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Transcript of Biomass Magazine - August 2007
Learning FromFirst-GenerationBiomass Power Producers Renewable Energy Industry Prepares for the Next Generation
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August 2007
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8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 3
INSIDE AUGUST 2007 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3
FEATURES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 POWER One Man’s Trash Is Another’s Power Source
More landfills are starting to realize the benefits of using waste to generate
power. Whether collecting and combusting landfill gas or incinerating garbage,
landfill managers are protecting the environment and creating new revenue
sources. By Nicholas Zeman
22 CHEMICALS The Quest to Commercialize Biobased Succinic Acid
Researchers are closing in on the means to commercially produce succinic acid. The
four-carbon molecule is an attractive replacement for petroleum-derived maleic
anhydride, which is used to make foods, pharmaceuticals, detergents, plastics and
clothing fibers. By Jessica Ebert
28 PROCESS Harnessing the Power of Biomass
While renewable energy hasn’t garnered as much attention as renewable fuels
in the realm of reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, that hasn’t
stopped the industry from evolving using the lessons learned from industry
pioneers. By Susanne Retka Schill
34 FUEL Fuels for Schools and Beyond
A program designed to use biomass waste to reduce schools’ heating costs has
expanded into more states and other institutions. One of the Fuels for Schools’ largest
projects involves the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City, Nev.
By Anduin Kirkbride McElroy
40 INDUSTRY The Elusive Biorefinery
Biorefineries have long been the ideal for researchers and investors seeking to
produce biomass-derived chemical intermediates. The concept is similar to an oil
refinery where crude oil goes in and several different products come out. Although a
range of valuable chemicals that could form the base of a viable biorefinery have
been identified, the development pace is slow. By Jerry W. Kram
DEPARTMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
04 Editor’s Note
05 Advertiser Index
07 Industry Events
09 Business Briefs
10 Industry News
47 In the LabThe Need for Speed:
Rapid Biomass Analysis Makes Better Breeding Possible
By Jerry W. Kram
49 EERC UpdateA Road Map for Biofuels Research
By Chris J. Zygarl icke
INDUSTRY | PAGE 40
editor’sNOTE
Cellulosic ethanol in,biomass power out of Senate energy bill
he U.S. Senate passed an energy bill June 21 that has positive implications for one form of biomass utilization
and disappointing implications for another.
On the bright side, the legislation would give ethanol production—specifically cellulosic ethanol produc-
tion—a big boost. It would raise the current renewable fuels standard (RFS) from 7.5 billion gallons of consumption by
2012 to 36 billion gallons by 2022. This new RFS would contain an advanced biofuels carve-out, mainly for cellulosics,
taking effect in 2016 with 3 billion gallons and increasing by that amount each year to reach 21 billion gallons by 2022.
The Senate energy bill would also boost auto fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon (fleet average) by
2020, a 40 percent increase over current requirements. If you look back at aggressive biofuels visions set by groups
such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and others, improved fuel economy standards are as important to the
future relevancy of biofuels as advancing cellulosic ethanol process technology. That is, for biofuels to be relevant in
America’s energy future, cellulosic ethanol production must be rapidly commercialized and rise precipitously while over-
all fuel consumption simultaneously falls. The Senate should be applauded for passing legislation that pairs increased
biofuels production with higher fuel economy standards.
So often in the biofuels industry, we see investors practically salivating over skyrocketing fuel consumption projec-
tions. The logic is simple: Limited global oil supplies plus rising fuel consumption plus increasing reliance of foreign oil
equals a better market for ethanol. The higher the demand is for fuel, the higher demand is for ethanol. I’ve always
believed that way of thinking was flawed. We, as biofuels advocates, should never hope overall fuel consumption keeps
rising to guarantee the future need for biomass-based transportation fuels. Rather, we should actively push for higher
and higher fuel economy standards that ultimately make biofuels more relevant by giving them a larger share of a small-
er market.
The ethanol provisions in the Senate bill are terrific, but the legislation falls short in at least one key area. A provi-
sion that would have required electric utilities to produce at least 15 percent of their electricity from wind, biomass or
other renewables was shut out. What happened? The electricity provision faced strong opposition from senators who
worried that such a national mandate would raise electricity costs in some states—namely Southeastern states that don’t
have adequate wind resources. During Senate debate on the issue, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., circulated a study
commissioned by the Edison Electric Institute, showing that 27 states would be unable to comply with the 15 percent
renewables requirement. However, that report was apparently based principally on wind power and didn’t look adequate-
ly at the potential for biomass-based electricity generation in the Southeast. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said during
the debate that states in the Southeast have huge resources of biomass. Despite claims by the opposition that the
renewables requirements would cause electricity prices to soar, Bingaman produced a report from the U.S. Energy
Information Administration that said otherwise.
In fact, 23 states already require utilities to move toward meeting minimum renewable fuel use requirements,
including nine states where standards are equal to or exceed the Senate proposal.
It’s disappointing that the renewables requirement wasn’t part of the Senate bill. At press time, the House was con-
tinuing to work on its own version of the energy bill. It’s too early to tell, but perhaps biomass power will fare better in
that version. Stay tuned.
T
Tom Bryan Editorial Director
4 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 5
EDITORIAL
Tom Bryan EDITORIAL DIRECTOR [email protected]
Jaci Satterlund ART DIRECTOR [email protected]
Jessica Sobolik MANAGING EDITOR [email protected]
Dave Nilles CONTRIBUTIONS EDITOR [email protected]
Rona Johnson FEATURES EDITOR [email protected]
Craig A. Johnson PLANT LIST & CONSTRUCTION EDITOR [email protected]
Michael Shirek ONLINE EDITOR [email protected]
Jan Tellmann COPY EDITOR [email protected]
Ron Kotrba STAFF WRITER [email protected]
Nicholas Zeman STAFF WRITER [email protected]
Anduin Kirkbride McElroy STAFF WRITER [email protected]
Jerry W. Kram STAFF WRITER [email protected]
Susanne Retka Schill STAFF WRITER [email protected]
Bryan Sims STAFF WRITER [email protected]
Jessica Ebert STAFF WRITER [email protected]
Elizabeth Slavens GRAPHIC DESIGNER [email protected]
PUBLISHING & SALESMike Bryan PUBLISHER & CEO [email protected]
Kathy Bryan PUBLISHER & VICE PRESIDENT [email protected]
Joe Bryan VICE PRESIDENT OF MEDIA [email protected]
Matthew Spoor SALES DIRECTOR [email protected]
Howard Brockhouse SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER [email protected]
Clay Moore ACCOUNT MANAGER [email protected]
Jeremy Hanson ACCOUNT MANAGER [email protected]
Chad Ekanger ACCOUNT MANAGER [email protected]
Chip Shereck ACCOUNT MANAGER [email protected]
Tim Charles ACCOUNT MANAGER [email protected]
Jennifer Robinson ACCOUNT MANAGER [email protected]
Trista Lund ADVERTISING COORDINATOR [email protected]
Jessica Beaudry SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER [email protected]
Tim Greer CIRCULATION COORDINATOR [email protected]
Erika Wishart ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT [email protected]
Christie Anderson ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT [email protected]
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advertiserINDEX
ABENCS 26
Agri-Energy Funding Solutions 33
Barr-Rosin Inc. 50
BBI Project Development 20 & 39
Biodiesel and Ethanol 101 DVDs 8
Biofuels Australasia 46
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Biofuels Workshop & Trade Show Series 48
Byrne & Co. Ltd. 36
Clifton Gunderson LLP 24
Continental Biomass Industries, Inc. 6
Crain Consulting 27
Energy & Environmental Research Center 2
Encore Business Solutions 19
Ethanol Producer Magazine 15
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Hurst Boiler & Welding Co. Inc. 30
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8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 7
Green Building Finance & Investment Summit
September 24-25, 2007New York Helmsley Hotel New York City, New YorkGreen or sustainable building is among the fastest-growing practices in newconstruction development. Sponsored by Financial Research Associates LLC,this event focuses on two tracks: business and technology. Attendees will learnabout available, sustainable building materials and energy efficient technologies,as well as how to economically implement them.(800) 280-8440 www.frallc.com
Energy from Biomass and Waste Expo 2007
September 25-27, 2007David L. Lawrence Convention CenterPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaThis event aims to educate attendees about the benefits of conversion technolo-gies. It will give them hands-on information for their daily business. Companiesrepresenting the municipal solid waste, farm waste, landfill gas, wood waste,energy crop, waste coal and additional biomass industries are encouraged toattend the expo, as well as an educational forum and networking opportunities.(207) 236-6196 www.ebw-expo.com
Next Generation Biofuel Markets
October 4-5, 2007Hotel OkuraAmsterdam, The NetherlandsAfter 260 biofuels executives attended Europe’s first-ever Next GenerationBiofuel Markets seminar in March, held in conjunction with the World BiofuelsMarkets Congress, the program is back for a second installment in Amsterdam.This event will cover topics such as regulation and policy drivers, finance andinvestment, and the countdown to cellulose.+44 20 7801 6333 www.greenpowerconferences.com/biofuelsmarkets
Biofuels Workshop & Trade Show-Western Region
October 9-12, 2007Marriott Portland Downtown WaterfrontPortland, OregonThis year’s event, themed “Building a Biofuels Industry,” will address the currentstatus and the future challenges of the biofuels industry in the western UnitedStates. Last year’s event in San Diego featured a biomass session that exam-ined the current research, use and development of biomass in the westernstates, and provided information and expertise that specifically targeted region-al opportunities to further advance the biofuels industry.(719) 539-0300 www.biofuelsworkshop.com
Investors’Summit on Climate Change Investment Opportunities
October 16-17, 2007New York Helmsley HotelManhattan, New YorkThis event is designed to help investors explore new opportunities and riskstrategies related to climate-related business trends, and identify and evaluatethe impact of climate risk on their portfolios. Topics include renewable energycredits and second-generation biofuels, among many others.(800) 280-8440 www.frallc.com
Biofuels Workshop & Trade Show-Eastern Region
November 27-30, 2007Sheraton Philadelphia City Center HotelPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaThis year’s event, themed “Building a Biofuels Industry,” will address the currentstatus and future challenges of the biofuels industry in the eastern United States.Last year’s event in Nashville covered biomass topics in depth, offering severalbreakout sessions on topics including uses (thermal, electric, power, biogas,etc.) and new biobased product developments. In addition, the event providedinformation and expertise that specifically targeted regional opportunities to fur-ther advance the biofuels industry.(719) 539-0300 www.biofuelsworkshop.com
Canadian Renewable Fuels Summit
December 2-4, 2007Quebec City Convention CenterQuebec City, QuebecThe Canadian Renewable Fuels Association’s fourth annual event will continueto discuss the progress, challenges and opportunities facing the Canadianrenewable fuels industry. More details will be available as the event approaches.Canada: (519) 576-4500U.S.: (719) 539-0300 www.canadianrenewablefuelssummit.com
World Biofuels Markets Congress
March 12-13, 2008Brussels ExpoBrussels, BelgiumThis event will address several topics including global markets, finance andinvestment, growing feedstocks, biogas markets, next-generation biofuels, andregulation and policy. At least 160 board-level representatives and industryexperts have been confirmed as speakers. More details will be available as theevent approaches.
