Biofuel reflex

Biofuels

Biofuels are being debated for their environmental and humanitarian impact.

Road Transport and CO2 Emissions

Road transport contributes significantly to global CO2 emissions:

• 20% of global CO2 emissions.
• 23% in the UK.
• The UK has 29 million cars, with 620 million cars globally.
• There are 3.8 million commercial vehicles in the UK.

Fuel efficiency improved in new cars from 1997 to 2018:

• Diesel cars: increased from 40 to 57.9 mpg.
• Petrol cars: increased from 34 to 50.5 mpg.

The future of transport fuels is debated:

• Hydrogen?
• Biofuels?
• Electric cars?

Fuel consumption in the UK in 2018 (MT):

• Diesel: 24.6
• Petrol: 11.6
• Aviation: 12.3

Hydrogen as a Fuel (H2)

The viability of hydrogen as a fuel is questioned:

• "H2ype or H2ope??"
• Types of hydrogen: Green, Grey, or Blue H2.

Currently, around 70 MT of H2 are produced globally, mainly for:

• Fertilizer manufacture.
• Methanol production.
• Removing impurities during oil refining.

Hydrogen production methods:

• Grey H: 96% of H2 produced using fossil fuels by steam reformation.
• 4% from electrolysis of water (at ~$1/kilo).
• Blue H: Uses natural gas, requiring CO2 capture (CCS).
• Green H: Uses renewable energy for electrolysis (4 per kilo), or via gasification & fermentation of biomass.

Storage Challenges:

• Leakage from metal containers.
• Graphene (single layer of graphite) is an option (200x stronger than steel).

Electric Cars

Challenges for electric cars:

• Charging points availability.
• Recycling of batteries – massive scale-up of recycling facilities needed.

Electric car sales are increasing:

• 2020 UK electric car sales up by 186% to 108,000 (although new car sales down by 29%).
• The UK's best-selling car in December 2020 was the Tesla 3.
• Sale of new petrol & diesel cars banned in UK from 2030.

Global use of battery electric vehicles from 2016 to 2021.

Global electric car registrations & market share 2015-20 (Source: IEA 2021).

Battery electric vehicles are fully electric, while plug-in hybrids have both a battery and an internal combustion engine.

Biofuels: An Overview

Biofuels are substitute transport fuels made from renewable, organic materials, offering an alternative to fossil fuels in petrol & diesel engines.

• Predominantly biodiesel & bioethanol but can also include biogas, hydrogen, biobutanol, etc.
• Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly (biodegradable) alternative/additive to diesel for cars, lorries, buses, ships, etc.
• Bioethanol is an additive/alternative to petrol/gasoline.

Biodiesel and Bioethanol Blends

Typically a 5/95 blend biofuel/fossil fuel is used.

• Germany approved E10 in 2011, the UK in Sept 2021.
• E85 – used in Ford Focus, Saab 9-5 BioPower (engine modification required).
• Biodiesel 20/80 – concerns about vehicle warranty.
• Biodiesel in commercial vehicles – sometimes 100%?
• B20 from babassu nuts & coconut was used to power the first Virgin flight (22 tonnes biodiesel - 150,000 coconuts).

Energy Content Comparison

Energy content of gasoline and replacements:

• Gasoline: 32.5 MJ l-1
• Biomethanol: 15.2 MJ l-1
• Bioethanol: 21.5 MJ l-1
• Biobutanol: 29.2 MJ l-1

Alcohol Fuel: CnH{2n+1}OH

• The larger n, the higher the energy density.
• Methanol, Ethanol, Propanol, Butanol: CH3OH, C2H5OH, C3H7OH, 2C4H_9OH
• Ethanol is corrosive to some parts of fuel delivery systems.

Reasons for Biofuels

• Environmental benefits.
• Fuel security.
• Agriculture: Alternative markets for farmers.
• Transport is a major contributor to global CO2 emissions.
• Rising oil prices and political instability.

