LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

Large Scale Reactors to Reduce Cellulosic Ethanol Costs

November 5, 2009

College of Engineering and Science

Dr. James D. Palmer, Dr. Yuri Lvov, Dr. Hisham Hegab, Dr. Dale Snow

Qi Xing, Dezhi Zhang, Joe Nealy, Bam Aryal

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

Ethanol for Fuel•Sugar (Current technology) – fermented from sugar (corn or sugar cane)•Cellulose – waste biomass, wood, switchgrass

•Does not compete with food•Reduces Green-House Gas emissions by 86%•Cellulose must be converted to sugars – then fermented as normal

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

O H

H

H

C

H

OHH

C

C

C

O

CC

O

H OH

HO

H

Sugar (glucose)

H

H

Ethanol

Carbon Dioxide

O H

H

C

H

OHH

C

C

C

O

CCH O

H

H

H

H

O H

H

C

H

OHH

C

C

C

O

CCH O

H

H

H

H

O H

H

C

H

OHH

C

C

C

O

CCH O

H

H

H

H

O H

H

C

H

OHH

C

C

C

O

CCH O

H

H

H

H

O H

H

C

H

OHH

C

C

C

O

CCH O

H

H

H

H

O O O O

Cellulose

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

Cellulosic Ethanol•Priority by Department of Energy (2 billion gal. – 2013, 16 billion gal. – 2022)•Best Technology uses Expensive Enzymes – Iogen, Genencor, Novozymes•“Free Enzyme” can only be used one time or Immobilized onto surface to Reuse•Estimated savings by Reusing ~$32 million each ethanol plant, or $7.5 billion in nation

•June 2002 NREL technical report NREL/TP-510-324388 “Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol Process Design and Economics utilizing Co-Current Dilute Acid Prehydrolysis and Enzymatic Hydroylsis for Corn Stover

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

Layer-by-Layer Nano Self-AssemblyFor Enzyme Immobilization

•LbL can be reapplied easily in manufacturing environment (large scale)•LbL applicable to mixture of enzymes

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

+ + + + + + + + + + + +Polyelectrolytes

Enzymes

- - - - - - - - - - - - -Polyelectrolytes+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Enzymes

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

Accomplishments

• QCM and Zeta potential confirm LbL immobilization is effective

• Free enzyme batch reactor data for benchmark (one commercial enzyme MUCH more active than others tested)

• Immobilized enzyme batch reactor data

• Pre-treatment methods (base, acid, ultrasound) – very big impact on conversion!

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

Immobilized enzyme is lower than “free” enzyme; this is expected, savings calculated assumed 10x less activity!

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

Future Work• Nanotechnology

opportunities to improve activity

• Impact of pre-treatments• Test cellulose from wood

mills (other commercial sources)

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

Questions?

Comments?

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

N

CH3CH3

Cl -

PDDAN H2

+

SO-3 Na+

PSSSO-3 K+

PVS

NH3+ Cl -

PAH

PEIN

CH3CH3

Cl -

PDDA

N

CH3CH3

Cl -N

CH3CH3

Cl -

PDDAN H2

+

SO-3 Na+

PSS

SO-3 Na+

PSSSO-3 K+

PVS

SO-3 K+

PVS

NH3+ Cl -

PAH

NH3+ Cl -

PAH

PEI

Polyelectrolytes Studied

PolyvinylsulfatePolystyrenesulfonate

Polyethylenimine

Polyallylamine Polydiallyldimethylammonium

Polycations

Polyanions