In pursuit of energy independence, the US government is promoting the use of biofuels as transportation fuels. The Department of Energy has set a goal of ethanol production equal to about 30% of the country’s current gasoline demand by 2030, said Alexander Karsner, DOE’s assistant secretary for renewable energy.
Karsner was one of several speakers representing key biofuel interests-government, automobile manufacturers, oil and gas companies, agricultural entities, and academia-at a recent conference at Rice University, Houston.
From the automobile industry, Susan M. Cischke, vice-president, environment and safety engineering for Ford Motor Co., said about 63% of transportation fuels are imported. Over the years Ford improved the gas mileage efficiency in its vehicle fleet, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles, she said.
But Adam Schubert, US product strategy manager for BP Fuels Management Group, said transportation energy demand is projected to double by 2050.
According to Kyriacos Zygourakis, professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering, Rice University, the US needs about 60 billion gal of biofuels to replace just 30% of 2004 gasoline demand.
“It is a formidable task to provide a liquid alternative to transportation fuel,” he said. “A broad portfolio of technologies is needed to provide a sustainable energy future.”
Agriculture factor
According to a Sept. 15 report by Simmons & Co. International Ltd., “The National Corn Growers Association forecasts US corn supply will be sufficient to support 16 billion gal of ethanol by 2015-16, which could displace about 7% of US gasoline consumption on a btu-equivalent basis.”
The report further stated that “while we do not expect alternative fuels to carry the lion’s share of the transportation fuel burden, they can make a meaningful impact. In fact, current ethanol and biodiesel technologies should allow for displacement of 5-10% of current fuel consumption. Future technologies, such as cellulosic ethanol, could allow displacement of nearly 30%.”
Additionally, it said, “The promotion of ethanol results in a shifting from political risk in the Middle East to agricultural/weather risk in the Midwest.”
FFVs, E85
Sergio Trindade, International Fuel Technology Inc. director, science and technology, said, “There are definite limits to biofuels’ ability to meet transportation fuels demand.”
He added, “What’s the point of flex-fuel vehicles without a flexible infrastructure?”
According to the Simmons report, “In the US, one drawback to these vehicles [which run on a high blend of ethanol and gasoline, such as E85] is the lack of available fueling stations. There are only 800 retail outlets in 37 states which offer E85 fuel. By comparison, there are about 180,000 gasoline/diesel refueling stations in the US.”
Biodiesel
The biodiesel industry in the US is small but has great potential for growth, the report noted. Biofuels use a large variety of feedstock and, unlike ethanol, can be shipped via pipeline. They also have a favorable energy balance.
The report cited a DOE estimate that biofuels provide 3.2 units of energy for every one unit of fossil fuel required to make them.
Michael Pachero, director of the National Bioenergy Center for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), addressed the growth potential of biodiesel recently in a statement prepared for the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
“The growth of [the biodiesel] industry is currently limited by a number of barriers to market penetration,” he said. “Additional engine testing is needed to better understand the performance of B20 (20% biodiesel) and lower blends in the advanced emission-control diesel engines that will enter the market in the 2007-10 time frame in response to EPA regulations.”
Biobutanol
NREL is teaming up with oil industry technology developers to explore options for integrating biomass streams into petroleum refineries.
This concept has been the basis of a joint effort by BP PLC and DuPont to develop biobutanol. This advanced biofuel, produced from the same agricultural feedstock as ethanol, can be added directly into refinery gasoline streams (OGJ Online, Sept. 29, 2006).
Schubert believes, “Biofuels is not a silver bullet but a valuable piece of the puzzle to attain a sustainable energy solution.”
