Green Biologics Makes Landmark Biobutanol Deal in China

Biobutanol fuel is billed as a sustainable alternative to gasoline alongside other alcohol fuels. Interestingly, it can be used in unmodified petrol engines (though this is not ideal, pure butanol fuel can damage petrol engines and modification is needed to optimize performance). Butanol is generally suitable for use in a 10% blend with gasoline and no modifications to the vehicle. Aside from its fuel applications, butanol is a valuable to the chemical industry as a chemical intermediate and solvent. Green Biologics (GBL) is a leader in biobutanol production technology in the UK, offering innovations throughout the technical process of biobutanol production. Its activities include metabolic engineering, biobutanol refineries, retrofitting ethanol plants to produce biobutanol and also microbial technology.

GBL has announced the completion of landmark agreements with the China - UK Low Carbon Enterprise Co Ltd and two of China’s major biochemical firms, Guangxi Jinyuan Biochemical Company Ltd and Lianyungang Union of Chemicals Company Ltd. GBL will collaborate with its Chinese partners to scale up its biobutanol production technology to enhance China’s efforts towards renewable energy. Under the agreements, GBL will provide fermentation technology to enable existing production facilities to produce biobutanol with low cost sustainable feedstock, such as agricultural by-products.

GBL’s chief executive, Sean Sutcliffe: 

“We are delighted to be collaborating with China’s leading low carbon energy organization and major biochemical firms. These agreements build on GBL’s successful business development program in China, where over the last three years our focus has been on introducing advanced technology to allow the profitable operation of existing biobutanol facilities for the chemical market. The relationship with leading Chinese biochemical companies and China - UK Low Carbon Enterprise Co Ltd will allow us to significantly accelerate this process. In addition, these companies can provide a platform for the introduction of the next generation of GBL technology, which will see the roll-out of biobutanol as a low cost advanced biofuel derived from sustainable feedstocks. The business approach in China complements our global strategy of offering technology for the retrofit of ethanol production plants so they can be turned into more profitable biobutanol facilities, and of offering advanced biobutanol plant designs and technology. This deal is a resounding endorsement of GBL’s leading position in the commercialization of biobutanol for the fast growing renewable chemicals and biofuels markets in China. “

The global n-butanol market is worth over $4 billion a year and the fastest growth is in China, while the global market for biofuels is around $50 billion and growing at 7.5% per annum. Biobutanol clearly sounds like a good market to be involved in. The chemical industry applications of biobutanol are solid, but how much penetration biobutanol will have in the biofuel arena remains to be seen. While butanol has higher energy density than ethanol meaning better mileage, it is also mildly toxic (six-fold more toxic than ethanol) so there are regulatory hurdles to overcome before high content or pure butanol fuel become commonplace. This could impair the growth of biobutanol fuel use in comparison with other biofuels such as bioethanol or biodiesel, but if this is overcome the improved performance of biobutanol may allow it to take the lead over bioethanol in fuel blends.     

Novasep and Danisco to Produce Betaine from Bioethanol Side Products

Bioethanol production is increasing globally, as it does this process will become more valuable as producers try to find ways to make use of the by-products of the reaction. Not only does the process allow overall production of betaine to be increased, it also allows other byproducts of the reaction to be recycled and used as fertilizer. Usually betaine is extracted from sugar beet molasses using a chromatographic column, but this is the first process to produce betaine from side products of biofuel manufacture.  Danisco will be recycling residues produced by France based Tereos, specialists in sugar production and bioethanol.Bioprocessing Company Novasep Process and Danisco, announce the scale-up of a new process for the production of natural betaine, to be sold under the trade name Betafin.

The new process involves an extraction step using byproduct from sugar derived bio-ethanol production. Betaine has various uses, the most common of which is as an additive in animal feed, but currently supply does not meet demand. Danisco’s research into betaine applications showed that natural betaine has advantages over synthetic substitutes, improving intestinal health and reducing the effects of heat stress in animals.

Novosep Process is responsible for the engineering of the new plant and the complete process line which combines Danisco’s NS2P chromatography technology with membrane and evaporation steps. This project is the most recent development in the partnership between Novasep and Danisco in the field of betaine extraction and purification, which has already resulted in the construction of several betaine production plants.

