Sangwon Suh. Sangwon Suh Dept. Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering University of Minnesota. Seminar held at UMN on April 10, 2008

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1 Sangwon Suh Dept. Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering University of Minnesota Seminar held at UMN on April 10, 2008 Welcome! Invited speakers: John Wells, Environmental Quality Board John Nieber, University of Minnesota Lanya Ross, Metropolitan Council Organizers: Yiwen Chiu Laura Schmitt Olabisi Sangwon Suh Sponsors: Industrial Ecology Laboratory Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE)

2 What led us to organize this seminar? Two testimonials to Legislative Citizens Commission for Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). Substantial media coverage on the issue, but often with conflicting information. Two new projects: (1) from LCCMR, (2) USDA/DOE. Meeting with John Wells various activities around the issue across MN. Key questions How the issue is perceived by the expert groups? What can we do as a group of experts to better inform the general public and policy makers on water implications of biofuel development? What are the knowledge/data gaps to better understand the issue? Is there a common methodological/modeling ground for analysis?

3 Seminar objectives Information/perspective sharing Ongoing activities by various institutions around MN. Available data and resources. Modeling frameworks. Water implications of biofuel development in general. Key knowledge/data gaps. Discuss possible consensus building Common methodological/modeling ground. The current state and the future prospects of water implications of ethanol development. Ethanol mandates Senate objectives on advanced biofuel production (billions of gallons) Senate objectives on conventional biofuel production (billions of gallons) Biofuel production statistics (billions of gallons) 6

4 3,140,000 Water need for ethanol X ca 800 Million 7 7 Where the water is used? Source: Delta-T corp. 8

5 Water use / ethanol production (gallon/gallon) MN ethanol plants water use rate Source: DNR (2006) and own data collected Where the water come from?

6 Ethanol Capacity Reported Annual Water Usage (MGY) Facility County MGY 1 wells (owned)well (public) surface (owned)surface (public) others AlbertLea(Exol/Agri resources) Freeborn Atwater(BushmillsEthanol) Kandiyohi Benson(CVEC) Swift BinghamLake(Ethanol2000) Cottonwood BuffaloLake(MN energy) Renville Claremont(Al-Corn) Dodge GraniteFallsEnergy Yellow Medicine HeronLakeBioenergy Jackson LakeCrystal Blue Earth LittleFalls(CMEC) Morrison Luverne(Corn-erStone) Rock Marshall(ADM)* Lyon Melrose(DairyProteins) Stearns 3 12 Morris(DENCO) Stevens Preston(Pro-Corn) Fillmore Winnebago(Corn Plus) Faribault Winthrop(Heartland) Sibley Comparing with state total Billion Gallons per year (in year 2007)

7 Water-intensive industry? Estimations based on water use, water price, and ethanol production data (own data collected; Smith et al., 2008; Dept. public health, 2008; DNR, 2007) My overall observation Water use by biofuel conversion processes does not seem to be a major threat for MN water resource at the state-level. At a local level, however, water use by biofuel plant can be a problem depending on the ground water availability and public water supply capacity of the area. Broad range of cost-effective water conservation measures should be discussed in all areas of water use (not only in biofuel conversion processes). Standardized data, model and analytical method to determine location-specific water availability will be helpful to site biofuel plants considering water availability.

8 Questions and comments? Seminar Program 10:20 Building a framework for sustainable water management in Minnesota John Wells, Environmental Quality Board 10:40 Estimation of ground water recharge for Minnesota over multiple spatial scales 11:00 Water use implications of biofuel development in Minnesota: Metropolitan Council supply availability analyses 11:20 The future of energy and Minnesota s water resources John Nieber, University of Minnesota Lanya Ross, Metropolitan Council water Laura Schmitt Olabisi & Yiwen Chiu, University of Minnesota 11:40 Break 12:00 Expert panel discussion Invited participants David Mulla, facilitator