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W.D.S.S. Pemasinghe
BS/2004/233
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 Why we need alternative fuels?
 What are the main candidates for biofuels?
 What is bioethanol?
 What are the production schemes for bioethanol?
 How does bioethanol become a good solution?
economic issues
environmental issues
 Problems and suggested solutions

 

 °ontinuous depletion of limited fossil fuel

stock (Global issue).

 Ensure protection and betterment of the

environment (Global issue).

 National security- to be dependent on foreign

nations for energy (USA and the European
Union)


   




 Bioethanol

 Biodiesel
 



 Ethanol derived from agricultural sources, as

distinct from petrochemical sources, is
referred to as bioethanol.

Esvc000085.wic012u.server-web.com/pubs/biofuels.doc
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 Bioethanol is mainly produced in three ways.

sugar ethanol

starch sugar ethanol

cellulose and hemicellulose ethanol

!
 







 Dhis is usually done using molasses.

 Molasses is a thick dark syrup produced by boiling down juice from

sugarcane; specially during sugar refining.

 As molasses is a by product, ethanol production from molasses is

not done in a large scale around the world.

Dhe main reaction involved is fermentation

yeast
° H12O 2 °2H5OH + 2 °O2
sugar (e.g.:-glucose) ethanol carbon dioxide
 @


Dhe process of separating the corn kernel into starch, protein, germ and
fiber in an aqueous medium prior to fermentation
Dhe primary products
 starch and starch-derived products (e.g. high fructose corn syrup and
ethanol)
 corn oil, corn gluten, and corn gluten .

 !


Dhe entire corn kernel is first ground into flour and the starch in the flour is
converted to ethanol via fermentation.
Other than ethanol
 carbon dioxide - carbonated beverage industry
 distillers dried grain with solubles (DDGS) - animal feed

 [ 


Steep the corn in water, start germination, stop germination at a particular

by drying to stop further growth.
 °











Eg:-1) wheat

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Demperature - 32Û° and 35Û°
pH - 5.2.
 Ethanol is produced at 10-15% concentration and the solution is distilled to produce ethanol at
higher concentrations
Eg:- 2) sugar cane

 Simplest of all the processes

‡ Fermentation conditions are similar to the above process

 Eg:- 3) °orn
Dhe main producer - United States

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/environment/research.htm
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 Ethanol production using sugarcane, sugarbeet,
corn are well established.
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 Õ
 

 

 







 
 
Õ -World Bank policy research working
paper July 2008
 Food vs. Fuel crisis

Using crops that can be used for food, to produce bio-fuels

Government support of biofuels with tax breaks, mandated use, and

subsidies.

land that was also formerly used to grow crops for food is now used to grow crops
for biofuels

placing energy markets in competition with food markets

unintended consequence of diverting resources from food production and

leading to surging food prices and the potential destruction of natural habitats.
°




 ðmprovement of the cellulosic ethanol

production process.

Since it is produced from non-edible parts of

plants, cellulosic ethanol does not compete with
the production of food, resulting in no contribution
for the price surge of food.
°
 


www.agwest.sk.ca/publications/documents/BPfeb05.pdf
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 4 steps
1. Pretreatment
2. Hydrolysis
3. Fermentation
4. Distillation of the product mixture to
separate ethanol
- 

 

Dhe solubilization and separation of one or more of the four major
components of biomass ± hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, and
extractives ± to make the remaining solid biomass more accessible to
further chemical or biological treatment.





Dhe breaking down of the glycosidic bonds in cellulose and
hemicellulose
acid hydrolysis

  


   

     
 

 








enzymatic hydrolysis
 !
 





X Done using dilute acid (1% sulfuric acid)

X Dwo reaction chambers.
X °hamber1- hydrolysis of hemicellulose (mild conditions)
X °hamber2- hydrolysis of cellulose (harsh conditions)
X High temperatures and pressures
Disadvantages
°osts are high
Yields are quite low

Dherefore concentrated acid hydrolysis is used

 ° 


 





X Done using concentrated acid (70% sulfuric acid)

X Done in one reaction chamber

X Provides a complete and rapid conversion of cellulose and

hemicellulose to ° and °5 sugars

Advantages
Optimize sugar recovery
°ost effectively recover the acid for recycling
Ñ 

 
 


http://www.turon.com/papers/ethanol.htm
 Enzyme hydrolysis

X Bacteria and fungi are used as sources of

cellulases, hemicellulases that could be used
for the hydrolysis of pretreated lignocelulosics.

X Dhere are two technological developments.

X Enzymatic conversion
X Direct microbial conversion (DM°)
Direct microbial conversion (DM°)

X A single microorganism does both hydrolysis and

fermentation.

Advantage
°ellulose enzyme production or purchase is a significant
cost in enzymatic hydrolysis under development. With
DM°, a dedicated step for production of cellulase enzyme
is not necessary.

Disadvantage
°urrently available microbes cannot do both processes
at the required efficiencies
Enzymatic conversion

X Dhe enzymes are extracted from microorganisms and

are modified genetically to increase efficiencies.

X For enzymes to work efficiently, they must obtain

access to the molecules to be hydrolyzed.

X Dhis further asserts the necessity of pretreatment

process to remove crystalline structure of cellulose to
expose the molecules to the microorganisms.
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X °ellulase enzymes and fermenting microbes are added

to one vessel - hydrolysis and fermentation happen in
one reaction vessel.

Advantage
 
 


Disadvantage
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X Hydrolysis and fermentation are done in separate

reaction chambers.

Advantage
Enables optimization of conditions for the enzymes.

Disadvantage
Operational and maintenance costs are high.
= ]  


Fermentation of both °5 and ° sugars

Problem
Dhe ability to ferment pentoses along with hexoses is not
widespread among microorganisms.

Solution
Develop genetically modified microorganisms using recombinant
DNA technology which can ferment both forms of sugars.
ü


- Dhe National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

 !



Dhis is done to separate ethanol from other products.
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X °reating new high-paying jobs
X ðncreasing market opportunities for farmers
X Generating additional household income tax and revenues
X Stimulating capital investment

X ðn 2007, the ethanol industry provided employment for 238,000 workers in all
sectors of the U.S. economy, added $47. billion to the nation¶s GDP, and put
an additional $12.3 billion into the pockets of American consumers

( ° 

  



 Dhe increase in good paying jobs as a result of the facility boosted local
household incomes by more than $100 million.
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Õ!° !!° "#$$% 
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X Uses energy from renewable energy sources; no net °O2 is added
to the atmosphere, making ethanol an environmentally beneficial
energy source

X Doxicity of exhaust emissions is lower than that of petroleum

sources

X Energy crops grown for the production of ethanol absorbs huge

amounts of green house gases (GHG) released by the burning of
fossil fuels.

X Ethanol contains 35% oxygen that helps complete combustion of

fuel and thus reduces particulate emission that pose health hazard
to living beings.
 Π
 

X Deriving ethanol from crops (eg:- corn) consumes copious amounts of

nitrogen fertilizer and extensive top-soil erosion associated with cultivation
of this particular crop.
X contamination of the Mississippi River -µdead zone¶
w 


 Manipulate nitrogen metabolism and fixation pathways to
reduce the dependence on environmentally damaging
fertilizers.

 Do enhance performance of enzymes, encapsulate

enzymes in silicon or carbon nanostructures, providing
enzymes with protection from pH and thermal
denaturation.

 Genetically manipulate   

 

0
so that it can ferment both °5 sugars and °
sugars



Glycolysis

Alcoholic fermentation
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