Novasep Process President, Antione Baule:

“I am delighted about this new milestone in our longstanding relationship with Danisco, By playing a key role in this project, Novasep has again demonstrated its leadership in the development or scale-up of innovative processes in the industrial biotech industry, and its ability to collaborate with key customers and engineering partners in the long term through win-win partnerships.”

Possible Tightening of EU Regulations on Biofuel in 2011: Would This Reduce the Indirect Effects on Land Use or Stifle a Growing Industry?

With recent claims that EU regulations don’t do enough to prevent indirect displacement of food production, protect natural environments and promote sustainability, tighter regulations may be imposed on the production of Biofuel in the EU in 2011.

EU Climate Comissioner, Connie Hedegaard:

“We have to ensure that the biofuels we promote deliver clear greenhouse-gas savings. We must not ignore any unwanted impacts that may be caused globally as a result of the additional demand.”

Indirect land use changes are a major concern for Biofuel; displaced food production, expansion of agriculture and destruction of natural environments which sequester CO2 are some of the greatest challenges facing the Biofuel industry. Biofuels such as Biodiesel and Bioethanol produced with existing technologies usually require biomass produced by agriculture, as they grow the need for fuel crops will only increase. Current EU requirements for 10 percent renewable energy for road and rail transport by 2020 may increase the risks of these problems arising. Indeed, some of this is becoming apparent now. Various studies reached unfavorable conclusions regarding how “green” existing ways to produce biofuels are. There have also been several incidents recently showing that some technologies used for Biofuel production are not sustainable, pose a risk to food security and have detrimental effects upon environmental conservation. 

These indirect effects are land use changes; for example earlier this year when palm oil supplier Duta Palma was found by the BBC to be clearing protected forest to make room for new palm plantations, for which they were dropped by Unilever. If producing fuel crops is more profitable than producing food crops, it makes sense for farmers to switch the crops they grow (or to sell their food crops to energy companies if they will offer a better price than food suppliers).   

On the other side of the equation, many of the Biofuel technologies currently operating commercially are still under development. While some are not sustainable or have an effect on food security, the technology used to take them from field to fuel tank is a stepping stone to a cleaner, greener way of producing fuel. First generation biofuels from food crops paved the way for the second generation; the technologies used to convert sugars to ethanol for example were built upon so that non-food crops and crop residues could be used to produce fuel. Biodiesel production from conventional food or energy crops developed technologies essential to producing Biodiesel from algae. The innovations are not only made in technology but also in building the supply chain around it and growing the companies that run the operation. 

In an interview with reporters from Bloomberg, the European Commission (the regulatory arm of the EU) said that it is possible that the minimum emissions-saving threshold contribution for biofuel toward EU renewable- energy targets may be raised, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with indirect land use taken into consideration, and it is also possible that the sustainability criteria may be expanded in mid 2011. Any changes to the existing regulations would first be subject to detailed review and assessment of indirect land use by the European Commission beforehand.

Over regulation while technologies are still in this “stepping stone” stage could stifle the development of essential biofuel technologies. And yet, without pressure to continue development, some companies will stick with commercially effective, but ecologically damaging “stepping stone” technologies rather than continuing to improve their product. Steps were taken to try and mitigate some of these risks in 2008 when the 10 percent target was first approved by including environmental protection standards and emission reduction targets. However, these targets may not do enough to prevent the indirect effects of Biofuel production as at present they only address the direct effects of biofuel.

It has been said that the current regulation does not go far enough in terms of protecting the environment, but any future revision of legislation should ensure that it does not impair the development of new clean, sustainable biofuel technology. Destruction of natural habitats and CO2 sinks such as tropical rainforests should be avoided, not only because of the loss of biodiversity but also because these environments are difficult to replace once cleared. Movements should be made to discourage practices that could cause competition between food and fuel. However, while sustainability is ultimately one of the greatest goals for biofuel, many technologies will improve in this regard over time as they are developed. The biofuel industry is a young industry and harsh restrictions on sustainability may force new suppliers to make their business model “run before it can walk”. Incentives to continue improvement of technologies would be valuable to ensure that in the future biofuels are not only sustainable, but have minimal indirect negative impact on environments or food security.