The Need for Biofuels

• Reduce GHG emissions.
• Decarbonise transport.
• Diversification of fuel supply sources.
• Development of long-term replacements for fossil oil.

Global Oil Consumption

Annual oil consumption, measured in terawatt-hour (TWh) equivalents, broken down by region (Africa, South & Central America, Middle East, CIS, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific) from 1965-2020.

• Source: Statistical Review of World Energy - BP (2021)
• Note: CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) is an organization of ten post-Soviet republics in Eurasia following break-up of the Soviet Union.

Biofuel Technology Generations

• 1st generation technology:
  • Transesterification of vegetable oil-based crops.
  • Hydrolysis/fermentation of sugar/starch crops.
• 2nd generation technology:
  • Wider range of feedstocks.
  • Biochemical conversion of lignocellulose materials.
  • Thermochemical conversion, Gas/F-T & pyrolysis.

EU Biofuels Directive (2003/30/EC)

• Target 2% biofuel use by 2005, 5.75% by 2010 & 10% by 2020.
• UK achieved 0.3% by 2005, 0.53% by 2006 & 3.5% by 2011.

Policy Drivers to promote biofuels:

• Obligation 14% biofuel use by 2030 in all EU Member states.
• EU cap on amount of biofuel that can come from food-based crops (i.e. 1st generation) via RED of 1st Jan 2022 which imposes a maximum of 3% by 2026 and 2% by 2032.

Excise Duty Reduction

Excise duty on fossil fuels (Dec 2003 47 ppl)

• UK Govt introduced a: 20 ppl reduction on biodiesel in 2002, 20 ppl reduction on bioethanol in 2005.
• Excise duty reduction was then removed in April 2010.

UK policies to meet EU Biofuel Directive:

• Excise Duty reduction
• Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO)

Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO)

Obligation for all fuel suppliers to supply an increasing % of fuel as biofuel (buy out penalty 30ppl).

• Certificates (RTFCs) issued to companies based on their renewable fuel sales/usage & are tradeable.
• Works in same way as RO scheme for electricity.
• RTFO targets:
  • 5% by 2010 (subsequently delayed to 2014 in response to the Gallagher Review i.e. economic impacts of biofuels).
  • 7.25% by April 2018
  • 9.75% by 2020
  • 12.4% by 2032
  • Crop-based biofuels limited to 4% in 2020 and 2% in 2032

UK Biofuel Usage

Biodiesel accounted for 82% of biofuels used (April 08-April 09).

UK biofuel feedstocks for the first 12 months of RTFO.

RTFO target of 5% biofuel by 2010 aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 2.5% equivalent to taking 1 Million cars off the road.

Waste and Recycled Materials

Decline in biodiesel produced from virgin oils with more UCO consumed.

RED (January 2012) - 1 tonne of biodiesel produced from waste/recycled materials e.g. UCO counts as 2 tonnes of biodiesel towards the biofuel mandate.

Biofuels accounted for 3.3 % of road transport fuel during Q1 of 2015, bioethanol 53.7 % (4.7% of total gasoline), biodiesel 46.3% (2.4% of total diesel).

Feedstock Use in the UK (2021)

Biodiesel:

• Used Cooking Oil
• Tallow
• Oilseed Rape
• Soy
• Other Biodiesel

Bioethanol:

• Corn
• Starch Slurry
• Wheat
• Sugar Cane
• Sugar Beet
• Other Bioethanol
• Other

German Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel production capacity in Germany (M tonnes).

• 2006 in Germany: Diesel 28.2 MT, Petrol 21.8 MT, biodiesel 2.5 MT (8.8% of diesel sales) with 1500 fuel stations selling B100.

EU biodiesel production in 1000 tonnes by country (Czech Republic, other, Spain, UK, Italy, France, Germany) from 2003-2007.

European Biodiesel Capacity

European Biodiesel capacity in 000 tonnes from 2004 to 2012 for various countries:

• Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Spain, Denmark, UK, Sweden.
• Total (EU-27).

