Simple Biorefinery: Creating an Improved Solid Fuel and Soluble Sugar Stream

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1 Simple Biorefinery: Creating an Improved Solid Fuel and Soluble Sugar Stream Pamella Wipperfurth, Troy Runge, Chunhui Zhang Department of Biological System Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology March 16, 2011

2 Graduate Student University of Wisconsin- Madison Masters in Biological System Engineering

3 Overview Bioenergy & Current Biofuel Production Background Our Simple Biorefinery Experiment Sugar /Solid results Simple Economic Analysis Future Directions/Conclusion

4 Energy Consumption World s Energy Consumption < 10% renewable Similar in US 7% renewable ½ biomass derived

5 Wisconsin Renewable Energy Wisconsin Renewable Energy by Type 2009 Production 10 9 BTU % of Total Hydro % Wind % Solar % Biogas % Ethanol % Biomass % Source: WI Office of Energy Independence

6 Wisconsin Woody Biomass

7 Wisconsin Agricultural Residues

8 Many Bioenergy Routes Being Investigated

9 Current Biofuel Production Biomass Size Reduction Dry Size Reduction Biomass Pretreatment Saccharification Pellet (Solid Fuel) Ethanol (Liquid Fuel) Fermentation

10 Our Simple Biorefinery Biomass Size Reduction Extraction Soluble Sugar Stream Pellet (Solid Fuel) Dry Solid Stream Biological or Chemical Treatment Liquid Fuel

11 Our Simple Biorefinery Biomass Size Reduction Extraction Soluble Sugar Stream Pellet (Solid Fuel) Dry Solid Stream Biological or Chemical Treatment Liquid Fuel

12 Biomass Sources Coppice/Woody Crop Hybrid Poplar (Populus maximowiczii x nigra) NM-6 clone Samples were manually debarked and chipped Samples were dried and screened (2mm to 8mm chips) Non-wood samples Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) Miscanthus (Miscanthus giganteus) Corn Stover (Zea Mays) Samples were air-dried and chopped to <1 inch samples

13 Extraction Experiments Five acid conditions Hot water acetic acid 0.5% Sulfuric Acid 1% Sulfuric Acid 2% Oxalic Acid 4% Oxalic Acid Varied Time Temperature Liquor/Biomass ratio Goal Maximize sugar extracted Carried out in rotating oil bath

14 Extracted Liquor Analysis Measured sugars and degradation products with Dionex IC / HPLC system Extracted Liquor Centrifuge and Filtered Autoclave for 1 hour in 3% Sulfuric Acid Measured Monosaccharides Measured Degradation Products Measured Polysaccharides Measured Degradation Products Total Sugar = Polysaccharides + any additional formed Degradation Products on Sugar

15 Sugar Analysis Degradation Products Measured Cellulose Hexose Glucose Glucose Galactose Mannose Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) Levulinic Acid (LA) Formic Acid Hemicellulose Pentose Xylose Arabionose Furfural Acetic Acid Sugars Measured

16 Example

17 Sugar Results Least Squares Means Plots

18 Sugar Results Least Squares Means Plots

19 Sugar Extraction Results

20 Extracted Solids Analysis Proximate Analysis Ultimate Analysis Heating Value Measured by Parr Oxygen Bomb Calorimeter

21 Solid Results Least Squares Means Plots

22 Solid Results Least Squares Means Plots

23 Extracted Solid Results

24 Simple Economic Analysis Biomass Cost Cost of biomass including 50 miles of transportation $60/ton Solid Fuel Assumptions If natural gas is worth ~$4.38/mmBtu solid fuel = $70/ton of biomass Processing cost $5/ton of biomass No changes in processing cost Liquid Fuel Assumptions If ethanol is worth ~$2.00/gallon 1/3 hexose & 2/3 pentose Our extracted sugar can provide ~115 gallon EtOH/ton of biomass EtOH is worth $330/ton of biomass Feedstock to be 50% of cost of manufacturing Can afford to pay up to $115/ton of biomass

25 Current Pellet Production Biomass $60/ton Size Reduction Dry Size Reduction Pellet (Solid Fuel) Gross Profit = $5.00/ton $70/ton

26 Our Simple Biorefinery Oxalic acid $3.50/ton Biomass $60/ton Size Reduction Extraction 25 wt% Soluble Sugar Stream 70 wt% Solid $55/ton Dry $28.75/ Stream ton Gross Profit = $18.75/ton

27 Conclusion Major effects of Sugar extraction Ratio Acid Major effects of HHV Biomass Acid Temperature Economic Analysis Pellet Production $5/ton gross profit Our Simple Biorefinery $18.75/ton gross profit

28 Future Direction Utilization of the hemicellulose can we really get the higher value Ability to utilize ag residuals lower cost Create a cleaner solid fuel from Cl, Hg, N, S reductions More detailed Energy/Economics model to improve processing cost Fractionation cost Drying

29 Acknowledgements Forest Products Lab Junyong Zhu University of Wisconsin Nick Wipperfurth Funding Kimberly-Clark Bruhn Graduate Research Support

30 Thank You! Questions?