"“We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.” "


Chinese premier Wen Jiabao 12th March 2009


""We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we'd like to do our best to preserve that system."


Timothy Geithner US Secretary of the Treasury, previously President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.1/3/2009

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Dubya's cellulosic ethanol nearer than you think

22nd Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo (FEW) June 20-23, 2006 Midwest Airlines Center Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA. Is an increasingly important forum for u nderstanding the development of biomass fuel technology.

The FEW Program is developed by a committee of current and future ethanol producers.

Program topics will have a strong focus on commercial-scale ethanol production, new technology, and near-term research and development. Over 80 companies are exhibiting, one Gold Sponsor is the Danish Compant Novozymes. Leaders in production of industrial enzymes.

They have a fascinating tale to tell of their work on converting cellulosic material which Dubya referred to in his speech earlier this year in future fuel technologies. "The Administration will accelerate research in cutting-edge methods of producing "cellulosic ethanol" with the goal of making the use of such ethanol practical and competitive within 6 years." President Bush announced the creation of an Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI) that calls for reducing oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent by the year 2025.

In January 2001, supported by funds from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Novozymes ( a Dansih Company and world's largest enzyme supplier) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) entered into a collaborative research subcontract totalling USD 14.8 million over three years, with a one-year extension worth USD 2.3 million granted in April 2004.

The project sought to dramatically cut the cost of converting cellulose biomass from corn stover into sugars for the production of fuel ethanol and other valuable products. Once commercially viable, a process of this type could help reduce deendency on non-renewable and petroleum-based energy and raw material sources.

As a result, Novozymes have dramatically cut the cost for the process of converting corn stover to ethanol to USD 0.10-0.18 per gallon in laboratory trials. This 30-fold reduction from the starting point of more than USD 5 dollars per gallon in 2001 is due to a combination of pre-treatment technology developed by NREL and novel enzyme solutions from Novozymes. (Current sale price of US preoduced ethanol is US$2.85)

"Novozymes has made great progress in reducing the cost of enzymes for the utilisation of cellulosic biomass, effectively eliminating a major technical barrier to commercialisation. By combining NREL improvements to the pre-treatment of corn stover with new enzymes developed by Novozymes, the cost reduction achieved provides an excellent example of the synergy that can be harvested through well-placed government-sponsored research partnerships. While much work remains to translate this success to the commercial marketplace, Novozymes should be applauded for their fine efforts in this collaboration," said

Douglas E. Kaempf, Biomass Program Manager at the U.S. Department of Energy says , ""Novozymes has made great progress in reducing the cost of enzymes for the utilisation of cellulosic biomass, effectively eliminating a major technical barrier to commercialisation"

The work also opens up other opportunities, for example corn stover may in future be used as a feedstock for products currently derived from petrochemicals.

Successful commercialisation of the biomass-based process for production of fuel ethanol and other useful products still depends on further refinements of the enzyme technology, establishment of a formal collection system for biomass, further progress in overcoming the technical barriers in biomass pre-treatment, optimisation of current yeast organisms, as well as financial incentives for industry to invest in facilities utilising biomass instead of corn starch as feedstock.

Wheat and barley are the main cereals used in Europe for processing into fuel ethanol. They contain viscous hemicelluloses such as beta-glucans. When wheat or barley flour is mixed with water, it becomes viscous even before the starch has been gelatinized. This slurry may be almost impossible to pump through a pipe. Apart from the classical liquefaction and saccharification enzymes used for converting starch into fermentable sugars, specific enzymes are required to reduce viscosity and facilitate the operation.

"In Europe, we are currently focusing on making specific enzyme blends that will be ideal for different cereals," says Lionel Picart of Novozyme.
Wheat and barley are the main cereals used in Europe for processing into fuel ethanol. They contain viscous hemicelluloses such as beta-glucans. When wheat or barley flour is mixed with water, it becomes viscous even before the starch has been gelatinized. This slurry may be almost impossible to pump through a pipe. Apart from the classical liquefaction and saccharification enzymes used for converting starch into fermentable sugars, specific enzymes are required to reduce viscosity and facilitate the operation."We already have enzymes such as cellulases, beta-glucanases and xylanases. Now we are formulating them into efficient and cost-effective products for customers." says Picart.

Gerson Santos, R&D Director at Abengoa Bioenergy, St. Louis Miss. said, "These new enzyme systems are the key to the future growth and geographical expansion of the fuel ethanol industry into areas where cereals are not readily available. In 2006, we expect to initiate testing of Novozymes' enzymes solutions at our biomass fractionation process development pilot plant in York, Nebraska, USA to validate the technology's performance.

As one of the biggest ethanol producers in Europe and the USA (fifth largest producer in the United States with an installed capacity of 365 million liters.), Abengoa Bioenergy is a subsidiary of Abengoa S.A., a company which is headquartered in Sevilla, Spain. Abengoa is a technological company that applies innovative solutions for sustainable development in the infrastructures, environment and energy sectors. It is present in over 70 countries where it operates through its five Business Units: Solar, Bioenergy, Environmental Services, Information Technology, and Industrial Engineering and Construction and is committed to the development and commercialisation of biomass-based fuel ethanol production technology for a more sustainable transportation sector."