EU Biodiesel Excise Duties (Dec 2003)

Diesel excise duty vs. Biodiesel excise duty (ppl) for:

• UK, Germany, Sweden, Austria, France, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark
• France, Netherlands, Austria subsequently moved from excise duty reduction to a RTFO system

German Biodiesel Taxation

German Biodiesel taxation (cent/litre) from Pre-Aug 2006 to 2013.

Biofuel Technology- 1st Generation

• Transesterification of oil crops.
• Hydrolysis/fermentation of sugar/starch crops.

Biodiesel Feedstocks

Feedstocks for biodiesel:

• Rapeseed
• Palm Oil
• Soybean
• Jatropha
• Sunflower
• Waste Cooking Oil
• Tallow

Different oils affect fuel characteristics, especially cold weather properties.

Jatropha Curcas

Considerable interest in Africa/Asia.

• Oil yield of 2.7t/ha but large year-to-year variation.
• Can grow for 50 years & produces oil in 2nd year.
• Difficult to cultivate/harvest because bush habit & fruits ripen asynchronously.
• Seed contains 30-35%, kernel 45-65% oil.
• Can be grown on barren but not completely arid land as needs water/nutrients to maintain productivity, but no competing food uses.

Biodiesel Production via Transesterification

CH2O-R3 \frac{1}{2} CHOH-R2 \frac{1}{2} CH2OH-R1 + 3CH3OH \rightarrow CH3 – O – C – R3 \atop CH3 – O – C – R2 \atop CH3 – O – C – R1 + CH2OH \frac{1}{2} CHOH \frac{1}{2} CH2OH

Triacylglycerol + Methanol = Biodiesel + Glycerol

Biodiesel is a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME).

Reduced viscosity when compared with vegetable oil.

Cold Weather Properties of Biodiesel

• Cold Filter Plugging Point (CFPP) – temperature at which molecules become large enough to block the pores of a fuel filter (normally 10 micron).
• Cloud point (CP) – temperature at which a permanent cloud appears due to crystallisation.

Biodiesel Properties from Vegetable Oils

Properties of biodiesel from vegetable oils:

• Rapeseed, Sunflower, Soybean, Palm, Jatropha
• CP, CFPP, SFA %, Monounsaturated %

Bioethanol Production

Bioethanol (C2H5OH) produced from fermentation of plant material with high sugar/starch content e.g. sugar cane, maize, sugar beet, wheat, etc.

Ligno-cellulosic material – 2nd generation biofuels.

World Fuel Ethanol Production graph from 1975 to present, showing production in million litres by region (other, EU, China, Brazil, USA).

Global Bioethanol Production

• Brazil 26.9 B litres in 2015 - 20% of total transport fuel consumption (mostly E22).
• US 49 B litres in 2010 accounting for 57% of world bioethanol and 55.6 B l in 2015.
• US a net exporter in 2010.

World ethanol production by country in 2017 (US, Europe, China, India, Canada, Rest of world).

Brazil Fuel Alcohol Programme

The Brazilian government launched a bioethanol programme, National Fuel Alcohol Programme (Proálcool) in 1975.

• Launched in response to 1970’s oil crisis.
• Policy mandated that all gasoline sold in Brazil contains 22–25% ethanol.
• By 2008 there were 378 ethanol production plants in Brazil.
• The Brazilian car manufacturing industry developed flexi-fuel vehicles that can run on any proportion of gasoline (E20-E25) & hydrous ethanol (E100).

US Biofuel Policies

US Biofuel Production and future targets:

• US Energy Policy Act of 2005 introduced a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) - mandate for 57 B Litres (15 B US gallons) of grain ethanol by 2015 to replace 10% of gasoline.
• Mandate for 136 B litres (36 B gallons) of ethanol by 2022.

