By Jennifer Woodford
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 — Boldly going where no state has gone before, North Carolina is moving its biofuels industry from first generation to second generation technologies and a more affordable and available source of fuel for the nation.
First generation biofuels are dependent on sugars, starches, vegetable oil and animal fats as feedstock to produce biodiesel and ethanol.
Second generation technologies are based on biomass such as agricultural waste. This is important because second-generation feedstocks, the raw materials that biofuels are produced from, are expected, as manufacturing processes advance, to provide a renewable source for fuel, at more competitive prices and in a more environmentally friendly manner.
Biodiesel
And Ethanol
North Carolina already has a number of biodiesel producers in the state. Blue Ridge BioFuels in Asheville, Piedmont Biofuels in Pittsboro and Triangle Biofuels Industries in Wilson are examples of companies selling several million gallons of biodiesel a year from feedstock such as reclaimed vegetable oil and poultry fats, for use in cars and tractors.
Biodiesel can be substituted for petroleum biodiesel without modifications to the engine. B20, which is approved for use in cars, contains substantially less hydrocarbons, sulfates and other pollutants.
Two companies, Clean Burn Fuels, LLC in Dundarrach and East Coast Ethanol in Seaboard, are building ethanol plants in the state. Ethanol, made from fermenting the starch found in corn kernels, produces 51 percent less greenhouse gas than gasoline. It is the most commercially successful biofuel in the U.S. and is sold in blends with gasoline as E85 or E10.
“Right now, all of the work around biofuels, or the bulk of it, is done around known technologies,” said Norm Smit, communications director for the Biofuels Center of NC, located in Oxford.
The Biofuels Center is a source of grant funds, research support, public education and policy advocacy to develop the biofuels industry in the state.
“The challenge North Carolina faces is that although we have a vibrant agricultural sector and we can grow all kinds of things, we don’t have a feedstock, at this point, that we can grow that can help reach the goal of 10 percent, which is 600 million gallons a year, of the liquid fuel consumed in the state being from locally grown and produced biofuels. All of those types of technologies are second generation technologies,” Smit continued.
Second
Generation
Technology
Clean Burn Fuels is thinking ahead. They are building the capacity to transition into second generation cellulosic ethanol or ethanol made from biomass such as woodchips or agricultural waste like corn stover, the left-over leaves and stalks. It’s expected that cellulosic ethanol will take less energy and, one day, will be cheaper to produce. The use of sugar beets, sweet potatoes, switch grass, trees and marine and freshwater algae as feedstock is also being researched.
Holding up the move to second generation technologies is the process to quickly and efficiently breakdown biomass into fermentable sugars. Researchers at major universities like NC State and companies like Novozymes, North America are actively seeking biological or biochemical solutions through enzymes and genetics. Others are looking to thermochemical technologies.
David Bradin, a patent attorney working with Intellectual Property Technology Law in Chapel Hill, is also the president and CEO of Maverick Biofuels. He obtained his first patent in 1995 on a blend of biodiesel and a chemical GTBE or glycerol t-butyl ether produced from the crude glycerol waste stream from biodiesel production. Today, his focus is on using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to produce a mixed alcohol biofuel.
Maverick’s process initially converts any kind of biomass to an intermediate known as syngas, or synthesis gas, which is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This intermediate is then converted, using a proprietary combination of catalytic steps, to a mixed alcohol product that is a mixture of ethanol and higher molecular weight alcohols.
Other biofuel companies using thermochemical processes are converting syngas to ethanol, methanol/ethanol mixtures and even low-sulfur diesel fuel.
“Maverick’s process is feedstock agnostic because syngas can be produced from methane, coal and biomass,” Bradin said.
“You can make the same product regardless of what you start with, and provide an alcohol mixture with more energy than E85, that can run in a flex-fuel vehicle. There’s enough coal, natural gas and biomass to totally replace all the gasoline we consume, and you can get rid of a lot what we import. Because mixed alcohol fuels can be used in almost any proportion as a fuel for flexible fuel engines, these fuels can be easily incorporated into the existing infrastructure.”
The next generation of biofuels will do more than just lessen the U.S. dependence on imported oil. It will build on North Carolina’s natural resources to put the state in a leadership role in the biofuels industry and strengthen the state’s economy with new businesses and jobs.
This article is provided by the North Carolina Community College System’s BioNetwork, a statewide initiative that connects community colleges across North Carolina, providing specialized training, curricula and equipment, to develop a world-class workforce for the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and life science industries. The Charlotte Region BioBusiness Service Hub, funded through a BioNetwork innovation grant, is a consortium of eight Small Business Centers representing Catawba Valley, Cleveland, Central Piedmont, Gaston, Mitchell, Rowan-Cabarrus, South Piedmont, and Stanly community colleges. For more information visit: www.biobusinesshub.net. Jennifer Woodford is editor of the biotechnology and life sciences magazine Impact.
