Low capital intensive biomass processing leads to increased employment Tailor made Fuels, Int Conference Aachen, 23/6/2016 Johan Sanders, Em professor Biobased Commodity Chemicals, Innovation Manager Food and Biobased Research, Wageningen UR
Biomass use today and in 2050 world wide Mton Food incl. feed* 4 5000 Wood, paper, cotton 2000 Wood for cooking 4000 30% of 1000EJ in 2050= 20 000 * Excluding grass and seafood
Design rules for a sustainable Bio-economy People, Planet, Profit Improve efficiency of use of raw materials and energy Increase field yield but keep components on the field that are required for soil fertility Use all biomass components and choose the right raw material Use each component at its highest value: (molecular) structure is much better than caloric Reduce capital cost to speed up innovation and to benefit from small scale without the disadvantages
Our daily food needs a twenty fold higher energy input Biomass NL 635 PJ EU 20.000 PJ Fossil NL 575 PJ EU 20.000 PJ Net Import 160 Food Industry 150 Household 165 Dutch Agriculture 475 100 Transportion Food EU 1.800 PJ 2500 kcal/day = 55 PJ Greenhouses/Food 100 Other Agriculture 60 Total energy NL fossil 3.300 PJ EU fossil 85.000 PJ
From: PBL, the Protein Puzzle, 2011
F - ladder How to get the best value from biomass? Farma Fun /ton High High Food ingredients 5-20000 Food nutritional 100-500 Feed/ Food nutritional protein 600-1000 Feed pigs 100-300 Feed cattle 50-250 Functional chemical 500-800 Fibre 500 Fermentation 150-400 Fermentation bulk 100-300 Fuel 100-300 Fertilizer -/- 200-100 Fire 50-150 Flare 0 Fill -/- 300
Production costs /GJ end product How biomass can best compete with fossil feedstocks 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Cost of fossil products Raw material costs Capital Oil/gas Coal Value of biomass is 10 times higher as chemical building block than to use it for biogas or bio-electricity
Capital cost ( /ton) ( /ton) Capital costs per ton of bulkchemical product vs heat dissipation 1600 1200 800 400 Capital Raw material 0 0 20 40 60 80 100-400 -800-1200 Energy input product caloric value Energieverlies (GJ/ton) (GJ/ton)
heat-exchange leads to high capital cost In the (petrochemical) industry this leads to Economies of scale as the major competitive factor Reducing capital cost for heat exchange will however offer : 1. more economic room for raw material costs and cost of labour 2. More opportunities to operate on smaller scales even for (bulk) chemical products! Safe chemical production at lower cost Less dependent on infrastructure of large chemical sites
Increase of labour using biomass in chemical industry If half of the Dutch chemical industry (15 billion added value (6G raw material cost + 9G capital cost) would run on biomass, this will require about 20 000 jobs in agriculture and 20 000 jobs in biorefinery; Cf half of Dutch chemical industry runs on fossile resources that require about 2000 fte. 40 000fte is equivalent to about 2 billion and can be commercially feasible at lower capital requirements
Major thermoplastic polymer materials Consumption of thermoplastics in Western Europe Total about 75.000.000 tonnes in 2013 PE PP PVC PS/ EPS PET others
Chemical production in the Port of Rotterdam crude oil 8 /GJ (60$/bbl); LC= 9 /GJ; veg oil = 20 /GJ; Sugar= 20 /GJ High energy density Low energy density heat exchange means capital costs! mass loss and/or energy loss <--O energy loss and heat exchange -4-3 -2-1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 methane ethene MEG sugar citric acid CO2 ethanol BDO succinate ethane butanol Terephthalic acid xylene
