Current

1
Current Future Renewable Transportation Fuels
Ethanol Butanol

• Jonathan G. Overly, Executive Director
• East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition
• December 6, 2006
• EPA Emerging Fuels Workshop

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The Past 1 - U.S. Ethanol History (From EIAs
Ethanol Timeline)

• Pre-Civil War Ethanol is major illuminating oil
• 1862 Union Congress puts 2/gal excise tax to
  pay for war
• 1896 Henry Ford builds his first automobilethe
  quadricycleto run on pure ethanol
• 1906 Congress removes excise tax on ethanol
  (now a fuel!)
• 1908 Ford produced Model T it was a true FFV!!
• 1917-1918 World War I drives ethanol demand to
  50M gal
• 1920s Gasoline becomes motor fuel of choice
• 1930s Fuel ethanol gained a market in the
  midwest over 2,000 stations sold gasohol
• 1941-1945 Production increases but mostly due
  to non-fuel wartime uses

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The Past 2 - U.S. Ethanol History

• 1945-1978 With end of WWII, ethanol demand
  subsides considerably practically no fuel
  ethanol used
• 1974 Legislation leads to SERDD Act
  kick-starts development of conversion of
  cellulose and wastes into fuel
• 1975 Beginning of phase out of leaded gasoline
• 1979 First marketing of alcohol-blended fuels
  begins
• 1980-1984 First U.S. survey finds facilities exist producing 50M gal/yr Congress
  enacts tax benefits import tariff begins on
  imported ethanol tax benefit increased to
  0.50/gal
• 1984 Number of plants peaks at 163
• 1985 Only 74 plants remain producing 600M
  gal/yr petro prices so low that even very low
  price corn couldnt compete

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The Past 3 - U.S. Ethanol History

• 1988 First use as oxygenate CO mandates for CO
  reduction MTBE use begins as oxygenate
• 1990 After increase to 0.60/gal in 84,
  returns to 0.54/gal
• 1992 Blend called E85 defined as alternative
  transp. fuel
• 1997 Major automakers begin mass production of
  FFVs, but scarcity of stations leads to
  practically no use of E85
• 1999 Some states begin passing MTBE bans
• 2000 EPA recommends MTBE be phased out
• 2002 Automakers continue to produce large
  numbers of FFVs to meet EPAct 1992 with over 3M
  FFVs on the road
• 2003 18 states have banned MTBE, CA starts ban
  this puts ethanol production into overdrive due
  to precedent setting

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Ethanol - Ramping up from Past to Present
Largely due to low blends consumption for
replacing MTBE, not demand for E85
Equals about 1.2 billion gallons
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The Present - Ethanol Produced via Fermentation
In 2003, about 5 of world ethanol production was
from syngas, the other method made from fossil
fuels.
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Where does energy come from now?
Graph and table from the Billion Ton Study.
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The Present Todays Biofuels 1

• Right now, biofuels means ethanol and biodiesel
• In the USA in 2004, 25 million gallons of
  biodiesel were produced, while almost 4 billion
  gallons of ethanol were made
• Biodiesel will continue to grow, but even for the
  next 15 years, ethanol will be 90 of the
  biofuels total
• Biomass currently provides over 3 of total
  energy consumption in the U.S. (4 of
  production) industrial heat and steam by pulp
  paper industry and electrical gen. through forest
  residues and MSW are the bulk of that
• Biomass has surpassed hydropower as the largest
  source of domestic renewable energy

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The Present Todays Biofuels 2

• Corn is the main feedstock for ethanol today in
  the U.S.
• Sugar cane and sugar beets are the
  feedstocks most frequently used
  throughout the world
  they are the
  easiest crops to convert
• Other crops in use include wheat,
  sorghum, potatoes and beverage wastes
• Animal feed grain is the primary other
  product produced in ethanol
  production (Dry
  Distillers Grain, or DDG)
• Either wet mills or dry mills are in use
  dry mills dont make HFCS
• There are over 1,000 E85 stations in the U.S.
  today most large metro. areas use ethanol as the
  oxygenate additive

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The Present - Current World Ethanol Production
The Brazilian Model

• The Brazilian Model
• Through 30 years of research and development,
  Brazil has significantly developed its ethanol
  production from sugar crops they announced this
  year that they expect to soon be foreign
  oil-free very much GMO!
• Their pipelines were designed to be able to carry
  ethanol, and do today
• FFV in Brazil
  can run E100 down
  to E10 (must have
  at least 10
  ethanol)

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A brief note on Ethanols Life-cycle Efficiency

• Which path will prove most fruitful
• Fermentation (Honda and Iogen, DuPont and Broin),
  or
• Syngas (Abengoa)?

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Todays Ethanol Pros Cons

• PROS
• Cost competition largely depends on petro. and
  ethanol subsidies
• Easy to use and handle any gasoline vehicle can
  take E10
• With LD market in U.S. heavily leaning toward
  gas, is alternative option for that market (one
  of the few countries so heavy on gas)
• Renewable helps farmers
• Availability of FFVs growing (GM offers 9 models
  in 07!)
• FFVs are affordable, typically costing no more
  than a gas version
• Higher octane more power E85 is typically
  100-105
• CONS
• Reduced fuel economy (10-20 loss is typical)
• Higher blend requires vehicle capable of handling
  that alcohol
• Infrastructure may need some parts replaced or
  all new equip.