www.worldbiofuelsmarkets.com
industryevents
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 9
Xethanol hires three scientistsIn late May, Xethanol Corp. announced that three University of
Georgia engineering professors had signed consulting contractswith the company. The research programs of all three scientists—Elliot Altman, director of the Center for Molecular Bioengineering;Thomas Adams, director of the outreach service of the faculty ofengineering; and Mark Eiteman, professor of engineering—involvebiomass fuel production. Although their roles as consultants werestill being defined at press time, the researchers are expected tofocus on determining the commercial viability of bakery-waste-to-ethanol technology. BIO
Fredrikson & Byron hire renewable energy attorney The Minneapolis office of law firm Fredrikson & Byron PA
has hired Todd Taylor as an officer in its corporate, securities andrenewable energy groups. He will focus onrenewable fuels law, business law, private place-ments, ventures, and other forms of financing,mergers and acquisitions. His renewable fuelspractice includes ethanol, biodiesel, biobutanol,biomass and gasification. Taylor has eight yearsexperience representing the renewable energyindustry. Previously, he practiced with RiderBennett LLP in Minneapolis. BIO
Speedling introduces Miscanthus transplantsMiscanthus x giganteus transplants are now commercially available
from Speedling Inc. The perennial energy crop, popularly called ele-phant grass, typically yields 14 to 20 tons per acre. Miscanthus hasbeen the energy crop of choice in Europe for 15 years and can beused for combustion, pelletizing or cellulosic ethanol. Speedling is alarge transplant producer based in Sun City, Fla., with locations inFlorida, Georgia, Texas and California. BIO
Virent names chief intellectual properties counselVirent Energy Systems Inc., which says it possesses supe-
rior technology for making cellulosic ethanol compared withhigh-temperature fermentation or thermochemical productionmethods, has named a chief intellectual properties counsel toprocure and protect company patents. David Kettner, aMadison Wis., intellectual properties attorney, previously prac-ticed with Quarles & Brady LLP. Virent has stated that its plat-form technology, the BioForming process, will change howbiofuels and bioproducts are produced and distributed. BIO
businessBRIEFS
Stoel Rives moves national energy practice into MidwestStoel Rives LLP, a business law firm nationally recognized
for its diversified renewable energy clientele, announced the hir-ing of 14 leading energy and agribusiness lawyers at its newlyformed Minneapolis office. Ten of the new hires were formerpartners with Minneapolis-based general business firm Lindquist& Vennum PLLP, according to Mark Hanson, a senior partner atthe new Stoel Rives office and formerly of Lindquist & Vennum.
Stoel Rives’ location in the Midwest will bolster its energypractices nationally to include emerging biomass energy projects,Hanson said. Stoel Rives also operates offices in Oregon,Washington, Idaho, Utah and California. For more information,visit www.stoel.com. BIO
Mascoma adds to board,staffFormer Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has joined the board of
directors of cellulosic ethanol developer Mascoma Corp. Daschle,who served in office from 1994 to 2005, is a longtime ethanol advo-cate who sponsored various pieces of legislation to advance theethanol industry.
Mascoma has also appointed several new company executives.Ginja Collins was named senior vice president of finance. She previ-ously held a similar position with VeraSun Energy Corp. SusanNedell was named chief administrative officer and will oversee cor-porate operations, human resources, public relations, communica-tion, information technology, and government and trade associationrelationships. James H. Flatt was named senior vice president ofresearch and development. Flatt was previously senior vice presidentof research at Martek Biosciences Corp. BIO
Taylor
10 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
industryNEWS
Plans are in the works tobuild a $250 million integrateddairy operation and biorefinerycomplex in Vicksburg, Ariz. XLDairy Group Inc. will fraction-ate more than 560,000 tons ofcorn to make 54 MMgy ofethanol, 5 MMgy of biodiesel,60,000 gallons of milk per dayand high-protein feed throughprocesses powered by cowmanure.
Project coordinatorMichael McCloud said the firststage of development is toexpand the core dairy operationfrom 2,500 to 7,500 cattle, a taskthat could be completed by theend of this year. Through anaer-obic digestion, cow manure will be a primaryenergy feedstock to make biomethane forprocess heat and steam. Once all the cattle areon site, construction of the energy island—followed by the biofuels production plant—
will commence. APS Energy Services has beencontracted to design and engineer the energycenter. During peak use, the entire complexwill consume eight megawatts of power, leav-ing up to three megawatts for future addition-
al milk processing capacity or saleback to the grid. Ethanol andbiodiesel production is expectedto begin in the first quarter of2009.
Plans for algae propagationand processing systems to sup-plement corn as a feedstock forstarch and oil is expected to dou-ble ethanol capacity and increasebiodiesel production six-foldsometime in 2010, McCloud said.“The Achilles’ heel of algae is theability to put together a propaga-tion system on a large scale thatmakes sense economically,” saidDennis Corderman, CEO of XLDairy Group. Patents have beenfiled for the company’s first pro-
prietary propagation system, Corderman said,and it is preparing to test its system soon on asignificant scale.
-Ron Kotrba
Arizona dairy pursues biorefinery project
The increasing popularity of pellet-fedfireplaces and furnaces has created an oppor-tunity for a Minnesota-based company.
Sunrise Agra Fuels LLC markets fuel pel-lets made from crop residues, according tocompany President Bob Ryan. The companystarted with the intent to use local resources.“We started asking questions about whetherthere was an opportunity to use ag residue as afuel source,” Ryan said. “We pelletize fuel in aconventional pellet die for two different uses.We have a residential grade for corn-typestoves, and we are also going to make a com-mercial grade in the new plant.”
In its first year, the company sold about600 tons of pellets, which were manufacturedby contractors. Quality concerns interruptedthe company’s supply during its first heatingseason, but Ryan said it showed there was anenthusiastic demand for the product. “There
was an extraordinary market,” Ryan said. “Istill get calls on a daily basis. We distributed ourproduct no more than 150 miles from where itwas manufactured, and we could have easilyaccomplished 10,000 tons of sales last year.”
The company decided to build a plant inBird Island, Minn., to avoid the quality prob-lems with its suppliers. “We have been con-tracting with some feed mills in the area,” Ryansaid. “We stopped production with them thislast heating season because they couldn’t han-dle the quality we needed to have.” He addedthat the feed mills had problems using low-density biomass, which led to an inconsistentproduct.
The plant will be operated as a separateentity from Sunrise Agra Fuels and will be aproducer-owned cooperative called PrairieAgra Fuels. The plant received its permitsfrom the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
in mid-June. Construction is set to begin in thefourth quarter of 2007 and should be complet-ed by the end of the year. The capacity of theplant will be 70,000 tons per year. It will usecorn stover and soybean straw from a 30-mileradius as its primary feedstocks. Thedesign/builder is Marcus Construction inPrinsberg, Minn.
Another company is organizing in NorthDakota to produce a similar product. NSBValhalla in Minot, N.D., was awarded a $53,500grant from the states Agricultural ProductUtilization Commission to refine its technolo-gy for producing fuel pellets from agriculturalwaste for use in residential, commercial andagricultural applications.
-Jerry W. Kram
Pellets become pathway for biomass company
This schematic shows where XL Dairy will expand its current operation to include a biorefinery.
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 11
industryNEWS
The Minnesota statelegislature recently awarded$400,000 to KoochichingCounty in the north-centralpart of the state to fund afeasibility study for apotential facility that wouldconvert municipal solidwaste (MSW) into energy.
The plant, whichwould be located nearInternational Falls, woulduse plasma torches to gasi-fy MSW. These torcheshouse electrodes, and whena continuous flow of elec-tricity is applied, an arcforms between them. The air in the torchpushes this extremely hot artificial bolt oflightning into a furnace, where the MSWenters. The torrid temperatures generatedby this process, which can be hotter thanthe surface of the sun, rip apart compoundsand convert inorganic solids into a glassyobsidian-like rock that can be used in roadconstruction. The process also transforms
organic materials into syngas that can beused to make electricity and liquid fuels.
“Plasma gasification could revolution-ize the whole field of waste management,”said Lou Circeo, director of plasma researchat Georgia Tech Research Institute. He isconsidered a pioneer in plasma gasification,and part of the Minnesota feasibility studywill involve sending waste samples to the
institute in order to test the plas-ma gasification process. Theprocess has been successfullyused to eliminate MSW in twofacilities in Japan. Similarly, thefirst phase of a facility in St.Lucie, Fla.—expected to comeon line in 2009—will process upto 3,000 tons of waste per day.
Currently, the KoochichingCounty Board is drafting arequest for proposal, which willbe used to find an engineeringfirm to conduct the feasibilitystudy in Minnesota. PaulNevanen, director of theKoochiching County Economic
Development Authority, expects the studyto be completed by November. “This ispretty visionary for a small county likeours,” he said.
-Jessica Ebert
Plasma gasification converts waste to energy in Minnesota
Plasma torches, which can generate temperatures hotter than thesurface of the sun, can also transform organic materials into syngas.
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Chevron Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Chevron USA Inc.,has teamed with Danbury, Conn.-based FuelCell Energy Inc. tobuild a facility that will convert wastewater sludge and kitchengrease into renewable energy to power an adjacent waste-water treatment plant owned by the city of Rialto, Calif.The estimated $15.1 million project calls for FuelCellEnergy to provide three 300-kilowatt fuel cell units forChevron’s facility, which will generate electricity frommethane without combustion and convert it into hydrogen.The hydrogen will then be cogenerated into electricity and steam topower and heat the aging wastewater treatment facility.
According to Chevron Energy Solutions President Jim Davis,construction of the facility began May 8, and start-up operationsare expected to begin sometime in early 2008. Davis said the facil-ity will reduce landfill waste and decrease annual energy costs by$800,000, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.5 milliontons per year. FuelCell Energy sold its fuel cell technology to thecity of Rialto through Chevron Energy Solutions, which will main-
tain and operate the plant after it is complete. This is ChevronEnergy Solutions’ second project of this nature, with the first com-pleted in Millbre, Calif., last year.
“This is basically one of those great examples ofapplying innovation to proven energy technologies in aunique way to benefit the community of Rialto,” Davis said.“By looking at wastewater treatment operations holistically,we’re helping Rialto and other cities transform an urbanwaste into an asset.”
Once the project is complete, a fats, oils and greases (FOG)receiving station will provide an effective disposal alternative,reducing the amount of FOG sent to landfills. Meanwhile, the fuelcell plant and other energy-efficient improvements will reducegreenhouse gas emissions by 11 million pounds of carbon dioxideannually, equivalent to removing 1,080 cars from the road each year.
-Bryan Sims
Chevron company to power wastewater sludge facility
12 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
industryNEWS
Flambeau River Papers LLC—a Park Falls,Wis.,paper mill—plans to replace 1 trillionBritish thermal units of natural gas and coalwith biomass left over from logging operations.At press time, the company was evaluatingquotes to determine if it would replace its fossilfuel boilers with a less expensive biomass boileror a gasifier, which can also produce biofuels,explained Ben Thorp, president of FlambeauRiver Biorefinery LLC. He said the decisionshould be made within a couple of months andis dependent upon financing from banks, finan-cial institutions and USDA loan guarantees.