Abengoa Bioenergy is to demonstrate its biomass-to-ethanol process technology at the BCyL Cereal Ethanol Plant in Babilafuente (Salamanca), Spain. Commissioning is expected to start by the end of 2006; the Biomass Plant will process 70 tonnes of agricultural residues, such as wheat straw, each day and produce over 5 million liters of fuel grade ethanol per year. This will use the technology developed by Canadian company Sunopta Inc. ((NASDAQ: STKL / TSX: SOY) SunOpta Food Group, represents over 90% of annual revenues and is focused on the fast growing natural, organic and specialty foods markets. The SunOpta BioProcess Group represents approximately 1% of revenue and is focused on the processing of biomass for the production of ethanol and other bio-products. The Group has commercially proven proprietary technology with multiple patents on equipment and processes and claims world leadership in biomass conversion.

In January 2006 SunOpta shipped the Pretreatment System for the Abengoa Bioenergy Research and Development pilot plant to be built at the Abengoa corn starch to ethanol plant located at York, Nebraska. This pilot plant is funded by the US Department of Energy and will prove new advances in Biomass Conversion technologies utilizing the Pretreatment System from SunOpta Inc.

The commercial demonstration of the biomass to ethanol production technology marks an important milestone for the growth of Abengoa Bioenergy in ethanol production from renewable resources. The ultimate objective is to develop biomass ethanol technologies that are economically competitive with gasoline.

Other companies such as the Canadian Iogen are also involved in making ethanol from cellulose. Backed by Royal Dutch Shell, the company operates a small pilot plant in Ottawa and says it is exploring opening a commercial plant.

They have developed a different approach which can yield more than 340 litres per tonne of fibre. The lignin (woody fibre) in the plant fibre is also used to drive the process by generating steam and electricity, thus eliminating the need for fossil CO2 sources such as coal or natural gas.

Iogen have developed an efficient pretreatment method to increase the surface area and "accessibility" of the plant fibre to enzymes. This id done with a modified " steam explosion process", improving yield of ethanol, increasing pretreatment efficiency, and reducing overall costs.

Iogen also has new, highly potent and efficient cellulase enzyme systems tailored to the specific pretreated feedstock. Iogen already has a worldwide business experience making enzymes for the pulp and paper, textiles and animal feed industries from which this has developed. This also incorporates a novel multi-stage hydrolysis process.

Iogen then uses advanced microorganisms and fermentation systems that convert both C6 and C5 sugars into ethanol. The "beer" produced by fermentation is then distilled using conventional technology to produce cellulose ethanol for fuel grade applications.

It may not have escaped your notice that the companies at the leading edge of successful development in this process are ...er ... well not US companies.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

SunOpta released this news on Friday, June 23:

SunOpta Announces Sale of Cellulosic Ethanol Facility to China Resources Alcohol Corporation
Business Wire - June 23, 2006 14:47

TORONTO, Jun 23, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SunOpta Inc. (SunOpta or the Company) (NASDAQ:STKL) (TSX:SOY). Yesterday at the International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, SunOpta's BioProcess Group discussed developments in the cellulosic ethanol market in China and other parts of the world. Today, the Company is pleased to announce that it has signed a contract to sell a cellulosic ethanol pilot demonstration facility, which is based on SunOpta's patented and proprietary biomass conversion technology, to China Resources Alcohol Corporation (CRAC) for research and development on cellulosic ethanol production at their facility in ZhaoDong City, Heilongjiang Province. Based upon completion of final details, the companies anticipate that this cellulosic ethanol research facility will start up in late 2006. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. As part of the transaction, SunOpta and CRAC intend to enter into a Joint Development Agreement between SunOpta, CRAC and Novozymes for the development of cellulosic ethanol in the People's Republic of China. The Chinese central government recently announced a $5.0 Billion US capital investment over the next 10 years on ethanol capacity expansion with a focus on cellulosic ethanol.

The SunOpta Bioprocess Group has been designing, building and optimizing biomass conversion plants for over thirty years. End products include cellulosic ethanol, cellulosic butanol, xylitol and dietary fibre for human consumption. Raw materials include wheat straw, corn stover, grasses, oat hulls, wood chips and sugarcane bagasse.

CRAC is the second largest ethanol producer in China. CRAC's goal is to install 5,000 Tonnes per year (1.7 Million US gallons per year) of cellulosic ethanol capacity by the end of 2007 and 1,000,000 Tonnes per year (330 Million US gallons per year) by 2012 utilizing multiple lines of SunOpta's proprietary process technology and equipment.

Novozymes (NASDAQ:NVZMF)(CSE:NZYM) is a world leader in the production of enzymes necessary to convert corn or agricultural waste, such as corn stover, wheat straw and wood chips, into fuel ethanol for automobiles. The Company has been instrumental in revolutionizing the production of transportation fuel through application of its enzyme technology for ethanol, both based on corn starch and agricultural residues such as corn stover.

Murray Burke, Vice President and General Manager of SunOpta's BioProcess Group, commented that, "We are very pleased to partner with CRAC and Novozymes on this major roll out of cellulosic ethanol production in the People's Republic of China. This is a confirmation that SunOpta is a world leader in the development of cellulosic ethanol technology."

About SunOpta Inc.

SunOpta Inc. is an operator of high-growth ethical businesses, focusing on integrated business models in the natural and organic food markets. The Company has three business units: the SunOpta Food Group, which specializes in sourcing, processing and distribution of natural and organic food products integrated from seed through packaged products; the Opta Minerals Group, a producer, distributor, and recycler of environmentally friendly industrial materials; and the SunOpta BioProcess Group which is a world leader in biomass conversion technology for producing biofuels and other value added products from biomass. Each of these business units has proprietary products and services that give it a solid competitive advantage in its sector.

(C) Very Seriously Disorganised Criminals 2002/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 - copy anything you wish