Posts Tagged ‘Bioethanol’

DC Auto Show, the annual local auto show held in Washington, would be offering a platform for commercialization of cellulosic biofuels. Novozymes, the leader of global enzyme market together with America’s Mr. Ethanol- POET LLC, are showcasing their success in bringing cellulosic ethanol to the market.

The success of Novozymes in the commercialization of Corn cob based fuel mainly lies in the improved efficiency of the enzymes used in the fuel production process and the reduced costs of the enzyme production process. In two years, novozymes have reduced their enzyme cost by 80 percent, while at the same time increased the performance 1.8 times. Together with POET, novozymes have been successfully able to develop a renewable fuel that is better for the environment and cost competitive to gasoline. Despite the major technological advancements, Novozymes stresses that there are still barriers to commercialization that include financing, market access and consumer choice for fuel.

The breakthroughs in enzyme technology by Novozymes and advancements in corn stover and cob collection processes by POET  is making this alternative fuel, closer to reality than people realize. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), corn stover is the most economical agricultural feedstock that is used to produce ethanol. EPA considers that corn stover and corn cob based ethanol could be the main stay supply to meet the 36 billion gallon renewable fuel demand by 2022 and with promising partnerships such as these, one could expect a successful commercialization of this technology.

Tom Holm, the founder of Eco Trek foundation, in an attempt to create awareness about the usage of alternative fuel, recently made a trip across the U.S in his big Ford Super Duty Truck, powered by the E85 Cellulosic Ethanol- a fuel with 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol made out of corn cobs alone and absolutely no corns. Though his effort was to create an awareness, one could say that his awareness trip would easily make people feel that this would not be a sought after alternative fuel.

Holm stocked up 200 gallons of this E85 cellulosic ethanol in his truck at San Francisco to fuel his trip till South Dakota, where he further stocked up some more corn cob ethanol before heading across to his destination. Holm obtained more fuel for his trip from POET, America’s Mr.Ethanol, who has been producing cellulosic ethanol from corn cob, at a pilot plant in South Dakota that began operations in November 2008 and has a capacity of 20,000 gallons a year.

Holm could just manage 13 miles per gallon and that is why he has to opt for so much of fuel to go on with his trip. This mere 13 miles per gallon is not going to impress the world that is obsessed with mileage and fuel economy. The E85 has less than 70% of the energy of gasoline, and about 62% of diesel’s energy content. These numbers are very much un-impressive. But a deeper analysis would reveal a different inference.

The 13 miles per gallons, considering the size of his extra large truck (as evident from the picture) and the 2,000 pounds of fuel he was carrying along is a fairly respectable number. Also what is noteworthy here is not those numbers but the source of this alternative fuel. With major controversies and concerns over the large amount of land required for crops and its impact on grain supply, corn based ethanol has become a debatable alternative at the U.S where most of ethanol is produced from corn. But with a possibility that companies can cheaply make ethanol from what normally would go to waste, it’s much harder to argue against corn cob based ethanol. The trip by Holms should rather promote awareness about the benefits of producing fuel from a non-food source and not awareness about fuel economy.