Cellulosic Ethanol Snoop Loops Addison, Kane, Samantha

Background Biomass “field trash”: corn stalks, wood chips, sugar cane Same ingredients that made oil The Goal: Speed up the process and use waste materials to create renewable energy “Sugar is the new crude.” -API

5 Carbon Hemi vs 6 Carbon Cellulose Branched short chain xylan Biomass Components of Interest 5 Carbon Hemi vs 6 Carbon Cellulose   Branched short chain xylan “Pure” Non branched long chain glucan Readily converted to usable sugars glucose and xylose

Biomass Structure

The Process AVAP, a division of American Process has created a successful 5 step process: 1. Fractionation: Break down biomass within digester     2. Separation: Split the solution into two streams: 6 Carbon and 5 Carbon 3. Enzymatic Hydrolysis: Convert cellulose to sugar (addition of water molecule) 4. Fermentation: Combine C-5 hemicellulose sugars and yeast to make ethanol C-6 cellulose sugars shipped away to produce variety of industrial chemicals   5. Distillation: Recover reactants and products SO2 and ethanol

The Reaction C6H10O5 + SO2 + C2H5OH -----> C6H12O6 +H2O ----> C2H5OH + CO2 Biomass + Sulfur Dioxide + Ethanol --> Glucose + Water --> Ethanol + Carbon Dioxide By cooking under intense heat and pressure,  biomass breaks down into 5 and 6 carbon cellulose. This cellulose can be converted into glucose sugar by enzymatic hydrolysis. Yeast converts the sugar into ethanol with carbon dioxide as a by product. The presence of strong solvents is required to dissolve lignin  “the glue that holds everything together”  and the hemi-cellulose

A Look at the Reaction Process

Topic Relevance Ethanol is Clean Burning/Low Emission Currently used as fuel additive primarily from corn (E85 blend) Global Implications: The success of this technology reduces energy and food prices Corn used for ethanol can be directed to food supply

Future Research Funding limited due to cheap oil Need to reduce cost of the process or increase production volume   Batch Fermentation vs. Continuous Fermentation - Brethauer, S Critical variables like temperature, pH, and concentration of yeast per volume of sugar solution are easiest to control in a closed system. Thus, operations are limited to the dimensions of the fermentation tank. Auto - Hydrolysis vs. Enzymatic Hydrolysis – Yang Enzymatic Hydrolysis has offered an alternate reaction pathway: reduced energy cost and higher potential yields rather than  costly steam cook conversion through Auto - Hydrolysis

Closing Sustainability: The process is a closed loop. All reactants are recovered and then reused except for yeast and enzymes. Not feasible with low oil prices Only predicted to be high again in 2030 according to API’s interpretation of the World Energy Outlook

References Brethauer, S. "Review: Continuous Hydrolysis and Fermentation for Cellulosic Ethanol Production." (Article, 2010) [The Ohio State University]. U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 2010. Web. 28 Sept. 2016. http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/science/article/pii/S0960852409015132 S, Samiksha. "Microscopic and Submicroscopic Structure of Cell Walls – Explained!" YourArticleLibrarycom The Next Generation Library. Your Article Library, 22 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.                                                "Vision." American Process Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.                       Waselowsky, Kurt. CHEM C3000. Providence: Thames & Kosmo, 2011. Yang, Bin, Ziyu Dai, Shi-You Ding, and Charles E. Wyman. "Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Cellulosic Biomass." Biofuels 2.4 (2011): 421-50. Future Science Group. Web.                                                "Ethanol Production." Ethanol Production Related Keywords & Suggestions - Ethanol Production Long Tail Keywords. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.