The company’s other biomass venture isalso waiting on funding. Flambeau RiverBiorefinery is a 20 MMgy cellulosic ethanolbiorefinery under development. It will utilize apatent-pending process technology calledAVAP, which was developed by Atlanta-basedAmerican Process Inc. to convert the hemicel-lulose in spent pulping liquor (or black liquor)
into ethanol. The biorefinery will be collocatedwith the paper mill. Pilot trials have been doneat forest service labs in Madison, Wis., Thorpsaid. The trials are to refine the process, developalternative equipment, and make the processmore efficient and economically attractive. “Weneed to refine the project more to get it funded,which we’re doing,” Thorp said.
Flambeau River Papers is applying for U.S.DOE grant money, and Thorp said he expectsa response late this year. The company is alsoinvestigating funding opportunities with majorcorporations. Construction is estimated to take16 to 20 months, and will start once financingand permitting are complete. Permits will beexpedited under Wisconsin’s “Green Tier” pro-gram.
-Anduin Kirkbride McElroy
Flambeau River Biorefinery awaits financing
In a five-year joint develop-ment project, Virent EnergySystems Inc. and Shell HydrogenLLC are working toward commer-cializing Virent’s BioForming tech-nology to produce hydrogen fromseveral biomass-derived feedstocks—including glycerin, a byproduct ofbiodiesel refining.
Because the vast majority ofhydrogen is currently producedfrom coal and other fossil fuelsources, Duncan Macleod, vicepresident of Shell Hydrogen, saidthat one of the main challenges to“introducing the benefits of ahydrogen-based economy is reduc-ing the [carbon dioxide] emissionsassociated with hydrogen produc-tion.” Realizing this goal will involve utilizing glycerin and other sugar-based feedstocks to produce the high-energy gas.
At Virent’s facilities in Madison, Wis., and Shell’s WesthollowTechnology Center in Houston, the two companies’ scientists will worktogether to research and experiment with biomass-derived hydrogensystems designed for fueling station applications. If development goes
according to plan, Shell anticipatesthe use of this technology at oneof its hydrogen fueling stationswithin several years. “This collabo-ration will speed the developmentand deployment of our technolo-gy not only in hydrogen fuel sta-tion applications but in the broad-er hydrogen industrial market, aswell,” said Eric Apfelbach, Virentpresident and CEO.
According to Shell, the worldmarket for distributed and central-ized hydrogen is estimated atapproximately 45 million tons peryear. Aside from its use as an ener-gy carrier in transportation appli-cations, hydrogen is used to makeammonia fertilizer and to upgrade
lower quality fractions in the refining of gasoline and diesel fuels. Othermanufacturing applications for hydrogen include glass, vitamins, per-sonal care products, lubricants, refined metals and processed foods.
-Nicholas Zeman
Virent, Shell partner to make hydrogen from glycerin
Flambeau River Papers LLC plans to buildFlambeau River Biorefinery LLC adjacent toits existing facility in Park Falls, Wis.
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More than 50 hydrogen fueling stations are now operating orplanned in 15 states and the District of Columbia, according to theNational Hydrogen Association.
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 13
industryNEWS
In mid-June, Pittsburgh-basedMontauk Energy Capital Inc. opened afacility that will convert landfill gas(LFG) into natural gas at a landfill inColerain Township, Ohio. “This is theworld’s largest LFG-to-pipeline-quali-ty-gas project,” said Dan Bonk, direc-tor of business development forMontauk Energy. By the end of thesummer, the company will be separat-ing, purifying and pumping about 6million cubic feet of natural gas direct-ly into a Duke Energy pipeline eachday. In less than two years, that numberwill increase to about 7.5 million cubicfeet per day, enough natural gas to sup-ply the annual needs of about 25,000 homes, Bonk said.
In a separate venture, Montauk Energy partnered with Seattle-based Prometheus Energy Co. to design, build and install a landfill gasconversion facility at an Irvine, Calif., landfill. Currently, the facility pro-duces 2,000 gallons of liquid natural gas (LNG) from LFG per day, butthe companies are still in the commissioning phase and ultimately
expect to utilize all of the waste gas atthe landfill to produce about 40,000gallons of LNG each day. “Up anddown the West Coast, 1 million gal-lons of potential fuel in the form oflandfill gas is burned each day fromlandfills alone,” said Dan Clarkson,vice president of Prometheus. “Wetap into that gas right before it goes tothe flare.” Through a series of steps,methane is separated from total LFG,and then purified and liquefied toform LNG. The initial sale of thisbiofuel—one of the cleanest burn-ing—will be used to supply all of theLNG needs for the bus fleets of
Orange County, Calif., an area known for its poor air quality, Clarksonexplained.
-Jessica Ebert
Two projects to reuse landfill gas
Landfill gas will be turned into liquid natural gas at Frank R.Bowerman Landfill in Irvine, Calif.
Dynamotive starts production in Guelph
Distributed power company DynamotiveInc., based in Vancouver, British Columbia,announced its successful production of bio-oilfrom wood waste at its newly built plant inGuelph, Ontario, this spring. The company iscurrently working toward full commission ofthe facility. Dynamotive will be producing agrade of bio-oil, marketed as “BioOil Plus,”that is considered to be a more refined versionof the company’s previous products and acompetitive alternative to heating oil, fuel oil,natural gas and propane. Dynamotive CEOAndrew Kingston said that through theexploitation of raw materials like wood wasteand agricultural residues, the renewable fuelsindustry can accelerate the adoption of cellu-lose-based fuels.
-Nicholas ZemanDynamotive has started initial production of bio-oil at its new facility in Guelph, Ontario.
14 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
industryNEWS
This spring,Oregon and NewHampshire joined thelist of states withrenewable portfoliostandards (RPS)—sometimes calledrenewable power orrenewable electricitystandards—bringingthe total to 24 states,plus the District ofColumbia. These stan-dards require a certainpercentage of a utility’selectrical generation tocome from renewablesources by a given date.The list of participat-ing states doesn’tinclude Illinois, whichhas voluntary goals.
About half of the RPS programsrequire 15 percent renewable energy or less,and the other half requires higher standards.Half requires the standard be met by 2020or sooner. Maine has the highest standard of30 percent from renewable sources, whichhas already been met. Four states have anRPS requiring 25 percent renewable:Oregon, Minnesota and New Hampshire
require 25 percent by 2025, and New Yorkrequires 25 percent by 2013. For details oneach state’s RPS, visit www.eere.energy.gov/states/maps/renewable_portfolio_states.cfm.
Five states were considering RPS legisla-tion at press time: Indiana, Missouri,Nebraska, North Carolina and Virginia. Iowaand Illinois may expand existing legislation.
A national stan-dard is being dis-cussed in the U.S.Congress. The Senatehad passed an RPS invarious energy bills inprevious sessions, butit didn’t pass theHouse, and the provi-sion wasn’t in theEnergy Policy Act of2005. Rep. Tom Udall,D-N.M., has intro-duced a House bill inthe currentCongressional sessionthat would require 20percent renewableenergy by 2020. In theSenate, competingmeasures have beenintroduced. Sen. Jeff
Bingham, D-N.M., proposed a 15 percentRPS by 2020. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.,proposed 20 percent renewable energy by2020, calling it a clean portfolio standardthat would include nuclear power and cleancoal technologies.
-Susanne Retka Schill
Renewable portfolio standards spread
Earth Biofuels signs LOI with Revolution BiorefiningEarth Biofuels Inc., a biodiesel distri-
bution and production company with plansto break into the cellulosic ethanol arena,recently signed a letter of intent (LOI) withRevolution Biorefining LP to form a newcompany under the name EarthRevolution.
The new entity’s intention is to com-mercialize Revolution Biorefining’s uniquebiomass processing technology that bypass-es the traditional pretreatment of cellulosematerials for downstream fermentation,according to Robert Bickel, founder ofRevolution Biorefining and inventor of the
patent-pending design.“It’s a semi-mechanical process that
falls into the category of almost being anambient, supercritical, dynamic environ-ment,” Bickel said. Essentially the biomassis converted into a bioaerosol. “From there,you have the ability to do a lot of thingsfrom a catalytic standpoint,” he toldBiomass Magazine. The material is reducedto nano- and micro-scale particles, whichfor instance could eliminate the need fordesigner enzymes in pretreatment.
Conditions of the LOI withRevolution Biorefining include building a
small commercial unit to process 20 tons ofvirtually any biomass feedstock per day.
Despite the fact that country musiclegend Willie Nelson has given up his seaton the Earth Biofuels board of directors,Bickel said Nelson is “still very muchinvolved” with the company, which contin-ues to distribute his BioWillie-brandedbiodiesel. Earth Biofuels CEO TommyJohnson also recently left the company,Bickel said.
-Ron Kotrba
power
16 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
A nationwide movement to capitalize on the energy producing power of garbage is drivenby a strong market for renewable energy, a desire to clean up the environment and to
generate a revenue stream.
By Nicholas Zeman
power
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 17
he second week of May inthe city of Fargo, N.D., iscalled “cleanup” week,when residents are allowedto put nearly all unwanteditems in front of theirhomes for municipal work-
ers to collect. As one can imagine, this is abusy time for Fargo’s solid waste manager,Terry Ludlum, as trucks roll in and out all
day dumping refuse at the city landfillnorthwest of town.
Now all of that trash is beingused to generate power for an
industrial facility and elec-tricity for area homes
and businesses.The Division
of SolidWa s t e
has
spent over $1 million for renewable energyprojects at the landfill. It supplies a CargillInc. oilseed processing plant about threemiles away with gas for its boiler and con-tributes power to the grid for the CassCounty Electrical Cooperative with a newlyinstalled Caterpillar generator. “Cargill hadseen us flare the vapors and they were won-dering if they might be able to utilize thisstream in lieu of natural gas,” Ludlum says.“We began piping it over there in 2001, andthey’ve been using it to fire their boilers eversince.”
Northeast of Fargo and across the RedRiver in Fosston, Minn., Polk County SolidWaste Manager Bill Wilson has made hisoperation more efficient by adding new rev-enue streams that can be generated by burn-ing refuse. In the mid-1990s, Wilson, whosupervised construction of the facility,applied for a state grant to retrofit the trashburner to meet new guidelines that wereimplemented by the U.S. EPA. Wilson and
company didn’t stop there. “Once wedemonstrated [EPA] compliance,
we went back to the state ofMinnesota and asked if we
could use [the leftoverfunds from the
retrofit] for aturbine-gen-
e r a t o rproj-
ect.” After years of work and planning, thePolk County incinerator began running thegenerator in May, and will use the electricityproduced to increase the facility’s level ofself sufficiency.
The environmental benefits of deplet-ing the hazardous gases and vapors generat-ed by landfills, like decreasing offensivesmells that would otherwise leak into theatmosphere are obvious. However, purelyfrom an economical standpoint, making theinvestment to collect the gas and combust itmakes sense too. By burning methane, thelandfill gas collection project in Fargo isaccredited with the regional power pool andwill produce almost 7.3 million kilowatt-hours (kwh) annually—that is electricity forsale.