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Ethanol Summary

• There was a lot of vision in the past for
  ethanol, just got trumped by cheap and (then)
  abundant oil
• Ethanol grows again in Wartime but not for
  transportation fuel use, and post-war it subsides
• Ethanol production grows substantially in
  reaction to first oil shocks, but increase in
  petrol production (and decreases in its cost)
  turns the tide AGAIN against ethanol
• 4th try 21st century
• Will the carbohydrate economy ever come to
  fruition in the United States? We must
  decideNO MATTER WHAT THE PRICE OF PETROLEUMthat
  we will continue supporting ethanol fiscally
  (both research and purchase price) so that we can
  take this renewable, American fuel as far as it
  will go sticking to using American resources for
  its production

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The Future Step 1

• We must clearly understand that all signs point
  to the fact that we will NEVER COMPLETELY replace
  all our gasoline and diesel with ethanol (and
  biodiesel)
• We consume too much and adding usual case growth
  to that only makes it worse
• We must have all 3 legs to the stool
• increasing fuel economy,
• using ALL of the alternative fuels,
• and improve energy efficiency
  across the board
• to make substantial dents in our
  foreign oil dependence

Hybrid Poplars
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Billion Ton VisionBasis Assumptions

• Goal was set By 2030, biomass will supply 5 of
  the nations power, 20 of its transportation
  fuels and 25 of its chemicals
• That is equivalent to 30 of our current
  petroleum use, and will require 1 billion dry
  tons of biomass feedstock per year
• Largest single source of biomass is forestlands
  (no parks, roads)
• What assumptions?
• Yields of corn, wheat and other small grains
  increased by 50
• Residue-to-grain ratio for soybeans increased to
  21
• Harvest recovery capable of recovering 75 of
  annual crop residues
• All cropland managed with no-till methods
• 55M acres of cropland, idle cropland and cropland
  pasture dedicated to production of perennial
  bioenergy crops
• All manure used for biofuel (excluding that
  applied on-farm for soil improvement)
• All other available residues utilized

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Billion Ton Vision OK whats the summary?
Graph from the Billion Ton Study (manipulated by
Jonathan Overly).
An annual biomass supply of more than 1.3
billion dry tons can be accomplished with
relatively modest changes in land use and
agricultural and forestry practices.
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Switchgrass the cropof choicefor TN
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Ethanol Production - The BRI Process
Waste to Ethanol

• Feedstock Flexibility
• Net Power Producer

• Faster, Higher Yields
• Net Water Producer

• Environmentally
• Friendly

Ethanol
Power
Power
CO2, H2O
Turbine
Turbine
Syngas Fired Boiler
Steam
Steam
H2, CO
Gas Clean-up Cooling
Waste Heat Exchanger
Bioconversion Chamber
Syngas
Filter
Ethanol Distillation
Filter
Two-Stage Gasification
Feed Stock
CO, H2O, H2
Fermenter Purge
Metal, Glass, Inert Ash (15 of Original Volume)
Vitrified/Recycled/Land-filled
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Enter Biobutanol -Summary

• Originally produced by ABE fermentation about 90
  years ago from starch resources (corn and
  molasses)
• Shifted to petrochemical in 1950s as petro
  prices dropped
• Widespread current use as an industrial solvent
  (370 million gallons/yr world wide, U.S.
  accounts for 220 MM)
• Produces hydrogen as a by-product
• Very brief summary is that not much is really
  known about butanol as a fuel, from a rigorous
  analytical perspective emissions testing or
  even long-term impacts on vehicle life
• Very little testing is going on right now, but
  things are at least getting started via BP
  DuPont

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Biobutanol - BP DuPont

• Started collaborating on biobutanol in 2003
• Will come to market with biobutanol in 2007 in
  the U.K. (as gasoline biocomponent)
• Their desire is to become the world leader in
  biofuels production
• They are doing life-
  cycle analysis to
  
  determine well-to-
  wheel
  greenhouse
  gas benefits
• Personally, I think
  they need to
  focus
  more on the rest of
  
  the emissions profile

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Biobutanol as compared to ethanol

• Greater energy density
• Six times less evaporative
• Can be shipped through pipelines
• Can be used as 100 replacement
  for gasoline
• Can be used in current gas vehicles
  as 100 with no
  modification
• For same amount of corn, can get
  more energy as fuel out
  (bushel of corn butanol)
• However
• Toxicity - more than ethanol yet less than
  gasoline/methanol (need to address potential for
  butanol in groundwater)

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Enzymatic Breakdown of Cellulosic Stock

• There are 2 ways to make alcohol from cellulose
• Hydrolysis breaks cellulose chains into sugar
  molecules that are then fermented and distilled
  2 ways to hydrolyze
• Chemical - uses an acid
• Enzymatic - cellulase enzyme (there are several
  types of this enzyme)
• Gasification turns the lignocellulosic raw
  material into syn gas (H2 and CO part.
  combustion) which is then fed in to a catalyst
  bed
• There are several stages in the enzymatic
  process pre-treatment, hydrolysis, lignin
  separation, yeast fermentation, distillation
• Enzyme producers are Iogen (Canadian), Genecor,
  Novozymes, Dyadic International (genetically
  engineered-fungi that produces large quantities
  of cellulase)

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Enzymatic Breakdown ofCellulosic Stock

• In lieu of producing and recovering the enzymes
  separately, it is possible to use bacteria to do
  the hydrolysis and fermentation
• Since cellulose cannot be digested by humans (it
  is by cows), it does not compete with the human
  food production the price is then typically
  much cheaper
• Current cost of producing cellulosic ethanol is
  2.25/gallon U.S. research target is
  to
  get down to
  1.07/gallon by 2012
  
  (as told to the U.S.
  senate
  in June 06)

Model of a cellulase enzyme
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