New Energy, June 2008 by jan eg

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June 2008

NewEnergy magazine for the bioenergy business

Booming biomass business Algae as feed and energy source Hydrogen from waste water

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COLOFON

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New Energy Plus is a supplement with De Molenaar, trade journal for the grain processing and feed industry in the Benelux. De Molenaar is a two weekly trade journal. The special New Energy Plus, magazine for the bio energy business, is first published in October 2006. The second publication is due in June 2008.

CONTENT

content

Publishing company Eisma Businessmedia bv P.O. Box 340 8901 BC Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) Management Egbert van Hes, general manager Pieter van Hes, manager Publisher Minne Hovenga Commercial manager Seb van der Kaaden Editorial staff Jacqueline Wijbenga, managing editor Tineke van der Weg, editor Anneke van der Schaaf, chief editor

Editorial contributors Lourens Gengler, Carolien Makkink and Mike Wilson.

Energy (de)central

Cellulosic biorefinery

Algea offer great potential

20 Hydrogen production from waste water

Advert department Siebolt Nieuwenhuis, head of sales Mark Veenstra, senior accountmanager Tel. +-31-(0)649931873

Subscriptions Subscription service Eisma Businessmedia P.O. Box 2238 NL - 5600 CE Eindhoven Tel.: 088-2266648 abonnement@eisma.nl A subscription to an address within Europe costs € 49,- for 2008 (four issues). The invoice is sent at the start of each new subscription year. Subscriptions are subject to automatic renewal. Cancellations should be sent no less than one month before the end of the subscription period. All cancellations will be confirmed by letter. PrePress ZeeDesign, Witmarsum (The Netherlands)

DEVELOPMENT

Editorial address P.O. Box 340 8901 BC Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) Tel. +-31-(0)58-2954862 Fax. +-31-(0)58-2954878 Email: redactiemolenaar@eisma.nl

Advert department address P.O. Box 340 8901 BC Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) Tel. +-31-(0)58-2954872 Fax. +-31-(0)58-2954871 Email: verkoop@eisma.nl

BIOMASS

Sustainability as key issue

Booming business of biomass

‘Saving energy a challenge in itself’

Biomass Forum focusses on chain approach

BIO-ETHANOL

Scholma druk bv, Bedum (The Netherlands) © Copyright 2008 Eisma Businessmedia bv, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Nothing from this publication may be multiplied and/or copied in any way without written permission from the publisher. Publisher and authors declare that this magazine was made with the utmost care and to the best of their knowledge. However neither publisher nor authors can be held responsible for the correctness and/or completeness of the information supplied. Publisher and authors do not accept any responsibility for any form of damage caused by decisions or actions taken on the basis of the presented information. Users of this magazine are firmly advised to not use this information without question, but to use their professional knowledge and skills and to check the information before use.

CALENDER

BER-Rotterdam shines new light on first generation biofuel

Biofuels events and activities

New Energy Plus June 2008

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New Energy News

Food companies attack biofuels The American Grocery Manufacturing Association, a trade group consisting of about 300 major food companies, has funded an anti-biofuel propaganda campaign designed to turn the U.S. public against renewable fuels. The Grocery Manufacturing Association (GMA) with funding help from oil and environmental groups, has hired a highprofile agency to put pressure on Congress to lower federal mandates that promote the use of biofuels. This is happening despite many recent studies that show high oil prices, not ethanol, are the major factor behind high food prices. White House economic advisers say ethanol made from corn is responsible for just 3 percent of the overall increase in global food prices, which are up more

than 40 percent this year over last year. Others dispute that figure, saying biofuels mandates account for one-third to two-thirds of the higher cost of food. American farm organizations have quickly rallied against the GMA campaign. “The single most important factor driving inflation - all inflation, not just food inflation - is oil,” says Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. “High oil prices are clearly having a devastating impact on our nation’s economy and are driving food

price inflation across the globe.” Farm-state political leaders say food companies should support farmers who are seeing high corn prices for the first time in years. They also say the campaign is misleading, and that ethanol makes only a tiny contribution to rising food prices. "They need a scapegoat that can justify the increase in the price of food," says Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. GMA has admitted that it believes oil prices are a factor in high food prices, but it believes removing government biofuel mandates is an easier goal to reach. The new farm bill extended a 54 cent per gallon tariff but reduced the tax credit to refiners who blend ethanol from 51 to 45 cents per gallon. Both provisions run only through 2010.

New Energy

Canada willing to share biomass supply “Without bioenergy we may not have a future. No single country has all the solutions. If we are to come up with solutions we have to work together,” said Canadian ambassador in Sweden Alexandra Volkoff. She addressed a group of invited representatives from 23 countries who attended a meeting on World Bioenergy in Sweden. Canada has more biomass resources per capita than any other country in the world but is also rich in oil and hydropower. As a

result only 6 percent of the country’s energy demand is satisfied with bioenergy. In comparison in Sweden bioenergy makes up 27 percent of the energy demand. “Canada is in a position to offer biofuels to other countries, for example by exporting wood pellets to Europe like we’ve done recently.” According to Volkoff the challenge now is to increase the global production of next generation biofuels to prove that biofuel is a competitive alternative to fossil fuel resources.”

IN BRIEF Greenmills is the name of the new biodiesel plant that’s being built in Amsterdam (NL). The plant will be operational at the end of 2009 and will process organic waste and by-products. The fuel produced will be sufficient to supply the plant and 35.000 households with energy. Volvo started a new company called Terracastus Technologies. This company will convert household waste into liquid methane. This liquid biogas reduces the necessary transport volume of biofuel. The Dutch company Ingrepro invests 10 million euro in the production of algae in Malaysia. The algae will be grown on waste water or manure. End products will be cosmetic ingredients, feed additives and anti-oxidants.

Dutch govern ment focuses on biobased economy The Dutch government has set ambitious targets for replacing fossil fuels by ‘green’ alternatives. In the year 2030 alternative energy sources should replace 30 percent of the fossil fuel demand. These ambitions are part of a broader program called the biobased economy. The ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the realisation of the program. According tot Irene Mouthaan of the Dutch ministry of Agriculture the biobased economy offers great potential in a wide range of work fields. “The program isn’t limited to fuel transition it also addresses chemicals for example,’’ she stated at the first Dutch Algae conference held in Dronten. Mouthaan is of the opinion that so-called wet crops such as water plants, salt water agriculture, algae and sea weeds have great potential in the biobased economy. “However, we realize we can’t meet these targets on our own. Of the required 850 PJ about half can be produced by us. The other part has to be imported.”

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High grain prices affect food and fuel Within the European Union there is a lot of criticism on the production of biofuels from food crops. According to some biofuels cause food scarcity and the high food prices the world faces today. This doesn’t only affect spending capacity, but also causes problems in Third World countries who can’t afford to buy food any longer. Others say that the price rise is mainly due to disappointing harvests in the past years. Some others have the opinion that speculators on the commodity markets are the main reason for the price rise. The high food prices have a direct impact on the production of bio-ethanol. Since 2007 the European ethanol production has been below expectation due to high grain prices. In Europe as well as in the rest of the world there is overcapacity. According to Wim de Greyt Europe produced 5,6 million tons of biodiesel in 2007 whilst the available capacity was 10 million tons. The same is true worldwide where

10 million tons of biodiesel was produced with available capacity of 35 million tons. Explanations for the difference are the high price of feedstock, that make 85 percent of the cost price, the lack of political stimulation as well as the negative public opinion. In Europe the first suggestions to drop the targets are already made. European Commissioner Stavros Dimas stated in an interview on BBC that it might be better to drop the goal that 10 percent of all fuels used in 2020 should be biofuels. “Social and economical problems caused by biofuels are much larger than we anticipated,” says Dimas. He also noted that in order to make the biofuel industry ethically acceptable and remunerative again, steps have to be taken to switch to other low quality raw materials that do not compete with food production. “Or the industry has to invest in the development of improved technologies to produce biofuels economically.”

gy News

Thenergo files prospectus with CBFA Thenergo, a leading developer and operator of decentralized, clean energy projects, has filed its offering prospectus with Belgium’s Banking, Finance & Insurance Commission (CBFA), in anticipation of its intended capital increase and transfer to Euronext Brussels and Paris. Subject to approval of this prospectus, Thenergo aims to launch this transaction by the end of June 2008 with KBC Securities and Dexia Bank as joint lead managers. The aim is to raise new funds through a public offering in Belgium and France and a private placement with institutional investors in Europe. For maximum transparency, the company also discloses its pro-forma financials 2007 and provides guidance as to the development of its activities in 2008.