US Bioethanol Support mechanisms:

• Fuel suppliers receive a 45 cent tax credit for every gallon of ethanol they blend
• Importers of ethanol into the US are required to pay a 54 cent/gallon tariff.
• Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) makes it mandatory for fuel suppliers to blend ethanol in their fuel.

US Bioethanol Exports

US Bioethanol exports 2012-2021 by Country (Canada, South Korea, India, European Union, China, Brazil, Mexico, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Colombia)

The Trump Effect on Biofuels

Jan 2017 “Use as much fossil fuel as possible. We must take advantage of the estimated 50 trillion in untapped shale, oil & natural gas reserves, especially those on federal lands that the American people own.”

Jan 2025 “We will drill, drill, drill”

European Bioethanol Production

Bioethanol production in Europe (million litres) from 2007 to 2014 by Country (Benelux, Germany, France, Spain, UK, Austria, Poland, Other).

Fuel ethanol production by country in European Union 2021, with a forecast for 2022 (million litres) for France, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Austria.

Feedstock Used in EU Ethanol Production

Feedstock used in fuel ethanol production in the EU from 2014-21 with forecast to 2022 (in 000 metric tons).

UK Bioethanol Production Facilities

• Ensus, Teesside
• Vivergo, Hull
• Vireol, Immingham
• British Sugar, Wissington

Wissington Bioethanol Plant

• 1st UK bioethanol plant opened Nov 2007 at Wissington, Norfolk. 70 million litres p.a. using 110,000 tones sugar beet

*Ensus Refinery outputs:
* 340,000t high-protein animal feed(DDGS)
* 410m litres bioethanol - Shell
* 340,000 t CO2 - sold to Yara for food & drink use
* Refinery - 1.2 MT wheat/annum ~ 3,000 t/day, 150 lorries/day 6am - 6pm
* 30,000 t of grain storage capacity (10 day supply)
* 7,000 t store for DDGS
* Conversion of grain to bioethanol in 72 hours
* 67 people employed
* Closure Nov 2018 – low bioethanol price. Re-opened March 2019 at reduced capacity
*Vivergo
* 1.1 MT wheat
* 420 M litres bioethanol - BP
* 500,000 tonnes animal feed
* BP sold it’s 47% stake in May 2015 to Associated British Foods
* Vivergo – shut down at the end of 2017 – lack of E10 roll-out, re- opened April 2018 & finally closed September 2018 (lack of government support for biofuels over last 10 years), re-opened early 2022 following UK adoption of E10
* Commissioned 8th July 2013, full-scale production Dec 2014

Bioethanol Production Process

Process diagram for bioethanol production from sugar cane: Sugar cane crushed, sugars washed out, Fermentation by Yeast, Distillation yields Bioethanol, Sugar cane residue.

Process diagram for bioethanol production at Ensus:

• Grain Milling, Liquefaction, Saccharification/Hydrolysis, Fermentation, Distillation, Dehydration yields bioethanol (anhydrous 99%).
• Stillage separation yields DDGS.
• CO2.
• Yeast uses Yeast Enzyme Heat, enzyme, water.

UK Land Requirements for Biofuel

UK land requirement for biofuel production:

• To meet 5% of biodiesel sales ~1.2M tonnes biodiesel
• 1.45 tonnes of biodiesel per Ha of rapeseed
• Requires ~828,000 Ha of oilseed rape
• To meet 5% of petrol sales ~0.6 M tonnes bioethanol
• 2.2 tonnes of ethanol (2,688 litres) per Ha of wheat
• Requires 272,727 ha of wheat
• Total land requirement = 1.1 M ha to meet 5% biofuel in UK
• 10% biofuel = 2.2 M Ha
• 20% biofuel = 4.4 M ha
• 50% biofuel = 11 M ha
• 100% biofuel = 22 M ha

