815C87E4404D
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Primary uses of US corn
USDA Economic Information Bulletin 79, 2011
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Renewable Fuel Standard(Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007)
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Biodiesel
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General Advanced
Cellulosic Advanced
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Conventional
Previous RFS
Advanced
25
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Biofuel Volume (billion gallons)
15
10
5
0
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Year
8
US Biomass inventory 1.3 billion tons
Wheat straw
26 B gals

Corn stover
6.1
Soy
19.9
6.2
Crop residues
7.6
Grains
5.2
Manure
4.1
Urban waste
2.9
Perennial crops
35.2
Forest
12.8
45 B gals
From Billion ton Vision, DOE USDA 2005
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Napier grass A potential energy crop(One-year
old crop growing in Florida, photographed in
October 2009)
Courtesy of Brian Conway, BP
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An energy crop
Yield of 26.5 tons/acre observed by Young
colleagues in Illinois, without irrigation
Courtesy of Steve Long et al
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Crop models for biomass production indicate
advantaged regions for biomass production
Fernando E. Miguez Steve Long German Bollero
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Harvesting Miscanthus
http//bioenergy.ornl.gov/gallery/index.html
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Response of Miscanthus to nitrogen fertilizer
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N0
N60
15
N120
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Yield (t/HA)
5
0
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Year
Christian, Riche Yates Ind. Crops Prod. (2008)
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Private forests are extensive
Alig Butler (2004)USDA Forest Service
PNW-GTR-613
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Land Usage
AMBIO 23,198 (Total Land surface 13,000 M Ha)
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More than 1.5 billion acres of degraded or
abandoned land is available for cellulosic crops
Cai, Zhang, Wang Environ Sci Technol 45,334
Campbell et al., Env. Sci. Technol. (2008)
42,5791
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Agave in Madagascar
Borland et al. (2009) J. Exp. Bot.
doi10.1093/jxb/erp118
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Summary of Syngas-Liquids Processes
Richard Bain, NREL
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Ethanol Production Flowchart
Cellulose Process
Corn Process
Sugar Cane Process
Ethanol
Distillation
Drying
Ferment-ation
Sugar
SugarCane
Co-Product Recovery Animal Feed Chemicals
Starch Conversion (Cook or Enzymatic
Hydrolysis)
CornKernels
Cellulose Conversion Hydrolysis
Cellulose Pretreatment
Cellulose

• Miscanthus
• Switchgrass
• MSW
• Forest Residues
• Ag Residues
• Wood Chips

ThermochemicalConversion

• Heat and Power
• Fuels and Chemicals

Slide Courtesy of Bruce Dale
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Projected costs of gasoline from various sources
From Americas Energy Future, NAS 2010
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Breakdown of Capital Costs for NREL Biorefinery
Source Paul Willems from NREL design, May 2011
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Batch processes have many inefficiencies
Unused capital
Catalyst Loss Wastewater Boiler
Fuel accumulation
Sugar concentration
Time
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Hypothetical alternative scenario
Biomass grinding
Lignin removal
Enzyme recovery
fermentation
Enzymatic digestion
Fuel separation and volume adjustment
Solvent recovery
Enzyme production
Fuel use
Lignin use
Waste management
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Classical paradigm for the enzymatic degradation
of insoluble polysaccharides
Endo
Exo-processive
Gustav Vaaje-Kolstad, Bjorge Westereng, Svein
Horn, Zhanliang Liu, Hong Zhai, Morten Sorlie,
Vincent Eijsink (2010) Science 330 219-222
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Discovery of a novel enzyme class (CBM33 GH61)

• CBM33s are monooxygenases that introduce chain
  breaks on the surfaces of crystalline
  polysaccharides, including cellulose. They act
  synergistically with standard hydrolytic enzymes.
• Their activity can be boosted dramatically by
  adding external electron donors.
• Fungal GH61 proteins do approximately the same.

G. Vaaje-Kolstad et al., Science 330219-222
(2010)
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Sources of biodiesel
CRC Report AVFL-17
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Major types of components of FACE9A diesel
CRC Report FACE-1
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Routes to potential fuels
Fortman et al, Trends Biotechnology 26,375
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Concluding comments

• There appears to be significant underutilized
  land but expanded demand for land will require
  improved management of all land uses
• Cellulosic biofuels can contribute but are not
  large enough to be a solution to the
  energy/climate problem
• There are not technical barriers to production
  but there are many opportunities to fundamentally
  improve the production and diversification of
  biofuels
• Engineering and finance are the rate limiting
  step

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The Future
http//genomicsgtl.energy.gov/biofuels/index.shtml