Food, Feedstocks and Ethanol Production Michael H. Penner Oregon State University Ethanol Workshop Series: Oregon May 8, 2001

Q. Is there enough cropland to produce both food and fuel?

Food Security – is access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life (from a World Bank policy study, 1986) There are approximately 200 definitions of the term “food security”. The definition given above is the one most-cited. (S. Maxwell, 1996)

“The simultaneous persistence of widespread extreme food deprivation and plentiful food supplies in a world with excellent means of communications and transport, can only suggest that there are fundamental flaws in the way in which nations are functioning and the relationships between them are governed and managed.” from FAO press release, January, 2001

Do we have an obligation to feed the starving in foreign countries?

Is it morally defensible for affluent people to spend money on luxuries for themselves while less fortunate people are starving?

RangeAverage Starch61.0 – Protein6.0 – Fat3.1 – Ash1.1 – Cellulose a 3.3 – Pentosans b 5.8 – Sugars c 1.0 – other1.0 Chemical Composition of Corn (percent of dry matter) a plus lignin b as xylose c as glucose

Corn Wet Milling Clean Corn Steeps Steep water (6.5%) Mill and Screen System Germ System Wash Centrifugal Separator Losses (1%) Adapter from C.R. Keim, 1999 Germ (8%) Fiber (10.2%) Prime Starch (68%) Gluten (6.3%)

Enzymatic Starch Conversion Starch Slurry Liquefaction Maltodextrin Purification Saccharification Refining Isomerization Adapter from H.S. Olsen, 1995 To Fuel Ethanol Maltose Syrups Fructose Syrups  -amylase Glucoamylase/ Pullulanase Glucose Syrups Mixed Syrups Glucose Isomerase

Definitions biomass: A term commonly used when referring to the relatively large amounts of heterogeneous matter produced by living organisms. It includes residues originating from plants, animals, and microorganisms lignocellulosic biomass: Those biomaterials whose composition is dominated by lignified cell walls from vegetative plants.

Polysaccharide and lignin content of representative lignocellulosic feedstocks a,b ComponentLignocellulosic Material StrawCottonwoodPine Glucan Xylan Arabinan Mannan Galactan Lignin sum of above a values are percentages on a dry weight basis b data taken from Puls and Schuseil (1992) c measured as Klason lignin

Biomass (cellulose, Hemicellulose, lignin) Milled Biomass Ethanol Prehydrolysate Liquid (xylose, 2-furaldehyde) Pretreated solid (cellulose, lignin) Mechanical chipping/grinding Pretreatment (Dilute acid, 180 o C) Fermentation Enzymatic saccharification (fungal cellulases) Hydrolyzed Solid (lignin) Hydrolysate Liquid (glucose) Ethanol fermentation

Q. Is there enough cropland to produce both food and fuel? A. It appears so, but does that mean we should do it?