Costs breakdown of Bulkchemicals ( /ton) at 60$/bbl Raw materials Capital Operational Recovery non-functionalised 300 300-500 50 50-100 functionalised 975 400-650 50 50-100 Total 825 1525 Derived from J.P. Lange (Shell)
epichlorhydrin 40 chemicals analysed
Epichlorohydrin from glycerol leads to little heat exchange and valuable product H 2 C CHCH 3 + Cl 2 C H 2 C CHCH 2 Cl O Ca(OH)2 H 2 H 2 C CHCH 2 Cl Cl OH CHCH 2 Cl HOCl + + HCl H 2 C CHCH 2 Cl OH Cl Price: 1300-1500 per tonne Volume: 0.5 mln tonnes per annum Solvay Epicerol process: glycerol to epichlorohydrin At glycerol prices of 350 / ton the margins are 40-50%
Use of plant molecular structures leads to little heat exchange and valuable product N-Vinylpyrrolidone Acrylonitrile COOH H 2 N COOH Glutamic acid N-Methylpyrrolidone Diaminobutane
The route to NEP, new vs conventional NMP New route Biomass hydrolysis, separation COOH NH 2 COOH Glutamic acid step 1 step 2 - CO 2 enzyme, 30 o C NH 2 COOH ethanol + CH 3 OH cat, 250 o C CH3 CH 3 N NEP 2 O Conventional route Gas CH 3 OH O CH 2 + cat, 90-150 o C HO OH + H 2 cat, 80 o C HO OH - H 2 cat, 180-240 o C O O cat + CH 3 OH N 2 + 3 H 2 NH 3 300-550 o C 150-250 bar cat 400 o C CH 3 NH 2 200-350 o C 100 bar Amino acids contain N and O. Less steps (= factories) & energy for the same product! CH 3 N O
Biobased NMP, makes an ethanol plant profitable 500 Million liters bioethanol (~ 400 kton) =200M 360 kton DDGS (~130 / ton) =46M H 2 N COOH O OH 36 kton glutamic acid 23 kton NMP (~2500 / ton) =58 M /y
Capital Cost ( /ton prod.) Low scale dependency when capital costs are relatively low 2500 Use of Amino Acids 2000 1500 1000 Lower scale dependence 500 200 0 900 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Feedstock Cost ( /ton prod.) http://www.biobasedeconomy.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/can-production-of-bulk-chemicals-on-a-small-scale-be-competative-formated-20131126final.pdf
Mton/year 300 250 Amount of biomass needed under different strategies for EU chemical industry Using molecular functionalities will lead to increased efficiency of biomass used Base chemicals Functionalized chemicals Functionalized chemicals With feedstock diversification Unspecified, additional energy 200 150 100 Protein, additional energy Natural oil (glycerol), additional energy Lignin, additional energy Complex carbohydrates, additional energy Simple carbohydrates, additional energy Unspecified Protein Natural oil (glycerol) 50 Lignin Complex carbohydrates Simple carbohydrates 0 Potential amount of products from biomass Biomass needed with simple carbohydrates Biomass needed with complex carbohydrates Potential amount of products from biomass Biomass needed with simple carbohydrates Biomass needed with complex carbohydrates Potential amount of products from biomass Biomass needed with simple carbohydrates Biomass needed with complex carbohydrates Carbohydrates Base chemicals strategy Functionalised chemicals stategy Functionalised chemicals strategy with feedstock diversification Bos & Sanders, BioFPR, 2013
Second generation ethanol costs a lot of capital and energy and will not give much value! False hope? Wheat straw pretreated and Enzymatic treatment
Heat exchange leads to large scale combined with low value... POET 2 nd generation ethanol in USA: 250M investment Turnover: 80 000m3 ethanol * 600= 48M minus Capital cost at 10%= 25M = 23 M ; 285 ktonnes cornresidues at 50-60 / ton dw in the Mid West= 15.7 M ; at 100 /ton in Europe this is 28.5M In USA 7.3 M is available for labour, maintenance, insurance,.. & margin In Europe negative business case!
