Biofuel

Cellulosic biomass has been hailed as the future of feedstocks for production of ethanol primarily because of its potential for high yield of fuels and also its availability nearly everywhere. But what is cellulosic biomass? Basically it’s straw, switchgrass, sawdust, paper pulp, leftover cornstalk after harvest and even municipal wastes…and conceivably any other plant product that contains fermentable sugars.

Unlike grain feedstocks, however, separating those fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass is a more complex process than typical grain based ethanol processes. But studies show that cellulosic ethanol produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions than grain ethanol does by significant margins. The technology to extract and ferment ethanol from cellulosic biomass exists today and the next step is to scale it for commercial applications.

Current grain-based ethanol production is less than 4 billion gallons a year which hardly touches U.S. requirements of roughly 140 billion gallons of fuel. And that is why cellulosic ethanol is vitally important. The ethanol industry’s portfolio of feedstocks must be diversified beyond corn in order to satisfy our need for fuel.

Switchgrass is the source most often looked at for cellulosic ethanol production. Current average yields range in about the five tons per acre but many crop experts say that breeding techniques could double that yield. Switchgrass is drought resistant, is growable on marginal land and doesn’t need heavy fertilization. Estimates are that switchgrass could produce 60 to 140 gallons of ethanol per ton.

Producing ethanol from biomass is requiring new technology that just a few years ago would have seemed bizarre. In partnership with private biotech firms the Dept. of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab has been researching using both enzymes and bacteria to produce ethanol.

Abengoa is set to begin testing production of ethanol using enzymes at their York, NE facility starting this year.

Iogen, Corp, a Canadian company, uses what they call the enzyme hydrolysis method and is seeking partnerships in the U.S. for a production facility. Iogen’s EcoEthanol uses the enzyme hydrolysis method to change the cellulose into sugars. Iogen claims they have been producing ethanol from this process since April 2006.

The next step is to begin building out the biorefinery infrastructure across the country, commercialize the processes required to produce cellulosic ethanol and provide distribution to local pumps for use in vehicles.

While it’s not an overnight change each of these steps is bringing us closer to energy independence and environmentally friendly ethanol fuel production solving two of the major challenges we face.