Chances for bio-energy on long term In the long run, by the year 2050, bioenergy will have a significant potential contribution to the global energy consumption, according to the analyses ‘Assessment of Global Biomass potential’ done by the Dutch committee on Scientific Assessment and Policy Analysis of Climate Changes. Possibly one fifth of the world's future energy consumption can be produced by using organic by products and cultivation of crops. The calculation takes into

account the adverse effects on food supply, nature reserves and the availability of water. The challenge is to utilize this high potential energy source in a sustainable way. This is evident from the "Assessment of Global Biomass potentials and their links to food, water, biodiversity, energy demand and economy”, which appears on behalf of the Scientific Assessment and Policy Analysis program Climate Change (EPL).

Saving More and more increased food prices lead to discussion. At first the debate seemed limited to Europe, but with world wide food security at risk the discussion is spreading. This fuels the belief that biofuel plays a major role in the lack of food supply in Third World countries. Even United Nations alarmed its members to be careful with setting more ambitious targets for biofuel production. Obviously we have to make sure that food is readily available to all people in the world. Awareness of the correct priorities in distribution of the available feedstock for food, feed and fuel should be priority number one. The distribution itself however is a major concern. Recent calculations show that about 1 billion people in the world are obese, whilst about 800 million suffer from hunger. Knowing the problem is the major part of the solution they say, but this is a major challenge. With all the leftovers we in the Western world produce on a daily basis a lot of people could potentially be fed. Obviously we can’t send them the leftovers. We should start by limiting our food intake or at least only cook as much as we need therewith saving the demand on feedstock for Western food, leaving more to be distributed elsewhere. Only if we make an effort in this direction it might be considered using the same raw materials for other purposes, such as fuel. Saving is the key word in the debate. We need alternative energy sources due to increased energy consumption and the limited availability of fossil fuels. According to experts our dependence on fossil energy can be decreased significantly by first saving energy. This at least will slow down the pace in which the energy consumption grows. In the meantime policy makers, non governmental organisations and industry should save their breath fighting each others arguments in an attempt to prove who is wrong and who is right. They should join hands and help find a solution for the major problems the world faces: food, water and energy scarcity. Jacqueline Wijbenga

New Energy Plus June 2008

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Super efficient biofue Bio-ethanol

[Lourens Gengler]

Rotterdam is the centre of the oil industry in The Netherlands. The city also plays a key role in the distribution of agricultural commodities. It is therefore a logical place for large scale production of innovative biofuels. BER-Rotterdam is an initiative to produce two different biofuels without any useless waste.

The choice for Rotterdam is due to the excellent co-sitting opportunities and availability of silos and pipeline connections.

According to the director from BERRotterdam, Peter van der Gaag, the socalled first generation biofuel can be more sustainable and far more cheaper than the much promoted second generation. “It is very easy to explain why the conversion of rough biomass is more polluting than our concept. Look at the natural environment where sugar, starch and hemi-cellulosic are easily broken down. This is in strong contrast with lignocellulosic, for which a lot more energy is needed to break down the material, and convert it into energy,” says Van der Gaag. He developed a completely new concept together with business partner Volker Aurich. They were both involved in technology development, and have a chemical and geological background. “We thought about biofu-

el production with maximum energy revenue, and zero emissions. This became the Bio-ethanol Rotterdam project, which started in 2004. Our goal was to clean the air in the Port of Rotterdam which means that the production process will be carbon negative. In the production process no fossil fuels will be used, no emissions, no waste,” explains Van der Gaag. They are planning to use 350.000 tons of feed grade wheat, and 800.000 tons of excess steam coming from other industries in the area. This will then be converted into different products: 125 million litres of ethanol, 48 millions cubic meters of SuBERgas (biomethane), 150.000 tons food grade carbon dioxide, 25.000 tons of aqueous ammonia, and 35.000 tons of digestate and green electricity.

Feedstock Bio-ethanol waste, straw, vegetables, sewage sludge, manure and other organic waste can be used to produce the cleanest biofuel possible, biomethane. This can be turned easily into bio-LNG as the liquid biofuel. Biomethane and bio-LNG alone can easily cover over 20 percent of all fossil fuels now used in EU-transportation. BER-Rotterdam will start tot build an innovative plant for the conversion of wheat and other well fermentable feedstock. The general public and politicians need to be aware that there is no such thing as a good or bad generation biofuel, but that each concept will have to be judged individually, say the initiators. BER-Rotterdam director Peter van der Gaag expects that it is thus possible to rival any so-called second generation process and to create a sustainable fuel chain independent of large oil companies.

Tw o b i o f u e l s The director calculates that BER can produce over 6000 litre of green fuel from one hectare of grain grown in The Netherlands. This is done by using a two-step process and making two biofuels. “The first is a conventional fermentation into ethanol. In the second step the thin stillage is used in an anaerobic digestion to produce a second biofuel, biogas. This is cleared from all carbon dioxide and then leaves 99 percent clean biomethane. The carbon dioxide that the wheat or other feed stock has 'collected' during growth will be collected at two stages in our production process. In the second stage of the process, aqueousammonia is produced. This will be used for extracting NOx from fumes in nearby fossil fuelled energy plants. So again, we are cleaning the air in the Rotterdam area. There are no emissions, no fossil fuelled and when we burn the BER biofuels, we emit less CO2 than the wheat takes to grow.” Innovation But there is still more innovation plan-

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uel production BER-Rotterdam shines new light on first generation biofuel

ned. BER would like cooling the gas with liquid nitrogen, and thus producing a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) which can be used directly as fuel in cars, trucks, boats, etc. “The efficiency to cool the gas has improved enormously during the last decades, and energy losses are limited to just 10 percent when done on a large scale,” calculates Van der Gaag. In Rotterdam there is now an initiative to build a huge terminal where LNG will be brought in from Norway. The LNG from BER will however be much purer than the normal natural gas that is distributed to all households and industries in country. Due to the differences in quality, the gas distributors are not interested in mixing the ultra clean biogas into the net. Therefore liquefying is needed to use it in transport vehicles. After the two stages in which respectively bio-ethanol and SuBERgas is produced, the rest of the material will be dried and concentrated into high-caloric standardised biomass (so-called digestate) and also delivered to fossil fuelled energy plants where it can be mixed

with coal but again reduces net carbon emissions. To o g o o d t o b e t r u e Van der Gaag admits that the concept is almost too good to be true, and as a result he receives lots of interest from all over the world. “But the current mainstream thought about using grains for energy is addressed in a very negative way in The Netherlands. This causes lots of delays, and investors are reluctant due to so much frustration. There seems to be several groups and industries that have found each other in lobbying against biofuels,” states Van der Gaag. He criticises the continuous suggestion that we should only focus on the so-called second generation biofuels from straw, wood, grasses, etc. “Especially the conversion from biomass to BTL is very inefficient. For instance straw contains only 25 to 40 percent lignocellulosic. That’s much too low for energetical prosperous conversion. It will take at least 15 years until we have developed the best way to pre-treat those cellulosic materials. Proper enzy-

mes will still need further investigation,” says Van der Gaag. It would be much wiser to imitate nature and ferment those kinds of materials in an anaerobic environment. Therefore he considers -at least in the coming 15 years- the BER concept to be a much more efficient way to produce biofuels.

Peter van der Gaag knows all arguments about food crises being caused by biofuels. “Most of them are false, or strongly exag gerated.”

T h e P o r t o f R o t t e rd a m The choice for Rotterdam is due to the excellent co-sitting opportunities and availability of silos and pipeline connections. Storage capacity and excellent logistics are present and the BER-products will be delivered by ship and by pipeline. Above that, the CO2 can be brought into the Port infrastructure as

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>> Super efficient biofuel production

well, and re-used. The same accounts for the aqueous ammonia that will be used in De-NOx installations in power plants. Above all, the bio-ethanol and biomethane (SuBERgas) can be used in the transportation sector in the Port, and thus there is no loss from transporting it a long distance. Status Several companies from different angles are now involved in the initiative. BER is still in the planning phase but permits, the site contract, Letters of Intent and contracts are ready. The actual construction of the plant hopefully will start soon, according to the initiators. There is however a limitation for feasibility when wheat prices get above 220 Euro per ton, and bio-ethanol prices are below 700 Euro for a long time period. Then even BER will suffer losses. Also the current discussions about food versus fuel cause serious problems with investors and legislation. “Due to false expectations about second generation biofuels, it is getting more difficult to convince other parties that our concept is beneficial. Especially in The Netherlands there is a lot of negative force in place,” says Van der Gaag.

