Biofuel production technologies, by Vinod Khosla:
notes from greentechmedia.com
The financial crisis of 2008 set back a number of projects...the negative press for corn ethanol, slowed progress and funding of biofuels to a crawl...there is now a risk-averse capital funding environment...
Successful companies will:
1. start by producing a hi-value specialty product, then gradually cut costs to become competitive in the fuel market (ex: Amyris, Gevo, LS9, Coskata, Lanzatech).
2. use a feedstock that is lo-cost and available in very large amounts (wood waste, cellulose grown on non-food land)
3. no large capital costs (<100M$) for the first commercial units.
4. have fewer steps from feedstock to final product, and no expensive steps requiring hi temperatures, hi pressure, or hi purity. Ideally: a single biological process in one vat, at ambient temperature and pressure, with the final product phase-separating.
5. plug into existing infrastructure in the oil, chemicals, forestry, agriculture, transportation industries. A totally new infrastructure vastly increases capital costs.
First commercial units (for proof of technology, not cost optimization) in 2011-2013 by:
KiOR: Catalyzed thermo-chemical cracking of Lignocellulosic biomass, all types; competitive unsubsidized near term at $80 oil
LS9, Gevo, Amyris, Solazyme: Liquid fermentation to higher alcohols, hydrocarbons and esters.
Lanzatech, Coskata, Ineos: Gas fermentation of Steel/coal waste gas; syngas from biomass or coal
Solar fuels (by Sapphire, Cellana, Aurora Algae, General Atomics, Petro algae) are at pilot and demonstration scale. High capital costs for first commercial units...no clear near term path to economic viability.
Natural oils and fats (palm, vegetable, animal fat, etc.) will always have limited scalability.
KiOR:
...processes solid biomass direct to liquids, while catalytically removing oxygen. Their unique approach employs a FCC-like (Fluid Catalytic Cracking) process from the oil refinery world with a special catalyst for cellulosic materials. The input is woody biomass, corn stover, sugar cane bagasse, or any other cellulosic/hemicellulosic/lignin material. The catalytic process occurs for a few seconds at moderate temperatures and pressures. The result is a low-oxygen, renewable crude oil (the same way nature makes crude oil from biomass but takes millions of years to process), as well as some natural gas. The oil yield is nearly 1.5bbls/ dry ton today and is soon expected to rise to 2 bbls/dry ton.
Unlike sugar hydrolysis and fermentation technologies, KiOR can convert all parts of the biomass, including lignin, without the need for separation. That capability will likely result in the highest transportation fuel yields per ton of biomass. In contrast to ethanol, their product looks and behaves like a high-value crude oil, or a diesel/gasoline blendstock after hydrotreating -- superior to traditional biodiesel and superior to typical U.S. crude oils because of its higher value fuel distillate fractions and lack of sulfur. KiOR initially intends to sell a diesel and gasoline blendstock. The company currently has a 15bbl/day demonstration plant running, and has just started construction on its first commercial-scale unit in Mississippi. The oil industry is familiar with the basic FCC process, which should result in easier acceptance. Scalability for FCC processes is also well understood and broadly characterized. Additionally, since the KiOR oil is stable and miscible in most crude oils, no new infrastructure is required, and supply chain planning and logistics should be simplified for refineries. |