Bioethanol Production Yields

UK Bioethanol Production

• Average UK yield of wheat is 8 t/ha
• 1 tonne of wheat produces 336 litres of bioethanol
• 1 hectare of wheat produces 2,688 litres of bioethanol
• 1 million L of bioethanol requires 260 Ha
• Average UK yield of sugar beet ~ 70 t/ha
• 1 tonne of sugar beet produces 108 litres of bioethanol
• 1 hectare of sugar beet produces 7,560 litres of bioethanol
• 1 million L of bioethanol requires 132 Ha
• US corn produces 2,806 litres/ha of bioethanol
• Brazilian sugar cane produces 5,917 litres/ha of bioethanol

Food vs Fuel Debate

• ~12 M hectares (1% of world’s fields) currently grow biofuels.
• Is enough land available for the production of 1st generation biofuels (from food crops) in the UK, Europe, globally?
• To make EU self-sufficient in vehicle fuel requires 200 M Ha.
• Are we going to starve?
• Are there significant effects of increasing biofuel production on the environment e.g. deforestation for palm production?
• Can food & fuel from land co-exist?
• Are biofuels responsible for rapidly increasing food prices?
• Food production needs to increase by 2-3% per year to support the increasing population.

UK Land Use for Bioenergy

• UK 132,000 hectares i.e. 2% of UK arable area or 0.8% of total UK agricultural area used for bioenergy crops in 2016.
• At the same time 262,000 ha of agricultural land in the UK remained uncropped suggesting no Food vs Fuel conflict.
• Area of maize grown for AD has increased by 55% over 3 years to 52,000 hectares.
• Area of oilseed rape grown for UK biodiesel is now zero as incentives to use waste oils have diminished UK demand.
• Oilseed rape exported to the EU for biodiesel production remains a significant market opportunity for UK crops.

Limiting 1st Generation Biofuels

The move to limit 1st generation crop-based biofuels:

• EU Biofuels Directive
  • RTFO - UK
  • RFS - US

US Maize Production

Increase in US maize production (1991-2006) largely a result of increased yields to 9-10 t/ha from 7-8 t/ha at start of the 1990’s. Only since 2006 a significant increase in area planted.

Ethanol Productivity from Sugarcane in Brazil

Graph showing Ethanol productivity from sugarcane in Brazil from 1975-2024 with an increase of +3.77% per year over 29 years reaching 5917 liters/ha in 2024.

Renewable Energy Sustainability Criteria

EU Renewable Energy Directive (Dec 2012) requires renewable energy generation to meet set sustainability criteria to qualify for RTFO.

• Minimum life-cycle GHG savings of 35% rising to 50% in 2017 and 60% in 2018.
• Biofuel specific information:
  • Biofuels may not be made from raw material obtained from land with high biodiversity value
  • Biofuels may not be made from raw material obtained from land with high carbon stock
  • Biodiversity & carbon stock criteria only relevant to plantations established after 2008.

US RFS Sustainability Criteria

• Biomass-based diesel must meet a 50% life-cycle GHG reduction
• Cellulosic ethanol must meet a 60% life-cycle GHG reduction
• Advanced biofuels can be produced from qualifying renewable biomass (except corn starch) and must meet a 50% GHG reduction
• Grain ethanol must meet a 20% life-cycle GHG reduction threshold

Carbon Intensity

Carbon Intensity (kg CO2/t) for bioethanol production from a range of feedstocks (Canada, France, Germany, UK = wheat, Brazil = sugar cane, US = maize) broken down by:

• Crop Production
• Drying and storage
• Feedstock transport a (within a country)
• Feedstock transport b (between countries)
• Conversion (relates to the use of fossil fuel e.g. coal, gas or electricity)
• Total
• Source: Department for Transport – Carbon Sustainability reporting within the RTFO.

