The Next Generation of Biofuels

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1 The Next Generation of Biofuels Ocean the final frontier What are biofuels? Why Biofuels! The Industry Pros and Cons

2 By definition, a biofuel is a solid, liquid or gaseous fuel produced from non fossil plant or animal material, also known as "biomass". Biomass Oilseeds Waste oils Fermentable Biowaste Sugar based Biomass Starch based Biomass Lignocellulosic Biomass Extraction Purification Esterification Digestion Fermentation Hydrolysis Gasification Biodiesel Biogas Ethanol, Butanol... Biomethane Hydrogen Biomethanol DME F1 Diesel Biofuels

3 The carbon cycle is a mechanism that maintains a lifesustaining and delicate natural balance between storing, releasing, and recycling carbon. Atmospheric CO 2 concentrations have increased by 25% since preindustrial times, and more than half of this increase has occurred during the past three decades. Producing and using biofuels as a transportation fuel can help reduce CO 2 build up in two important ways: by displacing the use of fossil fuels, and by recycling the CO 2 that is released when it is combusted as fuel. By using biofuels instead of fossil fuels, the emissions resulting from fossil fuel use are avoided, and the CO 2 content of fossil fuels is allowed to remain in storage. Further CO 2 reductions occur because the plants and trees that serve as feedstocks for bioethanol require CO 2 to grow, and they absorb what they need from the atmosphere.

4 Biofuel Vision

5 The road to a low carbon future The EU package The transport sector accounts for more than 30 % of final energy consumption in the EU and is expanding, along with carbon dioxide emissions. The EU objective is to fulfil the package for the year 2020, in other words to substitute 20% of the total energy consumed in the EU for energy from renewable resources, reduce CO 2 emissions by 20% in comparison with 1990 figures, increase biofuels used in transport by 10%, and achieve energy savings of 20%. These targets are very ambitious: today only 8.5% of energy is renewable.

6 The Industry Compared to the U.S.A. and Brazil, but also to the European biodiesel sector, the EU fuel alcohol sector is rather small. The USA nowadays produces every month more than the EU produce in a year. Moreover, the EU biofuel market is still predominantly a biodiesel market (80%) US production target for 2022: 136,000 million liters Of this 58% to come from advanced biofuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50%

7 The Industry The top 4 EU producers of ethanol are France, Germany, Spain and Poland, followed by Sweden and the UK. The top 6 consumers are France, Germany, Sweden, the UK, Poland and the Netherlands. The year 2007 was a record year in terms of imports due to high feedstock prices and competition from cheaper fuel. EU bioethanol is generally produced using a combination of sugar beets and wheat. The EU production capacity is steadily increasing. At present, the installed capacity amounts to about 9 billion litres, with more production capacity under construction.

8 Biofuel Development Advanced Biofuels

9 In the EU the preferred raw material is grain and, more in particular, wheat and maize. The second most important ethanol feedstock after grain is sugar beet juice and a smaller share is produced from raw alcohol. In 2008 we also saw an increasing volume of fuel ethanol being produced from other feedstock such as wood pulp, whey and food waste. Almost 69% of Europe s cereals go to the animal feed sector whereas approximately only 2% of all cereals is destined for the bioethanol. In the US approximately 1/3 of the grain harvest is used for ethanol production.

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11 Growing demand for crops, currently 1/3 of crops in US used for Biofuel production By 2015 it will be 50%

12 Obligation to reduce CO 2 Emissions 10% of total transportation fuel from Biofuels by 2020!

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15 Hydrolysis this can be done by enzymes or acid. The hydrolysis process of lignocellulosic biomass is more difficult than the hydrolysis of starch. Lignocellulosic biomass contains carbohydrate polymers called cellulose (40 60% of dry weight) and hemicellulose (20 40% of dry weight) that can be converted to sugars. The remaining fraction, a complex aromatic polymer called lignin (10 25% of dry weight) cannot be fermented because it is resistant to biological degradation. This material can be utilised for the production of electricity and/or heat. Fermentation During fermentation, ethanol is produced, which is diluted with water. This process also results in the formation of CO 2. Through a series of distillation and dehydration steps, the ethanol concentration can be increased. The short carbohydrates resulting from these processing steps can be fermented by micro organisms. For growing of the yeast needed for the fermentation process, the solution must be slightly acid, namely a ph between 4.8 and 5.0.

16 Develop economic processes to cultivate and harvest marine biomass Look at the ecological aspects of mass culturing or harvest of wild species Development of processes to explore the potential of marine biomass for biofuel production 1) Isolation of hydrolytic and ethanologenic microorganisms 2) Identify suitable feedstocks 3) Process optimization