Transcript Your Title Here - Governors` Biofuels Coalition

Ethanol Market Opportunities
Beyond Gasoline
Governors’ Ethanol Coalition Meeting
August 1, 2003, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Presenter: Ted Aulich
University of North Dakota
Energy & Environmental Research Center
Grand Forks, North Dakota
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Ethanol: Fuel or Chemical Intermediate
• Fuel markets bigger,
chemical values higher
• Less processing for fuel,
more for chemicals
• Cost of increased
processing versus increase
in chemical product value
• Process compatibility with
integration into ethanol plant
• Current chemical markets
and prices based on
petroleum
• New and larger markets
with lower prices?
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Gretz, Warren
Ethanol Utilization Options
• Dual fermentation – Split glucose solution into ethanol
and carboxylic acid production routes
• Guerbet catalytic condensation – React ethanol or
ethanol–methanol mixtures to produce bigger alcohols
• Fuel cells – Where does ethanol fit best?
• Hydrogen production – Integrate ethanol production
with refueling station-scale hydrogen production
• Diesel fuel – What’s best way to put ethanol in diesel?
• Aviation fuel – Premium (up to $3.50/gallon) market
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Corn
Dual Fermentation
Biorefinery
Saccharification
(amylase)
Ethanol Process
Hydrolysate
Glucose
Yeast Fermentation
Distillation and
Dehydration
Ethanol
Carboxylic Acid Process
Bacterial Fermentation
Evaporation
Ammonium
Lactate/Succinate
Esterification Tower
Fuel Ethanol
NH4OH
Product
Vapor
Ethyl
Lactate/Succinate
Ethanol
Optional
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Distillation and/or
Pervaporation
Optional
Lactic Acid
Succinic Acid
Direct Esterification with Ethanol
• Ethanol needed to pull carboxylic acids out of
fermentation broth as esters
• Low-temperature/pressure reaction
• Continuous-process reaction in flow-through
column containing bed of solid catalyst
• Use ethanol, methanol, butanol, other
alcohols
• Final product: ester or alcohol and acid
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Dual Fermentation Product Options
(Partial List)
Price, $/pound
Fuel ethanol
0.19
Lactic acid
0.79
Succinic acid
2.70
Ethyl lactate
1.00
Ethyl succinate
??
Ethyl butyrate
2.00
Ethyl acetate
0.60
Methyl acrylate
0.85
(from methyl lactate)
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Guerbet Catalytic Condensation
(Ethanol-Based)
Ethanol
Catalytic
Condensation
Butanol
and
Ethanol
Distillation and
Dehydration
Butanol
Catalytic
Condensation
2-Ethylhexanol
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Guerbet Catalytic Condensation
(Methanol- and Ethanol-Based)
Ethanol
+ Methanol
Catalytic
Condensation
Isobutanol or Propanol
and Ethanol + Methanol
Distillation and
Dehydration
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Isobutanol
or Propanol
Catalytic Condensation with Ethanol and/or
Ethanol + Methanol
• Low-temperature/pressure reaction
• Continuous-process reaction in flow-through
column containing bed of solid catalyst
• Amoco and Exxon interested in alcohol
condensation, as evidenced by recent patents
on catalyst systems
• Final product: higher alcohol or ester produced
via direct esterification with carboxylic acid
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Catalytic Condensation Product Options
(Partial List)
Price, $/pound
Fuel ethanol
0.19
Propanol
0.65
Butanol
0.48
Isobutanol
0.45
2-Ethylhexanol
0.48
Isobutyl acrylate
0.95
(from isobutanol and methyl acrylate)
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Ethanol and Fuel Cells
• What is best fit for ethanol in emerging fuel cell
markets?
– Proton exchange or solid oxide fuel cells
– Transportation or auxiliary, distributed,
back-up, or military power
• Ethanol as hydrogen carrier versus gasoline,
natural gas, propane, diesel fuel, methanol
– Can be reformed (converted to hydrogen)
at lower temperature than most carriers
except methanol
– Oxygen in ethanol means less air addition
required
– Ethanol water miscibility is advantage—
can simplify reformer design
– Sulfur-free if denatured with methanol
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Ethanol-Based Hydrogen Station
• On-board-stored hydrogen for buses in 3 years, for cars in 10
years
• Natural gas most economical feedstock for near-term on-site
hydrogen production/dispensing?
• Integration of ethanol and hydrogen production will alter
economics, especially with natural gas price increases. Use
50/50 water/ethanol mix for hydrogen
production
– Use heat from rectifier/distillation column
– Much lower reforming temperature for
ethanol
– No desulfurization step required
with ethanol
– Ethanol compatible with high-pressure
hydrogen production process under
development at EERC
Ethanol and Diesel Fuel
• Ethanol-blended diesel—vapor pressure increase,
fuel economy reduction, low cetane, overall
economics?
• Ethanol-based biodiesel—higher cost and lower
esterification efficiency of ethanol versus methanol,
but possible economic benefits with integration of
ethanol and biodiesel production
• Ethanol-based ethers—use Guerbet catalytic
condensation to produce butanol, convert to di-nbutylether: High cetane, lower pour point, reduce
particulate emissions, what about NOx?
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Aviation-Grade Ethanol (AGE)
• AGE (about 87% ethanol, 12% petroleum, 1% biodiesel) is
high-performance alternative to leaded avgas
• EPA wants to ban leaded avgas, but no economic alternative
developed in over 25 years of trying
• At FAA request and in partnership with FAA, USDA,
ConocoPhillips, Textron Lycoming, and South Dakota Corn
Growers, ongoing efforts to 1) evaluate AGE and 2) develop
and achieve consensus
approval of an American
Society of Testing and
Materials (ASTM)
specification for AGE
• Current general aviation fuel
market about 400 million
gallons per year
Domestic Renewable Fuels—
Changing Perspectives
“…..back in the late 1980s, when I was
employed by an oil company, I believed
those laws {Clean Air Act and Energy
Policy Act} were the stuff of lobbyists,
tree huggers, and the granola crowd.
Not anymore.”
J. Scott Susich, Advanced Energy Commerce, Inc., in
Natural Gas Fuels, May 2003
EERC
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Contact: Ted Aulich
Energy & Environmental Research Center
PO Box 9018
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9018
Phone: (701) 777-2982
Fax: (701) 777-5181
E-mail: [email protected]
EERC Web Site: www.undeerc.org
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