Mar 24 2008
Commercially viable ethanol from cellulosic biomass has been an elusive and much sought after process solution for the alternative fuels industry. The Alternative Energy Technology Center (AETE) is in the completion phase of its design and build program of a 20-100 ton per day vertically integrated biorefining system that produces ethanol, gasoline, diesel and other lubricants as well as a number of intermediate compounds. The unit will be configured to demonstrate the ability to produce other product streams from AETE's advanced technology.
The plant will consist of:
A Cellulosic Biomass Reduction Unit which reduces and fractionates cellulosic biomass to nano and microscale particles generating higher material surface area for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of the cellulose and hemicellulose by enzymatic conversion and microbic fermentation. With the unique ability of the technology to be configured for selective fluid dynamic processing the unit can be modified to utilize oils from cellulosic resources as well as traditional oils and catalysts for conversion as an esterified biodiesel product that is contaminant free and has unique cold stable properties.
A multistage cascade configuration that provides for the ability to convert lignin derived from the fractionation of biomass to a high octane gasoline and set of gasoline additive compounds suitable for blending with traditional transportation fuels, ethanol or butanol as viable transportation fuel replacements.
Advanced configuration of the technology will allow for the low temperature conversion to “biocrude” (a pure biopolymer) from which a number of compounds can be processed. The biocrude polymers can be further processed through a systematic cascade system into high value intermediate chemical and polymer compounds for delivery to the chemical market.
The entire biorefining system, completely modular in its construct, is capable of utilizing several forms of cellulosic biomass including forestry (hard and soft woods) and agricultural waste in the form of dedicated feedstocks, corn stover, native prairie grasses such as switchgrass, wheat and rice straw.