Magnetic Catalyst for Cellulose breakdown makes Recovery Simpler

Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China have developed a magnetic solid acid catalyst for efficiently converting cellulose to sugars for ethanol biofuel production, or for production of other bio-sourced chemicals. For more information read D Margolese et al, Chem. Mater., 2000, 12, 2448 and D Lai et al, ChemSusChem, DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201000300.

The new catalyst has good hydrothermal stability and is recyclable; the magnetic part of the catalyst allows it to be easily eof choice for this research group, the innovation comes from the addition of a form of Iron oxide nanoparticles and several other agents to allow the catalyst to be recovered magnetically. Catalysts are required for this reaction to occur on any practical level, however they must be extracted from the products of the reaction to ensure purity. Replacing catalysts is often a significant overhead cost; being able to easily recover and re-use this catalyst is a significant advantage. 

The catalyst works effectively on a range of substrates; not only cellulose but also starch and lignocellulose. The efficiency of the catalyst decreases with the complexity of the sugar polymer. With the substrate cellobiose (made of two glucose molecules), the yield was 96%, but with more complex polymextracted from the reaction mixture. Sulfonic acid functionalized silica was the catalyst rs (such as cellulose) this decreases to 50%. This decrease in yield with polymer complexity is common among catalysts, but the fact that this catalyst can be easily reused means that the reaction can simply be run again.

More development is needed, however, to optimize the process and to scale it up to industrial levels. Varying the conditions to find those that produce the best yields is one step that needs to be taken, and also to reduce the production cost to make the catalyst more attractive for commercial use.

TAU uses biological feedstock to make cleaner, tougher plastics

Prof Moshe Kolof of Tel Aviv University’s School of Chemistry is developing techniques to convert corn starch and sugar for use in plastics. The research is producing tougher and more biodegradable plastics to compete with conventional plastics derived from petrochemicals.

The developments of a range of new catalysts is responsible these advances. These catalysts will be used to polymerize lactide to produce polylactic acid (PLA), which is biodegradable and can be used in a wide range of applications, from plastic bags to clothing. The advances made by Prof Kolof and his team are producing plastics that are tougher and with higher resistance to heat; potentially widening the applications that PLA can be used for. PLA produced with the new catalysts resembles polystyrene in terms of its properties.

Existing catalysts provide little control on the way that the lactide monomers assemble; the innovation in these new catalysts is that they allow greater control of this reaction and efficiently improve the properties and safety of the final product. TAU is currently partnering with the German University of Aachen and with the University of Bath in the UK to develop the technology. The aim is to develop the technology to the point that this non-toxic, renewable plastic can compete with, and replace, conventional petrochemical based plastics.

High performance plastics are becoming more important in modern applications. In several applications plastics are replacing steel or concrete; for example replacing metal parts of cars with lightweight plastic parts reduces fuel consumption. Most new items disposable and are not used for longer than a few weeks, ideally these items and their packaging would be made of easily biodegradable materials such as PLA.

Most efficient producer of Biohydrogen to date discovered

A strain of Cyanobacteria has been found not only to be the most efficient hydrogen producing bacteria to date, but also to be able to produce it in the presence of oxygen. (A Bandyopadhyay et al, published in Nature Commun., 2010, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1139).

The ocean dwelling Cyanobacteria Cyanothece 51142 has been found to be the most efficient producer of Biohydrogen, and can do so in the presence of oxygen. This is unusual, as the enzymes that produce hydrogen in most other species are inhibited and destroyed by even very low concentrations of oxygen. This makes the use of these organisms to produce hydrogen at any scale difficult, not to mention expensive. However, this is not the case for Cyanothece. High respiration rates protect the enzymes from damage by oxygen. The microbe is also photosynthetic, gathering the energy for the reaction directly from sunlight. 

Purdue University Researcher, Louis Sherman:

“We expected high rates of hydrogen production, but we were very surprised to find such high rates "right out of the box”. The strain has amazing capabilities and we think that there is still untapped potential. It will stimulate other biologists to keep studying photosynthetic microbes to find one with even better properties. And it will help policy makers realize that bio-hydrogen production is a possibility and enhance research into all of the other areas that need to be studied before a "hydrogen economy" is a reality.”

Cyanothece 51142 changes its metabolism between day and night; photosynthesizing during daylight to produce energy stored as glycogen, and at night it uses this energy to produce ammonia and hydrogen. The research group experimented with optimizing hydrogen production and found that additional carbon sources increases the amount of hydrogen produced. Many carbon sources are suitable for giving this reaction boost, including byproducts of biodiesel production such as glycerol.