Biorefining of agricultural residues.. Protein content 0 5 % 15 % 35 % 50 % Examples Wheatsstra w cocoahulls Corncobs Sugarcane leaf Coffee pulp Rape straw Beet leaf Rape meal Soy meal Cost ( /ton) 50-80 50-110 100-140 150-180 300-350
/GJ /ton Biorefinery enables power generation at 45 /ton and high quality 2 nd generation fermentation raw materials for 200 / ton at small scale 50 40 30 20 10 3 0 Wood chips Straw (field) Straw (collected) Straw (washed) Rape meal Multiproduct biorefinery 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Protein Animal feed Amino acids Ferment. substrates Lignocellulose Fibres Phosphorus Rest
Sensitivity analysis
3D-foamed polylactic structures (Wageningen UR) Expandable bead technique Good cell structure Density <30 g/l Sheet: Karin Molenveld
Traditional fermentation engineering challenges Maximizing gas transfer Especially with gasses going in and out Oxygen transfer Maximizing cooling capacity Preventing substrate and product inhibition Fed batch In situ product recovery Minimizing costs for product recovery 25
Anaerobic fermentation of bulkchemicals Yield: 0.95 g/g or J/J Productivity: up to 5 times higher lower capital requirements 4 projects running
What type of fermentation? Ethanol: 0.95 J/J Anaerobic: Lactate: 0.95 g/g Aceton+ butanol+h2: 0.95J/J Aerobic: L-glutamic acid: 0.62 g/g Itaconic acid: 0.47 g/g 29
Aerobic Sugar processes 1250 / tonne LC processes 1350 /ton Invest employment ( /ton (fte) invest (G ) fte/ TurnOver (G /y) 1 M 4 M 1 M 4 M ton/ M 4M 1M ton/y ton/y ton/y y inv ton/y ton/y aerobic lignocellulose 7000 16000 4000 28 7 0.5 1.3 sucrose 4900 32250 8062 19.6 4.9 1.6 1.3 anaerobi c lignocellulose 2600 7500 1875 10.4 2.6 0.7 2.2 sucrose 1000 17500 4375 4 1 4.3 2.2 Assumptions: Labour cost = 10% of capital cost; 20% of imported ligno cellulose cost 50% of domestic sugar cost http://www.biobasedeconomy.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/can-production-of-bulk-chemicals-on-a-small-scale-be-competative-formated-20131126final.pdf
Anaerobic sugar processes 500 / tonne LC based processes 550 / tonne Invest ( /ton) employment (fte) 4 M ton/y 1 M ton/y invest (G ) 4 M ton/y 1 M ton/ y fte/ M inv TurnOver (G /y) 4M ton/y 1M ton/y aerobi c lignocellulose 7000 16000 4000 28 7 0.5 1.3 sucros e 4900 32250 8062.5 19.6 4.9 1.6 1.3 anae robic lignocellulose 2600 7500 1875 10.4 2.6 0.7 2.2 sucros e 1000 17500 4375 4 1 4.3 2.2 Assumptions: Labour cost = 10% of capital cost; 20% of imported ligno cellulose cost 50% of domestic sugar cost http://www.biobasedeconomy.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/can-production-of-bulk-chemicals-on-a-small-scale-be-competative-formated-20131126final.pdf
Small scale biorefinery reduces transport cost and seasonality Fields Farm Processing Present 100% 100% Return flow 10% concentration fermentation Concept 100% Small scale processing 30% Return flow 70%
small scale beet sugar production(2-500ha) can beet large scale factories! Much lower energy inputs Lower transport Equal costs Less energy Less transport Minerals recycled to field Kolfschoten et al
protein/oil/ethanol/biogas from small scale corn-biorefinery Stem Maize Biogas fermentation Biogas biogas CHP heat Electricity minerals Grain Pretreatment & Ethanol fermentation Filtration Distillation 60% ethanol Less investment costs/liter ethanol than American ethanol production that operate at 200 x larger scale Protein Feed/food Corn oil
Byosis/Zeafuels (Lelystad, Netherlands)
Mobile grass refinery unit Grassa (the Netherlands) Grass protein (products) white grass protein Protein compound feed Green grass protein Grass juice concentrate Grass juice Fibers compound feed Ethanol +... Cattle feed Construction material + paper Polymer extrusion products
Grassa in Uganda (1)
(2) Grassa in Uganda(2)
Just protein is not sufficient to cover the costs bioraffinery 3 products 8 products income costs income costs Grass costs 60 60 Process costs 120 440 protein 120 120 fibers 30 30 Juice components 55 minerals 75 Organ. acids 60 Amino acids 75 sugars 12 sugarpolymeren 225 fat 60 totaal 205 180 657 500
Coupling two chains can increase value, employment and reduce our manure problem Energy Raw materials From abroad Raw materials From abroad Fibres Protein Biorefinery Maize Now Manure Manure Grass Manure Field z Field Reduction of soy import from Brazil reduces ILUC and manure problem and creates regional income
Conclusions Biorefinery for feed, materials and chemicals will create good income for agriculture and enables even to compete with coal, natural gas and Brazilian biomass! Avoiding heat exchange and small scale processing reduces capital as well as costs for energy and transportation and will lead to higher employment Earthscan, ISBN 978-1-84407-770-0