In Polk County, the incinerator pro-vides steam energy for several customers inthe Fosston industrial park, making themechanism of the entire enterprise moreefficient, Wilson says. “Since we started in1988, we have acquired three customers thatbuy the steam we produce,” he says, addingthat the situation makes the industrial parkstronger and more sustainable. When youtake all of the employees whose income isgenerated from this industrial park, thosedollars are turned over three or four times inFosston, which is great for a small town innorthwest Minnesota, he says.
It’s also a huge deal for a big city inNorth Dakota. “Economically, this is a newsource of revenue for the city of Fargo,”
says City Enterprise Director BruceGrubbs. “This is a viable resource
that has to be managed.” The cost
T
of the electrical generator, as well as otherequipment and maintenance, was over $1million, but by selling the landfill gas andavoiding natural gas and electricity costs forits own facilities, the project will pay foritself in only 2½ years, he says. The genera-tor will supply the electrical load for theentire landfill—baling facility, office/shop,scale house, leachate pumps and the landfillgas collection compressors. This projectalso qualified for the federal CleanRenewable Energy Bonds program. These
interest-free bonds were used to finance thepurchase of the generator and expand themethane gas collection system. “This pro-gram allowed us to purchase the generatorand other equipment for the landfill with
loans we can pay back interest free,” Grubbssays.
Minnkota Electric Cooperative and itssubsidiary Cass County Power Cooperativewere interested in purchasing power fromthe landfill to increase their green energyrates, Grubbs says. Electricity sales alonewill generate $142,000 in revenue for thewaste management division. In addition,exhaust and engine heat from the generatorwill be used to meet the energy needs ofthe campus transfer station where trash isbaled prior to placement in the landfill. Inaddition, the Polk County incinerator pro-vides renewable energy credits forMinnkota. “They are really committed toproducing electricity from renewableresources whenever and wherever theycan,” Wilson says.
National TrendWhat’s happening in North Dakota
and Minnesota are only two examples of anationwide movement to capitalize on theenergy producing power of garbage. TheEPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program,which publishes a plethora of related infor-mation online, reports that there areapproximately 425 landfill gas energy proj-ects currently in operation, or under devel-opment, in the United States. This recycledenergy is used in creative ways, from heat-ing greenhouses, producing electricity andheat in cogeneration applications, firing
18 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
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What’s happening in NorthDakota and Minnesota areonly two examples of a nationwide movement to capitalize on the energy producing power of garbage.
The Cargill oilseed processing facility in Fargo has been using landfill gas to fire itsboilers for several years.
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brick kilns, supplying a high-British thermalunit (Btu) pipeline quality gas, fuelinggarbage trucks, and providing fuel to chem-ical and automobile manufacturing plants.
Projects range from small-scale, com-munity-driven initiatives to multimillion dol-lar private investments. The range ofendeavors between the public and privatesectors are diverse and well-distributed, saysBrian Guzzone of the EPA. “Aside fromincentives provided in the 2005 EnergyPolicy Act, as well as other federal provi-sions and financing arrangements, it’s simplya strong market for renewable energy that isdriving these endeavors,” he says.
Currently, landfills are the largestsource of U.S. anthropogenic, or humanproduced, methane emissions. Landfillmethane is produced when organic materi-als are decomposed by bacteria under anaer-obic conditions—in the absence of oxygen.Landfill gas, however, is far from pure. It iscomposed of methane and carbon dioxidein approximately equal concentrations, aswell as smaller amounts of nonmethanevolatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxideand carbon monoxide. “For every milliontons of waste, there is the potential to gen-erate about 800 kilowatts of electricity,”Guzzone says. “But there are a lot of factorsthat can influence these calculations.”
The collection and combustion oflandfill gas has become a common methodof reducing emissions generated by munici-pal waste. At some landfills, gas is combust-ed by flaring, at others gas is combusted forenergy and heat production, as is the situa-tion in Fargo. From a federal perspective,methane emissions are regulated under theClean Air Act as a result of the “NewSource Performance Standard and
Emissions Guidelines” published by theEPA in March 1996. It is further observedthat methane has a greenhouse gas potentialof nearly 21 times that of carbon dioxide,and since the gas is combustible, leaks fromlandfills can cause spontaneous explosionsto occur. Along with inundations of unde-sirable odors, landfills have been consideredby city managers to be liabilities. “Thiswhole project was born out of an effort tocontrol odors,” Ludlum says.
Collecting and CombustingFor these same reasons, regulating and
monitoring landfill emissions has been amajor focus area for the EPA. “From an airquality perspective there are many publichealth and safety benefits demonstrated bythese projects that are depleting themethane from a landfill,” Guzzone says.“The dangers are significantly diminished.”Capture and use of landfill methane as fuelfor electricity generation is done
(continued on page 21)
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 19
power
‘From an air quality perspectivethere are many public health andsafety benefits demonstrated bythese projects that are depletingthe methane from a landfill.’
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In his early years on the farm, Michael Devine rememberswhen ditches often served as personal landfills.Not only did theysmell terrible, but they could also be dangerous. “These thingscould catch on fire and were extremely difficult to put out,” hesays. Today, Devine designs engines capable of burning the gasgenerated by large municipal landfills for the electric power divi-sion of Caterpillar Inc., one of the world’s largest original equip-ment manufacturers.
Because landfill gas contains contaminants—like traces ofsiloxanes from detergents, cosmetics and shampoos—that cancreate silicon dioxide deposits on spark plugs and damage recip-rocating engines, Caterpillar designed extensive fuel filtrationsystems and shortened maintenance intervals and overhauls inan effort to minimize wear and tear.
Landfill gas also contains carbon dioxide, a natural inert gasthat doesn’t burn,but slows the flare speed of the engines.To bal-ance the extinguishing affect of the gas, the engines neededmore robust ignition systems. Although designers at Caterpillarhave developed several other modifications in order for thesegenerators to be able to burn landfill gas instead of traditionalfuel sources like natural gas or liquid diesel, that doesn’t meanthat landfill gas is a low-grade fuel. “I would take exception to
calling it a low-end gas because, in some cases, it is every bit asvaluable as any other energy source,” Devine says. However,changing existing generator designs was indeed necessary toaccommodate this particular fuel stream. Another reason for thedesign change is that sulfurs have an affinity for water, which isthe most abundant byproduct of the 270 chemical transitionsthat occur during combustion,Devine says.Sulfuric acid can formand “really attack that metal,” he says. Therefore using stainlesssteel instead of aluminum components—like after-coolers—is amodification that was incorporated into the design of landfill gasburning generators as stainless steel has the ability to resist thecorroding affects of sulfuric acid.
Caterpillar is looking to capitalize on the growing distributedgeneration sector, which is an approach to power productionwhere electrical generators are located near the end-use site,anda larger number of small engines are used across an area insteadof relying on centralized production at a mega-sized powerplant. “This is a worldwide issue, that certain areas are more orless sophisticated in handling,” Devine says.“So many places arelooking for ways to recycle waste and produce energy from thesesources and that is where our generators come in.”
Modifying Generators to Burn Landfill Gas
(continued from page 19)
through the development ofwell fields and collection sys-tems at the landfill. When andwhere electrical generation isimpractical, flaring is pre-ferred over direct venting toreduce emissions and firehazards.
During the extractionprocess, landfill gas isremoved through a system ofPVC piping attached to verti-cal wells. “There is a suctionon the landfill that draws thegas out and then feeds it intothe generators that produceelectricity,” Guzzone says.
The peak generation of methaneoccurs at the closure of the landfill, mean-ing when the site stops allowing municipalwaste to be dumped there. Other than that,however, Guzzone says there are no averagefigures or general statistics in regard tomethane generation from anaerobic diges-
tion in landfills because there are many vari-ables that can alter production. “Every siteis unique because this is a very dynamic sys-tem,” Guzzone says, referring to organicmaterial decomposing under the pressure ofanaerobic digestion.
In Fargo, Grubbs says once the landfill
has reached full capacity it willcontinue to produce gas forthe next 30 years with anannual energy equivalentranging from 285 billion to500 billion Btu. “Everythingwe can do to save, recycle andproduce energy is critical—we’re turning what was con-sidered a liability into anasset,” Grubbs says. As littleas 20 years ago generatingenergy from trash was thestuff of fiction and movies—mad scientists using coffeegrounds to fuel timemachines, for instance. Now,however, recycling waste to
generate power is becoming a staple practiceto protect the environment and increase theeconomic efficiency of municipal wasteoperations. BIO
Nicholas Zeman is a Biomass Magazine staffwriter. Reach him at nzeman@bbibiofuels
.com or (701) 746-8385.
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 21
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Garbage trucks rolled in and out of the Fargo landfill continuously during “cleanup week” this spring.
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chemicals
22 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
chemicals
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 23
High-priced petroleum brings the finite nature of this resource to a striking reality. Out ofnecessity comes research into alternative fuels and the myriad of materials made from petroleum. Since the mid-1990s, succinic acid has garnered interest as a petroleum
alternative for the manufacture of everything from de-icers to pesticides.
By Jessica Ebert
n 2004, the U.S. DOE released areport identifying 12 chemicalsthat could be produced fromsugars, most through microbialfermentation. These buildingblocks were of interest because
they could be converted into various high-valuebiobased chemicals and materials. At the top ofthe list was succinic acid, a four-carbon mole-cule with a chemical structure similar to maleicanhydride. Maleic anhydride is a petroleum-derived substance that provides a chemicalfeedstock for food and pharmaceutical prod-ucts, surfactants and detergents, plastics, cloth-ing fibers, and biodegradable solvents. Becausethe two chemicals are so much alike and suc-cinic acid is made by all living things through anatural fermentation of sugars, biomass-derived succinic acid could serve as an attractivereplacement for maleic anhydride and a plat-form chemical for the synthesis of a multitudeof compounds. “That is the beauty of succinicacid,” explains Susanne Kleff, senior scientistfor MBI International, formerly Michigan
Biotechnology Institute. “First you want thatfour-carbon platform,” she says. “Second, anychemical you can make that is part of the cen-tral metabolism of an organism always impliesthat you can make lots of it and that you canmake it easily.” Although currently elusive, acompetitively priced route for the “green” pro-duction of succinic acid could open amenagerie of new markets for the chemical.
Much of the research into biobased suc-cinic acid originated in government agencies,particularly the DOE, however, the attention ofthese institutions is now consumed with meet-ing fuel standards. “Some government agencies’emphasis on biobased products has lessenedbecause of more pressing energy and fuel man-dates,” explains Gene Petersen, DOE projectofficer and chemist. “The question is will theprivate sector step up to the plate?”
The answer is yes, say representatives fromtwo companies who agreed to speak withBiomass Magazine about each company’s questto make competitively priced, biobased succinicacid a reality.
