Sustainable ethanol production in Vietnam: Current status and proposed solutions VoThiHanh, Le ThiBich Phuong, Le Tan Hung Institute

of Tropical Biology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology Abstracts: The ethanol production in Vietnam has increased significantly since 2006. There is an urgent need to have solutions to ensure sustainable bio-ethanol production in Vietnam. Production and utilization of renewable energy sources should be set as a national priority with suitable financial and scientific policies. These may include giving tax incentives to research and businesses related to ethanol production, and development of superior sugar cane and cassava straits suitable to specific types of soils and climate of each region. Long term planning for material supplying areasfor ethanol production should be prepared and implemented. Specific emphasis by appropriate funding is given to studies related to the use of agricultural waste products such as bagasse, rice straw, husks, coffee shells, cashew fruit, cashew skin and seaweed for the production of ethanol and value added bio-products to achieve significantly improved economics and environment pollution control. Scientist training is critical for handling modern techniques and equipments. Strengthen international cooperation in sciences and technologies in the field of ethanol production would be essential. 1. Overview Currently, plants producing ethanol from traditional carbon sources such as sugarcane molasses or sliced cassava in Vietnam have faced many difficulties due to 1) Low productivity: 4.5 kg of molasses or 3 kg of sliced cassava is needed to produce a litre ethanol (NhanQuoc Dung, pers. comm.); 2) Prices of these carbon sources are unstable due to weather and low plant productivity. Based on 2011 prices including 2,800 VND/ kgsugarcane molasses and 6,000 VND/kg sliced cassava, ethanol producers hardly make profit with 15,000 VND/litre of ethanol (pers. obsev.); and 3) Environment concerns when tougher legal enforcement is implemented. The ratio of wastewater discharged in distiller to ethanol is 9:1 (v/v) (Le Minh Thien, pers. comm.). Several ethanol plants in Ho Chi Minh City and many provinces had to stop their production because wastewater treatment does not meet the legal requirements. We should find suitable and effective solutions to address these problems to advance ethanol production, increase economic efficiency and minimize environmental pollution. 2. The status 2.1. Production of ethanol from sugarcane molasses Sugarcane molasses is a red brown liquid by-product of sugar extraction which contains about 40-45% sugar, some minerals, metals, vitamins, amino acids, organic acids and gel mass (ref.). Vietnam has about 40 sugar factories with an output of 0.9 to 1.1 million tons of finished sugar and 2 million tons of sugarcane molasses (ref. 2010/2011 data).About 15% of the sugarcane molasses amount is used to produce 76 million litres of ethanol (60 thousand tons) per year (ref.). This is an expensive sugar source for ethanol production since it is also used for production of products of higher values such as glutamate sodium and Bakers yeast.

2.2. Production of ethanol from cassava In Vietnam, cassava is ranked the second crop after rice with an estimate of 8.5 million tons output in 2010 (Report Sep 13, 2011), ranking fourth in the world. Most of cassava is used to produce tapioca and, in a smaller extent, dried sliced cassava (up to 80% starch, w/w) used for the production of animal feeds or ethanol. However, it is uneconomical to produce ethanol from sliced cassava in small scales due to low productivity, especially when prices of material and product fluctuated significantly. Since 2008, four large-scale ethanol producing plants from cassava with the capacity of 100,000 litres/day have been invested in Vietnam (the average capital investment US$ 80-100 million/each). The first one went to operation in October 2009 is Green Field of the Quang Nam Joint Stock Company. Although the plant has a wastewater treatment system, it recently suffered from the failure to treat wastewater as required by regulations and had to stop its production for two months. The other three plants owned by a joint venture between Petro Vietnam Company and foreign companies in Binh Phuoc, Quang Ngai, Phu Tho provinces are planned to start their production in the earliest of 2012. 2.3. Production of ethanol from cassava waste A tapioca factory with the capacity of 200 tons of cassava tubers per day would discharge about 100 tons of cassava waste (80% water) (ref.). The waste is usually dried in the sun before being used as raw material to produce animal feeds. The process is prone fungal and bacterial contaminations, posing the thread of aflatoxin production as well as environmental pollution to the air and ground water. Cassava waste has not been used in ethanol production in Vietnam. The laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Biology has studies ethanol production using cassava waste. A pretreatment method of cassava waste using acid and enzymatic hydrolyses for converting residual carbohydrates into fermentable sugars was investigated. Wet cassava waste was hydrolyzed by 0.25-0.4% hydrochloric acid (HCl) at 121 oC for 30 minutes or 0.05% Termamyl at pH 5.5, 90 oC for 1 hour, followed by the treatment with 0.05% Celluclast and 0.01% AMG at pH 4.5 and 55 oC for 16 hours. One litre of hydrolysate containing 9% (w/v) reduced sugar solution was obtained from 1 kg wet waste. The ethanol fermentation procedure was performed from the hydrolysate supplemented with sugarcane molasses (Final 14.5% reduced sugar) using Saccharomyces cerevisiae SC6 in 1 L scale in 1.5litre flasks. After 60 hours, 7.3% (v/v) ethanol was obtained corresponding to a 50% yield. In addition, the solid residue after the saccharification can be used to produce a bio-product (pH 3.5, 80% moisture) containing useful microorganisms (Lactic acid bacteria 10 8 CFU/g, Bacillus spp. 107 CFU/g and yeasts 107 CFU/g) suitable for animal and aquaculture feeding. As the result, one litre of 94.5% ethanol and 3.5 kg of bio-products were produced from 16 kg cassava waste and 1.8 kg of molasses (unpubl. data). 2.4. Production of ethanol from rice straw Rice straw is approximately 50% of the total weight of rice plants (Putun et al., 2004).By weight, rice straw consist mainly cellulose and hemicelluloses (~74%), lignin (~18%), fat (~1%) and protein (~3%)(Phuong et al., 2010).Vietnam rice exportation is ranked the second in the world. In 2010, the country rice area was over 75 million hectares with an output of 40 million (report Sep 9, 2011) tons rice and 60 million tons of rice straw. Only a small amount of rice straw is used to produce bio-fertilizers, feed cattle, and grow mushrooms. The restis burnt on the