Second generation hoaxes The director gives some examples about untrue Second Generation statements. “Within five years large scale production of cheap bio-ethanol from lignocellulose is possible, straw ethanol has high yield, biomass waste bio-ethanol reduces emissions more than first generation bio-ethanol from food, and the first generation is said to increase CO2 emissions in comparison with second generation. Another myth is that it is easy to make bio-ethanol from wood, mixed biomass, grass, and even old furniture. Also pre-treatment of lignocellulose is said to be easily possible by using steam explosions, acid treatment and other enzymes. But almost no one wants to recognize that these processes only can be done with a lot of input of energy. Or better said, low output.” Food versus fuel Van der Gaag knows all arguments about food crises being caused by biofuels. “Most of them are false, or strongly exaggerated. It is just a few years ago that we had an excess of wheat in the EU. And also at that time people in other parts of the world died in starvation. Currently only 1 percent of the

world’s wheat production is used for biofuels. No one can claim that such small amount is because of increasing prices. Above that, ethanol production cannot compete against those high prices. We estimate that the wheat production in the EU and worldwide will strongly increase, and bring large amounts available for conversion into biofuel. Good harvests are already expected in 2009 and 2010. And in 2014 an enormous excess of wheat can be produced in the European Union. Rules should therefore be implemented now to prevent extra transport of wheat from Europe and dumping it in other continents. A better option is to make it obligatory to produce bio-ethanol,” says Van der Gaag optimistically. He has received lots of positive feedback from institutes, companies and politicians from all over the world. “People are really interested in our concept and looking forward to the first results from our efficient process. Also several institutes like to co-operate with us to further investigate the possibilities,” concludes Van der Gaag.

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Energy (de)central Development

[Jacqueline Wijbenga]

A lot of initiatives on renewable energy are small scaled decentral projects. Although all these projects contribute to reducing energy demand, Egbert Klop has the opinion governments should look for possible synergetic effects in certain regions. This can optimize energy utilisation and minimise adverse effects on the environment. The energy supply of the future is a big concern to all governments. Due to the limited supply of fossil fuels alternative energy sources gain interest all over the world. Even nuclear power comes into focus in some countries although most governments are still reluctant as public opinion is generally speaking not in favour of this type of energy. According to designer and trend spotter Rudolf Das technological development has moved on and the current available nuclear power technique has a lot less adverse effects than the old techniques. “China and India already invested in several nuclear power plants to be build in the next few years. European countries haven’t shown any intentions yet, but should do so as nuclear power can contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” said Das at the DWA conference Energy (de)central. Das regards wind energy as the power source of the future, but this technique suffers from the ‘not in my back yardsyndrome’ with the public. Like in Denmark the Dutch government has decided to allow power companies to build windmill parks in the North sea. Das says these initiatives deserve credit, but most of them don’t utilize the possibilities to there maximum. “Present day wind mills come to a hold at wind force 8 or higher. Just at the point where it becomes most beneficial they stop.”

Biomass Hubert Veninga however is of opinion biomass is the fuel for the future. “World wide there is enough biomass available to meet the energy consumption,” says Veninga, professor in energy technology at the Technical Univerity of Twente (Netherlands). He sees opportunities for co-burning biomass with coal for example. It is also possible to convert biomass into gas and inject the gas into a coal heater. This technique is widely spread in Finland. “The main advantage of biomass is that this material doesn’t compete with food supply.” There is however a disadvantage as it is not as easy to produce ethanol from wood based products than it is from corn for example. “But researchers in different places in the world are working on that. The right enzym to break down the C5 and C6 chains can make the difference. I expect a breakthrough shortly.” First step Egbert Klop (DWA) has the opinion all people should be more aware of the effect that can be reached just by saving energy. “Lowering demand, decreases production.” That should be the first step in the process. Secondly the efficient and effective use of surplus energy from processes already taking place is in order. The use of sustainable energy

sources follows and the efficient use of fossil energy closes the line, according to consultancy agency DWA installations and advise. From daily practice DWA has a lot of examples of this approach in different industries. “And good examples inspire others.” Klop stresses companies focus on cost reduction and energy saving measures contribute to that. “However companies usually don’t look any further than their own front door. Sometimes there is no other way, but especially when new buildings and sites are being build companies should co-operate to optimize the effect of environmental measures and energy savings.” Surplus energy, waste water, biomass, carbon dioxide and minerals are a by-product to one company but a valuable feedstock for energy production or cooling processes for a neighbouring company.

New Energy Plus June 2008

Due to the limited supply of fossil fuels alternative energy sources, such as wind and biomass, gain interest all over the world.

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Sustainability as key i Biomass to be substitute for fossil raw materials Biomass

[Carolien Makkink]

The fourth conference on Renewable Resources and Biorefineries was held in June in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Stakeholders from science, industry, and governments from all over the world attended the conference. Several

environmental issues, five economical issues and six social issues on sustainability. Pilot projects applying these tools have been set up at a bio refinery where triticale, hemp and flax are being cultivated.

topics related to bio based economy were discussed.

Competition between use of land for food, feed and fuel has raised issues on the availability of arable land in various countries all over the world.

Sustainability is a key issue in today’s view on the use of raw materials. Sustainability consists of three components: Environmental, social and economical. All three have to be taken into account to obtain true sustainability. In the case of biofuels, technological improvement is needed to reach economically feasible applications. Also environmental and social impact as well as ecosystems - mainly in third world countries - should be taken into careful consideration. Competition between use of land for food, feed and fuel has raised issues on the availability of arable land in various countries all over the world.

S t r a t e g i c a p p ro a c h “The conversion of biomass feedstocks and adaption of biotechnology can provide sustainable-derived food, feed, energy, fuels, materials, chemicals and manufacturing processes,” states Maria Wellisch from Natural Resources Canada in Ottawa. The development of these bio-based products and technologies should start with sustainability in mind from the beginning. Natural Resources Canada created a strategic approach to perform planning in sustainability. This includes a quality assessment tool with 18 sustainable development criteria. These criteria at turn include seven

Bio-based economy According to Maurice Lex of the European Commission in Brussels, the market size for European bio-economy is 1.5 trillion euros. This includes production, management and the use of biological resources, including bio-waste. Lex notes the United States of America invests three times as much in research and development on biotechnology than Europe. Also in the US, the cooperation between public and private (research and industry) is more extended than in Europe. In the near future, the European Union will expand its investments in bio-based economy. A large amount of money has been set aside to finance research on bio-based projects. A call for these projects is expected in July. Lex emphasizes that all useful technology, including genetic modification, should be used to develop sustainable and safe production of bio-fuels. E u ro p e v e r s u s t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s Stefan Fürnsinn of McKinsey & company clarifies why the public opinion in Europe on bio-energy has shifted from being optimistic to pessimistic: “Europe has focused on the reduction of CO2 as being the main benefit from using biofuels. In the US bio-fuels have been introduced to mitigate the dependency on fossil fuels. The reduction of CO2 through bio-fuel production turns out to be much smaller then expected.” Fürnsinn explains that all bio-fuel cultivation starts off with a CO2 debt, since land has to be made available for the

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y issue growth of energy crops. Fürnsinn considers the time of this CO2 debt to be repaid: “If the reimbursement is done in less than 30 years, the cultivation may be regarded as sustainable. It is, however, not easy to obtain a fair comparison of various crops and cultivations.” Calculations of McKinsey & company show that ethanol is economically the most feasible bio-fuel. Production of ethanol from lignocellulose is the best option, because this raw material does not compete with applications in food. Cellulosic ethanol Bio-ethanol produced from cellulose, hemi-cellulose, pectins and lignin is regarded as second generation biofuel. Genencor, a Danisco division, develops specific enzymes to break down these fibres from plant material. Bjarne Adamsen from Genencor quantifies the future production of cellulosic ethanol (table 2). Adamsen expects by 2020, half the bio-ethanol produced on the planet will be of cellulosic origin. Adamsen explains the enzymes needed to process cellulosic raw materials into ethanol are not the problem. Genencor has already put Accellerase 1000 on the market, the first commercially available enzyme used for the formation of glucose. Accellerase contains cellulose, hemi-cellulase and beta-glucosidase. Adamsen expects the first commercial plant for the production of cellulosic bio-ethanol (20 to 50 MGPY) will be operational around 2012. Before this

occurence pilot plants (0.5 to 2 MGPY) and demonstration plants (2 to 10 MGPY) will be developed. Challenges ahead for the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol are integration of technologies for pre-treatment, logistics, and transport costs, according to Adamsen. Mike Sanford of DuPont explains biotechnology is used nowadays to produce commodities (bio-ethanol), where it used to be a technology producing specialty products like pharmaceuticals. DuPont has developed a technology process including a mild alkaline pre-treatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and simul-

Table 1 Choice of crops validated for use as replacement for raw materials for the petro-chemical industry (Brehmer).

