Green Options

An update from Emerson Process Management’s Alan Novak on progress made at bringing second generation biofuels into commercial production.

The Algae Biofuels World Summit concluded yesterday in San Francisco. The event was geared to active participants in the industry, and I had the opportunity to attend Monday’s all day pre-conference briefing highlighting key players in government, research, and business all pursuing the goal of scaling algal biofuels to a commercial enterprise level.

It is clear that algae is “hot” - but as is often the case with hot, there is no shortage of hype. A recurring theme throughout the day was the common mis-percepton of algae biofuel as “cheap and easy” and a one-size-fits-all solution to the world’s fuel energy needs.

Not so fast.

Courtesy of Reuters, here is a list of cellulosic ethanol plants currently operating or under construction in the US. We’ve been following a number of these companies over the last year, and I’ve linked each company name to either something we’ve written about them or their company website.

For more background on cellulosic ethanol, see: Dedicated Energy Crops Could Replace 30% of Gasoline.

Advanced biofuels will add thousands of jobs and billions of dollars to the U.S. economy.

On Wednesday, BP anounced a joint venture with Verenium to build the world’s largest cellulosic ethanol facility.  BP’s total investment—now $112.5 million—will be the largest by an oil company in advanced, non-food-based biofuels.

The Florida-based plant would be 25 times larger than Verenium’s existing (and operational) cellulosic ethanol facility in Louisiana, which began operation earlier this month and is expected to produce 60+ million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year when at full capacity. This new, larger facility is schedule to break ground in 2010 and commece operations in 2012.

In a supposed progressive green city, it won’t be until today that San Francisco finally gets its own biodiesel station – Dogpatch Biofuels. It’s been a long time in the making with permits, and inspections and the like. Hasn’t San Francisco seen biodiesel before? You’d think that they were dispensing nitroglycerin the way the approval process worked like molasses.

We’re not counting the Olympic Station that sells B20 to mostly fleet vehicles and trucks or the op-op that used to operate in SoMa. Here, we have an honest to goodness B100 (or rather B99.99999) biodiesel station for autos. All the Mercedes and converted vehicle owners can rejoice at not having to drive to the East Bay or San Mateo to fill up their tanks. Even better, we can all rejoice at the fact that the station owners get their fuel not from GMO corn or switchgrass or any food but rather from San Francisco’s own waste grease program, so we can all be proud when consuming those greasy fries.

A first-of-its-kind summit in Madison, Wisconsin later this week will bring together researchers, innovators, policy makers, entrepreneurs and other industry leaders to discuss best practices for large-scale commercialization of second generation biofuels.

The BioRefinery/BioEnergy Summit, taking place on December 11th, is hosted by Emerson Process Management, a company that specializes in analysis, measurement, and automation of industrial processes and plant operation for oil & gas and other heavy industry. Emerson’s goal is to bring to bear their experience in plant operation, process automation, and analysis for the emerging biofuel industry. By establishing best practices for the biofuel industry, large-scale commercial production becomes viable.

I had an opportunity to speak with Alan Novak, Emerson’s Director of Alternative Fuels, about the upcoming summit and the outlook for biofuel and bioenergy.

Monsanto, one of the worlds largest Genetically Modified Organism (G.M.O.) seed companies, is slated to acquire Aly Participacoes Ltda., which operates the Brazilian sugarcane breeding and technology companies, CanaVialis S.A. and Alellyx S.A.

Great Britain hopes that algae-based biofuels can reduce automotive and aviation emissions by 2030, and cut overall emissions by 80% by 2050.

While food-based biofuels are taking the heat for rising food prices, other solutions - like algae - are gaining a more serious following. For example, the UK’s Carbon Trust has announced plans for a project to make algae bio-fuels a commercial reality by the year 2020

But the situation is much more than some “food vs fuel” finger pointing. The fact that transport accounts for one-quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions is major driving factor - pun intended: it’s also the fastest growing cause of carbon emissions in the UK. If the government’s target to reduce overall emissions by 80% by 2050 is to be met, then initiatives like this are crucial.

In a breakthrough discovery announced today, scientists have found that a bit of E. coli could help put biofuel waste products to good use, and increase profits for the producers too.

Glycerin, a common biodiesel waste product, has become so abundant amid the rise in biofuel use that producers often have to pay to dispose of the chemical. Researchers at Rice University discovered that when combined, E. coli and glycerin produce succinate, a useful chemical that can be sold at a profit.

A large Florida landscaping business has planted a 22-acre biomass crop at its nursery that will produce enough fuel to operate its fleet of 25 diesel trucks.

Brian Shank, president of Clermont Scapes in Groveland, Florida, said he decided to plant a 22-acre plot of Jatropha in order to save money for his hurting business, but also to set an example for other companies looking for cost-effective ways to help the environment.