Hawaii Ethanol Workshop: November 14, 2002

Ethanol From
Cellulosic
Materials
Rick Elander
Pretreatment R&D Team Leader
Biotechnology Division for Fuels and Chemicals
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Golden, CO

U.S. DOE Fuel Ethanol Workshop

Honolulu, HI
November 14, 2002
Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Midwest Research Institute • Battelle • Bechtel

Lignocellulosic Biomass

Corn Stover Bagasse Hardwood

Other Softwood
Cellulose
(Extractives, protein, ash, etc.)
(Glucose sugar) 5-20%
38-50%
15-25%
23-32%
Lignin
(Precursor of coal)
Hemicellulose
(Other biomass
sugars, esp. the
pentose D-xylose)

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Hawaii Ethanol Workshop: November 14, 2002

Corn Stover—the “hot” feedstock

•Up to 60 MM dry tons per year available
from the 10 leading corn production states
can be collected in a sustainable manner
-erosion control
-soil carbon levels
•Enough to produce over 4 billion gallons
of ethanol per year

Stover and Bagasse—Many Similarities

prote in

100% chlorophyll

90% s oil

80% a ce tyl
70% e xtra ctive s
60% ma nna n
50% ga la cta n
40% a ra bina n
30% Uronic a cids
20%
ash
10%
xyla n
0%
lignin
poplar corn stover bagasse
gluca n
sawdust (fresh) (fresh)

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Hawaii Ethanol Workshop: November 14, 2002

Ethanol from Starch and Lignocellulose

Ethanol Production (billion gallons per year)

35 EXISTING EMERGING ADVANCED 9 Existing and emerging

Advanced Sugar Fundamental technology supports
30
Corn Platform Advances in targets of a renewable
Mills -New Enzymes Lignocellulose
25 -Pretreatment Processing fuel standard
-Fermentation and fermentation
9 Advanced technology
20
Cellulose provides the leap to
15
substantial oil
Renewable displacement
Fuel
10 Standard
5 bgy in 2012
9 Government role in high
risk R&D
5
Grain
9 Industry role is to
0 commercialize
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025
Year

Lignocellulose Conversion Processes

•Concentrated acid hydrolysis (sulfuric or hydrochloric acid)
•Thermochemical hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose
•Relatively low temperature, requires acid recovery and recycle

•Dilute acid hydrolysis (sulfuric or hydrochloric acid)

•Thermochemical hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose
•Relatively high temperature, no acid recovery
•Difficult to achieve high glucose yields without complex reactor
configurations

•Pretreatment/enzymatic hydrolysis
•Partial to complete thermochemical hydrolysis of hemicellulose
•Various pretreatment approaches available
•Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose and any remaining hemicellulose
•Enzymes are currently too costly

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Hawaii Ethanol Workshop: November 14, 2002

Challenges for Lignocellulosic Ethanol

Cellulose is much more recalcitrant than starch
CH 2 OH O
HO

HO OH
OH

Cellulose Glucose
Hemicellulose largely consists of Lignin—a highly aromatic, refractory
pentose sugars—more difficult to heteropolymer
ferment

Arabinoxylan
α-D-Xylose
Lignin in agricultural residues

Generic Bioethanol Process Flow

Feedstock
Steam
& Catalyst Enzyme

Feed
Pretreatment Fermentation
Handling
Hydrolyzate Broth
Recycle Water Waste Water Recycle &
Solids
S/L Sep Condensate

Liquor
Distillation Steam
Waste Water Waste Water
Conditioning and Stillage
Treatment Treatment

Waste Water

Biogas & Sludge Syrup Ethanol

S/L Sep
Cake
Steam
Burner/Boiler Storage
Utilities
Turbogenerator
Electricity

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Hawaii Ethanol Workshop: November 14, 2002

The Key Steps

Lignocellulose
Feedstock
Collection and
Delivery Many options exist for
each of these steps….
Pre-processing ….and there are many
interactions to consider
Pretreatment
hemicellulose and/or
lignin extraction
and/or cellulose
decrystallization

Enzymatic Biomass Beer Slurry

Conditioning cellulose sugar to Ethanol
saccharification fermentation and Solids
Recovery