Cassave Potato Sugarcane Willowtree

Grass Rapeseed Sunflower Palm oil

Lucerne Sorghum Switch grass Sugar beet

Maize Soybeans Tobacco Wheat

taneous fermentation of C5 and C6 sugars with a recombinant bacterial strain (Zymomonas mobilis). This technology yields up to 100 grams of ethanol per litre reaction fluid. The technology uses corn (stover and cob pipe) as raw material for input.

Bjarne Adamsen from Genencor expects by 2020 half the bioethanol produced on the planet will be of cellulosic origin.

B i o - o i l f ro m s t r a w Niels Bech of the Technical University of Denmark investigated the possibilities of producing bio-oil from straw on the field. He developed a Pyrolysis Centrifuge Reactor (PCR) with a high capacity/volume ratio. In this reactor, straw particles are spin dried against the heated inner wall of a horizontally arranged pipe. Laboratory test results show that the technology is robust and able to obtain a high yield of bio-oil. Using flash pyrolysis on the field reduces costs for transport: The straw volume is reduced by 90 percent. The process yields a liquid product (bio-oil). The byproduct char is to be spread on the field

New Energy Plus June 2008

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>> Sustainability as key issue

in order to recycle mineral nutrients and improve the soil structure. B i o d i e s e l f ro m J a t ro p h a Bart Muys of the Catholic University in Leuven (Belgium) described possibilities of the production of Jatropha. Jatropha curcas L. is a relatively drought resistant small tree. By growing them on marginal lands its seeds can be used to produce biodiesel. Jatropha can be cultivated in areas with no frost, a rainfall between 400 and 2500 mm, temperatures between 18 and 28 oC, soil pH of 4.5 or higher, a soil depth of at least 30 cm, slopes of less than 30 oC, and no water logging. Based on these starting-points, Muys used a computer model to produce a map of regions in the world where Jatropha is best cultivated. He concludes that biodiesel production from Jatropha seed does not furnish global solutions to shortage of fossil fuels. However, on a local scale, Jatropha cultivation may be promising. Most promising regions are Madagascar, Myanmar, Ethiopia and Tanzania, where the use of fossil fuels is low, and relatively large areas of marginal land are available. Muys stresses that Jatropha should not be grown in places where palm trees flourish, but only on land where palm tree growth is not possible. Focus Joy Clancy of the University of Twente in Enschede (The Netherlands) points out that ‘marginal land’ does not equal ‘useless land’: Marginal land in third world countries is used for fodder production, grazing by small ruminants, waste disposal, etc. Clancy explains that substituting, such as tobacco cultivation in Malawi, or flower cultivation in Kenya, with bio-fuel production does not interfere with food production. She claims there is no firm evidence that bio-fuel production is a threat to food production for third world countries: “There is plenty of food in the world; distribution is the problem, hence, poverty is the problem.” Therefore, Clancy recommends that, in energy planning, one should take the demanders point of view, and not just the suppliers perspective. The rural poor in the world are mainly

Table 2 Production of ethanol from starch and sugars versus production from cellulose in different countries, now and in the near future (Adamsen).

Area

Year

Production of ethanol (in billions of gallons) from starch and sugars from cellulose

Europe

2006 2020

USA

2006 2020

4.1 (corn) 15.0 (corn)

15.0

Brazil

2006 2020

4.1 (sugar cane) 12.0 (sugar cane)

4.0

China

2006 2020

0.7 (cereals) 2.2 (cereals)

0.4 (cereals) 7.0 (cereals)

women, children, and elderly people. One should focus on their basic needs and provide them with the possibilities to generate an income for themselves. B i o re f i n e r y Fossil oil and coal do not only provide fuel and energy, but are also raw materials for refinery processes that produce various chemicals. Biomass may be used to obtain fuels and energy, but can be used in bio-refinery processes to produce bio-based chemicals as well. By doing so, biomass might contribute to an overall reduction of fossil fuel consumption. Ben Brehmer from Wageningen University and Research Centre looked into the possibilities of producing biobased chemicals from 16 choice crops (see table 1). The simple and complex carbohydrates from these crops may be used to produce glucose, ethanol or ethylene, while lignin and proteins may find its use in being raw materials for the production of various aromatics and amino acids. Using a detailed comparative energetic life cycle analysis (E-LCA), Brehmer validated the possibilities for these crops to serve as replacement feedstocks for the petro-chemical industry. All inputs (fertilizer, irrigation, machinery, transport, et cetera) were taken into account in order to determine the total embedded fossil fuel energy. Brehmer will defend his thesis on this research project on October 24th in Wageningen.

7.7

7.0

H y d ro g e n The production of hydrogen from biomass is regarded as a long term solution, explains Peter Westermann from Risø-DTU in Lyngby (Denmark). There are major challenges for up-scaling the technology. The yield of fermentative micro-organisms is quite low, and large reactor volumes are required for photofermentative production. Westermann therefore advises to combine bio-refinery for the production of multiple fuels (hydrogen, ethanol, methane), and chemical catalytic technologies which could lead to a yield of 10 to 12 moles of hydrogen per mol glucose derived from biological waste products. The use of hydrogen in a fuel cell is much more efficient from an energy point of view than the combustion of fuels is. Hydrogen as fuel for cars requires carrying large volumes of H2. Renault has already developed an onboard conversion technology to transform ethanol into hydrogen. This technology may be an efficient solution to tank ethanol and use hydrogen as clean fuel.

New Energy Plus June 2008

11•adv:11

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06:56

Pagina 11

bio-ethanol / feedstuffs P.O. Box 6 4600 AA Bergen op Zoom The Netherlands Phone: +31 (0)164 – 213400 Fax: +31 (0)164 – 213401 Internet: www.nedalco.com Dutch sales point: Mr A.P.A. van der Weide Phone: +31 (0)6 – 53435045 E-mail: a.vdweide@nedalco.nl

New Energy Plus The independent magazine for the bioenergy business

Jun e 200 8

NewEnergy magazine

With the limited supply of fossil energy there is a growing interest for renewable energy. The magazine New Energy Plus offers an independent platform of information on the development of different types of renewable energy using agricultural feedstock. The magazine mainly focuses on heat from biomass, biogas, bio-ethanol and biodiesel. The articles in New Energy Plus not only address the biofuel production but also policy making and new developments in Europe and abroad. New Energy Plus is a quarterly magazine spread throughout Europe. Subcribe now and stay informed on the latest developments in reNEWable ENERGY. Please contact Eisma Businessmedia (tel. +31 (0)58-2954870 or e-mail: verkoop@eisma.nl) and make sure you receive the next issue (September 2008).

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12-13•Cellulosic:12-13

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17:49

Pagina 12

The American company Alltech has received a grant of up to 30 million dollar from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to be used towards the establishment of a rural community biorefinery. The plant will be located in Springfield (Kentucky) and is estimated to employ 93 people when operating at full capacity.

Development

[Frank Lydian and Mike Wilson]

Synergy between biofuel and feed production

Cellulosic biorefinery A biorefinery turns organic material into energy (biofuels) and into valuable raw materials for the feed industry. This production process offers more potential than producing bio-ethanol from grains only. As part of the DOE proposal, Alltech’s biorefinery will be one of the first in the United States toe utilize cellulose, such as switch grass, corn cobs and corn stover, at raw material levels of up to 30 percent. This will be converted to ethanol and other value-added products. The refinery will produce 38 million liters of biofuels annually, which equals processing about 100.000 ton of organic materials. The ins and outs of the initiative were presented at the Alltech conference in Lexington (Kentucky).

