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Energy and Products from Agricultural Biomass: Prospects and Issues. F. Larry Leistritz Donald M. Senechal Nancy M. Hodur. Presented at: IAIA 2007 Conference, Seoul, Korea June, 2007. Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics North Dakota State University.
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Energy and Products from Agricultural Biomass: Prospects and Issues F. Larry Leistritz Donald M. Senechal Nancy M. Hodur Presented at: IAIA 2007 Conference, Seoul, Korea June, 2007 Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics North Dakota State University
Renewable Fuels and Products – Reasons for Current Interest • High oil prices • Questions re. petroleum supply dependability • Environmental concerns re. carbon emissions • Present renewable fuel sources (grains and oilseeds) insufficient to meet future demands Hence, there are major incentives to develop a broader resource base and processing technologies to support a broader role for bioenergy
Real Gasoline Pump Price: Annual Average 1919-2008 OPEC Oil Embargo Short-Term Energy Outlook, February 2007
Potential Sources of Biomass • Agricultural residues (wheat straw, corn stover) • Energy crops (switchgrass, poplar) • Wood and wood waste • Municipal solid waste Agricultural residues are the lowest cost agricultural source of biomass
Biomass Conversion Technologies • Combustion (to produce heat and/or electricity) • Gasification with conversion of syngas to liquid fuels • Fermentation (hydrolysis of biomass to produce sugars, followed by fermentation to ethanol and possibly other products) Gasification and fermentation technologies have yet to be implemented commercially
The Biorefinery Concept • Multi-product facilities processing cellulosic biomass into a variety of products • Fuels (e.g., ethanol) will likely be the major product (based on market size) • Production of co-products could improve the economics of biorefinery operation • Biorefineries may be large-scale operations (biorefinery producing 50 MGY of ethanol would require 600 to 900 thousand tons of feedstock annually)
Cellulose Nanofibers Biorefinery Process Flow Diagram Enzyme Treatment Chemical Treatment(s) Milling AFEX Sizing Cellulose Nanofibers Wheat Straw Hemicellulose, Lignin By-Products Fermentation Ethanol Ethanol Biorefinery Integrated Cellulose Nanofibers Production Plant with an Ethanol Biorefinery Plant
Implications of an Emerging Bio-based Economy • Rural economic development • Environmental Issues