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Fuels, Hurdles, and Next Steps in the Quest for Sustainable Transporta9on

ADB Transport Forum 2012 Caley Johnson, Fuel and Vehicle Market Analyst November 6, 2012
NREL is a na.onal laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Oce of Energy Eciency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Diversied Fuel Approach

Top 2 alterna9ve fuels are fungible
Ethanol (10% in gasoline), 8.7 billion GGEs in 2011 o Biodiesel (2%-20% in diesel), 905 million GGEs in 2011
o

U.S. is/was deploying refueling sta9ons for 7 fuels

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Deployment Strategy
Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)- petroleum providers must sell biofuel Help base eets install alterna9ve fuel sta9ons

Aggregate demand of eets and private vehicles Inform & Coordinate

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Hurdles
We reached the E10 Blend Wall
o E15 now approved at the

na.onal level

Chicken-or-egg problem
o Flex-fuel or bi-fuel vehicles o Sta.on locator and demand

aggrega.on

Higher up-front costs for vehicles and infrastructure

o Illustrate the payback o Subsidies and low interest loans
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Food for Fuel

Conic9ng studies, so look at the basics

Fracking
Not being pushed by vehicles Can be done in an environmentally-responsible way State regula9ons are catching up to the problems

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Second Genera9on Fuels

Overall goals
Energy dense 2. Clean
1.

1. Non-toxic fuel, clean emissions

3. 4.

Made from renewable feedstock

Ideally a waste feedstock

Compa.ble with infrastructure we already have

Doesnt decrease vehicle life Dont abandon our ethanol, biodiesel, and natural gas retailers!

Cellulosic Ethanol
Abundant feedstock supply GHGs reduced by 72-130% Need new processes and enzymes to bring costs down

Big ques.onWhen? 12 cellulosic bioreneries in various stages of development EPA relaxed requirement from 500 million gallons to 3.5 million gallons in 2012.
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Algal Biofuels
Can use wastewater, CO2 from power plants and nonarable land Most produc9ve replacement for diesel and jet fuel
8 .mes more oil per acre than palm

Main research into algal strains, oil maximiza9on, and physical mechanics Four private bioreneries up and running (encouraged by RFS)

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Innovation for Our Energy Future

Renewable Natural Gas (RNG)

Natural Gas (biomethane or biogas) is the natural byproduct of decomposing organic maber. Three most economical sources of RNG in US*

Vast majority of RNG is used for electricity genera9on RNG sources are well dispersed Infrastructure available for gas collec9on and cleanup Vehicles need purer, more consistent methane than electricity genera9on

Landll gas: ~600 capture and use (60% of suitable size) Livestock opera.ons: ~191 capture and use (3% of suitable size) Wastewater treatment plants: ~76 capture and use (8%)

Must remove CO2, N2, H2S, siloxanes, and other contaminants Logis.cs can favor use in vehicles over electricity genera.on
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*Source: Mintz and Kast. Forthcoming. Renewable Natural Gas: Current Status. Argonne Natl. Lab.

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Conclusions
The U.S. has been pursuing alterna9ve fuels for a long 9me Eight of them have made substan9al market penetra9on These require a systema9c approach to get fuels, vehicle, and infrastructure in the right market We are addressing hurdles and tradeos with our current fuel/feedstock combina9ons We are pursuing new feedstocks that would have lower hurdles and fewer tradeos
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Thank You!
Ques9ons? Caley Johnson Na9onal Renewable Energy Laboratory caley.johnson@nrel.gov 303-862-2994 Contact me about the Low Emissions Development Strategy (LEDS) deployment tools and strategy workshop in February.
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