Pioneer The US Department of Energy (DOE) supports the Alltech biorefinery with a substantial amount of money, 30 million dollar. “The Alltech biorefinery will help pioneer the next generation of non-food based biofuels that will power our cars and trucks and help meet president Bush’s goal to stop greenhouse gas emissions growth by 2025,” explains secretary Samuel Bodman (DOE). “Sustained investment in cellulosic fuels made from novel solid-state enzyme complexes and other agricultural waste will strengthen our nation’s energy security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”

Alleviate The production of bio-ethanol from grains is subject to discussion, mainly in Europe, but with food shortage world wide the awareness and discussion in the States also increases. With the biorefinery Alltech hopes to contribute to the knowledge and technology which will make it possible to extract more biofuels from non-food materials such as cellulose-rich raw materials. Construction and development of the project is estimated to take about two years. “The rural community biorefinery is truly a missionary of new technologies,’’ says Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech. “Cellulosic ethanol utilizes raw materials which are readily available and which alleviate the current demand for grain for ethanol production. With commodity prices reaching an all time high and with ethanol production forecast to account for 30 percent of the American corn harvest by 2010 we must focus our attention on a sustainable path to alternative energies.” B i o re f i n e r y This biorefinery (see schedule) utilizes the total supply of organic raw material such as grains, but also for example human waste and cellulose rich products like grasses and straw. These products will be converted into biofuels, alcohol for industrial use, alcohol for human consumption and a range of by products for feed. This means the biorefinery will

have an impact on Kentucky’s agricultural production by housing dairy and beef cattle to be branded under the Kentucky Proud label. It is thought that this kind of activity can contribute to Kentucky’s milk deficit of 250 million dollar. Algae The facility will also have the capability to produce algae, a plant that needs little besides sunlight and carbon dioxide. The algae not only contribute to carbon dioxide binding, hence reducing global warming, they are also an energy source that can be used for biofuel productions, or applications in food and feed. In comparison with other raw materials for biofuel production algae have enor-

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Pagina 13

Alltech’s

mous potential. For example on average 1 hectare of soy can be converted into 750 liters of biodiesel. The same acreage of corn or sugarcane produces respectively 1500 and 3000 liters of bioethanol. When 1 hectare would be use to grow algae this could potentially lead to an output of 19 million liters of biofuel. Algae are already being used in the food and feed industry, mainly as a source of omega-3 fatty acids. Not all species of algae are equally suitable for these purposes, but some algae consist of over 70 percent fat. Such species would be interesting when producing biofuels. However the production of algae is far from easy and requires a lot of skill to optimize the process.

Situated in one Alltech unites different concepts in one biorefinery. Main purpose is to produce ethanol. This ethanol will be produced from grain, bran of wheat, woodcutting, straw, grass and organic waste. After fermentation the ethanol produced will be separated into three quality classifications: the purest ethanol for human consumption, second quality for industrial purposes and the remainder for biofuel. By products from the fermentation process will be used for feeding Alltech’s dairy cows, beef cattle or for feeding cultivated fish. SSF (Solid State Fermented) enzymes will be used to open complex by products in order to revaluate raw materials.

The heat produced by the fermentation will be used to enhance the production of algae. In turn algae will be used to produce bio-ethanol and as feed stock in the aqua culture. Optimize With the realization of this biorefinery Alltech hopes to contribute to optimize the use of organic sources for energy production and validate all by products such as heat, carbon dioxide and rest fractions within the animal feed business. This way the highest possible output can be obtained from the natural carbon cycle. Bio-ethanol and feed production don’t only co-exist, but can also be synergistic.

New Energy Plus June 2008

biorefinery in schedule.

14-15•Booming Business:14-15

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Booming business of b Biomass

[Broer de Boer ]

HoSt is a Dutch engineering and contracting organisation based in Hengelo close to the Dutch-German border. The company is specialised in engineering and supplying biomass energy installations. HoSt has a broad experience in energy systems, focusing on biogas installations, wood-fired combined heat and power systems (chp-installations) and gasification systems.

HoSt is innovating when it comes to farmscaled biomass fermentation and industrial installations.

CEO and engineer Herman Klein Teeselink of HoSt tells about when HoSt was founded. The company specialized in advice on efficient use of energy. A lot has changed since then. The company nowadays exists of 30 employers and focuses on the burning, fermentation and gasification of biomass and supply (turn-key) installations.

Biomass fermentation HoSt is innovating when it comes to farm-scaled biomass fermentation and industrial installations. In the Netherlands alone 30 installations are operational. The company operates in many other countries. Klein Teeselink states: “Our biogass installations for agricultural manure manage to transform 7 kilos of organic material per cubic meter fermentation content into biogas daily. Thanks to a combination of process related technical knowledge, in-house development of our system, special mixers for mixing thick material, the enzymes we apply and intensive guidance, we’re a head start in front of our competition.” This particular system is of interest for large-scaled agricultural companies that produce over 10,000 tons of manure. The fermentation technology is of value to the food industry when it comes to bringing manure up to a profitable level. The technology is also of great use to products that lost overall applicability as well as for products that no longer serve as feed, like grass from nature reserves, road side grass, and straw. Indications Statistics show the European Union grows 300 million acres of grain. An estimated two to four tons straw per acre is being ploughed and serves no use. At the same time it’s possible to produce

400–500 m3 gas from a ton of dry material. A total of 260 billion m3 natural gas can be saved. That equals seven times the amount of natural gas uses in all of the Netherlands. Not only biogas is interesting, but also the digestate manure. This is a natural waste product which is an excellent homogene, weedless alternative for artificial fertilizer, semi liquid manure, and stackable manure. Because higher fossils fuel prices have risen, the prices of artificial fertilizer have risen as well. According to Klein Tesslink great opportunities lie ahead for the product. Europe is becoming aware of those opportunities. “Half the grain in Europe isn’t being fertilized correctly,” he says. “Especially Eastern Europe still beholds great production opportunities.” Industrial fermentation HoSt also supplies industrial biogas installations suited for digestion of categorized waste streams, like flotation fats, slaughter house waste and other waste streams from the food industry. No animal manure is used at all. The industry uses biogas in order to generate energy and warmth for its own processes. Klein Teeselink notes: “Due to sanitary demands and the obligation to pasteurize the raw materials, the costs of investments are high. Besides that there’s one more obstruction: The micro-organisms resposible for the fermentation process perform well as long as the nitrogen level remains below 8 N per m3 imputted material. Using slaughter house waste at this level is about 12 kg N/m3. Normally this causes problems. “We found the solution for this problem for two Dutch companies. For Ecoson (affiliated with Rendac) a company that ferments slaughter house waste, and for

14-15•Booming Business:14-15

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Pagina 15

f biomass Unique installations developed for local supply of energy

BIR, a company that ferments chicken waste.” HoSt is also developing a way to ferment poultry manure. The nitrogen level of this particular manure is higher. “Our laboraties succeed very well in fermenting several kinds of manure up to 15 kg N/ton ds. I see more opportunities ahead for EU countries in fermentation than in co-burning poultry manure for generating electricity.”

Straw offers many opportunities as biomass.

Biomass gasification Besides expertise on fermentation thermal processes are also part of HoSt’s speciality. Specialties include burning wood chips and other wood parts from biomass. The company built a few interesting installations. Klein Teeselink is passionate about biomass gasification. “Many biomass materials like chicken manure bone meal, straw and sunflower chaff have a low axis-melting point. When burning these biomass or polluted materials combustion grids, airscoops and thermostats have to be cleaned more often. The installation also has to be turned off more in order to cool down. By heating these raw materials in an oxygen-poor environment at temperatures between 750 oC to 800 oC, it’s possible to transform biomass through Fluid Bed Gasification into a low calorific gas. This gas consists of 10 á 12 percent H2, 10 percent CO2 and 3 to 4 percent CH4. What remains consists of CO2, N2, and complex hydrocarbons; so-called tar waste. “In collaboration with Energy Centre Netherlands (ECN) we developed the Bivkin process. Partly financed by a Dutch Governmental Bureau (SenterNovem), we built an installation in Romania to gas sunflower chaff based on this principle.” In 2005 the installation operated to full content of the management, but the pressing of sunflower chaff has been stopped, so chaff is no longer available.