 
What commercial opportunities does this open? Biohydrogen has been dismissed as impractical in many cases; often due to the energy needs of the microbes themselves and the high amounts of energy needed for the reaction, often resulting in low yields. However, early efforts to optimize the production of hydrogen from Cyanothece achieved yields more than ten times those achieved by the next best efforts. These developments and the potential for future developments may be worth re-assessing the value of Biohydrogen. However, in the face of much greater efforts to develop other sustainable fuels and a lack of existing infrastructure to support wide scale use of hydrogen fuel, any advances here are likely to be limited to existing markets for hydrogen rather than as a replacement for petrochemicals.

Algal Biomass Organization Publishes Descriptive Language Guidelines for the Algae Industry for Comment

The Algal Biomass Organization (ABO), the trade association for the algae industry, has released a document, “Algal Industry Minimum Descriptive Language”. This is the first attempt to standardize language used in the algae industry with the aims of setting standards that will make comparison of technologies more valid and to aid Life Cycle Analysis. The current state of the industry is one in which the positives and negatives of a research development or technology can be provided in such a way that they cannot be compared. For example, different analytical methods produce different results from the same sample and there is no standard method. The measures themselves are not standard and can also be misleading; the dry weight of algae does not necessarily reflect its oil content. Variation in oil content between species, processing methods and microbial contamination mean that such data can be used to create an inaccurate picture of the output of the technology. The guidelines presented here set out a framework that can be used to clarify where such data fits into the wider picture of LCA, with commentary on measures and methods. The document is currently available for viewing here on the ABO website. ABO is requesting comment on the document; any comments or suggestions should be sent to technicalstandards@algalbiomass.org

Executive Director of ABO, Mary Rosenthal:

“The absence of common descriptive language has led to a lack of harmony among technologists, researchers, life cycle analysis specialists and entrepreneurs as they evaluate and promote algae technologies. This confusion has made it hard for others to truly capture, analyze and quantify algae technologies relative to one another. With a common language, such as the one we and many volunteer stakeholders have proposed, we hope to bring more clarity to the industry.”

The newly-released document was authored by the ABO’s Technical Standards Committee chaired by Jim Sears of A2BE Carbon Capture. The committee works to develop standards and best practices for the algae industry and facilitate the flow of information among industry stakeholders. More than 20 industry experts and organizations reviewed and commented on the document, including individuals from industry associations, national labs, companies and research institutions. It provides a set of metrics and variables for estimating and measuring the economic and environmental footprint and economic impact of an algal production facility, including all inputs and outputs.

ABO’s efforts at standardizing language for the algae industry come as the industry continues to demonstrate significant growth. Between 2005 and 2009, the number of algae-to-biofuel start ups more than tripled. A leading analysis of the algae industry projected that the industry would grow by nearly 50 percent annually over the coming decade.
Included in the document are guidelines for presentation of the total Carbon, Water, Energy, Consumables and Nutrient input, total labor needed and also the total infrastructure area. Guidelines are also presented for indirect algal outputs, solid and liquid waste, uncaptured gaseous emissions and algal constituent products. For each of these, general descriptions of the input, standard units for measurement over time (usually per year), descriptions of the source and the type of detail needed are given. Information presented for algal biomass R&D that adheres to these guidelines would build a detailed picture of the process. 

Investment in algal biomass has been good in recent years; Exxon put $600 million towards algal biofuel, the US Department of Energy invested $24 million and investors put $52 million towards Solazyme’s algal fuel research. Bill Gates’ venture capital firm Cascade investments, the Wellcome trust, ARCH and Venrock also put jointly put forward a total of $100 million to California based Sapphire Energy for algae research. This wave of investment shows recognition for the value of algal fuel in future by investors. However, is all of this money going to the best investments? LCA is one of the most useful tools in determining this, however differing methodologies cloud the issue. Standards for the minimum amount of information to be given in LCA would clarify the situation for investors. Efforts to implement standards would add integrity and legitimacy to what is a relatively young field of development within the young sustainable energy sector. Many other areas of sustainable energy already have standard methods for demonstrating the strengths of various technologies; this could signal the maturing of the algal biomass industry within the sustainable energy sector.