Indonesia to pilot production of cellulosic ethanol from palm oil stems
Cadillac unveils Ciel concept open-air grand tourer; hybrid transmission w/ electric drive at low speed

Berkeley Lab opens advanced biofuels facility

The US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) officially opened its Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit (ABPDU). The ABPDU is a 15,000 square-foot facility designed to help expedite the commercialization of advanced next-generation cellulosic biofuels by providing industry-scale test beds for discoveries made in the laboratory.

Berkeley Lab received a $20-million grant from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to establish the facility.

Berkeley Lab’s ABPDU will feature pre-treatment of biomass capabilities and bioreactors for the production of microbial or fungal enzymes that can break down biomass into fermentable sugars. The facility will also have substantial capabilities for fermentation or further conversion of sugars into advanced biofuels, along with the capacity to purify these fuels.

Under the terms of the EERE award, Berkeley Lab is slotted to receive an additional $3 million a year to operate the ABPDU the capabilities of which will be available to a broad variety of institutions and organizations, both within and outside of DOE, that are involved in biofuels research and development.

In remarks at the opening, Jay Keasling, Berkeley Lab’s Associate Director for Biosciences, noted that the design capacity of the ABPDU is 45-to-90 kilograms/day for biomass pretreatment and 11-to-20 liters per day for biofuels production. These quantities are sufficient for engine testing.

Scaling the production of advanced biofuels from liter quantities to tens of liters can be a huge challenge. The ABPDU will help us meet that challenge.

—Jay Keasling

Major use of the ABPDU is expected to be made by researchers with DOE’s three Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs).

Berkeley Lab’s ABPDU is operated with funds from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy through its Office of the Biomass Program. The ABPDU also received $20 million in funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Comments

Reel$$

Confirmation that this Administration and forward looking greens accept the need for transitional biofuels as a bridge to electrification. The focus on scaling challenges is an appropriate direction. These products can and will be commercially viable if the true cost of fossil fuels is factored.

The comments to this entry are closed.