Novel Vertimass Catalyst for Conversion of Ethanol and ... · Novel Vertimass Catalyst for...

Novel Vertimass Catalyst for Conversion of Ethanol and Other Alcohols into Fungible

Gasoline, Jet, and Diesel Fuel Blend Stocks

Charles E. Wyman, PhD President and CEO

Vertimass LLC Irvine, California

DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO)

Bioenergy 2015 Washington, DC

June 24, 2015

1"

Vertimass Transformative fungible biofuels

Vertimass Overview •  Vertimass catalyst converts ethanol into gasoline blend stock

that eliminates blend wall as obstacle to market growth •  Hydrocarbon products also open up new ethanol markets for

diesel and jet fuels and chemicals (e.g., BTX) •  Simple one step bolt-on results in low CAPEX and OPEX •  Advantages include no hydrogen addition, operation at

atmospheric pressure and moderate temperatures, near 100% energy yields, minimal light gas production, compatibility with 5-100% ethanol in water, product flexibility, and one hour reaction time

•  Exclusive worldwide rights to 2 issued patents, 5 patent applications

•  DOE recently selected Vertimass for $2 million award to scale up the technology

2"Vertimass Transformative fungible biofuels

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Source: Biofuels for Energy Security and Transportation Act of 2007- U.S. Market

0"

5"

10"

15"

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30"

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2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022Advanced"Biofuels"Production Cellulosic"Ethanol"Production" Corn"Ethanol"RFS

Effective 2010: Energy legislation mandating cellulosic fuels

BG

Y

60% of Biofuels

from Cellulosic 21BGY

20% of Fuel

Stream from

Biofuels >$75B Market

Ethanol Blend Wall (10% of ~130-140 BGY)

2007 RFS and 10% Ethanol Blend Wall

3 Vertimass Transformative fungible biofuels



Might call it a Blend Ceiling

EPA Slashes Biofuels Targets for 2014, 2015, 2016 under Renewable Fuel Standard*

“Due to constraints in the fuel market to accommodate increasing volumes of ethanol, along with limits on the availability of non-ethanol renewable fuels, the volume targets specified by Congress in the Clean Air Act for 2014, 2015 and 2016 cannot be achieved. However, EPA recognizes that the statutory volume targets were intended to be ambitious; Congress set targets that envisioned growth at a pace that far exceeded historical growth rates. Congress clearly intended the RFS program to incentivize changes that would be unlikely to occur absent the RFS program. Thus while EPA is proposing to use the tools provided by Congress to waive the annual volumes below the statutory levels, we are proposing standards that are directionally consistent with Congress’ clear goal of increasing renewable fuel production and use over time. The proposed volumes would require significant growth in renewable fuel production and use over historical levels. EPA believes the proposed standards to be ambitious but within reach of a responsive marketplace.”**




*Biofuels Digest, May 29, 2015

**EPA-420-F-15-028, May 2015

Challenges for Fuel Ethanol •  Ethanol is not fully fungible with petroleum fuels for

transport via existing pipelines •  Ethanol creates concerns about lower mileage and

different solvent properties •  Existing ethanol production of ~14 billion gallons is

saturating U.S. 10% gasoline blend market •  Higher level blends require additional infrastructure,

engine modifications for lower air-fuel ratios, and auto and oil company acceptance

•  Ethanol energy density is too low for jet fuel •  Ethanol cannot be easily run in compression ignition

engines for heavy duty vehicles 5 Vertimass

Transformative fungible biofuels



Hea

t E

xcha

nger

Cat

alys

t

Dec

ante

r

Jet Fuel

Diesel

JP-8

Gasoline

Fractionation (if needed)

Through the ethanol blend wall and opening up new ethanol markets

Existing infrastructure

The Vertimass Bolt-On Solution

5-100% Ethanol

Chemicals, e.g., BTX




Catalyst Transforms Ethanol into Fungible Blend Stocks in One Step without Adding Hydrogen

Low-cost metal-exchanged zeolite catalyst

Hydrous ethanol from distillation column

Aromatic and aliphatic HCs typical of blend stocks (C4-C12) with water and trace ethylene

Group& %&Volume&

Paraffins" 3.855"

I/Paraffins" 9.588"

Olefins" 5.371"

Naphthalenes" 1.988"

Aroma=cs" 79.198"

Oxygenates" 0.00"

Uniden=fied" 4.203"




