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Abengoa Bioenergy Opens Cellulosic Ethanol Pilot Plant in Nebraska
15 October 2007
Abengoa Bioenergy has opened a pilot plant for the production of cellulosic ethanol from biomass in Nebraska. The plant, which involves an investment of more than $35 million, will be exclusively dedicated to the research and development of biofuel production processes from lignocellulosic biomass.
Located at Abengoa Bioenergy’s ethanol production facility in York (Nebraska), the Spanish-owned pilot plant will research and test new equipment, systems and catalysts necessary to break down various organic compounds and process them for commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol production. Abengoa will apply new technologies developed at a biomass biorefinery it is currently building in Kansas. (Earlier post.)
The plant will also be a research and training center for other teams in Abengoa Bioenergy while the company evaluates and tests additional products, equipment and other processes being designed at present to improve organic biomass processes.
Javier Salgado, President and CEO of Abengoa Bioenergy, also announced the finalization of a $38-million collaboration agreement signed with the DOE for the design and development of the Hugoton, Kansas cellulosic ethanol plant. (Earlier post.)
The Hugoton plant will process 700 metric tons of biomass daily to produce 44 million liters (11.6 million gallons US) of ethanol per year as well as other forms of renewable energy such as electricity and vapor. The biomass plant will be situated next to a conventional cereal-to-ethanol plant of 88 million gallons (more than 300 million liters), which will allow both facilities the benefit of a combined capacity of 100 million gallons (more than 400 million liters). The investment of both will exceed $300 million.
Abengoa Bioenergy has a presence in three global bioethanol markets—the United States, Brazil and Europe—and will invest more than $500 million in the next five years in their production of biomass into bioethanol.
Abengoa Bioenergy currently has a total annual ethanol production capacity of more than one billion liters (264 million gallons US). Abengoa Bioenergy operates three bioethanol production plants in Spain at present, with an installed annual capacity of more than 500 million liters (132 million gallons).
October 15, 2007 in Cellulosic ethanol | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: sjc | October 15, 2007 at 08:55 AM
I wonder how much of a retrofit it will be to convert corn ethanol plants to cellulosic ethanol? The next step after that will be butanol.
Apparently the plants that are integrated with cattle feedlots and dairies are much more efficient, because each bovine's 4 stomachs do a lot of the break down of the cellulose, and you can recapture methane, and get meat and milk coproducts.
Posted by: HealthyBreeze | October 15, 2007 at 09:21 AM
700 tons of biomass daily results in 11 million litres of ethanol annually? That's a 23:1 ratio of biomass to fuel, by weight.
Why am I not impressed by that?
What do they do with the other 95.5% of the the biomass?
How much energy does it take to transport a quarter of a million metric tons of biomass each year?
I wonder if their number is net after transportation inputs?
Posted by: HealthyBreeze | October 15, 2007 at 09:32 AM
Is this carbon negative? The biomass is not rotting
Creating methane which is 20 times more than carbon
Posted by: kevin | October 15, 2007 at 03:42 PM
You would want to locate the plants closer to the biomass source, to minimize transportation. Smaller local plants could then transport their output where needed.
Posted by: sjc | October 15, 2007 at 04:07 PM
Cellulose is a small percentage of the mass of most plants. A large percentage is lignin which these enzyme based approaches can't convert. A F-T system can convert both cellulose and lignin in to a variety of fuels.
Posted by: tom deplume | October 16, 2007 at 11:59 AM
though from what I'm reading, lignin could be burned to provide process heat to the plant, or to co-generate electricity, much like burning bagasse in Brazilian ethanol plants. This would indicate cellulosic ethanol is capable of superior energy conservation vis a vis gasification since enzymes can target their energy into specific reactions at lower temperature and pressure, while pyrolysis, gasification and TDP involve heating and/or pressurizing the entire feedstock. The key to realizing this efficiency is not just the biotech, it's preparing the lignicellulosic materials with normal temperature and a minimum of process heat.
Posted by: Jim G. | October 19, 2007 at 06:30 PM
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Once they get cellulose ethanol commercialized, they can locate the plants right next to the ethanol plants that they have now. If Congress can move the goal closer to 10% nationwide over time, there will be a ready market.