An article below "Q&A with Iogen..." but first something --
ABOUT The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)
is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting
environmentally sustainable societies....
EESI was founded in 1984 by a bipartisan group of
Members of Congress concerned about energy and
environmental issues. http://www.eesi.org/about/about.htm
- ECO Newsletter -
Published monthly, this newsletter
provides an open forum for discussion of
Ethanol, Climate change, and Oil reduction issues.
http://www.eesi.org
APRIL 2003
Q & A with Iogenâs Jeff Passmore regarding cellulosic ethanol
http://www.eesi.org/publications/Newsletters/ECO/eco%2019.htm
ECO recently interviewed Jeff Passmore, Executive Vice President of Iogen
Corporation.
Iogen [http://www.iogen.ca] is a privately owned Canadian business that has
recently
announced that its demonstration facility in Ottawa, Canada is successfully
processing
30 tons of wheat straw per week into fermentable sugar and is on track to
reach annual
production of 320,000 liters (roughly 85,000 gallons) of cellulosic ethanol.
Potential feedstocks for producing cellulosic ethanol include a broad range of
agricultural residues and forest wastes such as sugar cane bagasse, rice hulls
and
forest thinnings, municipal wastes such as waste paper, yard waste,
construction debris,
and industrial wastes such as pulp/paper and sludge. According to research
done at the
Argonne National Laboratory, cellulosic ethanol also greatly reduces the
emission of
greenhouse gases when compared to gasoline.
[SEE: Briefing Summary - Elements of a BioBased Economy: BioBased Energy,
Fuels, and Products
May 20, 2003
http://www.eesi.org/briefings/2003/EnergyandClimate/5.20.03%20Biomass/5.20.03%20Biomass.htm]
Why does Iogen think the development of a cellulose market is
important/desirable?
Iogenâs goals include meeting the challenge of reducing North Americaâs
greenhouse gas
emissions, creating a domestic fuel supply, increasing market opportunities
for farmers,
and creating local jobs.
Our technology will allow for major impacts on the CO2 put back into the
atmosphere in
the transportation sector. The demonstration facility in Ottawa, Canada has
been
designed and engineered to process up to 40 tons of feedstock per day.
Currently, the
facility is successfully processing 30 tons of wheat straw per week into
fermentable
sugar ö which would produce 320,000 liters of ethanol annually. No one has
ever used
modern enzyme technology to successfully convert cellulose material (a polymer
made up
of repeating units of glucose, a simple sugar) such as straw into fermentable
sugar on
this scale before. The demo plant construction began in 1999 and was
commissioned in
April of 2002.
What technology is Iogen using in its demonstration facility?
Iogen Corporation is an industrial manufacturer of enzyme products for the
pulp and paper,
textiles and animal feed industries, and is a developer of technology to make
clean fuels
from plant fiber. Since it's founding in the early 1970's, Iogen has been
focused on the
processing of natural fiber, and has made a substantial commitment to
technology in the
field. The company's effort has resulted in a range of enzyme products used
to improve
the way fiber is processed.
EcoEthanolú is the same as conventional (or grain derived) ethanol; the
difference lies in
how it is produced. Our focus for feedstocks has been wheat straw and corn
stover ö but any
cereal straw is useable - as long as the yields make it economical and as long
as the
cellulose content is there. To be useable in our process, a feedstock must
have roughly
60 percent carbohydrate content, and be available in very large quantities
such as
750,000 tons per year within an 80-mile radius. There would also be the
question of
harvesting the material.
In laymen's terms what happens is that the feedstock, frequently straw, is
crushed into
a powder. It is then put through a patented pretreatment process to open up
the fibers.
Enzymes (a natural catalyst used in many industries) are added to the
pretreated feedstock.
The enzymes break down the cellulose content into sugar. That sugar is then
fermented and
distilled into ethanol.