I
chemicals
The PrizeAs quests go, this one may not be as dramatic as destroy-
ing a ring and ridding war-torn Middle-Earth of a supernatu-ral evil as in the “Lord of the Rings” epic. However, the even-tual reward reaped by the potential heroes—a market estimat-ed at more than $1.3 billion per year—is not too shabby a prizefor overcoming the challenges to commercialize the means toproduce green succinic acid. Although currently available suc-cinic acid, which is made from butane, a four-carbon petro-chemical, serves a relatively small world market of about15,000 metric tons per year, the potential market for abiobased form of the chemical could be well over 100 timesthat amount. “The extent of market penetration dependsmainly on the price competitiveness of biobased succinic acidrelative to the petrochemical alternatives,” Kleff says. “Thereis also more interest in producing polymers from monomersproduced via a green route.”
The bounty from this potential gold mine lies in the use-fulness of succinic acid as a building block for a plethora ofsecondary chemicals. Kleff outlines three major potential mar-kets for green succinic acid. The greatest of these is as abiobased replacement for maleic anhydride, which currentlyserves a global market of about 1.65 million tons per year.Second is the more than 1.6 million pounds per year globalmarket for polymers currently derived from butane. The small-est market of about 100 million pounds per year is for pyrro-lidinones, which are used to make green solvents and eco-friendly chemicals for water treatment.
“There are all kinds of derivative markets where right nowsuccinic acid is not used because it’s too expensive comparedwith petrochemicals,” explains Dilum Dunuwila, vice presidentof business development at Diversified Natural Products Inc.(DNP) an industrial biotechnology company. “As a businesswe have to get to the point where we are economically com-petitive with petrochemical pricing,” he says. “We are gettingthere.”
The final prize and incentives for action are well definedbut how will they be achieved?
‘The extent of market penetrationdepends mainly on the price competitiveness of biobased succinic acid relative to the petrochemical alternatives.’
24 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 25
The JourneyMBI, established in 1981 by the
Michigan High Technology Task Force,has a history of developing biobasedchemicals and agricultural feedstocks intochemicals derived from fermentationprocesses. In 1996, the company patentedthe unique bacterium it isolated for pro-duction of succinic acid from sugars. MBIscientists—knowing that the rumen, one
of the four compartments of the bovine stomach, was a warm,voluminous holding vat devoid of oxygen and brimming withmicrobes that digest and ferment an endless supply of well-masticated feedstuffs—collected rumen samples and isolated anovel succinic acid producer. “The rumen is an environmentwhere you would expect to find an organism that produces suc-cinic acid,” Kleff explains. In addition to conditions prime forfermentation, “the environment is high in carbon dioxide,which we incorporate into our product,” she adds. “So, in con-trast to almost everything else other than photosynthesis, wemake a product in which we incorporate CO2 (carbon dioxide).”Because carbon dioxide is a byproduct of ethanol production,the synthesis of biobased succinic acid could be linked toethanol plants.
The biggest challenge thus far for the MBI team, other thanworking with a microbe that was unknown at the time, wasdetermining how to recover succinic acid from the fermentationbroth, Kleff explains. “In contrast to alcohols, which you canjust distill away from your other components, you cannot dothat with succinic acid,” she says. For the last 10 years, MBIresearchers have characterized the bacterium, dubbedActinobacillus succinogenes, identified the microbe’s optimalgrowth conditions and fermentation products, and optimizedmethods to improve the strain, minimized byproducts, maxi-mized the yield and purity of succinic acid and recovered themolecule. “Our research has been focused on strain- and fer-mentation-process improvements, on recovery methods and onintegrating the process package for robust and economical pro-duction,” Kleff says.
At this point, MBI has scaled-up the bench-top fermenta-tion process for the production of succinic acid to a 1,000-gal-lon fermentation process at its pilot plant in Lansing, Mich.“When you make it to that stage you’ve passed a lot of hurdles,”Kleff says. However, this is not the size that could supply themarket with significant amounts of biobased succinic acid, shesays. To that end, MBI has partnered with another company tocommercialize the technology. No further details about thispartnership were available at press time.
A second company that is moving toward large-scale pro-duction of biomass-derived succinic acid is DNP, formerlyApplied CarboChemicals. Through licenses, the company has
acquired the intellectual property to transform crop-based sug-ars into succinic acid, Dunuwila explains. Like MBI, DNP’sprocess for making succinic acid starts with a microbial fermen-tation. However, DNP uses a strain of Escherichia coli developedat the DOE in the mid-1990s as part of the agency’s Alternative
Feedstocks Program. Under normal conditions, “E. coli fer-ments sugars to produce a mixture of acids,” Dunuwilaexplains. “However, DOE’s efforts led to a bug that is opti-mized to produce succinic acid and only a minimum amount ofbyproducts.”
DNP has also developed methods for separating and puri-fying the succinic acid. Dunuwila explains that one of thebiggest challenges his team has encountered in terms of sepa-ration is that compared with petrochemical feedstocks, whichare concentrated, the fermentation output from biobasedprocesses is very dilute. “Processing that dilute stream econom-
chemicals
‘The demonstration plant wil give usan opportunity to provide samplesfor testing and establish businessrelationships to help us move forward toward building large-scaleplants worldwide.’
Dunuwila
Succinic acid is a chemical building block that can be convertedinto a variety of high-value biobased chemicals or materials.
26 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
chemicals
ically to produce succinic acid can be achallenge because of the energy requiredto get rid of all that water,” Dunuwilasays.
Currently, DNP, along with its
French partner Agro IndustrieRecherches et Dèveloppements (ARD),has a research and pilot facility inPomacle, France. Here, the company’stechnologies are being optimized to make
them more economically viable by mini-mizing byproducts and waste, and maxi-mizing output. By late-2008 to early-2009, the two companies plan to bring a5,000-metric-ton demonstration plant on
Susanne Kleff of MBI International pipettes a mixture of DNA to an agarose gel used to separate genetic fragments.
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 27
chemicals
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line. Although this capacity is no where near what theeventual market would be, “In part, our goal for thedemo plant is to show that we can economically pro-duce succinic acid,” Dunuwila says. In addition, “thedemonstration plant will give us an opportunity toprovide samples for testing and establish business rela-tionships to help us move forward toward buildinglarge-scale plants worldwide,” he says.
“There are several companies and institutionsactive in biobased succinic acid [research and develop-ment],” Dunuwila says. “But as far as we know, DNPalong with ARD is the only group that has announcedthe construction of a production-scale plant. In termsof technology, I think we are the furthest along in thequest for commercializing succinic acid.”
So there it stands. Our heroes may not be wield-ing swords, clubs, or bows and arrows but the pipettesand bacterial cultures they brandish seem to leavethem well-quipped with the tools, knowledge andwherewithal needed to bring the journey to commer-cialize succinic acid to a promising end—or to anoth-er beginning perhaps? BIO
Jessica Ebert is a Biomass Magazine staff writer. Reach
her at [email protected] or (701) 746-8385.
Biobased succinic acid is predominantly derived fromcorn starch. Although first-generation processes areexpected to use this as the primary feedstock, risingcorn prices have motivated both MBI International andDiversified Natural Products Inc. to look at alternative,low-cost carbon feedstocks for biobased succinic acidproduction. Because the fermentative microbe MBI sci-entists isolated came from an environment rich in dif-ferent sugars, using something other than glucose inthe company’s fermentation scheme is not such astretch. “If you think of the bovine rumen, it really takesin a lot of plant material so our microbe is adapted todeal with whatever comes its way in the form of cellu-losic material,” Kleff explains. “It is feasible, even moreso than with ethanol, to use other sugars or othermaterials to make succinic acid.” Likewise, the strain ofE. coli used by DNP can ferment nonfeed sugars. “Ourbug can utilize sugar mixtures that are derived fromnumerous cellulosic sources,” Dunuwila explains. “Ourpilot facility and also the demonstration plant at somepoint will proceed with testing these alternative sugarsources because down the road it will be important forus to have the ability to adapt to available feedstocks.”
Adapting to Alternative Feedstocks
28 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
Biomass power producers aren’t pausing while current U.S. federal policies favor renewablefuels development in an effort to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. Renewablepower will play a vital role in the world’s attempts to reduce greenhouse gases. Now that thefirst-generation technology has matured, work continues on developing new technologies
based on lessons learned.
By Susanne Retka Schill
process
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 29
n 2000, Richard Bain was work-ing on a report that looked atexisting plants to identify what isrequired to successfully producebiomass power.
Fuel issues topped the list inthe report, titled “Lessons Learned fromExisting Biomass Power Plants.” The fuelissues included acquiring a low-cost fuel,while paying attention to where the bio-mass is piled and how it’s fed into theplant and planning for feedstock flexibil-ity. The lessons are valid today, says Bain,who is with the National BioenergyCenter within the National RenewableEnergy Laboratory (NREL). Eventhough Bain’s work is now focused on
biofuels, managing the biorefinery analy-sis group at the NREL, he has kept aneye on the development of the biopowerindustry.
Some of the lessons learned werefrom the McNeil Generating Station inBurlington, Vt., which has a quarter cen-tury of experience turning wood chipsinto power. It was one of the first andbiggest public utility biomass generatorswhen it started up in 1984. About 5 per-cent of its feedstock is waste wood—shipping pallets, yard waste andChristmas trees—supplied by local resi-dents and businesses. Another 25 percentcomes from area manufacturers—sawmills, furniture factories and a veneer
manufacturer. About 30 contractors sup-ply the remaining 70 percent from forestresidues—byproducts of the harvest fortimber, pulp or firewood. The contrac-tors use a mobile chipper on-site andtruck the wood chips to McNeil’s railheadstorage yard. Because the McNeil stationis within the Burlington city limits andnext to a residential district, the plant isrequired to receive 75 percent of its feed-stock by rail, which adds 20 percent tothe cost of wood, says John Irving, man-ager of the McNeil station.
The McNeil plant is configured toburn wood chips, natural gas or fuel oil,and switches fuels based upon cost andavailability. The plant’s wood cost was sta-
I
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Wood chips piled in a 6.5 acre lot are waiting to fuel the McNeil Generating Station at Burlington, Vt.
30 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
ble at $19 per ton until four years agowhen the price increased to $29 per ton.
However, Irvingfigures theMcNeil station’scost to produceelectricity fromwood is $50.45for one megawatthour (or 5 centsper kilowatthour), which isstill a bargainwhen comparedwith other fuels.
At current rates, the electrical cost wouldbe $151 per megawatt hour from fuel oiland $98 from natural gas. McNeil’s gener-ating load is determined by the NewEngland power pool on a daily basis. Thepool directs it to generate specific levelsof power at specific times of the daybased on the needs of the entire powerpool.
Cofiring and PyrolysisAs it relies on experience, the bio-
mass power industry continues to devel-op new technologies focused on efficientfuel utilization. Now that the first gener-ation of direct combustion technologieshave matured, cofiring and pyrolysis aretwo of the technologies that are beingstudied further.
Switchgrass gets a lot a press as thefuture feedstock for cellulosic ethanol,however, in Ottumwa, Iowa, AlliantEnergy Corp. is ready to go commercialcofiring switchgrass with coal to generateelectricity. The Iowa project illustratesmany of the lessons highlighted in the2000 report.
