Judith Bates (Ricardo-AEA) joined the New Energy Forum Event to provide an expert overview of advanced feedstocks and production technologies for both road transport and aviation biofuels. Overview of technologies –Production of biofuels from oils –Biochemical routes –Thermochemical routes •Lignocellulosic feedstocks •Microalgae

1. Ricardo-AEA
© Ricardo-AEA Ltd
www.ricardo-aea.com
Judith Bates
Presentation to New Energy Forum Event
Biofuels, where next?
London, 10th July, 2013
Biofuels – feedstocks and conversion technology
overview

2. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence2
•Overview of technologies
–Production of biofuels from oils
–Biochemical routes
–Thermochemical routes
•Lignocellulosic feedstocks
•Microalgae
Biofuels feedstocks and conversion technologies

3. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence3
Feedstock Conversion Fuel
Overview of conversion technologies
Transesterification FAME biodiesel
Hydrotreatment HVO biodiesel
Sugar extraction
Fermentation
distillation
Bioethanol,
biobutanol, ETBE
Sugar extraction Microbial
fermentation
Diesel (via
farnesene)
Sugar extraction with
advanced pre-treatment
Fermentation and
distillation
Bioethanol,
biobutanol, ETBE
Gasification
Fischer Tropsch
BtL diesel,
kerosene, SNG,
DME
Other catalytic
processes
Bioethanol
biobutanol
Pyrolysis Upgrading Liquid biofuels
Anaerobic digestion Upgrading
Biomethane
Vegetable oils
and animal fats
Sugar and starch crops
Lignocellulosic
biomass, including
residues and wastes
Wastes and residues

4. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence4
Production of biofuels from vegetable oils
http://www.biofuelstp.eu/fuelproduction.html © Copyright CPL Press

5. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence5
• Well established, mature technology
• Current production capacity: UK 0.6 Mt/yr, Europe 23.5 Mt/yr, US 7.1 Mt/yr
• Significant capacity in Indonesia/Malaysia and South America (Brazil,
Argentina)
FAME biodiesel – production capacity

6. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence6
• Chemical reaction of oils with hydrogen to produce diesel type
hydrocarbon – HVO or renewable diesel – drop in fuel
• Can be tailored to meet aviation fuel requirements
• First commercial plants now in operation
– Neste Oil have four commercial plants world wide (Finland, Nls
and Singapore); total output of 1.9 Mt/yr
– Dynamic Fuels one commercial plant in US (0.2 Mt/yr)
– AliphaJet planning pilot plant based on catalytic
decarboxylation of crude fats (230 t/yr)
Hydrotreatment of Oils

7. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence7
• Current feedstocks
• Vegetable oils from food crops – oil seed rape, soy, palm, sunflower
• Waste oil/used cooking oil
• Animal fats – tallow
• Future feedstocks under consideration – non-food crops suitable for less favourable
conditions, e.g. less productive land, lower rainfall
• Jatropha Camelina
•
• Sustainability issues for vegetable oils:
– lower GHG savings for many vegetable oils will not meet EU’s GHG saving
criteria in 2017
– ILUC factor may be higher for oil based crops
Feedstocks for FAME

8. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence8
UK Biodiesel – feedstocks and origins
3% 1%
26%
4%
25%
19%
16%
7%
Origin of UK biodiesel 2011/12
S. America
ROW
Other EU
Canada
Netherlands
United Kingdom
United States
Unknown
2010/2011
Used
cooking oil
87%
Oilseed rape
7% Soy
3%
Palm
1%
Tallow
1%
Unknown
1%
2011/12
Currently increased use of UCO
(mainly from Europe) due to
incentives – double counting
towards RED targets

9. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence9
Potential future locations of FAME biodiesel feedstocks
(2030)
•Potential location of ‘sustainable’
feedstocks i.e. those meeting EU
GHG saving requirements
(excludes UCO)
•Based on forecasts of ‘spare’
agricultural land
•Modelling forecast that supplies of
‘sustainable’ biodiesel might be
limited
Source: Based on modelling work carried out for DECC by Ricardo-AEA on global bioenergy supply

10. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence10
Biochemical routes for biofuels production
http://www.biofuelstp.eu/fuelproduction.html © Copyright CPL Press
Established
technology Advanced biofuels

11. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence11
• Fermentation to bioethanol - commercial technology
• Fermentation to biobutanol - subject of research
• Global production dominated by US (corn) and Brazil
(sugar cane)
Bioethanol – sugar and starch crops
-
5
10
15
20
25
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
BillionGallons
GlobalEthanol Productionby Country/Region and Year
Africa
Australia
Mexico& Central America
Other
South America(minus Brazil)
Asia(minus China)
Canada
China
Europe
Brazil
USA
www.afdc.energy.gov/data/
US
77%
UK
4%
Spain
6%
France
6%
Other
7%
Corn
87%
Wheat
5%
Sweet
sorghum
3%
Sugar
beet
2%
Other
3%
Origin of UK bioethanol 2011/12

12. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence12
Potential future locations of sugar and starch feedstocks for
bioethanol (2030)
•Potential location of
‘sustainable’ feedstocks i.e.
those meeting EU GHG saving
requirements
•Based on forecasts of ‘spare’
agricultural land
•Supply heavily dominated by
North and Latin America
Source: Based on modelling work carried out for DECC by Ricardo-AEA on global bioenergy supply

13. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence13
Bioethanol production – lignocellulosic materials
Requires additional steps
Milling/chopping
Challenge is to
overcome inhibition of
fermentation and low
conversion rates for
C5 sugars.
Can be combined
with hydrolysis step
Chemical Acids
Physical Steam explosion
Ammonia fibre explosion
Biological Fungi and bacteria
Breakdown shell of material
and increase reactivity
Cellulose Enzymatic hydrolysis
Hemi-
cellulose
Diluted acids or bases
Enzymatic hydrolysis
Can happen as part of
pretreatment
Split polymers in cellulose
into sugar monomers

14. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence14
• Over 50 demonstration and pilot plant operational in Europe, US, Japan, and Brazil
• Commercial plant listed below – several more planned for 2013 and 2014/ 2015
• Biorefinery concept being explored – e.g. uses for lignin
Status of biochemical lignocellulosic routes
Company Location Feedstock Output Start-up
Abengoa Bioenergy
Biomass of Kansas
US Corn stover, straw,
switch grass
75,000 2013 (under
construction)
Beta Renewables Italy Straw, giant reed
grass
60,000 2012
Ineos Bio US Vegetative waste,
waste wood, garden
waste
24,000 2013 (under
construction)
POET-DSM US Agricultural residues 75,000 2013 (under
construction)

15. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence15
Thermochemical routes for biofuels production
http://www.biofuelstp.eu/fuelproduction.html © Copyright CPL Press
Two key routes – gasification and pyrolysis
Pyrolysis = thermal decomposition at high temperature in absence of
oxygen
Syngas from gasification process is mainly CO and H2. It can be
methanated to produce synthetic natural gas.
Catalysts (iron and cobalt in FT process) are used to
produce alkanes
Product conditioning: distillation, hydration, isomerization,
reforming and cracking
Bio-oil – can be of poor quality particularly if from feedstocks with high
ash content. Requires upgrading for use in diesel engines in road
transport
Potential products include diesel and gasoline type liquids and DME
(Dimethyl Ether) a gas with similar properties to propane

16. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence16
• Several pilot and some demonstration plant operational in Europe, North America and
Australia
• No commercial plant currently operational
• Enerkem have commercial (30,000 t/yr) plant under construction in Canada producing
ethanol, methanol and various chemicals from sorted MSW, and plans for two further
plant.
• Solena planning plant operating on waste to produce aviation fuel in UK for 2014/15
• CHOREN industries who were planning 200,000 FT plant in Germany operating on
wood chips are now insolvent; plans for plant utilising forest residues to produce FT
liquids in Finland have also been stopped
• Gasification plants typically need to be large scale to achieve the economies of scale
needed to produce biofuels cost-effectively, and could require large quantities of
feedstock to be transported.
• Pyrolysis technologies could be developed at smaller scale with bio-oil then transported
to central facility for upgrading
Status of thermo-chemical conversion routes

17. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence17
• Wide variety of wastes, agricultural residues and woody biomass potentially suitable
– Wastes: Organic component of municipal solid waste, food waste, wood waste
– Agricultural residues: Corn stover, cereal straw, bagasse
– Energy crops: perennial grasses such as switchgrass, giant reed grass
short rotation coppice e.g. poplar, willow
– Short rotation forestry
• Biochemical routes mainly using agricultural residues and organic waste
• Potential competitions for woody biomass with heat and power sector
• Waste feedstocks have large cost advantage, and use of wastes (and residues) also
avoids the food vs fuel debate
• Some R&D on tailoring energy crops to improve properties for conversion to biofuels
Lignocellulosic feedstocks

18. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence18
Comparative costs of biofuels (2020)
Petrol type fuelsDiesel type fuels
Source: Based on work carried out by Ricardo-AEA for DfT

19. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence19
Potential location of future resources (2030)
Source: Based on modelling work carried out for DECC by Ricardo-AEA on global bioenergy supply
Forestry resource Energy crops

20. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence20
• Currently much interest but long term prospect
• Several cultivation/conversion routes:
– Open pond on land
– Floating bags in inland seas and bays
– Biofilms
– Photobioreactors: closed vessel; higher productivity, higher costs
– Heterotrophic (“dark fermentation”), requires sugar or cellulose substrate
• Main R&D emphasis is on feedstock development
• Can use waste water as a cultivation medium
• Extract oils for conversion to FAME/HVO
Microalgae

21. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence21
Assessment of algae potential
Source: Algal Bioenergy Special Interest Group Report, Feb 2012

22. © Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence22
• Source: Algal Bioenergy
Special Interest Group
Report, Feb 2012
Timescales for
commercialisation
of algal products

23. © Ricardo-AEA Ltd
www.ricardo-aea.com
T:
E:
W:
Ricardo-AEA Ltd
The Gemini Building
Fermi Avenue
Harwell, Didcot,
OX11 0QR
Judith Bates
01235 753524
Judith.bates@ricardo-aea.com
www.ricardo-aea.com