Biofuels Now and Tomorrow

1. BiofuelsNow and Tomorrow Tom Williams National Renewable Energy Laboratory FLC Far West / Mid-Continent Meeting September 2005

2. Focused on achieving DOE goals Reduce dependence on oil Build U.S. bioenergy industry Reduce global warming Argonne National Laboratory Idaho National Laboratory National Renewable Energy Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The National Bioenergy Center • The National Bioenergy Center is a virtual center created to advance technologies for producing fuels, chemicals, materials, and power from biomass. • It supports the science and technology goals of the Department of Energy’s Biomass Program by working with a multi-laboratory consortium of:

3. Environmental Benefit of Biofuels

4. Biomass Resources Poplar trees Switch grass Wood chips Sugar cane residue Municipal Solid Waste Alfalfa

5. U.S. Biomass Resources 3.5 billion BOE 1400 Forest Residues (and thinnings) 1200 Urban Wastes Ag Residues (and grain crops) 1000 Mill Residues Energy Crops 800 Million dry tons per year 600 400 200 0 $20 $30 $40 $50 Gigaton Vision 2005 Study From 2000 Supply Curve by ORNL

6. The Unique Role of Biomass While the growing need for sustainable electric power can be met by other renewables… … biomass is our only renewable source of C-based fuels and chemicals

7. Abundant Renewable Carbon-neutral Available worldwide Only sustainable source of hydrocarbons Biomass can: Be used with the existing petroleum infrastructure Fill the gap between energy demand and petroleum availability. Biomass Benefits

8. Established and Emerging Bioenergy Markets • Co-firing, CHP, and small modular power • Sugar, corn & lignocellulosic ethanol • Biodiesel and bio-based lubricants • FTL’s as diesel substitute (Europe) • DME as a substitute for LPG (Asia) • Longer-term potential diesel substitute • BTX and aryl ethers from biomass lignin • Gasoline blending • Chemicals • Biobased plastics and resins (co-product)

9. Biomass Electricity • Direct combustion – 9700 MWe • Cofiring with Coal – 400 MWe • Biomass gasification • Small 3-5 kW systems in field verification tests • Larger systems demonstrated Biomass Gasification Source: U.S. Climate Change Technology Program. Technology Options. DOE/PI-0002, November 2003 Small Modular Gasification System

10. Current ethanol sources Made from the starch in corn kernels Available in blended motor fuels Cost ~ $1.22/gal Ethanol • Advanced feedstocks • Made from cellulosic materials – corn stalks, rice • Technology under development • Cost ~ $2.73/gal $1.32/gal • Near-term use as a fuel blend • Longer-term as a bulk fuel will require energy crops

11. Basics of Biomass Chemistry and the Evolution of Biorefineries

12. Key Constituents of Edible Biomass O H O H O H O H Starch: 70-75% (Corn) Readily hydrolyzed Basis for existing U.S. ethanol plants Easily separable and fermentable to fuels & chemicals O O O O O O O O H O H O H H O H O H O H O H O H O H O O H O H O H O H O O O O O O O O H O H O H Oil: 4-7% (Corn) 18-20% (Soybeans) Readily separable from feedstock Starting material for clean biodiesel Readily converted via chemical routes Protein: 20-25% (Corn) 80% (Soybean Meal) Mostly used as a feed Underutilized as a polymer building block Potential feedstock for chemicals and resins

13. Lignocellulose Constituents Lignin: 15-25% Complex aromatic structure Very high energy content Resists biochemical conversion Hemicellulose: 23-32% Xylose is the 2nd most abundant sugar in biosphere Polymer of 5C and 6C sugars Readily hydrolyzed Cellulose: 38-50% Most abundant form of C in biosphere Polymer of glucose Resistant to hydrolysis

14. The Biorefinery Concept

15. Focus on Conversion Processes to Enable Integrated Biorefineries Products Starch Hydrolysis Starch Fermentation of Sugars • Food Products • Animal Feed Glucose Fermentable Sugars Product Recovery • Ethanol • Chemicals

16. Glucose C5/C6 Sugars C5 Sugar(s) Focus on Conversion Processes to Enable Integrated Biorefineries Products Starch Hydrolysis Starch Fermentation of Sugars • Food Products • Animal Feed Fermentable Sugars Product Recovery • Ethanol • Chemicals Cellulose Hydrolysis Pre-treatment Lignocellulosic Biomass

17. Glucose C5/C6 Sugars C5 Sugar(s) Focus on Conversion Processes to Enable Integrated Biorefineries Products Starch Hydrolysis Starch Fermentation of Sugars • Food Products • Animal Feed Fermentable Sugars Product Recovery • Ethanol • Chemicals Cellulose Hydrolysis Lignin Residue Pre-treatment • Heat & Power • Fuels & Chemicals • Pyrolysis Oil • Syn Gas Thermo-chemical Conversion Lignocellulosic Biomass

18. Economic Projection for Lignocellulosic Ethanol

19. Enzymatic Hydrolysis Partnership NREL has worked with Genencor & Novozymes for 4 years • Focusing on enzyme biochemistry, cost, and specific activity • Investigating the interaction of biomass pre-treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis The RESULT: G.T. 10-fold reduction in cost contribution of enzymes ($/gal EtOH) E1 from A. cellulotiticus CBH1 from T. reesei 2004 R&D 100 Award

20. Driven by ethanol and demand for Dupont’s SoronaTM polyester 400% AAGR Integrated Biorefinery Partnership Dupont-DOE Integrated Corn Biorefinery • Goal: Process Design Package for farmers to produce ethanol, chemicals and power from entire corn plant • 4-yr R&D project timeline • $38 million (50% from Dupont) chemicals Integrated Corn Biorefinery (ICBR) corn bioethanol corn stover power