Giuliano Grass i

7/30/2019 Giuliano Grass i

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European Biomass Industry Association

Low cost production ofBioethanol from

Dr. Giuliano GRASSIEUBIA Secretary General

[email protected]

Rue dArlon, 63-65B-1040 Brussels Belgium

Sweet Sorghum

Low cost production of Bioethanol from sweet sorghum

Present context (I)

- World Production (2005)

- World Production (2015)

Brasil ~15 Billion li

USA ~ 14 Billion li

EU ~ 0,6 Billion li

46 Billion li(most fuel ethanol)

75 Billion li

- USA Bill estabilishing a Ren. Fuel Standard of 7,5 Billion gal./year*


- Price (Nov 2005) Brasil (hydrous) ~ 460 $/ ton

Brasil (anhydrous) ~ 520 $/ ton

USA ~ 620 $/ton

EU (hydrous) ~ 700 $/ ton

EU (anhydrous) ~ 755 $/ ton

Present context (II)- Production cost (typical)

Brasil ~ 160 $/ton

EU ~ 600 $/ton

USA ~ 420 $/ton

Import duty (EU) ~ 190 /ton


Why Sweet Sorghum for Bioethanol ?

Sweet Sorghum is an extraordinarily promisingmultifunctional crop for several reasons:

It requires common soil even with high % ofsand and it is also adapted to salty areas;

It requires low of water imputs ( ~ 200 m3 /ton), 1/3 of sugar canerequirements, 1/2 of corn;

It has a short growing cycle fromseeds (4/5 months), 1/3 of sugar cane;

A high productivity of several components (grains,sugars, lignocellulosic);

Many varieties are available for geneticimprovment (~4,000)

It can be grown in all continents, intropical, sub-tropical and temperateregions (covering sugar-cane most sugar-

beet areas);


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Three main types of Sorghum

.


Positive Environmental PerformanceSweet Sorghum absorbs large amount of CO2 (~45 t CO2/hax cycle);

1 ltr of bio-ethanol saves ~2,2 Kg CO2 (transport);

Low energy, chemical, irrigation water inputs;

Respect of biodiversity in large plantations (wide range of varieties);

Soil erosion loss (on marginal erodible sites) ~10 t/ha/y, within thetolerance level (11 t/ha/y);

Large amount of compost from Sweet Sorghum residues (~15d.t/ha/ycycle) can improve the sustainability of cropping;

NOTE

Sweet-Sorghum must be considered, multi-functional (energy) crop, nota competitor crop for the sugar market!


Potential geographical areas for S. Sorghum

Sugarcane

Sugarbeet

Limit for cereals

Sweet

Sorghum

70

60

52


Sweet Sorghum Etoh Productivity

5600

4200

5000

6700

5100

61006000

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

ETOH (l/ha)

1

Sweet Sorghum variety

Typical productivity from different varieties

Shennong1(China)

Shennong1(Italy)Foralco(ITA)

Sofra(ITA)

Doina(RUM)

Carmen(RUM)

Doina(India)

F-135ST(India)

But the real cropdevelopmentfor ETOH is notyet started!


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How to reach a low cost for Bioethanol?

By high productivity (this has been demonstrated)and control insupplying.

By the valorisation of all components of the crop:

Grains (80/t)

Sugars (50/t)

Lignocellulosic (25/t)

By the adoption and integration of modern processingtechnologies and production for industrial, energy, feed,commodities (Biorefinery concept)

By attributing a low-value premium to Bioethanol as much aspossible

By CO2 trading or green-certificates benefits


Why a target figure of 250 /ton for the

bioethanol-cost is resonable?

Assuming that 60% of the ETOH production cost is due to thefeedstock (sugar cost) supply, this value is:

0.961*0.932*0.53*0.954

50 /t________________= 118 /t ETOH

Therefore the anticipated cost of bioethanol from sweet

sorghum is ca 200/t.

Conservative figure: 250 /t

1: Sugar extractionefficiency2. Fermentationefficiency3. ETOH/sugarconversion4: Industrialefficiency


Which size of Integrated Sweet Sorghum

Complex could be economically viable in

the E.U. ?- Minimum plantations size (Decentralised production):

- Large plantations size (Centralised production) :

1000 ha

Bioethanol capacity (microdistillery): 6,000 m3/ y

1or 2level of integration

10,000 - 50,000 ha (or more)

Bioethanol capacity 60,000 - 300,000 m3/ y


ETOHStorage &Sale

SweetSorghumPlantation

HarvestingCane

Crushing Sugar juicePurification

Fermentation

Distillation

Dehydratation

GrainsDrying &Stor.

