Why Cellulosic Ethanol Depends on a Renewable Fuel Standard

by RP Siegel (TriplePundit) ... 3p: If you look at where we today relative to the RFS, it says that by the year 2022, a total of 21 billion gallons of biofuel needs to be provided by something other than corn. That puts a lot of burden on the cellulosic side. There’s going to have to be a lot of movement if you’re going to make that goal.
AM (Adam Monroe, President of Novozymes North America): That’s exactly right. I’ve gotten that question a lot about why are we behind. If you look at the biomass resources in the U.S., there’s over 60 billion gallons that can be made just from the sustainable biomass resources. Just ag[ricultural] residue alone, taking in just 17 percent of this residue, which is well under the amount that’s considered sustainable, that’s 16 billion gallons right there. So the 21 billion number is, in many ways, a conservative number. But there are a number of things that people don’t see, like this fantastic wave of innovation that has made possible other feedstock options, new pathways to get to cellulosic. That’s a lot for the EPA to consider. This wave of innovation has overwhelmed the agencies. So, from my perspective, for a brand new industry, just launched in 2007 and we’re on the cusp of commercialization – that’s pretty impressive if you ask me.
3p: What is the main thing driving this move towards cellulosics?
AM: Well, let’s just call it like it is. The RFS is absolutely the linchpin policy. If we didn’t have the Renewable Fuel Standard, I would have a very difficult time predicting when you’d have this transformation. That’s because you’re trying to break into a very large, highly developed industry, with tons and tons of infrastructure that has a lot of capital invested in it. So to get in there and have a level playing field to allow the public to have a choice of fuels, the Renewable Fuel Standard is absolutely key. Having said that, there is a very serious realization that we need renewable carbon. I mean carbon is in every form of life from our food, to our materials, to our energy and we have to get to renewable sources of it. The only way to get to that is to take it out of the atmosphere and recycle it. So it becomes very obvious when you look out into the future and consider the pressure that’s going to be placed on fossil energy and everything that comes with it, renewable carbon is the way to go, and cellulosic renewable carbon is the largest source. I think that the innovation that the RFS stirred, has really given everybody a new set of binoculars as to the possibilities that are out there for making the molecules that we know today.
... 3p: What about if you take the corn and remove the starch for ethanol and you set aside the protein for animal feed, then using the rest of plant to make cellulosic ethanol; is that being done?
AM: Yes, in fact, one of the synergistic models that are out there is being pursued by companies like Abengoa, Poet, ICM and DuPont. When you are harvesting the kernels from the corn, you also harvest what works out to the top third of the plant. That’s a lot of biomass and it’s some of the easiest to convert into a sugar. Then you send the sugar stream to the same ethanol producer. What’s neat about that is that the part that’s not converted, that’s the lignin. The lignin has a very high energy value. And that can be used within the facility for heat. So when you combine that energy into the ethanol facility you get some very high synergies there. That helps to lower the energy cost overall. It helps to produce more ethanol from the same land and it has an even better greenhouse gas impact.
...All the technology and the work that we do on the non-starch-based side is the new wave and it is something that has tremendous potential that’s commercializing now. So we just need to hold our course and I think we’re going to be able to look back in five to ten years and see a huge industry out there that’s employing lots of people, both in the United States and globally. READ MORE and MORE (Ethanol Producer Magazine) and MORE (Ethanol Producer Magazine) and MORE (Part 1)