•  Processed up to 2 gals/day ethanol to hydrocarbon fuels

•  Catalyst regenerated repeatedly with

air over long lifetime

•  Achieves high liquid fuel yields with high energy efficiency

•  Performed well in small scale engine

tests •  (RON+MON)/2 = 100 •  RVP = 5.1

Catalyst Developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

8"

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 50 100 150 200

% B

lend

Sto

ck

Time (hr)

LHSV = 0.585




Catalyst Advantages •  Single step conversion of ethanol and other alcohols into

hydrocarbon blend stocks with high yields •  No hydrogen addition •  High yields of targeted products with minimal light gases •  Mild (atmospheric pressure and 275-350oC) operating

conditions •  Robust catalyst •  Ability to process 5 to 100% ethanol concentrations •  Avoids mole sieve and could displace rectification as well

•  Could allow increased ethanol production in given plant •  Product flexibility to respond to changing market demands •  Minimal disruption to existing biofuels production •  Simplicity results in Low CAPEX and OPEX




2

Access to the sugars in lignocellulosic biomass is the current critical barrier

• Overcoming this barrier will cut processing costs significantly and be used in most conversion processes

• This requires an integrated,

multi-disciplinary approach • BESC believes

biotechnology-intensive solutions offer greatest potential

Removal of the Recalcitrance Barrier

Rural Employment

Expanded Markets

Human Resource

Development

Energy Security &

Sustainability

Other Fuels, Chemicals

Cellulosic Ethanol

Plants with Improved Sugar

Release

Biomass Deconstruction • Enzyme - Microbe - Substrate Interface

Cell Walls • Biosynthesis • Structure • Recalcitrance Pathways

More Effective Microbes

Enabling Technologies • Systems Biology • Biomass Characterization • Pretreatment

More Effective Pretreatment

Und

erst

andi

ng

Inno

vatio

n

Soci

etal

Ben

efits

Enabling Intellectual

Legacy

Versatile, New Manufacturing

Platform

More Effective Combinations

1

BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) A multi-institutional, DOE-funded center performing basic and applied science dedicated to understanding biomass recalcitrance and improving yields of biofuels from cellulosic biomass

University of Georgia University of Tennessee

Cornell University

Dartmouth College

West Virginia University

Georgia Institute of Technology

University of California--Riverside

North Carolina State University

University of California—Los Angeles

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation

ArborGen, LLD

Ceres, Incorporated

Mascoma Corporation

DuPont

GreenWood Resources

300+ People in 17 Institutions

www.bioenergycenter.org

Funding for Development of Transformative Catalyst

10"

*Catalyst"research"and"development"was"sponsored"by"the"U.S."Department"of"Energy,"Office"of"Energy"Efficiency"and"Renewable"Energy,"BioEnergy"Technologies"Office"under"contract"DE/AC05/00OR22725"with"UT/BaUelle,"LLC.""Ini=al"proof"of"concept"funding"was"by"the"BioEnergy"Science"Center"(BESC)"which"is"supported"by"the"U.S."DOE"Office"of"Biological"and"Environmental"Research"in"the"Office"and"by"the"Oak"Ridge"Na=onal"Laboratory"Laboratory"Directed"Research"and"Development"funds"of"Science."

Robert(Wagner,(062111(

DOE(Lab(AcDviDes(SupporDng(High(Octane(Fuels(

(

DOE(Lab(Partners:(Jeongwoo"Han"(ANL)"

Kris:"Moriarty"and"Brad"Zigler"(NREL)"Brian"West"(ORNL)"

((

Ag/Auto/Ethanol(Workshop(USCAR,(Southfield(MI(

June(3,(2014(

Work supported by DOE Biomass Energy Technology Office and Vehicle Technologies Office

Robert(Wagner,(062111(

DOE(Lab(AcDviDes(SupporDng(High(Octane(Fuels(

(

DOE(Lab(Partners:(Jeongwoo"Han"(ANL)"

Kris:"Moriarty"and"Brad"Zigler"(NREL)"Brian"West"(ORNL)"

((

Ag/Auto/Ethanol(Workshop(USCAR,(Southfield(MI(

June(3,(2014(

Work supported by DOE Biomass Energy Technology Office and Vehicle Technologies Office

Department of Energy BioEnergy Technology Office (BETO) "

Following proof-of-concept through support by: "

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds "




BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) supported by U.S. DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the Office of Science

"

Why Ethanol as a Platform?