In our process we use the lignin in the straw and stover. It can be used to
produce
electricity and becomes an integral part of the massive greenhouse gas
reductions we see
with ethanol from cellulose. On average, one dry metric ton of wheat straw
will produce
250kg of combustible materials. Of this, approximately 200kg is lignin, all
of which
can be burned to create electricity. Lignin has around 80 percent of the heat
content of
typical thermal coal, or approximately 20,000 BTU/kg. Depending on the
feedstock used
and its growing conditions, there can be a surplus of lignin that can be sold
to the
power grid as green electricity.
What are the greatest technological obstacles to the development of a
commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility?
We have always known that you can use enzymes to treat fiber and turn it into
sugar;
the obstacle lies with at what cost and whether this can be done in an
industrial-scale
environment. We need supplies of straw, financing, an off-take for the
ethanol, a market
and an affordable price. Iogen has designed the engineering around the enzyme
process,
and the enzymes around the engineering process. Our scientists have to keep
talking to
our processing engineers, and vice versa, in order to come up with the optimal
commercial
development.
One must also ensure that there is good patent protection in place. Iogen has
many patents
on our enzymes and stages throughout our EcoEthanolú process. Protecting
intellectual
property is key. We have also not shied away from strategic investments. We
realized that
we were going to have to give something up to get The Royal Dutch/Shell Group
to invest,
but you make sure you have smart people on your side of the negotiating table.
What incentives need to be enacted to spur the development of a cellulosic
ethanol market?
Since cellulosic ethanol is in the early stages of commercial development,
Iogen would like
to see governments willing to discuss with industry how best to further
advance the
commercialization of this technology. Incentives to fuel the
commercialization of this
technology may take the form of loan guarantees, capital grants, producer tax
credits and/or
tax exemptions. We are asking for recognition by the Canadian government of
the GHG reduction
benefits of Iogenâs technology, and a structure to discuss the incentives
necessary to establish
a cellulose ethanol industry.
Do you see enactment of a national Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) in the
United States as
important to achieving your goals?
While Iogen is a strong supporter of the RFS, the US demand for ethanol will
continue to grow
due to implementation of state MTBE bans and to increased awareness and
acceptance of ethanol
in the next three to four years. After that the RFS will allow the market to
avoid stagnation.
What are Iogenâs next steps if the demonstration plant is a success?
Iogen has recently signed a $46 million strategic partnership agreement with
The Royal Dutch/Shell Group to aid in the development of Iogen's EcoEthanolú.
The investment will enable Iogen to develop more rapidly the worldâs first
commercial-scale biomass to ethanol plant. While Iogen has not yet made a
decision on where the first commercial biorefinery will be built, we are
investigating the Canadian prairies, the US Midwest, the UK, and Germany.
The first plant should see construction started in late 2004, with
EcoEthanolú being commercially available in late 2006.
As always, EESI welcomes your comments about the issues raised in this
commentary and throughout ECO. Responses, article and commentary
submissions, and feedback can be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----
Henry Ford, Charles Kettering and the "Fuel of the Future"
in press, Society of Automotive Historians, 1998
Copyright Bill Kovarik, Ph.D., 1998
by Bill Kovarik, Ph.D.
http://www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/papers/fuel.html
The fuel of the future, according to both Henry Ford and Charles F.
Kettering,
was ethyl alcohol made from farm products and cellulosic materials.
Ford, of course, is well known as an automotive inventor;
Kettering was the head of research at General Motors for many years and
a highly respected inventor in his own right....
This paper examines that context, including the
competition between lamp fuels in the 19th century;
the scientific studies about alcohol as a fuel in the early 20th century;
the development of "ethyl" leaded gasoline as a bridge to the "fuel of the
future" in the 1920s;
the worldwide use of alcohol - gasoline blends in the 1920s and 30s; and
the eventual emergence of the farm "Chemurgy" movement and its support for
alcohol fuel in the 1930s.
>
>
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