field polluting the air. Therefore, the use of straw resources to produce ethanol will have enormous significance in many aspects. In this circumstance, the Government of Vietnam has requested technical support from Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA) to use agricultural wastes to create energy resources. The five year project Sustainable Integration of Local Agriculture and Biomass Industries (2009-2014) has been performed mainly by the Institute of Industrial Research of the University of Tokyo, the University of Technology of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMUT) and Institute of Tropical Biology of Ho Chi Minh City (ITB). The project aims to develop a small-scale biorefinery process in which bio-based materials are used to produce bio-fuel for local consumption. After 2 years (2009-2011) HCMUT and ITB have been supplied equipments and trained for young scientists by JICA. Studying on screening and isolation of thermophilic cellulolytic anaerobes by ITB group and development of biological pretreatment of rice straw by HCMUT group. 2.5. Production of ethanol from seaweed Vietnam has an extensive fresh water network and a coastline of 3200 km with potential to grow, in a large scale of diverse species of seaweed (potentially up to 1000 species). 639 species of seaweed in Vietnam have been identified including 269 species of Rhodophyta (269 species), Phaeophyta (143), Chlorophyta (151) and Cyanophyta (76) (Nguyen and Huynh, 1993; Pham 1969). So far, only small amount of seaweeds have been utilized for food, animal feed, material industry, traditional medicines, and biofertilizers. Recently, a project for producing biofuels using seaweed has been carried out by the Institute of Tropical Biology funded by the Government of the Netherlands (2010-2012). The research team selects Enteromorpha seaweed to produce ethanol since it grows naturally in the brackish water pond and extensive canals in the Mekong Delta region. The field results showed mud seaweed biomass in ponds is 6,430 to 19,056 kg per ha. Preliminary results of analysis of biochemical components that seaweed has a high carbohydrate content (20-25% of fresh weight). Conditions for material hydrolysis and subsequent fermentation will be optimized for ethanol production. 3. Advantages and disadvantages of ethanol production in Vietnam 3.1. Advantages Raw materials represent 70% material cost of bioenergy. Vietnam is an agricultural country, a global producer of rice, cassava and sugar cane. For examples, cassava yield and total production double and triple, respectively from 2000 to 2008 (8.4 to 16.9 tons/ha yield and 2 to 9.4 million tons output) (Report Sep 13, 2011). Recent investment in large scale ethanol production plants using cassava (100,000 litres per day) and advanced technologies should significantly enhance ethanol production with improved economics. Moreover, waste discharged from ethanol production can be used to produce other products such as liquid carbon dioxide, animal feed, fertilizer, and the best is biogas for electricity supply to the plant. 3.1. Disadvantages The supply of raw materials is unstable due to the availability of agricultural land and low yields. There are 265,000ha for sugarcane at 51.7tonsperha, less than the plan of 2010 because of the decrease in sugarcane price, most farmers choose to grow cassava instead. Since 2010, one third of total cassava farmers in Vietnam have lost profit due to poor soil, excessive use of inorganic fertilizers, fungal diseases, seed degradation, and climate change, etc. By 2012-

2014, three additional ethanol production plants of Petro Vietnam with a capacity of 100,000 litre per day each will start operating, therefore, the demand for raw materials will increase greatly exceeding the supply. This is expected to lead to an increase in raw material prices. In addition, most of factories are small and use backward technologies and equipments, resulting in low productivity. Added cost to the production of ethanol includes wastewater treatment. Among 37 sugar factories operating in Vietnam, only 10 are profitable. Modernization would require significant capital investments for factories ($100 million for a factory with an output of 100,000 litre/day) and raw material supply. 4. Proposed solutions for sustainable bioethanol production: In order to develop sustainable bio-ethanol production in Vietnam, three main following subjects need closely considering: 4.1. Regulations & Fund: Set the development of bio-fuel as a national priority Have focused investment in production areas for raw materials by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Ministry of Planning and Investment Import superior straits of sugar cane and cassava plants suitable to soil and climate of each region, and dissemination of advanced farming methods, appropriate fertilizers, and pest control. Thailand has achieved significant results in this issue and we can learn from them. Set preferential tax incentives, financial support and subsidies for farmers 4.2. Technology The factories continue to cooperate with foreign countries with the advanced process technologies using cassava waste, cane bagasse, rice straw, seaweed and algae to enhance ethanol mass production. Explore additional agricultural wastes such as coffee shells, cashew fruit Improve microorganisms, especially yeast strains for effectively hydrolyzing complex carbon sources and fermenting diverse simple sugars to produce ethanol at high temperatures. Construct recombinant yeast strains which can produce amylase, cellulase and glucoamylase to utilize raw materials. Produce other useful bio-products from the byproduct after saccharification and stilage of ethanol distillation for use in animal feed, aquaculture and plant. That can bring economic benefits for the factories and reduce pollution control costs. 4.3. Workforce Enhance funding in research and education for enhanced productivity and storage of raw materials. In the future, Vietnam should establish an Institute for Bioenergy Train technical staff for manufacturing, installing and operating equipments/facilities for large scale ethanol production.

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