•  Large scale ethanol production in place •  U.S. ~13.4 billion gals/year mostly from corn starch •  Brazil ~6.3 billion gals/year from cane sugar •  Rest of world ~2.8 billion gals/year

•  Cellulosic ethanol production starting to ramp up •  Includes Abengoa, American Process, DuPont,

Enerkem, Ineos, M&G/Beta-Renewables, and POET

•  USDA and DOE estimate up to ~1.4 billion dry tons/year of biomass could be available to produce ~100 billion gallons of gasoline equivalent




Huge Game Changer Potential

Source: http://www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/iedindex3.cfm?tid=79&pid=80&aid=1&cid=US,&syid=2008&eyid=2012&unit=TBPD 12

2012 U.S. and World Transportation Fuel Sales




Fuel type U.S. World billion gallons/year Gasoline 133 346 Jet fuel 21 83 Diesel fuel (distillate oil) 57 404 Total of above 211 833 Ethanol 13.4 22.5

How is Vertimass Technology Unique?

•  Discontinuous: •  Makes entirely different product from existing

platform without need for entire production process

•  Defensible: •  2 patents issued •  5 other patent applications filed •  Very positive freedom to operate analysis

•  Disruptive: •  Overcomes blend wall for light duty vehicles •  Opens up jet and diesel fuel markets to ethanol




Fermentation broth of ethanol in water

Water, cells, solids

Dis

tilla

tion

Dehydration Catalytic conversion

Anhydrous ethanol Jet, diesel,

and/or gasoline

blend stocks

Existing ethanol production and dehydration

14"

More Product Flexibility or Displace Mole Sieves or Mole Sieves Plus Rectification

Vertimass Bolt-on




~40% ethanol

~92% ethanol

Next Step: Position to Scale-Up in 2 Years

•  Engaged major engineering firm to start scale up to commercial operations within 2 years – Worldwide operations –  Project management, EPC for the energy and chemicals

industries –  Conceptual studies, Basic Engineering Packages (BEPs),

EPC, commissioning, startup, and validation –  Existing catalyst piloting facilities with 40 years

experience in catalyst testing and process development –  Scale-up catalytic processes by up to 106 times

•  DOE Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) selected Vertimass for $2 million award to accelerate scale-up




The Vertimass Team – Synergistic Expertise

•  Chairman – William A. Shopoff •  President and CEO – Charles Wyman, Ph.D. •  COO – John Hannon, Ph.D. •  EVP – Tom Mullen •  CFO – Sandra Sciutto, CPA •  Board Member– Martin Keller, Ph.D. •  Technology Development Engineer – Brian Davison, Ph.D. •  Catalyst Development Scientist – Chaitanya Narula, Ph.D. •  Team of consultants with extensive experience in: •  Biofuels development and commercialization •  Catalyst research and development •  Catalyst scale-up •  Ethanol technology and markets •  Petroleum refining and markets




Vertimass Take Home Messages •  Disruptive Vertimass technology:

–  Built on established low cost ethanol production –  Eliminates Blend Wall that threatens ethanol market growth –  Opens up air travel and heavy duty vehicle markets to ethanol

•  Catalyst offers numerous operational advantages •  Low CAPEX and OPEX for simple one step Vertimass Bolt-On •  Secure worldwide position through exclusive rights to 2 issued

patents, 5 applications, and strong freedom to operate analysis •  Prosaic catalyst for ethanol/water vapor conversion can be scaled up

after 2 years through piloting by major engineering firm •  DOE BETO selection of Vertimass for $2 million award accelerates

commercialization of catalytic ethanol conversion to fungible fuels •  Vertimass is seeking strategic partners and investors to ready the

process for commercialization within 3 years 17"Vertimass

Transformative fungible biofuels



Input Market Output Process

Ethanol •  US: corn

ethanol •  Brazil: cane

sugar ethanol •  World:

cellulosic biomass ethanol

Catalytic Conversion

•  Simple process

•  Short reaction times

•  Cheap catalyst •  High yields •  Mild

conditions •  Like refining

catalysts

Gasoline, Jet, and Diesel Fuel

Blend Stocks •  High yields of

hydrocarbon blend stocks

•  Tailored to markets

•  Fungible in pipelines

Transportation Fuels

•  Expanded gasoline market

•  Aviation •  Heavy duty

vehicles •  Chemicals,

e.g., BTX

Business: Develop and License Technology for Ethanol Conversion into Fungible Hydrocarbon Fuel Blend Stocks




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