Advanced BioFuels USA

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In part 3, we look at 12 companies and compare and contrast the Brazilian and US paths to advanced biofuels. Does Brazil have a “must emulate” model?
…What we found is a stable, straightforward system of feedstock and technology that seamlessly prepares the way for advanced cellulosic biofuels. It’s based essentially in sugarcane – though there is room for expansion in jatropha and other oilseed crops, they are an order of magnitude lower in importance than the attention given to cane.
…In Brazil, there’s sugar, the bagasse, and the vinasse and straw. Right now, they are used, respectively as the value-add product, for power, and fertilizer. The country is going to quickly expand the acreage, continue to work through breeding and agronomy on yield, and add on cellulosic options as they come forward for bagasse, vinasse and cane straw.
…In Brazil, there is traditional yeast fermentation, and some research into cellulosic ethanol, much of it through Petrobras’ CENPES research arm, but it is limited to a few topics and generally focused on enzymatic hydrolysis.
In the US, researchers are working on a vast array of processing technologies.
…In Brazil, as soon as technology arrives that gives a low-carbon value-add to the bagasse, based on standard payback economics, it will be deployed. As the technology is deployed throughout the processing fleet, cellulosic biofuels will scale.
…Candidates for scaled cellulosic biofuels in the US, at scale, requires the development of a harvesting and distribution system for purpose-grown woods, energy grasses and canes, or agricultural residues.
…The Brazilian attitude? To scale biofuels, the industry needs adequate financing, adequate feedstock, a path from first-generation to advanced biofuels based on sound economics, and a low-carbon vision. Not all the pieces are in place, but they are assembling.
The US attitude? Soaring volumetric goals matched by virtually no sense of how to get there in terms of real financing, a lack of direction on feedstock, a portfolio of processing technology options so vast that there is virtually no chance that all of them will even have a chance to demonstrate themselves at commercial scale, and a fractious debate over the carbon intensity and economic viability of virtually every aspect of the US biofuels program.
…Here are 12 companies that are finding opportunities in Brazil today.
ADM …
Amyris and Sao Martinho …
BP …
Bunge and Solazyme …
Cosan-Shell (Raizen) – Codexis …
Glencore …
Guarani …
Dedini …
LS9 …
Petrobras – KL Energy …
Qteros …
Total … READ MORE Part 3 Part 1 Part 2