The sunflower refinery is still operational and is being extended and energy demand is up. Klein Teeselink recently visited Romania, this time for negotiating the possibilities of using the installation for gasification of straw. “We expect limited adjustments will be sufficient in order to make the installation suitable for processing straw. We already took tests with the gasification of straw for a potential client from China. Based on our experiences in Romania we built the first gasification installation for poultry manure. This installation is operational in the Dutch village of Tzum. Development In partnership with the Dutch institute ECN, the gasification technology is being further developed. The combination gasification system by HoSt, and a system to wash oil from water, the Olga by ECN, were both subjected to a 1,000–hour test. Together with ECN a new type of gasification system was built. Raw materials are not being gasified with oxygen, but heated by using hot sand. Hot sand at its turn is being heated by carbon waste from the burning from gas. This technique is known as the Milena-technique. By using this technique, gas is produced that consists mainly from methane CO2 and H2. From this syngas it is possible to

gain liquid fuels (methanol and diesel) by using catalysts. I n f r a s t r u c t u re If the image Klein Teeselink forsees becomes a reality, Europe can count on a sizeable increase of biogas production either through fermentation or gasification. “I don’t see much in mixing biogas directly into the existing natural gas network. Working it up is a precious technique. We’re better at constructing a cheap biogas network and delivering the gas to chp-installations that in turn can take of local supplies. Large pipes for transportion aren’t a good idea in my opinion. The costs are € 200 tot € 500 per stretching meter, four to ten times as high as constructing a biogas pipe. “The medium scaled industry will, because the enormous increase of prices for fossill fuels, get more and more interesting for these large fermentation and gasification projects. Their interest is going up so fast we don’t have enough enigineers to start projects. Besides that, investments of thousands of millions in these kind of projects are a little high for a company like HoSt. Therefore we’re trying to set up joint ventures with companies that know the biomass market and who are willing to manage and finance large scale projects with us.”

New Energy Plus June 2008

16•USA-report GH:16

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New Energy News

Pagina 16

[Mike Wilson]

Cellulosic ethanol: Coming of age? A South Dakota company, Western Biomass Energy, is producing cellulosic ethanol from wood products at the first facility of its kind in America. Cellulosic ethanol is considered the second generation of renewable fuels and would not use food crops as a raw material. The small-scale plant is using proprietary technologies and newly developed enzymes to convert cellulose from waste wood into sugar and, ultimately, ethanol. If the plant succeeds, area ranchers are hopeful it will help them better manage their forested lands. “If they can get it up and going, I think it could help quite a few ranchers around here,” says Mike Davis, who operates a cattle ranch. “The plant could give us another cash-crop. Right now, the smaller-diameter trees we are cutting down to thin heavily forested areas have to be left on the ground because there is no market for them,” Davis says. “Thinning these heavily forested areas improves the grass resources for our cattle and wildlife, and it reduces the risks associated with wildfire, drought and beetle outbreaks.” Western Biomass Energy is designed to produce 1.5 million gallons of ethanol per year.

EPA considers higher ethanol blends Several U.S. senators are pressuring the Environmental Protection Agency to test ethanol blends above 10 percent for non-flexible-fuel vehicles. Right now most automobiles on U.S. roads have warranties to run on gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol or less. “It is becoming even more important as we see the maximum market demand for E10 blends quickly approaching,” says Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa. As the U.S. tries to shake its dependence on Middle East oil, it must find ways to use more renewable fuel made from U.S. sources. It is believed that the E10 fuel market will be saturated by 2012 or 2013 at about 12 to 14 billion gallons a year. “That’s about twice what we produce right now,” says Grassley. It is critical that timely approvals be made for intermediate blends of ethanol-blended gasoline for non-flexible-fuel vehicles.” Minnesota, in conjunction with the Renewable Fuels Association, has released a year-long study measuring the effects of 20 percent ethanol blends. The report shows no problems with either the automotive equipment or their performance. According to the study, a move to increase the ethanol blend from 10 to 20 percent is “viable and should be pursued.” New research strongly suggests that there is an “optimal blend level” of ethanol and gasoline most likely E20 or E30- at which cars will get better mileage than predicted based strictly on the fuel’s per-gallon Btu content.

Biofuel mandates under attack Mainstream American media are turning up the heat on ethanol, blaming the renewable fuel for high food prices even though most studies show high petroleum costs are really to blame. Texas Governor Rick Perry requested a waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) from the Environmental Protection Agency, asking that blending requirements be rolled back to 50 percent of mandated levels. The U.S. government currently mandates that at least 9 billion gallons of the nation’s fuel come from biofuel such as ethanol. Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, also from Texas, says she will submit a bill that would freeze the national biofuel mandate. Texas is America’s largest oil-producing state. It’s unclear whether Hutchinson will be able to find support in the Senate since the mandate that was passed in the 2007 energy bill had wide bipartisan support. In late April President Bush defended ethanol. He says food price increases are minimally impacted by biofuels. “The recent rise in food prices can chiefly be blamed on weather, increased demand from China and India, and higher energy prices. It’s in our national interests that our farmers grow energy, as opposed to purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us,” Bush says. A recent study by Texas A&M University shows that without the RFS mandate, corn prices would drop around 30 cents per bushel but food prices would remain the same. National Corn Growers Association CEO Rick Tolman says corn-based ethanol has been the victim of aggressive and well-funded smear tactics by its opponents. "There's been a very clever marketing disinformation campaign directed at biofuels by those with deep pockets," Tolman says. "If you really want to know who the real axe murderer is that's slashing our grocery food budget, look at $120 a barrel oil."

17•red:17

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Pagina 17

Saving energy a challenge in itself ’ Biomass

[Jacqueline Wijbenga]

To reach energy targets set by governments more efficient use of energy sources, both fossil and renewable, can contribute most. A major challenge with growing prosperity around the globe. Energy, we can’t do without it. “But we use it very inefficiently,” says Jaap Kiel of EnergieCentrum Nederland. Also the most used energy sources, fossil fuels, are not as readily available as they used to be. The supply will end somewhere in the future. To make sure we will have access to energy in the future we should focus on saving energy. “A true challenge as we also have the desire to grow and develop, not only in western countries, but also in developing countries.” Opportunities Besides saving energy renewable energy sources can help meet targets. “The growth rate of bioenergy development has to increase. At the present pace it won’t be feasible to reach the goals,” states Kiel. Of all the available renewable energy sources Kiel believes biomass offers most opportunities. “Biomass can produce 30 percent of the primary energy in the year 2030.” Governments should however make guidelines to secure proper use and prevent unnecessary biomass transportation to and from different parts of the world. Wet biomass is best used locally to produce heat and electricity. Dry biomass can locally be processed into pellets or fluid fuel, this adds value to the basic

product and makes transportation afterwards easier. Biomass however also has less favourable characteristics. It is hydrofylic, rich in fibre and heterogenous. “Techniques such as torrefraction overcome these problems and make the product hydrofobic and dryer so it can be pelletised which makes it easier to process and transport.” E ff i c i e n c y Kiel believes biorefining of biomass therefore offers great potential. Pilot projects have shown this. Professor Johan Sanders of Wageningen University agrees with Kiel. He researches the potential of biorefinery and promotes the realisation of such a project in the Port of Rotterdam. “We should apply segregation techniques to fully use the potential of the different components of the biomass,” Sanders says. “We import great amounts of biomass, but use it inefficiently.” He illustrates this with an example. “We need a food intake of about 2500 kcal per day. This equals 55 PJ of energy. To produce this amount of food more than 20 times as much energy is required, 635 PJ of biomass to be exact.” According to Sanders research should focus on improving the efficiency of converting biomass into

food. “That would save an enormous amount of energy.”

“We should apply segregation techniques

Straw One of the possibilities to improve the energy efficiency of a biorefinery process is to use hydrolyse with enzymes in combination with a gmo-yeast that helps ‘dissolve’ the fibres. Especially with fibre rich raw material such as straw this could speed up the degradation process, but also make the different components more readily available. In a pilot project it was shown that this procedure in itself is not yet energy neutral. “Not all steps in the process are optimized yet,” admits researcher Ruud Weusthuis of Wageningen University. It’s calculated that in order to produce enough ethanol from straw to drive a car about 5 ton straw is required. With an annual production of 1,3 million ton of straw per year in The Netherlands it will be possible to have over 250,000 cars drive on 100 percent ethanol. Looking at blending 5 percent of ethanol into gasoline the same tonnage would be sufficient to meet demands of 5,2 million cars. “It was once said that you could make anything with lignine except money, but times are changing,” concludes Weusthuis.

New Energy Plus June 2008

to fully use the potential of the different components of the biomass,” Sanders says.

18-19•Algae:18-19

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Pagina 18

Algae are regarded as a potential sustainable energy source. The small plants offer potential for use in food, feed and fuel applications, but large scale production is still limited. The truths and myths about algae were discussed during a seminar in The Netherlands.

Development

Algae offer g

[Henri de Haan en Jacqueline Wijbenga]

Algae consist of at least one third fat, depending on the species. This fat contains a substantial amount of omega-3 fatty acids, which is highly valued in food applications for its beneficial effect on health. Besides the use of algae in the food industry and as feedstock for biofuel, algae can also be used in feed and to purify water. Algae have the capability of binding CO2 and absorbing toxic components. The small plants can grow on waste materials and are able to utilize components such as phosphate, nitrogen and sulphur. The truths and myths about algae were addressed at the first Dutch Algae symposium held in Dronten last month. Potential Jan de Wit of the Innovationnetwork (part of the Dutch ministry of Agriculture) believes algae offer great potential as an alternative energy source.

