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Des Moines , IA

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Farm Journal Media eNewsletters

Feedstocks That Fuel

By Charles Johnson

1/11/2008

By Charles Johnson, Farm Journal National Editor

Interest in cellulosic ethanol seems to increase daily. Clemson University is the newest entry in the field, with construction for a pilot plant scheduled to begin by mid-year in North Charleston, S.C.

Flexibility is the byword for the new facility. In addition to switchgrass, it will turn wood chips, sweet sorghum and municipal solid waste into ethanol. Clemson is partnering with Savannah River National Laboratory, South Carolina State University and SC Bio to form the South Carolina Bioenergy Research Collaborative.

Corporate partners include Fagen Inc., which will design and build the cellulosic plant; Dyadic International Inc., which is developing enzymes to break down cellulose; and Spinx Corp, a biodiesel and ethanol gasoline blend distributor.

“It will be fully integrated, able to use several kinds of feedstocks all indigenous to South Carolina,” says Nick Rigas, director of renewable energy for Clemson’s Restoration Institute.

“Wood chips, particularly, have potential to be a huge feedstock here. One of our concerns is that a cellulosic biorefinery has to be more robust than just being dependent on one or two feedstocks. We’re looking at a number of different crops. Transgenic grasses that are drought-tolerant and produce better biomass with lower amounts of fertilizer are a possibility,” Rigas says. “We like the idea of sweet sorghum, which used to be grown all over the South and is drought-tolerant.”

Switchgrass, native to a broad swath of the nation, will play a major role in the pilot plant’s efforts to streamline cellulosic efficiency, however. Twenty-five acres of switchgrass is already growing at Clemson’s Pee Dee Research and Education Center near Florence, S.C. Jim Frederick, an Extension agronomist, oversees the work there.

“It is well-adapted to the Coastal Plains area of South Carolina and will not compete with soybeans and corn. It grows well on marginal soil that otherwise probably should not have crops planted on it,” Frederick says.

“Switchgrass increases soil organic matter and provides wildlife habitat. It’s good at preventing erosion. It’s low input and requires little nitrogen. It’s a perennial. Plus, it provides fuel savings. Our work shows that switchgrass should make 8 gal. of ethanol for every 1 gal. of petroleum put into it,” Frederick adds.

The pilot plant, designed for research more than large-scale fuel production, will have a 750,000-gal. to 1-million-gallon yearly capacity.

“It will allow us to scale up new technology that we can’t do at the lab. Then, we can take that technology to an investor for a commercial-size plant,” Rigas says.

Peach Power

Peaches may someday become a renewable energy source if Clemson University scientist Caye Drapcho’s research goes commercial. For that matter, so might other fruit crops, such as apples and tomatoes.

Drapcho, a biosystems engineer, uses waste peaches that never make it to market to make hydrogen using a microbe, Thermotoga neapolitana. When the microbe is placed with the peach sugar solution, it produces gas byproducts that contain 25% to 30% hydrogen on average.

“We’re using basically the same process that’s used for corn ethanol, where the corn ferments to form ethanol and carbon dioxide. The Thermotoga is using the sugar and producing hydrogen gas and acetate. Right now, the hydrogen gas is the primary thing we’re focusing on,” she says.

You can e-mail Charles Johnson at cjohnson@farmjournal.com.

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Farm Journal Media eNewsletters

Feedstocks That Fuel

By Charles Johnson

1/11/2008

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