Pelletisation

DDGStorage & Sale

Agro-pelletsStorage & Sale

CHPFor complex

operation

Typical Sweet Sorghum complex (1,000-50,000 ha)

Trashes Bagasse

Heatfor sale

GrainsMilling

Liquefaction &Saccarification

Pelletisation

Centrifugation

CO2


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R = product energy outputproduct energy input

1. On field crop production: R ~ 202. Production of ETOH + DDG + Agropellets: R ~ 7.33. Production of ETOH + DDG + Green power plant (~28%): R ~ 4.34. Production of ETOH + DDG + Coal/pellets cofiring(~40%): R ~ 4.85. Production of ETOH + DDG + Biohydrogen: R ~ 4.6

(See figure next slide)

For comparison (co-products not considered)

Bioethanol from wheat: 1.1Bioethanol from corn: 1.3Bioethanol from sugar beat/potatoes: 1.76Bioethanol from sugar-cane: (Brasil): ~8

Energy performance of sweet sorghum


Energy performance of sweet sorghum

7,3

4,84,6

4,2

3,0

3,5

4,0

4,5

5,0

5,5

6,0

6,5

7,0

7,5

R

1

Final product mix

ETOH+DDG+Agropellets

ETOH+DDG+Cofiring

ETOH+ DDG+H2

ETOH+DDG+greenPOWER


Which R.O.I. can be expected ?

- Decentralised Bioethanol production: (~1,000 ha)

- Centralised Bioethanol production: (> 20,000 ha)

Investment: 6 mio

R.O.I. ~ 15 - 20 %

Investment: ~ 65 mio

R.O.I. ~ 20 - 25 %

( With Bioethanol market value: 500 /m3)


Sweet Sorghum Complexes

1st level Bioethanol of integration Production (with HCP); DDG (animal feed) Agro-pellets CO2 recovery (in some cases)

2nd level

Bioethanol of integration Production DDG Green power

3rd level Bioethanol of integration production DDG Agro-pellets (for sale) Agro-pellets conversion in Bio-hydrogen (or Biofuels) Bio-methanol prod.: ~0.6 l of METH for each l of ETOH

Note: All these productions could becarried out now utilising existing

commercial technologies. Also bio-H2and Biomethanol production appear tohave reached competitiveness incomparison to natural gas at ~10

$/MMBtu


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Markets for agro-pellets

Sweet Sorghum and sugar-cane plantations produce large amounts oflignocellulosic residues (Bagasse, trashes, etc..): 15-20 dry ton/ha

That means: 16,5 22 ton (Agropellets)/ha per year

Use of modern cogeneration technology for ETOH processings willmake thus available a large amount of Agro pellets for sale or otheruses:

13 19 ton/ha per year

1. Heat production

2. Green power production

3. Biohydrogen production

4. Siderurcical pellets

5. Biomethanol production

Possible uses:


Agro pellets can economically substitute BTZ fuel (305 $/ton) forfuelling medium-large capacity boilers.

Infact assuming a cost of biomass: 50 $/dry ton

cost of pelletisation: 40 $/dry ton

cost of transport: 20 $/dry ton

Total cost = 110 $/ton (Agro pellets)

Corresponding to ~ 270 $/TOE = 260 $/ ton BTZ equivalent

Note: If CO2 trading in future will be available (i.e. 40/ t CO2) agro-pellets could get a benefits of ~ 60 / ton with large improvedcompetitiviness

1. Heat Production


2. Green Power production

If green certificates (~0,1/KWhe) are available green powerco-production become very attactive. The best option will be coal agro-pellets cofiring (el 40%) withbenefit for each ton of agro-pellets ca 200 /ton. In decentralised green power generation the benefits for 1 ton ofpellets ca 140 /ton. Investments

Cofiring (+ 8 / kWe)Power plants (1600 2000 / kWe)Small co-generators (50 - 500 kWe: 1400 /kWe, not yetcommercial)

This economic benefit should be distributedbetween the farmers and the power producers


World power supplySource: www.isofoton.it


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3. Biohydrogen production

Industrial Biohydrogen (98% purity) could be producedcommercially in a very short time from Agro-pellets by a threesteps process (carbonisation of agro pellets + steam reforming +CO shifting) 55Kg of biohydrogen/ t pellets can be obtained incompetition with that derived from natural gas by S.R.