Carbon Intensity kg CO2/t for biodiesel production from a range of feedstocks (France, Germany UK = rapeseed Arg, US = soybean Malaysia = palm) broken down by:

• Crop production
• Drying and storage
• Feedstock transport a (within a country)
• Feedstock transport b (between countries)
• Conversion (crushing)
• Conversion (esterification)
• Total
• -ve values for conversion relate to value of co-products

Energy Content of Fuels

• Petrol: 31.3 MJ/dm3
• Diesel: 35.6 MJ/dm3
• Ethanol: 21.2 MJ/dm3
• Biodiesel (RME): 33.1 MJ/dm3
• Methane: 35.3 MJ/m3 (compressed to 200 bar)

Biofuel Technology Generations

• 1st generation technology:
  • Transesterification of oil crops.
  • Hydrolysis/fermentation of sugar/starch crops.
• 2nd generation technology:
  • Wider range of feedstocks.
  • Biochemical conversion of lignocellulose materials.
  • thermochemical conversion, Gas/F-T and pyrolysis
• 3rd generation technology:
  • bio-engineering of plants
    • cassava for higher starch content
    • jatropha for higher oil content

Algal Biofuels

• Gold standard 25 grams of algal growth/m2/day which equates to 91 t/ha (at 100 % operation rate).
• Sugarcane produces ~ 16 tons of dry biomass/ha.
• Opportunities to increase yields & produce novel or low-carbon chemicals, foods, animal feed & biomaterials
• Cost currently ~ 7.50 /gallon of algal crude oil with the aim to reduce these costs to a target of $2 per gallon of crude oil.
• Continued enhancements needed in:
  • Cultivation, harvesting, extraction
  • Increased efficiency of algal strains
  • Cost-effective sourcing of CO2, water, nutrients
  • Improvements in industrial design & logistics

Cellulosic Ethanol Production

Diagram showing the process of Cellulosic ethanol:

• Pretreatment: Mechanical/Chemical
• Added Enzymes
• Enzymatic Hydrolysis
• Separation of Sugars from Lignin
• Fermentation
• Distillation
• Cellulosic Ethanol

Ligno-Cellulosic Sources

• Agricultural residues, corn stover, sugar cane stalks (bagasse), cereal straw, biodegradable fraction of MSW etc.
• Energy crops – fast-growing species with high cellulose/hemi-cellulose content e.g. miscanthus, switchgrass, reed canary grass
• Lignocellulosics consist of 3 primary materials:
  • lignin (10-40%)
  • cellulose (40-50%) – polymer of glucose -resistant to hydrolysis
  • hemi-cellulose (20-40%) – polymer of C5 & C6 sugars - easily hydrolyzed

Plant Cell Wall Structure

In nature, lignin is mostly found as an integral part of the plant cell wall, embedded in a carbohydrate polymer matrix of cellulose & hemicellulose.

Schematic diagram showing association of lignin with polysaccharides.

Chemical Composition of Feedstocks

Chemical composition of different feedstocks (Reed Canary Grass, Switchgrass, Eucalyptus, Corn stover, Wheat straw, Grasses) in terms of:

• Cellulose
• Hemi-cell
• Lignin
• Ash
• Yields of 0.25 to 0.35 l/kg of bioethanol from lignocellulose
• Lignin used in CHP generation to power the conversion process thereby increasing the energy & CO2 balance.

Pre-treatment of Biomass

Cellulose is encased in lignin, requiring lignin breakdown for access.

• One of the most expensive & least understood stages.
• Physical, chemical, thermal options:
  • Dilute acid - corrosive
  • Concentrated acid - converts & destroys the cellulose.
  • Steam explosion preferred method– exposure to high pressure steam followed by instantaneous decompression– increases the surface area without degrading the cellulose.
• Mosier et al (2005) Bioresource Technology – Review of pre-treatment technologies

Disruption of Plant Cell Walls

Diagram showing the disruption of plant cell wall by pretreatment where Lignin, Cellulose, and Hemicellulose are separated.

Hydrolysis/Saccharification

Hydrolysis/saccharification involves chemical and biological options:

• Dilute or concentrated acid hydrolysis – expensive, acid must be recovered to be economically viable (difficult & costly)
• Enzymatic hydrolysis – slow & enzymes are expensive – key target area for efficiency improvements.
• Hemi-cellulose is mostly a polymer of xylose (5C) while cellulose is almost entirely a polymer of glucose (6C), so generally looking at cocktails of cellulases & xylanases.