Pretreatment
Pretreatm ent Pretreatm ents T echnology D evelopers and
C ategory U ndergoing Second Providers
Screen
Lignocellulose B ase- AFEX /FIBEX Bruce D ale/M ichigan State, M BI
Feedstock C atalyzed Am m onia*
Lim e
Y.Y.Lee/Auburn
M ark Holtzapple/Texas A& M
Collection and N on- Hot W ater (batch) Charlie W ym an/Dartm outh, M ike
Antal/Haw aii Natural Energy
C atalyzed
Delivery Institute
Hot W ater (percolation) M ike Antal, Charlie W ym an
Hot W ater-pH Neutral M ichael Ladisch/Purdue
A cid- Nitric Acid Lee M acLean/HFTA
C atalyzed Sulfur Dioxide Jack Saddler/UBC, Esteban
Pre-processing Chornet/ U niversity of Sherbrooke
Sulfuric Acid BC International, Iogen, NREL,
TVA, Charlie W ym an
Sulfuric Acid (hot w ash NREL
process)
Solvent- Organosolv (Clean NREL
Pretreatment B ased Fractionation)
hemicellulose and/or C hem ical- Peroxide
B ased W et Oxidation Ed Lehrburger/Pure V ision
lignin extraction
and/or cellulose
decrystallization

Enzymatic Biomass Beer Slurry

Conditioning cellulose sugar to Ethanol
saccharification fermentation and Solids
Recovery

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Hawaii Ethanol Workshop: November 14, 2002

Pretreatment
Lignocellulose • The Biomass Refining Consortium for Applied
Feedstock Fundamentals and Innovation (CAFI)
Collection and •Auburn University
Delivery •Dartmouth College
•Michigan State University
Pre-processing •NREL
•Purdue University
•Texas A&M University
Pretreatment •Development of comparative pretreatment data using
hemicellulose and/or common feedstock, analytical methods, data reporting
lignin extraction methodology, and process economic evaluation
and/or cellulose
decrystallization

Enzymatic Biomass Beer Slurry

Conditioning cellulose sugar to Ethanol
saccharification fermentation and Solids
Recovery

Saccharification and Fermentation

Lignocellulose • Subcontracts with the two largest enzyme producers
Feedstock to reduce the costs of cellulase enzymes ten-fold
Collection and •Novozymes
Delivery •Genencor International

Pre-processing

Pretreatment
hemicellulose and/or
lignin extraction
and/or cellulose
decrystallization

Enzymatic Biomass Beer Slurry

Conditioning cellulose sugar to Ethanol
saccharification fermentation and Solids
Recovery

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Hawaii Ethanol Workshop: November 14, 2002

Saccharification and Fermentation

Lignocellulose • Robust, co-fermenting organisms need further
Feedstock development
Collection and •Yeast (recombinant)
Delivery •Bacteria (recombinant)

Pre-processing

Pretreatment
hemicellulose and/or
lignin extraction
and/or cellulose
decrystallization

Enzymatic Biomass Beer Slurry

Conditioning cellulose sugar to Ethanol
saccharification fermentation and Solids
Recovery

Sugar and Lignin Platform Biorefinery

Recovered Lignin
Lignin Purification Product(s)
Renewable Catalyst & Drying of
Water Lignin Product(s)
Biomass Steam, Acid, Steam
Feedstock Enzyme, etc.)

Unrecovered Lignin
Sugar-rich Sugar
Feedstock Biomass Hydrolyzate Concentration & Product(s)
Handling Fractionation Purification of
Water
Steam Sugar Product(s)

Recycle Waste Unrecovered

Water Water Hydrolyzate Sugars
& Residual
Solids Fuel
Ethanol Ethanol
Waste Water Make-up Water Production
Treatment & Recovery
Waste Water
Biogas
& Sludge Residual Solids & Syrup Steam
Unrecovered
Lignin

Steam Power Electricity

Generation Production
Steam (Turbogenerator)

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Hawaii Ethanol Workshop: November 14, 2002

The Biotechnology Division for Fuels and

Chemicals at NREL
http://www.nrel.gov/biotechnology/

http://www.ott.doe.gov/biofuels/

Acknowledgements

•U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Biomass Programs

•Stateof Hawaii; Department of Business, Economic

Development & Tourism; Energy, Resources, and
Technology Division

•BBI International

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