Nearly 15 years ago, the CharitonValley Resource Conservation andDevelopment group began investigatingswitchgrass as a potential new crop forarea farmers. Alliant Energy partneredwith the U.S. DOE to study the potentialfor cofiring switchgrass in its 725megawatt coal-fired OttumwaGenerating Station. A test in 2000,burned 1,300 tons of switchgrass to gath-
Irving
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8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 31
er preliminary results and establish thenext steps in evaluating the feedstock’spotential. In December 2003,another test used 1,500 tons oflocally grown switchgrass, andthe final three-month continu-ous firing test completed inMay 2006, burned 15,000 tons.Based on the series of tests,several issues had to beaddressed, says Bill Johnson,manager of biomass marketsfor Alliant. “Handling hay isdifferent than handling coal,”he says. “There are dust haz-ards, mechanical issues plus the combus-tion characteristics.” They also had to testthe suitability of the fly ash byproduct foruse in concrete to build roads. Thosestandards are based on coal fly ash.
“That’s a pretty important economicresource for us,” Johnson says. “Whatcan’t be sold for use in a cement mix hasto go to the landfill.” The standards nowaccept the mixed ash.
Using agricultural biomass for powercan present challenges, Bain admits. “InCalifornia, orchard prunings are an agri-cultural waste that presents no prob-lems,” he says. However, high levels ofpotassium content in biomass can causeslagging problems. Slagging occurs whenminerals change to liquids in a high-tem-perature boiler, which can foul heat trans-fer surfaces, reduce efficiency and evencause shutdowns. To prevent these prob-lems from occurring, each potential feed-stock has to be evaluated for perform-ance. Even the timing of the biomassharvest has an effect. Switchgrass, forexample, is better suited for cofiring
when it’s harvested in the fall because thenutrients get stored in the roots, Bain
says. If producers try to gettwo cuttings, it could createproblems in the power plantbecause summer switchgrasshas higher potassium con-tent.
With the testing com-pleted and the plant modifi-cations made, the Ottumwaplant is ready to supply 5percent of its energy needswith switchgrass. That willrequire as much as 200,000
tons of grass annually from 50,000 acresof land and involve as many as 500 farm-ers. “Right now a local group is develop-ing a business structure for aggregatingswitchgrass,” Johnson says. “We don’t
want to serve as the aggregator.”Building on what it has learned,
Alliant is planning for additional genera-tion capacity at two existing power plantsnear Cassville, Wis., and Marshalltown,Iowa, to burn 10 percent to 20 percentbiomass. The company sees a benefitfrom reducing its carbon footprint,Johnson says. “We see benefits for thecommunity and environment in provid-ing new markets for cover crops that canbe grown on marginal lands and by pro-viding new business opportunities for thepeople involved in the aggregation, trans-portation and processing of the bio-mass,” he says.
Johnson is evaluating potential feed-stocks for the new projects to find outwhether the feedstocks can be sustainablefor the life of the power plant. “The boil-ers will have to be designed for the fuel
source that is most prevalent,” heexplains. The benefits may be impressive.At Cassville, initial projections indicatethat the combination of new control sys-tems and the addition of biomass cofiredwith coal will reduce emissions as muchas 70 percent, Johnson says. “That’s goingfrom a 200 megawatt to a 500 megawattplant.”
GasificationWhile cofiring biomass is being
developed to “green” coal power, gasifi-cation technology is being researched tomaximize the potential for utilizing awider range of fuels with greater efficien-cy. Based on the chemistry of pyrolysis,gasifiers are used to heat biomass to hightemperatures to create a biogas that canbe directly used for cofiring. The chal-lenge has been to devise systems to puri-fy the gas for wider and more efficientapplications.
The McNeil Generating Stationhosted a demonstration project fundedby the DOE to add 12 megawatts ofpower from gasification to the 50megawatts it generates from convention-ally fired woody biomass. “It worked wellin cofiring,” Irving says. The biogas wascofired with wood chips to create steamto power the turbines. The research proj-ect focused on improving the pyrolysisgas for use in a combined-cycle gas tur-bine. “That implies you can take the gasi-fication process and clean it suitably touse [the biogas] in a gas turbine, andthat’s the hard part. That’s what we wereworking on when the plug was pulled,”Irving says. When the DOE and othercooperators ended the project in 2001,McNeil mothballed the demonstration’sgasifier. Part of the reason it didn’t con-tinue with the gasification project atBurlington is that there wasn’t a lot ofagricultural residue to utilize as a feed-stock in Vermont. To make mattersworse, there is a negative public percep-tion toward using municipal solid wasteso that is ruled out as a potential feed-stock, he adds.
Johnson
‘We see benefits for the community and environment in providing new markets for covercrops that can be grown on marginal lands and byproviding new business opportunities for the people involved in the aggregation, transportationand processing of the biomass.’
process
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32 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
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Whether to choose cofiring, gasifica-tion or direct combustion becomes a sitespecific decision, Irving says. He visited a200-megawatt coal-fired plant in Lahti,Finland, that added a 40-megawatt ther-mal fluidized bed gasifier, which allowedthem to burn peat, wood, tires and trash.“They take low Btu (British thermal unit)gas from the gasifier and blow that intotheir coal-fired boiler and turn it intoelectricity that way,” he says.
There are a half a dozen gasifiers indifferent configurations continuing thework of creating a better system, accord-ing to Glenn Farris, president and CEOof Biomass Gas and Electric LLC. “Webelieve it’s the future of the biomass busi-ness,” says Farris who worked on thepyrolysis project at McNeil. Atlanta, Ga.-
based BiomassGas andElectric tookthe first con-crete steps indeveloping twopyrolysis-basedpower plantswhen it signedpower agree-ments for plantsin Tallahassee,
Fla., and Forsyth County, Ga.Using advanced pyrolysis systems
with combined-cycle turbines can gener-ate electricity with 40 percent efficiency,he says, compared with direct combus-tion of biomass that generates powerwith efficiencies in the mid-20 percent.Florida State University in Tallahassee isstarting a sustainable energy program tointegrate hydrogen gas and fuel cell tech-nologies with gasification. “These config-urations might take the efficiency up tothe 60 percent range,” he says.
Biomass Gas and Electric is develop-ing projects choosing whichever gasifica-tion technology works best for the situa-tion, Farris says. The company is plan-ning its first commercial applicationbased on advanced pyrolysis gasificationand steam reformation, to supply the cityof Tallahassee with 38 megawatts ofelectricity for its municipal power systemand 60 decatherms of methanated bio-
mass process gas for its natural gaspipeline. In Forsyth County, Biomass Gasand Electric will use an updraft gasifier todeliver 28 megawatts to the grid in apower contract with Georgia Power Co.The plant will be located next to a con-struction and demolition landfill whichwill supply clean woody waste to the gasi-fier. Farris points out that Georgia hasmore commercially managed forests thanany other state. Because of the loss ofpulp and paper production overseas, hesays, “we have a surplus of that type ofwoody material.”
Biomass Power GrowsNationwide, renewable electrical
power from sources other than hydro-electric dams is slowly but steadily grow-ing. The latest annual statistics analyzedby the Energy InformationAdministration (EIA) show renewableFarris
The latest annual statistics analyzed by the EnergyInformation Administration show renewable powerother than hydro grew 5 percent in 2005, comparedwith the previous year.
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power other than hydro grew 5 percent in2005, compared with the previous year.Biomass from all sources—wood, agri-cultural residues, municipal solid waste—contributed the biggest portion of non-hydroelectric renewables, and wind wasgrowing the fastest with a 25 percentincrease over the previous year.Geothermal and solar were also added tothe renewable power column along withwind, hydro and biomass. When industri-al combined heat and power generation is
added into the mix, biomass takes on amuch bigger role. The wood productsindustry uses wood residues to generatenearly half its total energy needs. Viewedfrom a different perspective, the EIAreports that of all the sectors consumingrenewable energy, electric power con-sumes as much as the transportation,industrial, commercial and residentialsectors combined.
At 2.3 percent, nonhydroelectricrenewables are just a tiny portion of the
total U.S. electrical power sector. Shouldpublic policy place a higher priority onreducing greenhouse gases, the displace-ment of coal with biomass will become afavored strategy. Coal power comprises32 percent of the nation’s electrical gen-erating capacity, and in 2006 coal generat-ed half the nation’s electricity. The inter-est in renewable energy is growing on thestate level, with nearly half the statesadopting Renewable Portfolio Standards.The standards require public utilities togenerate an increasing percentage ofpower from renewable energy. (SeeIndustry News page 14.)
Bain expects biopower to become apriority once again at the DOE where he isnow working on biofuels. “If the primaryobjective is the reduction of foreign oilimports, then transportation fuels are moreimportant. If our primary object were thereduction of carbon for global warming,then substituting biomass for coal in powerwould be the best thing you could do,”Bain says. “I’ve been here long enough thatI never throw my old files away. It’s goingto come back some day.” BIO
Susanne Retka Schill is a BiomassMagazine staff writer. Reach her [email protected] or (701) 746-
8385.
Pictured is an artist’s rendering of the biomass gasification plant that Biomass Gas andElectric is building as part of the company’s power production agreement with the city ofTallahassee, Fla.
34 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
Fuels for Schools was started in Vermont as a statewide initiative to promote and encouragethe use of renewable, local natural resources to provide reliable heat for schools. It has sincegrown into a multistate program, and has recently expanded its scope beyond schools.
By Anduin Kirkbride McElroy
he Fuels for Schools pro-gram is a continued suc-cess story of local bio-mass utilization. The pro-gram started in Vermontin the 1980s, when most
of the schools were heated using priceyelectricity, according to ProgramDirector Kamalesh Doshi at theBiomass Energy Resource Center(BERC). Substantial woody biomasswaste was available from saw mills andother timber processing industries, andthe connection was drawn to reduce thecost of heating schools. The first suc-cessful project was installed in 1986.Today almost 20 percent of Vermontpublic school students attend a schoolheated with wood. Thirty-two schoolsoperate wood chip systems and moreinstallations are being considered.
In late 2001, Fuels for Schools wasstarted in the Northern andIntermountain regions of the USDA’sForest Service. The previous summer,fires ravaged much of the BitterrootValley of Montana and Idaho, says DaveAtkins, the Fuels for Schools programmanager for the Forest Service’sNorthern and Intermountain regions.Following the fires, Congress passed theNational Fire Plan, which was aimed atreducing wood that could possibly fuelfires and fire suppression. It includedfunds to help with small-diameter woodutilization, which is not as valuable to thewood industry, is fuel for fire and costlyto dispose of. A community group sawVermont as an example, and applied forfunds from the Forest Service for thefirst school demonstration project inDarby, Mont. From there, a regional
program was developed.There are now systems operating in
Montana, Nevada, Idaho and NorthDakota. Wyoming and Utah are workingto identify their demonstration commu-nities. Within these states, 16 projectshave been installed or are in the designphase.
Atkins says the localized systems fillan important niche. “The advantage isyou’re closer to your source of material,so you keep transportation costs down,”he says. “If you are consuming heat andenergy on site in your local area, youdon’t need a lot of transmission lines formoving the energy product to the enduser.”