“However in practice the theoretical potential is not realized yet.” René Wijffels of Wageningen University states that palm trees produce, on average, around 6,000 litre of oil per hectare on an annual basis. Algae can produce, according to theoretical calculations, between 20,000 and 150,000 litre per hectare annually. “This last mentioned number however is not feasible at all when taking the rules of photosynthesis into account,” says Wijffels. With this potential range, even if half of the 150,000 were to be realistic, it is worthwhile to look at improvements in the production techniques and algae species. De Wit questions the use of algae as a main energy source. “Looking at the impact on the landscape for large scale algae cultivation it might be better to concentrate on the high value applications of the end product, such as use in cosmetics, food supplements or as feed

Value build up-of algae in sow feed in eur/mt. (sou rc e: F IS bv)

b-carotine, 420

vitamins, 53

nutritiona l value, 440

omega -3, 17 minerals, 11

Algea the green gold of the future?

additives.” Wijffels agrees. “With the price of biomass being around 50 euro per kilo it is most profitable to use algae as a nutraceutical. Should the biomass price drop to about 40 euro per kilo than algae could be used to produce biofuels, from an economical point of view.” Feed “Algae are not only an energy source for fuel or feed, they offer a far more than just the energetic value to animals,” says Alex Fité of Feed Innovation Services (FIS). Graph 1 shows the value of different components of algae to sow feed. Besides the energy level also 웁-carotene adds to the value of the feed. “And the prospects are even greater.” According to Fité algae stimulate food intake and stimulate the immune system. Both have a positive effect on animal performance. FIS noted a higher growth rate of chicks fed with algae while feed conversion remained the same. The average growth was 76.4 grams per day for the group

18-19•Algae:18-19

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Pagina 19

Energy source for food, feed, and fuel

r great potential Cultivation of algae Ingrepro and LGem are two well known companies that grow algae. Ingepro cultivates algae outdoors in large basins. They use eight different species of algae of the about 80,000 different species known. Only two of the algae species Ingrepro works with are used for large scale production. Preculturing is done in closed systems. Another master in cultivating algae is LGem. This company uses a closed system for the production of algae. Eugene Roebroeck is convinced algae are of greater value using them in fish feed than as a feed stock for biofuel. “As a healthy and responsible food ingredient algae are worth more than the calories they contain.”

fed algae versus 72.9 grams per day for the control group. Replacing blood plasma or egg powder by algae in diets of piglets resulted in increased growth, but the difference with the control group wasn’t statistically significant. Omega-3 The omega-3 fatty acids of algae fed to animals are transferred in end products such as milk, meat and eggs. Especially for poultry and dairy cattle, algae seem to have a valuable added value (graph). According to Fité algae can be valued in sow feed for their postive effect on fertility. In feed for young animals like piglets and broiler chicks the advantages of adding algae lie in improved feed intake, stimulation of the immune system and increased growth. Algae are also a promising feed stock for fish feed. Due to overfishing the amount of fish in natural waters has decreased. Important ingredients for fish feed for cultivated fish are fish meal and oil.

Algae offer an alternative to the fish oil as they mainly consist of protein and fat that consists for a large part of omega-3 fatty acids. It is because of these properties that Fité predicts the fish feed producing companies can’t do without algae in future. Demand Due to the wide variety of applications of algae producers don’t have difficulties finding customers. The demand for alternative raw materials for feed, food and fuel is still increasing. Algae can play a role in this, even though it is not likely algae will be the alternative feed stock for biofuel because of the immense amounts of dry matter required. Bottle neck There is, however, another bottle neck in algae production. Wijffels’s calculations show that the biomass production from algae has a negative energy balance. LGem, one of the Dutch algae producing

companies, admits that at present their production costs more energy than it delivers. “At present we produce 25 W per square meter and use 4. We do believe however that in future we will be able to produce energy neutral,” says Eugene Roebroeck of LGem. Another problem is the claim of land. “For efficient biomass production 10,000 hectares or more are required. How are we going to realize that? And what about the logistics of it all?” Wijffels thinks the approach of Neste Oil is feasible. “Their goal is to blend algae oil with other biofuels in five to seven years time. That, I think, is realistic,” says Wijffels. Roebroeck says algae oil can contribute to the energy savings in an alternative way. “Algae oil is a cheap and sustainable alternative for fish oil. With the production of 35 tons of algae per hectare we can save op to 300,000 ton of transportation fuel otherwise needed by the trawls that go out to catch fish needed for the fish oil.”

New Energy Plus June 2008

20â&#x20AC;˘Hydrigen:20

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Pagina 20

Hydrogen production from wastewater Development

Dutch researcher patents technique

[Carolien Makkink]

Hydrogen is a clean fuel. It can be converted directly into electrical energy using fuel cell technology. The use of hydrogen as a fuel is emission-free. Water is the only exhaustion product. Hydrogen can be produced from any kind of renewable energy source by water electrolysis.

Principle of biocatalyzed electrolysis

RenĂŠ Rozendal developed a new method to produce hydrogen from wastewater, using bio catalyzed electrolysis, also known as microbial electrolysis. This is a promising technology since it generates appreciable amounts of hydrogen at a relatively low energy input. Wastewater is widely available, and is usually treated aerobically which consumes a lot of energy. However, if chemical and fuel production technologies are used for wastewater treatment, a net amount of energy can be produced. Two biological technologies are of interest. Methanogenic anaerobic digestion

and biological hydrogen production. The first method yields a mixture of CH4 and CO2 (biogas) which may be used as a fuel source for electricity and heat production. Combustion of CH4 leads to the emission of CO2. Biological hydrogen production is much less developed. No full scale installations currently exist. However, hydrogen might prove to be a more interesting product than biogas both as chemical and as fuel. B i o c a t a l y z e d e l e c t ro l y s i s Essential to the working principle of biocatalyzed electrolysis is the application of mixed consortia of electrochemically active micro organisms. This technology is also known as microbial electrolysis. Electrochemically active micro organisms are capable of electron transfer from the inside to the outside of the cell. Therefore these micro organisms can grow on an electrode surface while using the electrode as an electron acceptor for the oxidation of dissolved organic compounds in for example wastewater. Biocatalyzed electrolysis is capable of converting dissolved organic compounds that are regarded as dark fermentation by products (NADH, reduced ferredoxin, formate). Biocatalyzed electrolysis establishes the required energy input by means of electrical energy instead of sunlight. Therefore this technique deals

with the endothermic nature of the conversion reactions of many dissolved organic compounds to hydrogen. Outlook Rozendal calculated that volumetric hydrogen production rates from biocatalyzed electrolysis can be improved to over 10 Nm3 H2 per m3 reactor volume per day at an energy input of below 1 kWh per Nm3 H2. To obtain this the performance of the critical system components (bioanode, membrane, cathode) should be improved. To obtain a mature hydrogen production technology it is important to realize a cost-effective scale-up that considers ohmic losses and material costs. In October 2007 Rozendal obtained, with honours, his PhD degree at Wageningen University for his research on biocatalyzed electrolysis. In April 2008 he received the Most Appealing Dissertation 2008 Award, an initiative of the Dutch magazine Intermediair. Rozendal has patented the technique for the production of hydrogen using biocatalyzed electrolysis. Further research is now being executed by Wetsus, centre of excellence for sustainable water technology in Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) to develop the technique for large-scale application in practice. Financial support for this is provided by Shell, Paques and Magneto Chemie.

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Pagina 21

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Wind and solar generated power receive a lot of attention in the fight against glabal warming. Biomass however may come to stand for the largest share of renewable energy, said Peter Berg of McKinsey London at the Biomass Forum 2008.