Fermentation Process

• Saccharomyces cerevisiae – ferments 6C sugars e.g. glucose, mannose, fructose, galactose.
• Combination of 5 and 6C sugars poses a great challenge.
• Identification of suitable cocktails?
• Recombinant/GM microbes? that ferment xylose & glucose.
• Simultaneous saccharification & fermentation (SSF) combining enzymatic hydrolysis & fermentation stages so that as sugars are produced via enzymatic breakdown they are fermented to ethanol, thereby increasing process efficiency

Technical Challenges for Lignocellulosic Conversion

• Capital and energy-intensive pre-treatments.
• Resistance to hydrolysis.
• Enzyme hydrolysis - improve kinetics, costs, efficiencies.
• Use of tailor-made micro-organisms that make their own enzymes
• Fermentation:
  • Utilisation of a wide variety of pentoses & hexoses
  • High sugar uptake rates
  • Tolerance to pH, inhibitory by-products, ethanol, osmotic stress
• Value added co-products – Biorefinery approach

Iogen Demonstration Facility

• Iogen Demonstration facility in Ottawa Canada for conversion of wheat straw to ethanol.
• Processes up to 4,000 t of wheat straw per year (10 t/day) producing 1M litres of bioethanol p.a.

Beta Renewables Facility

• Beta Renewables 75$$ million liters cellulosic ethanol per annum Crescentino Italy – Opened October 9th 2013
• Wheat & rice straw and arundo donax (high-yielding energy crop grown on marginal land).
• Lignin residue is used at an attached power plant, which generates enough power to meet the facility’s energy needs, excess green electricity sold to the grid.
• Enzyme-based technology - Novozyme

Poet - Emmetsburg Iowa Facilities

• Poet - Emmetsburg Iowa – Sept 2014 US
• Project Liberty Corn ethanol plant with a cellulosic bolt-on.
• Produces 20 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol/yr, ramping up to 25 million gallons, from corn cobs, leaves, husk, stalk.
• Uses 300,000 tons of biomass per annum
• POET currently operate 26 corn ethanol plants

Project LIBERTY Advantages

Project LIBERTY produces ethanol from agriculture waste therefore no inputs for planting & growing the feedstock.

The waste stream from POET’s process is fed into two AD plants to create biogas which powers Project LIBERTY & the adjacent grain-based plant.

The natural gas displaced in the process is credited to the cellulosic ethanol plant.

POET Cellulosic Ethanol Facility

Images of pretreatment, fermentation tanks, bales of corn cobs, leaves husks etc and a solid fuel boiler are shown.

Cellulosic Ethanol Plants Overview

Cellulosic ethanol plants:

• US 15 plants – 100 million gallons
  • Poet, Iowa – Project Liberty 25 M
  • DuPont, Nevada – corn stover 30 M
  • Abengoa, Kansas – corn stover, switch grass 25 M
• Canada 4 plants – 47 million gallons
  • Enerkem Alberta sorted MSW 10 M

MSW to Bioethanol Conversion

MSW to bioethanol:

• Biochemical conversion – pathway similar to cellulosic ethanol
• Thermo-chemical conversion – Enerkem facility Edmonton Canada
  • Gasification with H and CO from the Syngas passed through a 3 phase reactor (Cu/ZnO catalysis at 230oC, 60-65 bar pressure) to produce methanol
  • Monsanto process then uses rhodium/copper catalysis to yield ethanol
  • 380 litres ethanol per tonne of RDF

Enerkem Process

Diagram showing the Enerkem Process:

• Feedstock preparation (Sorting, shredding, drying (if required) and feeding).
• Gasification (Conversion of carbon-rich residues into synthetic gas Bubbling fluidized bed gasifier).
• Cleaning and conditioning process (Primary