There are also challenges to local-ized systems, as discovered by NickSalmon, who has served as senior proj-ect manager of several projects through
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the architectural and engineer-ing firm CTA ArchitectsEngineers. “One of the chal-lenges of these projects is theyall have their unique challenges,”he says. “As much as we’ve triedto standardize them, we alwaysencounter something different,whether that’s bidding or inte-gration of the boiler or workingwith vendors.”
A recent challenge has been dealingwith fuel quality. “As the program hasbecome more focused on diverting fuelthat would otherwise be burned in a slashpile and getting that material in a schoolcampus, we’re encountering more debris,”Salmon says. “It takes more time to screenthat debris out.”
Wood consistency is a new problemfor boiler vendors. “I would say, in the bigpicture, the biggest challenge is that themajority of vendors work directly for thewood products industry,” Salmon says.“They’re designing for a mill or wood pro-
cessing plant of some kind. So they havecertain ways used to solve a certain prob-lem and a certain way of handling it,because that’s their livelihood. The endusers are typically not used to working withsolid fuel and the vendors aren’t used to
designing systems for those typesof facilities.”
In Doshi’s experience inVermont, many of the vendorsare comfortable working withsolid fuel, but not necessarilyaccustomed to working withwood. He says there are about 10active boiler vendors, and two orthree that dominate the marketwith up to 70 percent of the mar-
ket share. “Others are new and trying toincrease their market share,” he says. Mostof the vendors also manufacture boilersfor solid fuel, such as coal.
Designing wood boilers for schoolsrequires unique considerations comparedwith other boiler systems. Salmon explainsthat most boilers are designed to meetpeak load, but that peak load happens veryinfrequently—less than 15 minutes everyfive years. With conventional gas boilers,this usually isn’t a problem, as they operateefficiently at a small fraction of their capac-ity. “Wood boilers function well at high
fire, and less so at lower fire,”Salmon says. “In general, wedesign wood boilers for lessthan peak load, to work pro-ductively for much of theyear.”
Salmon says they arealways learning somethingnew, such as the importanceof involving the state’s envi-ronmental permitting agency,even though most projects areso small they don’t require anair quality permit. “They doan analysis of future emis-sions and quantify whetherthe system will require a per-mit, and they also determinethe optimal stack height,” hesays.
Both Salmon andAtkins emphasized the savings—bothtime and money—in implementing a bio-mass system in new construction. “Thecost of the system is a good one-third lessthan a retrofit,” Atkins says. “There is nocost to integrate the plumbing and connec-
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Kamalesh Doshi of the Biomass Energy ResourceCenter holds wood chips used in the biomass boiler atSpaulding High School in Barre, Vt.
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tions, and it’s part of a bigger project, sothe building permits and design fees arespread over a bigger project.” This savingswas demonstrated this spring at a newhigh school in Kalispell, Mont.
Expanding to Other StatesThe Fuels for Schools program may
expand to other states. The Farm Bill,which is in Congress right now, includes asection on wood-to-energy within theforestry title. “If that legislation passes,that would likely be an opportunity for oureffort to be expanded throughout theUnited States in a similar fashion to whatwe’ve done,” Atkins says.
Although the BERC in Vermont isnot funded through the Forest ServiceFuels for Schools program, its expertisehas proven useful to school districts inMaine, Massachusettes, New Hampshire,New Mexico, Pennsylvania and SouthDakota.
As the program expands into lessforested states, the motive in pursuingthese biomass projects becomes less aboutmanaging excess biomass supply andmore about utilizing renewable energysources. Nevada, which has a renewable
energy portfolio, is such a state. Throughthe process of developing two projects, ithas learned lessons in versatility.
Ironically, one of the most recentFuels for Schools projects, and also thelargest, is not in a school. Nevada has fewschools that are close to sufficient biomassresources and also have a large enoughpopulation to justify the capital costs,according to Jason Perock, state coordina-tor of the Nevada Fuels for Schools.
Enter the Northern NevadaCorrectional Center in Carson City, Nev.,which was slated to complete the installa-tion of a $6.4 million biomass system inJune. The combined-heat-and-power sys-tem, producing one megawatt of electric-ity, will require 16,000 tons of wood peryear. This is huge compared with the otherFuels for Schools project in Nevada,which only requires 150 tons of wood peryear.
The biomass boiler and a 200-kilo-watt photovoltaic solar component willprovide all of the electricity, heat and hotwater for the 408,000 square-foot facility.The project took 1½ years to plan andabout seven months to construct. Thesystem is estimated to save the NNCC $1
fuel
The biomass boiler at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center will require 16,000tons of wood per year to provide one megawatt of heat and power.
38 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
fuel
million per year. “The payback will be veryquick,” Perock says.
The quick return is due in part to thecontinuous operations of the facility.“When producing electricity, you really needa 24-hour need for electricity if you’re goingto produce it economically,” Perock says.“In prisons, they have a high energydemand.”
The size also makes the project eco-nomical, but sourcing the biomass has notbeen an easy feat. Part of the 16,000 tonswill come from standard forestry manage-ment scrap, but Perock says it has been dif-ficult to get supply commitments. Thebiggest challenge in Nevada is that there isno timber industry infrastructure. “We’restill struggling with the economics of trans-portation,” he says. “We’re recreating ourown biomass infrastructure when it comesto hauling, processing and storage. Part ofmy job is to look for contractors to do thefuels reduction work and the hauling. We’rebasically starting from scratch in Nevada.”
Perock notes that this program is actu-
ally costing the Forest Service more moneythan traditional forest management.“Forestry agencies are driven by the numberof acres treated, not by biomass removed,”he says. “In Nevada, we’re trying to make amarket for wood waste. When the marketgoes up, it will be easier to justify going outand getting the wood from the forest.”
Fuels for Schools requires that half ofa project’s fuel supply comes from theforests. But Perock says he is not holdingthe correctional facility to those standards.“We have to get the supply wherever wecan, because it all counts—whether you’repulling it out of the woods where it’s goingto be burned in piles or pulling it out of thelandfills where it’s going to be buried,” hesays. The plan is to buy wood from CarsonCity Renewable Energy, a wood processingfacility that diverts and processes woodwaste from the local landfill.
For a future project, Perock is consider-ing the urban forest of Las Vegas. Theamount of wood waste from tree trimmingsis estimated at 500,000 tons per year. Perock
says this is a more reliable source because it’salready being collected.
Like it is in Nevada, the regional Fuelsfor Schools program will continue toexpand beyond schools, where appropriate.In an analysis of all buildings with boilersystems in Montana and Michigan, CTA’sSalmon says that only about 10 percent arestrong projects, meaning that the cost ofconverting to a wood heating system wouldgenerate a positive cash flow in the first year.
“We’ve also determined that there arecertain projects where energy conservationis more important than conversion towood,” Salmon says. “There’s no point inburning wood to burn wood. If the existingsystem isn’t very efficient, then we’re burn-ing wood inefficiently instead of natural gas.Energy conservation should be the firstthing that everybody considers.” BIO
Anduin Kirkbride McElroy is a BiomassMagazine staff writer. Reach her at amcelroy
@bbibiofuels.com or (701) 746-8385.
40 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
Replacing fossil fuel-based products such as plastics and solvents with biomass-based equivalents has long been a goal of the biobased industry. Thevision is a biorefinery—the equivalent of an oil refinery—producing many chemicals
with hundreds of end uses. So, why aren’t such facilities being built?
By Jerry W. Kram
industry
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 41
industry
n Daniel Wilson’s book,“Where’s my Jet Pack?,” hechronicles the wonders ofthe future foreseen by sci-ence fiction writers andfuturists that never seemed
to arrive, such as teleportation, robotmaids and cheap, easy space travel.Sometimes the promise of biomassseems similar, an industry with so muchpromise but seemingly only achievingslow, steady incremental progress.
The ultimate biomass facility wouldin many ways resemble an oil refinery.A largely homogenous product goes inone end and many different productscome out of the other. Substitute bio-mass for petroleum, and you have a
biorefinery. The National RenewableEnergy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden,Colo., and other research institutionshave identified a range of interestingand potentially valuable chemicals thatcould form the product base of a viablebiorefinery.
The idea of a biorefinery has someinfluential supporters. Among them isVinod Khosla, a venture capitalist andformer head of the computer companySun Microsystems. He believes thatbiomass-derived chemical intermedi-ates could displace a major portion ofpetroleum used for plastics. As anexample, he uses bottled water, whichhe describes as water wrapped in oil.“There is no reason that this product
should not be renewable and hopefullybiodegradable,” he said.
There are operating facilities thatare being called biorefineries. Somenotable examples are DuPont’s plantthat produces 1,3 propanediol inLoudon, Tenn., and Archer DanielsMidland Co.’s polyhydroxybutyric acid(PHA) plant in Clinton, Iowa. But theseplants are focused on single products,albeit products with a range of uses.However, these plants do show that theconcept of producing intermediates forthe chemical industry is a solid concept.They are also closer to the ideal of adiversified biorefinery than one mightthink. “Maybe we should call this [con-cept] the elusive next-generation biore-finery, because there are some very sig-nificant existing facilities,” says JimMcMillan, an acting research supervisorfor NREL. “They just aren’t cellulosic[facilities] yet.”
Fueling a RevolutionThe idea that a biorefinery needs to
start with a wide range of products isflawed, according to Preston Schutt.Schutt worked with the state ofWisconsin on its Biorefining
42 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
industry
The road to a biorefinery will likely be more evolutionary that revolutionary. After all, the firstoil refineries didn’t start out to supply the chemical industry.
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8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 43
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Development Initiative and his compa-ny, CleanTech Partners Inc., providesmanagement services for theBiorefinery Deployment Collaborative(BDC).
The road to a biorefinery will likelybe more evolutionary than revolution-ary, Schutt says. After all, the first oilrefineries didn’t start out to supply thechemical industry. They started as fuelsuppliers, first for oil lamps and thenfor transportation and heating. Eventoday, the vast majority of oil is usedfor fuels. So when the biorefinerybecomes a reality, it will likely be a nat-ural outgrowth from an established,profitable industry. “Is there a biorefin-ery operating in Wisconsin? Thatdepends,” Schutt says. “I would arguean ethanol plant is an early stage biore-finery. They do sell multiple products—ethanol, distillers grains, carbon diox-ide. Those types of plants haven’t goneso far [into biorefining]. Why, becauseethanol is so valuable. Why would theybe looking to sell other products whenethanol is so incredibly valuable? Thatwill change in the future. Then I thinkwe will see them saying, ‘I’m not mak-ing as much money as I used to in
ethanol what else can I make?’” Schuttsays.
McMillan agrees that at the presenttime, economics favor the side of fuelproduction rather than chemicals. “Thechallenge in the scale disparity is hugebetween fuels and nonfuel products,”
he says. “If you go to nonfuel products,even if it is a large [market], it is anorder of magnitude smaller and for atypical chemical it’s a couple of ordersof magnitude smaller. So the flywheel isthe fuel. But if they can get it to cashflow on that basis, then they will be in
Hydoxyproprionic Acid (HPA) is one chemical feedstock already being produced from bio-mass. This star diagram shows the potentially valuable chemical derivatives that can bemade from HPA. The circled compounds are in commercial use today.
