Transcript Document

Butanol as Fuel – View From the Field
NREL
March 11, 2010
Sam Nejame
Promotum
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Agenda
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What is Butanol?
Brief History
ABE Process
Today’s Butanol From Petroleum
The Future of Butanol Fuels
Questions
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What is Butanol?
• Family of 4 Carbon Alcohols
• Most common forms are normal butanol (n-buoh) and
iso-butanol (i-buoh)
• n-buoh primarily used to make butyl acrylates for
coatings and adhesives
• Both n-buoh and iso-buoh have good fuel properties
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Butanol Physical & Fuel Properties
Physical Property
Density at 20°C (g/cm³)
i-butanol
n-butanol
Ethanol
0.802
0.810
0.794
108
118
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Boiling Point at 1 atm (⁰C)
Water Solubility at 20⁰C (g/100mL
water)
Net Heat of Combustion (BTU/gal)
8.0
7.7
Miscible
95,000
93,000
80,000
R+M/2
103.5
87
112
5.0
4.3
18-22
Blend RVP (psi at 100⁰F) 1
Promotum, Gevo
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Summary Comparison Butanol to Ethanol Fuel
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Higher energy content
Less hydrophilic
More compatible w/oil infrastructure
More compatible w/installed base of autos
Reduces blend vapor pressure
Less corrosive
Iso-butanol works well with gasoline
n-butanol works well with diesel
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Butanol a Brief History
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Acetone, Butanol, Ethanol (ABE) Process
First Industrial Fermentation Commercialized (1918)
Clostridium acetobutylicum bacteria
Acetone for Cordite
Later butanol for butyl paint & coatings (1930’s)
RAF planes flew on butanol during WWII
Petroleum based production becomes cheaper (1950s)
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ABE Fermentation Reaction Kinetics
Ramey & Yang
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Problems w/Traditional ABE Process
• Toxicity to the organism
• Low product concentrations
• Low yield
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Butanol Production From Petroleum (1950s-Present)
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Production of Butanol by oxo Alcohol Process
Players & Market Share
US & Global Manufacturing Capacity
Price history of butanol, ethanol, gasoline
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Butanol Production From the oxo Process
• Global market for nbuoh is 3.8 M mtons/Yr
• Global iso-buoh is ~ 0.4 M mtons/Yr
Metex
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Market Share of Leading n-Butanol Producers
Metex
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Global Butanol Industry Capacity - Facility Cost Curve
Butanol
Cash Cost
($ / mton)
Source: Tetra Vitae, SRI; company analysis
Assumptions: $70 oil, range of feedstock cost
Cumulative Capacity (K mtons)
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Domestic Butanol Production
DOMESTIC DEMAND
exports
Butanol
Cash Cost
($ / mt)
Cumulative Capacity (K mtons)
Source: Tetra Vitae, SRI; company analysis
Assumptions: $70 Oil
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Chemical Strategies, Inc.
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The Future of Bio-Butanol Fuels
“Our goal is to build a
supply chain from
lignocellulose to butanol.”
Tony Hayward, CEO British Petroleum
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Summary Bio-Butanol Process Goals
• Power & Price of Biotechnology Tools...
systems biology, pathway engineering...
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Over expression butanol
Suppression of other pathways
Organism tolerance
Improving yield
Increasing productivity (rate)
Flexible feedstocks
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Status Domestic Butanol Companies
Company Bug
Bug
Strategy
Molecule Fermentation Separation
Process
Strategy
Gevo
GMO UCLA
Valine
metabolism
iso-buoh
Yeast
Semi batch
vacuum flash in situ 2010 Operating pilot in
removal followed by St. Johns, MO. 2011
distillation trains
Commercial
Cobalt Biofuels Clostridium
Non GMO strain n-buoh for
reduced etoh blending
and acetone
w/gasoline,
diesel, jet
Continuous modified vapor compression
ABE Fermentation
distillation
Tetra Vitae
Clostridium
beijerinckii
Non GMO
selected for
reduced etoh
production
Semi batch "AB"
Fermentation
Butyl Fuel
Clostridiums Aceto GMO & mutant n-buoh
& tyro
strain
Syngas Biofuels Fermentation of
Energy
Syngas
GMO
n-buoh and
acetone 2:1
n-buoh
Development
Status
2010 pilot 10-35k gpy
2011 demo 2-5m gpy
2012 commercial
Carbon dioxide
2009 300 liter bench
stripping continuous 2010 10,000 liter pilot
in situ removal
followed by
distillation trains
Continuous two stage stripping following
dual path anaerobic
immobilized cell
fermentation
bioreactors
Unknown
Thermochemical
catalyst
Unknown
NA
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Status International Butanol Companies
Company Bug
Bug
Strategy
Molecule Fermentation Separation
Process
Strategy
Butamax
(DuPont/BP)
GMOs
iso-buoh
1.Clostridium
2.E.Coli
Development
Status
Semi batch
continuous in situ
2010 Salt End Hull, UK
removal followed by 2013 Commercial
distillation trains
Additional Feedstocks
2013+
Green
Clostridium.
Biologics (UK) Mixed
populations
GMOs high
n-buoh
tolerance (4%)
Continuous
fermentation
In situ removal
unknown.
Building demo in India.
Consulting w/Chinese
firms
Metex (FR)
GMOs
n-buoh
Unkown
In situ removal
unknown.
Unknown
Butalco
Yeast
(Switzerland)
GMOs
unclear
Unkown
In situ removal
unknown.
Unknown
China
Currently
selected
strain.
Migrating to
GMOs
n-buoh
Migrating from
traditional ABE
Fermentation.
May include in situ
removal
2010 100MM gpy
traditional ABE. 201X
migration beyond ABE.
Plans to add 350 MM
gpy new capacity.
"Well known
bacteria“
Clostridium
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Bio-Butanol Projecting the 3rd Wave
Green Biologics
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Bio Iso-Butanol Fuel Commercialization Forecast
---$6bn chemicals-------------------------------------------------
Promotum
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Thoughts on Butanol Adoption
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Pricing/Economics have to
work
Avoid Food v. Fuel Round II
Markets for butanol, petroleum and sugar feedstocks
change daily.
Butanol is a better alcohol, but for now corn is still
the feedstock
Tax credits, biorefinery grants, Need to be extended to butanol. Government and
loan guarantees
private investment are necc.
Enlist/Co-exist w/current
Infighting will slow production & adoption. Oil
ethanol producers
companies like BP (Butamax) may not be politically
correct market driver.
Autos/Engine makers must
May be catalytic converter issues. Manufacturer's
approve
warrantees essential.
Consumer education
Higher energy content means a gallon isn't a gallon.
Odor maybe a problem.
Technology improvements
Anything beyond ethanol is new territory at this
must continue
scale
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Acknowledgements
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Jim Evangelow
Gorden Cheng
Jay Kouba
Hans Blachek
Adam Schubert
Ron Bray
Chemical Strategies
ChemaLogic
Tetra Vitae
University of Illinois-Urbana
Butamax
SRI Consulting
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Thank You
Sam Nejame
Promotum
617.576.9084
[email protected]
Twitter.com/renewables
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