Electrofuels in detail: $2.7M North Carolina State University extremophile project

Biofuels Digest
May 04, 2010 Jim Lane

In North Carolina, ARPA-E awarded $2.7M to North Carolina State University to support research into the creation of biofuels using extremophiles — specifically, Metallosphaera sedula and Pyrococcus furiosus — primitive organisms found in fresh water or saltwater that evolved before photosynthetic organisms, and which are found in hydrothermal environments with temperatures ranging from 75 to 100 degrees Celsius (167 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit).

“Most biofuels, such as ethanol and butanol, are created by fermenting sugars produced by plants through photosynthesis. Our project would cut out the middle man by using organisms that utilize carbon dioxide and hydrogen to produce biofuels directly,” says Dr. Robert Kelly, the principal investigator under the grant and Alcoa Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of the Biotechnology Program at NC State.

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Biobaler connects land management, biomass supply

Biomass Magazine
May 2010
By Lisa Gibson

Brush lands in the upper Midwest are a great biomass resource, but can be hard to harvest because the vegetation is thicker than most agricultural machinery allow, but not thick enough to warrant forestry equipment. Stempower Resources’ Biobaler is designed to aggregate vegetation 1 to 8 inches in diameter and can link land management with the biomass supply chain.

The cutting and baling equipment simultaneously harvests and bales brush with minimal soil disturbance. It’s been on the market for about four months and Stempower, based in St. Joseph, Minn., has focused on linking its capabilities with the land management industry, according to Peter Gillitzer, Stempower president and co-founder. The coupling can offer lower management costs, and therefore a savings to wildlife management agencies that clear land to create habitats. The Biobaler can also bring in extra revenue if buyers for the bales can be secured, which Gillitzer said has been the biggest challenge.

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Understanding the Economic Drivers of Originating Biomass for Power Projects

Biomass Magazine
May 2010
By Scott McDermott

Participation in the emerging biomass-to-energy industry requires knowledge of the origination, logistic, storage and handling challenges involved with the various biomass resources.

AAscendant Partners Inc. has been working with a number of power, combined-heat-and-power and densification projects to better understand and implement options for lowering energy cost, for energy diversification and for lower carbon energy. What makes this analysis different today from past economic and business energy assessments is that many of the fuel sources being considered today were rarely considered fuel sources even three years ago. It takes a forward-looking approach to understand the current and potential macroeconomic drivers of a structurally higher energy price environment and growing body of greenhouse gas legislation such as the patchwork of state renewable fuels standards and the prospect of legislation for greenhouse gas emissions.

This article focuses on the economic drivers for the utilization of biomass as a feedstock for coal-fired boilers, biomass boilers and biomass gasification. There are many intelligent researchers focused on the technology of converting biomass to energy in all of its forms. What seems to be less understood are the economics and business challenges of biomass origination, logistics, storage and handling. The fact is, we are in the early stages of the evolution of the biomass-to-energy supply chain. While woody biomass residues, crop biomass residues and energy crops will be distributed across the country, their economics vary greatly.

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Biomass Testing Lab established

North Dakota State University
April 28, 2010 at 3:08 PM

Cole Gustafson, NDSU biofuels economist, and Igathi Cannayen, Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory assistant professor, have received $450,000 from the North Dakota Renewable Energy Council and U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service in Mandan to establish the first dedicated biomass-testing laboratory in North Dakota.

The lab will be designed to test dimensional, thermal and physical properties of biomass.
Creation of the lab aligns with the NDSU Bio Energy and Product Innovation Center's (BioEPIC) goal of fostering development of a biomass industry in North Dakota. BioEPIC already has created a searchable biomass inventory so prospective investors can evaluate potential biomass supplies in different geographic locations across the state. In addition, a decision aide, Biomass Compare, has been developed to help farmers and ranchers compare the profitability of biomass production with traditional farm enterprises.

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Climate bill delivered in partial form to EIA; modeling ready in eight weeks

Biofuels Digest
May 03, 2010 Jim Lane

In Washington, Reuters is reporting that the Energy Information Administration has received enough data regarding the proposed climate and energy bill to commence modeling and impact analysis, and said that it expected to have its work completed within eight weeks. The news revived hopes that a climate bill could be brought to the Senate floor as soon as late June for a vote.

However, lobbyists noted that the legislation was delivered in partial, uncompleted form, and told Reuters that they are concerned that the means of delivery suggested that the bill is still not complete, raising fresh concerns about passage before the Congressional elections due in November.

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New York biofuel roadmap released

Biomass Magazine
April 2010
By Anna Austin
Posted April 29, 2010, at 12:39 p.m. CST

The New York State Energy and Research Development Authority has released a renewable fuel roadmap for New York that indicates there is potentially 1 million to 1.68 million acres of nonforest land that can used for bioenergy feedstock production in New York.

The 140-page document assesses the prospects for the expansion of biofuel production within the state while focusing on biomass resource availability and economic and environmental impacts. The roadmap considers 11 key issues, including stakeholder input, analysis of sustainable feedstock production in New York, feedstock transportation and logistics, life cycle analysis and public health and biofuel industry economic impacts and analysis.

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Researchers report fermentation breakthrough that unlocks winter barley potential

Biofuels Digest
April 30, 2010 Jim Lane

In Pennsylvania, researchers led by ARS chemical engineer John Nghiem identified a new fermentation process for ethanol using Thoroughbred, a high-yielding winter barley variant – solving a problem with beta-glucan conversion that had been hampering efforts to utilize barkley for fuel and dried distillers grains.

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Brazil to Raise Ethanol Mixed With Gasoline to 25%

Bloomberg Businessweek
April 29, 2010, 3:07 PM EDT
By Katia Cortes

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil plans to boost the amount of ethanol mixed into gasoline at the pump ahead of a record sugar- cane crop this year.

The measure to boost the ethanol mix to 25 percent from 20 percent will take effect on May 2, said Manoel Bertone, the Agriculture Ministry’s production and bio-energy secretary. In February, the government reduced the mix after inventories fell near the end of the sugar-cane harvest.

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DOE juices biofuels industry with 13 “Electrofuels” grants

Biofuels Digest
April 30, 2010 Jim Lane

In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it will award $106 million in ARPA-E funding for 37 research projects that produce advanced biofuels more efficiently from renewable electricity instead of sunlight; design completely new types of batteries to make electric vehicles more affordable; and remove the carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants in a more cost-effective way.

13 of the grants are for “Electrofuels” – Biofuels from Electricity.

According to the DOE, “today’s technologies for making biofuels all rely on photosynthesis – either indirectly by converting plants to fuels or directly by harnessing photosynthetic organisms such as algae. This process is less than 1% efficient at converting sunlight to stored chemical energy. Instead, Electrofuels approaches will use organisms able to extract energy from other sources, such as solar-derived electricity or hydrogen or earth-abundant metal ions. Theoretically, such an approach could be more than 10 times more efficient than current biomass approaches.”

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DOE develops biomass in Colombia

Biomass Magazine
April 2010
By Lisa Gibson
Posted April 29, 2010, at 3:40 p.m. CST

As part of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas, the U.S. DOE and some of its national laboratory experts will team up with scientists and technology experts in Colombia to optimize the production of biochar from palm residues and sugarcane for power generation.

The project, titled “Forming a Research, Development and Innovation Hub with Expertise in the Sustainable Energy Use of the Biomass in Colombia,” is still in the early stages and the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Colombian consortium are currently in the process of developing a technical plan.

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