44 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 8|2007
industry
the position as they go forward to keepincreasing their revenues by being ableto diversify out into additional prod-ucts.”
The DuPont and ADM plants rep-resent this first stage of the biorefinerydevelopment concept. The DuPontplant is collocated with an ethanolplant operated by Tate and Lyle PLC.ADM’s PHA facility is next to one ofthe company’s wet mills.
Breaking It UpA problem for biorefining,
McMillan says, is that there is a criticaldifference “between a mixture of valu-able chemicals and valuable mixture ofchemicals. The latter is where you’retrying to end up. Biomass has every-thing in it. It is a mixture of valuablechemicals that isn’t very valuable when
they are all together like that.” Part ofthe challenge of biorefining is findingways to economically capture the high-value fractions of biomass.
Biorefining advocates may be bet-ter off looking at different industriesfor inspiration. McMillan says one suchmodel would be the corn wet millingindustry. Starch is the product thatpays the bills for these companies, butthey also produce a host of otherproducts including dextrose, high-fruc-tose corn syrup, dextrans, corn oil,corn gluten and corn fiber. As marketconditions change, the wet mill can
shift production to its most profitablemix of products. “Another example isthe sugar industry in Brazil,” McMillansays. “There you are taking a prod-uct—sugar—that can be made intoethanol. Then you ask which is morevaluable, ethanol or sugar? You are tak-ing the same starting material and ask-ing, which way should I go, how do Ibreak this down or fractionate to max-imize my return and minimize myrisk?”
The pulp and paper industry isanother player well-positioned forbiorefining. It has a history of effi-ciently harvesting and transportinglarge quantities of biomass and sepa-rating it into its components. The BDCis a paid membership group of pulpand paper companies and their suppli-ers working to advance biorefining inthe forestry industry in Wisconsin.
“We are doing our investigation of themultiple pathways of transitioningpaper mills into biorefineries,” Schuttsays. “A paper mill is a little like a cow.You put the wood chips in a digestermuch like a cow’s stomach. Out of itcomes cellulose that the paper compa-nies want, but you can also pull out thehemicellulose.”
Paper plants using the sulfiteprocess for making pulp can alsoextract the hemicellulose, which can bebroken down for ethanol and aceticacid production. However, there areonly a few sulfite mills left because
The biorefinery concept may be inevitable.Eventually, ethanol supply will begin to catch upwith demand and, like the pulp and paper industry,the ethanol industry will start looking for ways todiversify its income stream.
they are more costly to operate thankraft mills, Schutt says. If biorefiningbecomes more profitable sulfite millscould make a come back.
The lignin content of wood isanother potential feedstock stream forpulp and paper producers. Currently,most pulp mills burn the lignin forprocess heat and steam. Some pulpmills are installing gasifiers to makesyngas out of the lignin, Schutt says. Atworst, these mills are guaranteeingthemselves a reliable source of energy,but using a gasifier opens up otheravenues for biorefining as well. “Thetechnologies for scrubbing the syngasare becoming more practical,” Schuttsays. “Suddenly, you can start looking atwhat else you can make out of the syn-gas. Well, we know once the syngas isscrubbed there are a number of thingsyou can start working on.”
Real ProgressThe U.S. DOE has refocused its
attention on the production of biofu-els, McMillan says. However, theUSDA, along with the DOE, recentlycalled for proposals for $18 million intobiomass research. Thirty percent ofthat money will be targeted to productdiversification.
McMillan also believes the recentDOE grants totaling $385 millionawarded to six companies for cellulosicethanol pilot projects will be veryimportant to the eventual developmentof biorefineries. Each company is usingdifferent technologies to make sugarsor syngas from biomass, which will bethe necessary first step in any biorefin-ing process. “You will see in two to fouryears all of these plants starting up andtesting the technology at that scale,” hesays.
Schutt thinks the biorefinery con-cept may be inevitable. Eventually,ethanol supply will begin to catch upwith demand and, like the pulp andpaper industry, the ethanol industry will
start looking for ways to diversify itsincome stream. Although that may beyears down the road, he thinks forwardlooking companies are already thinkingabout that. “They’re asking, ‘Whatshould I be doing five years from nowwhen the price of ethanol is 70 percentof what it is today?’” Schutt says.“We’re trying to help them developstrategies and know what new tech-nologies are out there. We want tointroduce them to these new processes
and technologies so they are ready.These things take time.” BIO
Jerry W. Kram is a Biomass Magazinestaff writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (701) 746-8385.
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 45
industry
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 47
IN THE
LAB
hat’s in it?” That’s the question that analytical labs have had to answer for as long as they have existed.For biomass processors, it is a serious—even critical—question.
Biomass can be tricky stuff. It is a mixture of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, protein, sugars and othercomponents. A process that works well with corn stover as a feedstock might not work as well with switch-grass and might not work at all with softwoods such as pine. Therefore, biomass producers are interest-ed in learning what is in their feedstocks. “If you are going to understand conversion process yields, youneed to know what is going into the front end of the process,” says Bonnie Hames, senior chemistry man-
ager for Ceres Inc. There are standardized methods for determining the composition and abundance of all the constituents of bio-mass. The problem is that the conventional wet chemistry methods for determining the composition of biomass are slow and expen-sive—between $1,000 and $3,000 a sample, she says.
Ceres is a plant-breeding company specializing in the development of cellulosic feedstock crops. Developing new plant varietiesis a volume business, requiring the screening of tens of thousands of individual plants for valuable traits. Even when genetic engi-neering techniques such as those developed by Ceres are used, the resulting plant progenies still have to be screened for their valueto the customer. “If you’re trying to improve feedstock quality or assess the risk that you might encounter in your process, you reallyneed to understand that variability,” Hames says.
To get around the bottleneck, Hames adapted an off-the-shelf tech-nology widely used in the food and feed industries, building on work shepioneered at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Near-infraredspectroscopy (NIRS) has been around since the 1970s, but her innova-tion was to apply that technology to cellulosic biomass. “It’s really a high-impact, low-risk technology,” Hames says. “It’s taking something that hasbeen demonstrated in many other industries and applying it to this newfield.” Hames and the other researchers at Ceres found they could ana-lyze samples in minutes instead of days for about $20 instead of thou-sands of dollars with close to the same precision and accuracy as thestandard wet chemistry methods.
Because it is a common analytical tool, there are a large number ofvendors providing a wide range of NIRS systems. Some are optimizedfor use in the lab, while others have been miniaturized—some as smallas a digital camera, powered by a handheld computer—for use in thefield or the processing facility.
The industry isn’t quite done with wet chemistry, however. NIRSworks by comparing a spectrum of a sample to a spectrum calibrated toknown samples. According to Hames, a good NIRS method needs atleast 100 to 300 samples analyzed by standard wet chemistry methods.This has to be done for each major category of biomass, such as switch-grass, corn stover, bagasse or wood chips. “An uncalibrated NIRS instru-ment is like a car without gasoline,” Hames says. “You need the ability tointerpret the spectrum for the parameters you are interested in.”
Having these tools in-house is a significant advantage for Ceres. By traditional methods, analyzing 500 samples with the com-pany’s current staff would take one year and $1 million. Using NIRS to analyze 500 samples takes about three days and $10,000.“We can keep an eye on yield per acre and the quality of that product for individual processes as we develop our energy crops,”Hames says.
NIRS is an important component of Ceres’ quest to develop energy crops tailored to the needs of biomass processors. “We areusing this technology to assess what the natural variability would be in these plants,” Hames says. “We can try to figure out whatchanges are genetic versus environmental. We are looking at how feedstocks can change with storage. It allows us to evaluate cropyields not just in tons per acre but in actual gallons of [final] product per acre.” BIO
—Jerry W. Kram
The Need for Speed:Rapid Biomass Analysis Makes Better Breeding Possible
W“
Ceres research associate Andy Goddard analyzes an NIRSspectrum of switchgrass. NIRS allows for the rapid and inexpensive determination of biomass components.
8|2007 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 49
EERCUPDATE
A Road Map for Biofuels Research s the dust settles following the 23rd Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expoin St. Louis, new discussions have emerged concerning the future of ethanol and other bio-fuels. The key to many of these discussions is the debate about starch-based ethanol, ligno-cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel-based fuels. Opinions from politicians, scientists, investorsand developers range broadly on the percentage of U.S. transportation fuel that can bereplaced by biofuels.
Currently, ethanol accounts for about 4 percent of the fuel used in the United States transportation sector.Most of that figure relates to corn- or starch-based ethanol. With over 200 ethanol plants slated to be operatingin three years or so, ethanol will soon make up 8 percent or more of our gasoline consumption. However, thefuture beyond that is unclear. To achieve significant levels of total biofuel consumption, meaning ethanol andbiodiesel production, more attention—a lot more attention—must be paid to biomass.
The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) sees a great need for investmentin applied research and development to improve all aspects of field-to-wheels efficiency inbiofuels. Replacing a significant portion of petroleum-derived transportation fuels withdomestic renewable alternatives from biomass will require new, innovative pathways that 1)compete economically with petroleum and 2) maximize the fuel production capacity of U.S.agricultural lands, which means achieving a maximum “vehicle miles traveled” per acre. Thisinvolves a paradigm shift in thinking and conducting research on both the development ofbiofuels and how the fuels are consumed. In other words, we must tie together how we con-vert biomass—by fermentation or thermochemical means—with how we convert the prod-ucts into propulsion—spark- and compression-ignition engines, turbines or fuel cells.
Presently, it is the EERC’s belief that there are six primary options for the future of biomass- or lignocellu-lose-based biofuel production:
1. Enzyme hydrolysis of biomass followed by conventional fermentation of the sugars made availablefrom the cellulose to ethanol2. Thermal gasification of the biomass to convert it to mostly volatile carbon monoxide, hydrogen,carbon dioxide and methane, followed by fermentation of this mixture to ethanol3. Thermal gasification of the biomass followed by nonfermentive alcohol synthesis and mixed-alcohol production4. Thermal gasification of the biomass followed by Fischer–Tropsch conversion to distillates or “greendiesel”5. Thermal gasification of the biomass followed by methanol synthesis, dehydration and catalytic conversion to dimethyl ether, a higher-reaction-temperature, higher-cetane compound that is an excellentdiesel fuel substitute, and 6. Pyrolysis conversion of biomass to bio-oil followed by hydrogenation and conversion to distillates or “green diesel.”
In next month’s column, we will expand on the advantages and disadvantages of these six pathways to con-version of biomass to transportation fuels. The United States is definitely at a crossroads for determining inwhich pathways to invest for new, cutting-edge technologies for converting biomass to fuels. It will be excitingto watch how technology breakthroughs, economics, politics and public support determine the course of thesepathways. BIO
Chris J. Zygarlicke is deputy associate director for research at the EERC in Grand Forks, N.D. He can be reached
at [email protected] or (701) 777-5123.
Zygarlicke
A
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