Biomass

[Jacqueline Wijbenga]

Burning issues The Dutch minister of Agriculture, Gerda Verburg, signed an intention agreement with the Dutch Wood platform and the collective for Forest and Nature in which they agree to contribute to the goals set for the year 2020. In that year the Dutch government aims to produce 200 PJ of energy from renewable sources. “We aim for the agrosector to contribute 32 PJ to this target”, says Annemie Burger

Practical application In the Dutch village Beetsterzwaag a biomass heater was built last year. The heat is used to provide heat to a school for disabled children and to heat the swimming pool of the local revalidation facilities. The gas demand of both facilities together amounts to about 380.000 m3 natural gas. “With our installation we can produce an equal amount of energy. The sites are however still connected to the natural gas network, just in case”, explains Frans Postma, one of the initiators of the project. As soon as the heater was in place, feedstock was bought in. In future the wood surplus from the maintanance of the nearby (circle of about 40 km) typical wood rich landscape will be used to fuel the heater. The heater warms the water to 95 oC which is then transported to the facilities via 1 kilometer of piping. “The main reason to build this facility was to find an affordable way to maintain the landscape. This landscape with its trees and bushes as marks between different fields is highly valued for its biodiversity. However the maintance, which is time consuming and expensive, is the responsibility of the farmers. To preserve this landscape for the future maintanance is necessary. The revenues of the heater now pay the maintanance costs while using the wood removed from that same highly valued landscape.”

from the ministry of Agriculture at the Biomass Forum. According to an analyses done by Ecofys this contribution can be realised by optimising the use of the available biomass in forest, woodland and landscape. The report shows that by maximising the harvest of biomass from forest and landscape an excess of 251 kton dry matter can be harvested compared to the present situation (Table 1). On average this will lead to an extra 100 kton for energetic purposes. This adds up to a potential of 1,1 million ton dry matter of woodbased biomass available for bioenergy production, which equals 20,1 PJ

Frans Postma, one of the initiators of the biomass installation in Beetsterzwaag.

annually, about 10 percent of the target set for the year 2020. Ecofys not only looked at the potential of woodbased biomass. Non-wood biomass, such as grass, reet-land and heath-land, offers an additional potential of 12,1 PJ, around 6 percent of the goal to be met in 2020. Both sources together amount to 32,2 PJ that can be produced by optimized use of biomass from forest, nature, landscape, urban green areas and the wood processing industry. Germany In Germany about 5,7 percent of the energy used is renewable energy. The lar-

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Biomass Forum focusses on chain approach

gest part of that, about two-thirds concerns bio-energy of which almost half is wood. “It’s mainly used for heat production”, says Helmut Lampe of the Bundesverbandes Bioenergie. Wood however has increased in price over recent years. “Even so, burning wood is still cheaper than burning oil.” Lampe predicts bioenergy will be a commodity at the agricultural markets such as Chicago in a few years time. “Bio-energy will be a tradeble product just like gas, oil and other energy sources.” According to Lampe wood will offer a future for farmers. “We can cultivate different types of trees for wood production. An extra benefit is the increase of biodiversity.” The growing of trees doesn’t necesarily compete with foodproduction, says Lampe. “There are plenty of potential growing areas for trees that are not suitable for food crops. These grounds were thusfar not used for production due to low prices and high costs, but with wood prices going up it becomes worthwhile to exploit these areas.” Silvo Thijsen of the Dutch engineering company Grontmij also doesn’t beleave the additional land used for wood production will compete with food supply. “It isn’t necessary to plant trees all over Europe. With proper organisation and management the targets can be met in a realistic way without fueling the debate on food or fuel.” Success The European Union has set targets for renewable energy. There is no common goal in the United States. “But almost all states formulated their own targets with regard to renewable energy. Most of

them are as ambitious if not more than those set in Europe”, states Peter Berg of McKinsey. In his opinion biomass plays a crucial role in reaching the targets. “Biomass is mainly used for heat and electricity production. The development in energy from biomass strongly depends on technology.” Berg stresses that the success of biomass also depends on the price of the raw material. “In Sweden biomass wins from coal as an energy source, but this is only the case as long as the price of biomass continues at the low levels they are now.” Due to the premium given on energy from biomass it also offers opportunities in countries such as Italy and the United Kingdom. Predictions are that the amount of energy from biomass will double by the year 2010. “This requires enormous amounts of raw material.” With demand growing, production has to increase. The overview of the Dutch potential is in agreement with the opportunities Berg sees for Europe. Besides that short rotation bio-

mass such as micanthus, willow, salix and others might add to the supply. “Problem with most of these crops is to find farmers who want to grow these crops, as it doesn’t pay off annually, but once every five years or more.” According to Lampe this doesn’t have to pose a problem. “You can make contracts that foresee in a down payment every year based on the expected and current market price of the end product.” Besides all the possibilities within the EU import of wood will increase, predicts Berg. “The EU simply has a higher demand than supply. This will remain the case in the years to come.” Unknown factor is the amount of biomass that will be used in so-called second generation biofuel production. So will we have enough biomass to meet demand? According to Berg we have to anticipate a structural shortage of biomass in the years ahead. Thijsen agrees with Berg and says: “They who have the feedstock, have the power in the production chain.”

Maximising the harvest of biomass from forest en landscape can drastically increase the amount of biomass available for the production of bio-energy.

Table 1. Potential of wood and woodbased products for energy production in The Netherlands

Source

kton/y

available for energy

Extra harvest from forest and landscape Present us of fire wood and energy wood Residues from wood processing industry Used wood Energetic use of Dutch wood abroad

251

100 275 286 128 330

1,8 5,0 5,2 2,3 5,9

1119

20,1

Total

498 1063

New Energy Plus June 2008

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CALENDER

calender

CALENDER / NEW ENERGY NEWS

In the New Energy Plus Calender events and activities are listed. The focus is on those events and activities that are connected with production of bioenergy from renewable feedstock. A selection of events is listed in our quarterly magazine. Future events and activities for this calendar can be forwarded to: j.wijbenga@eisma.nl.

2008 August 18 Short rotation crops international conference: biofuels, bioenergy and bioproducts from sustainable agricultural and forest crops, Minnesota (VS) www.regonline.com

September 14 Woodfuel Supply Chain-Sharing Experience, Warwick (GB) www.ieabioenergy.com

September 15-19 Biogas training course, University of Hohenheim (C) www.biogas-zentrum.de

November 11-14 Eurotier, Hannover (DE) www.eurotrier.de

December 3-4 International algae congress, Amsterdam (NL) www.algaecongress.com

December 10-12 DETAF, exhibition sustainable energy, Venlo (NL) www.detaf.nl

September 25 BioWKK conference ‘biowaste-to-energy’ (NL) www.biowkk.nl

September 26 Business meeting bio-energy 2008, The Netherlands Bio-energy Association, Arnhem (NL) www.platformbioenergie.nl

2009 January 21-22 International congress ‘the permanent oil crisis: challenges and oppurtunities’, Amsterdam (NL) www.europoint.eu

September 27-30 World congress on oils & fats and 28th ISF congress, Sydney (AU) www.mvo.nl

October 16-19 Green Energy Summit 2008, Bangalore (IN) www.saltmarchmedia.com

Ethanol a major global commodity The year 2008 has so far been challenging for ethanol. While the macro-economic conditions remain strong, with the continuing high oil price there are many calls for a re-appraisal of current biofuel policies. Even though many of the accusations against the production and use of biofuels have proven groundless, the debate shows that the ethanol industry must constantly innovate to maintain its place in the market as well as in the political arena. Ethanol is regarded by the oil refining industry as a serious competitor for market share while multinational food companies fear that biofuels will drive up their raw material costs. Both 2007 and 2008 have been years of runaway expansion when many new plant openings have been announced, particularly in the United States and Brazil. The US will continue to produce record amounts of ethanol in the coming years in order to achieve the targets set by the Renewable Fuels Standard.

New venture Encore BioRenewables

December 12 Business meeting bioenergy 2008, The Netherlands Bio-energy Association, Arnhem (NL) www.platformbioenergie.nl

September 24-25 The impact of biofuels on commodity markets, Brussels (B) www.agra.net.com

Tellurian Biodiesel, a leading independent distributor and marketer of sustainable highquality biodiesel, has entered into a joint venture with Golden State Foods (GSF), one of the largest diversified suppliers to the quickservice restaurant industry, to recycle used cooking oil into biodiesel that exceeds industry specifications. The new venture, Encore BioRenewables, plans to launch its first biodiesel production facility in Southern California in early 2009. The company plans to open additional processing plants throughout the United States as the market develops for their product. These plants will be sited near locations which aggregate used cooking oil from restaurants. Encore will recycle this material in the production of a more sustainable biodiesel fuel. The high-quality biodiesel produced by this closed-loop solution will be sold to trucking companies, municipal fleets and to GSF to fuel its distribution fleet, which services its customers in the quick-service restaurant industry. Encore BioRenewable's first plant will begin production at a rate of five million gallons of biodiesel annually. The facility's output will be expanded as American demand for renewable biodiesel continues to increase with the country's accelerated transition off of foreign oil.

New Energy Plus June 2008

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