Production cost of H2 from Nat. Gas (at 10 $/MMBTU) ca 2,400 $/t

Biohydrogen from pellets (100$/t)ca 2,250 $/tCO2 potential benefitca 500 $/t

Real BioH2 cost ca 1,750 $/t


4. Siderurgical pellets

Huge potential market for high-quality steel. Estimated productioncost of syderurgical charcoal pellets:~200/t

5. Biomethanol production

Utilising Bio-H2 (from bagasse) for cathalitic synthesis with CO2fermentation

~ 0,6 liter of Bio-Methanol for

1 liter of Bio-Ethanol produced

could be co-produced at competitive cost in comparison to thatderived from Nat. Gas


Impact of R&D on Bioethanol cost reduction

1. Sweet Sorghum increased productivity

- Sweet Sorghum planting machine (gain: 1month)

- Conventional genetic improvement

- Sweet Sorghum DNA genome sequencing(8-10 M/2-3 years)

2. Stabilisation of humid ligno-cellulosic residues(multistage machines for very humid biomass)

3. Innovative Distillation and Deshydratation technology


Sweet Sorghum Plantation

Agropellets machine

Harvester machine


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Microdistillery

Small facility for new distillation technology

Large ETOH plant


Thank you for yourattention!

EUBIA

Rue dArlon, 63-65B-1040 Brussels, [email protected]

European Biomass Industry Association


Annex

Sweet Sorghum varieties productivity parameters:

Even if Indian varieties (hybrid S. Sorghum) seems to be the mostpromising for the future, chinese varieties are particular interestingbecause of their equilibrated spread between sugar,grains and drylignocellulosic productivity.

In future research priority on Sweet Sorghum should be focused onthe identification & development of on new varieties tolerant to colderand changeable climatic conditions.

Sweet Sorghum variety Fresh bio. (t/ha) Grains (t/ha) Sugar (t/ha) Dry Biom. (t/ha)

Shennong 1 (Cina) 70,0 5,2 7,4 14,3

Shennong 1 (Italy) 70,7 5,1 7,9 14,5

Foralco (Italy) 64,0 1,0 7,3 10,2

Sofra (Italy) 82,0 2,2 11,2 13,3

Doina (Romania) 96,4 8,5 7,3 17,3

Carmen (Romania) 89,5 5,8 7,1 18,0

F.135 ST (India) 100,0 7,6 7,6 22,6

Doina (India) 61,0 8,1 7,6 19,7


Annex: Agronomical Practice

An intensive cultivation of SweetSorghum as energy crops requiresdedicated machines for harvesting toseparate the pannicle and leaves fromthe cane to facilitate the recovery ofgrains, lignocellulosic and sugar-juice.

Canes cutted into billets are ready for the cane crushingmachine wheresugar juice is sepatated from lignocellulosicmaterial.

Grains frompanniclesare ready to be dried forstorage


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Annex: Sweet Sorghum Productivity

The productivity of

Sweet Sorghumdepends on manyparameters:climatic conditions,soil quality, varietyof sorghum inputsand agronomicpractice.

Typical values arepresented indiagrams.

Stem fresh, dry matterand sugar yield of SweetSorghum in various EUregions (trials). Rangeswithin regions are due tovarieties, years andtreatment effect.

Sugar t/ha


For German high latitude sites (Braunshweig) S. Sorghum Korall varieties,

developed by KWS Co., had productivity parameters near to the standard ones.

Not only new machines have been developed to improve Sweet Sorghumcultivation but also new varieties of seeds and agronomic technique:

It has also been tested a planty machine for sweet sorghum cultivated insidegreen-house and followed by open field growing (temperature is > 10C) . Afterone month plants are moved in open field using a planting machine (as visible infigures below).This technology is not commercial.

Annex: Agronomical practice


Sweet Sorghum planting machine (gain: 1 month)

for cold areas the crop emergence is obtained in green houses

Conventional genetic improvement

(large number of varieties is available)

Sweet Sorghum DNA genome sequencing

(750 Mbp long of the human genome)

A budget of 8-10 mio and 2-3 years period should be sufficient.

Benefits:

Improved yields

Cultivation in colder regions

Modification of sugars composition

Reduced inputs of chemicals

New conversion technologies

Annex: Impact of R&D on BioETOH cost


Stabilisation of humid ligno-cellulosic reidues

A first commercial innovative mechanical drying and compactationtechnology 1-8 t / h is new apparing on the market. This new technology(not requiring pre-drying of humid biomass) is able to produce in particularagro-pellets from cane residues (bagasse-trashes) or any other type ofagriculture residues or mixtures (without binding compound) with lowenergy inputs (~70 kWhe/ t pellets) and reasonable processing cost (~ 35

/t in EU) Bulk density: 0,6 t/m3

This conversion of residues into agro-pellets open considerableopportunities for improving the economics of bioethanol. From agro-pellets (esy to handle, transport, storage use) can be co-produced byexisting commercial technologies:

Heat

Green-power

Biohydrogen

Synthetic biofuels



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Innovative Distillation and Deshydratation technologyLow cost crystal-hydrated compounds absorb from ethanol-water solution preferentially ethanol molecules. It is expectedthat this fast absorption regeneration technology can implementdistillation from 3-5degree level up to 100% degree withconsiderable energy and investment reduction; therefore largeimpact on future bio-ethanol activity is expected.


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