{"344581":{"#nid":"344581","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech takes interdisciplinary approach to developing biofuels from forestry products","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022BigFirst\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWe feel it at the pump.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EFuel prices are at record highs and so is the demand for alternative fuels. But major scientific and technological advances are still required before economically viable alternative fuels become a significant part of the U.S. energy supply.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022BigFirst\u0022\u003EResearchers across the Georgia Institute of Technology campus are focusing their attention on biofuels. And while most experts agree that biofuels are not the silver bullet to solve the world\u2019s long-term fuel needs, they see biofuels as a necessary complement to conventional oil and gas.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBiofuel research at Georgia Tech intensified in 2004 with the launch of the\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.energy.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EStrategic Energy Institute\u003C\/a\u003E(SEI), created to enable, facilitate and coordinate programs related to energy research and education.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany energy issues are truly multi-disciplinary and can\u2019t be addressed by one faculty member,\u201d says Roger Webb, interim director of the SEI. \u201cThe Strategic Energy Institute has been broadly engaging companies to define projects that many faculty members at Georgia Tech can pursue in a collaborative effort.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis interdisciplinary approach was a major reason why Chevron Corporation chose Georgia Tech as its first strategic research alliance partner, according to Rick Zalesky, vice president of the biofuels and hydrogen unit of Chevron Technology Ventures.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGeorgia Tech has the infrastructure so that researchers from various departments work together in the same building to solve complex problems, and we think that\u2019s terrific,\u201d says Zalesky.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith funding from Chevron, Atlanta startup C2 Biofuels, the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gra.org\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Research Alliance\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and one of the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s new\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ornl.gov\/%7E5os\/bioEnergy\/index.html\u0022\u003EBioEnergy Science Centers\u003C\/a\u003E, Georgia Tech researchers are exploring advanced technologies aimed at making transportation fuels from forestry products.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers are examining and optimizing the five major steps required to produce bioethanol, or ethanol obtained from the carbohydrates in many agricultural crops. These steps include selecting the best plant material, preparing the plants for conversion, breaking down the carbohydrates into simple sugars, fermenting the sugars into alcohol and separating the ethanol from water.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChoosing a Plant Source and Preparing It for Conversion\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBioethanol produced from corn is being manufactured at a rate of more than 5 billion gallons per year in the United States, but concerns exist about the future price and availability of corn as a food crop if it\u2019s being used to help meet energy needs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBecause forest products are a more efficient source of ethanol and more than 5 million tons of trees are available for harvest each year in Georgia beyond what is needed for pulp mill and sawmill production, Georgia Tech researchers are turning to Southern pine trees.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESwitchgrass, a fast-growing tallgrass, is another attractive source of plant material because of its ability to grow in poor soil and adverse climate conditions, its rapid growth and its low fertilization and herbicide requirements.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/faculty\/Ragauskas\/\u0022\u003EArt Ragauskas\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E, studies the chemistry and structure of the starting plant material, known as biomass, to determine which varieties and characteristics of switchgrass and pine trees improve conversion to ethanol.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe also examines how different acids react with the wood chips to make accessible the complex interior mixture of carbohydrate polymers, including cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPre-treatment is performed under severe chemical conditions and very high temperatures. Understanding the chemistry should allow us to make pre-treatments more efficient, less costly and more effective,\u201d says Ragauskas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter the acid pre-treatment, the wood is placed in a reactor and exposed to high-pressure steam.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/muzzy.php\u0022\u003EJohn Muzzy\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, and Kristina Knutson, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, are working with Ragauskas to develop a continuous reactor that will employ mechanical energy and\/or boiling water instead of acid and high temperatures to break up the wood. That would greatly reduce processing and chemical costs while increasing the life expectancy of the reactors, Ragauskas notes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBreaking Down the Sugars and Converting Them to Ethanol\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter the pre-treatment, the cellulose and hemicellulose are further broken down to free the sugar for fermentation to alcohol. Commercially available enzymes can do this, but they are too expensive to use in biofuel production, according to\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/bommarius.php\u0022\u003EAndreas (Andy) Bommarius\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. As an alternative, he is identifying novel enzymes and engineering them to be longer-lasting and more effective at breaking down cellulose polymers to sugars than those commercially available.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe want to produce enzymes more efficiently and make them more active and stable, at the same time improving bioethanol production at a lower cost,\u201d explains Bommarius.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn conventional ethanol production, the sugars obtained are then fermented with yeast to produce alcohol.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/chen.php\u0022\u003ERachel Ruizhen Chen\u003C\/a\u003E, an associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is working to increase the ethanol production rate by using the bacteria Zymomonas mobilis instead of yeast in the fermentation process because it has a three- to five-fold higher productivity than yeast when making bioethanol. Chen plans to manipulate the enzymatic, transport and regulatory functions of the bacterial cell to improve the bioethanol fermentation process.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe lignin portion of the biomass must be extracted from the mixture prior to fermentation. Unfortunately, current pre-treatments break down some of the lignin, which enables it to be carried over to the fermentation process where it acts as a fermentation inhibitor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/koros.php\u0022\u003EWilliam Koros\u003C\/a\u003E, the Roberto C. Goizueta Chair in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is investigating efficient ways to separate the lignin from the cellulose and hemicellulose portions of the biomass. Koros, a Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) eminent scholar in membranes, plans to extract the lignin byproducts by pulling the hydrolyzed biomass mixture through a selective membrane with a vacuum using a process called pervaporation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELignin is an important by-product of the enzymatic process and has many potential uses. Ragauskas is examining the possibility of converting lignin to a biofuel precursor or using lignin as a building block chemical to make new polymers or chemicals. Professors\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/jones.php\u0022\u003EChristopher Jones\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/agrawal.php\u0022\u003EPradeep Agrawal\u003C\/a\u003E, both of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, are exploring ways to chemically fractionate pine and convert suitable portions to true gasoline fuels.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo produce a biofuel with a similar energy density to gasoline from renewable feedstocks, they plan to convert pre-treated pine to fuel using chemical catalysts traditionally used by the petroleum industry, rather than enzymes. These biofuels could yield higher miles-per-gallon than traditional ethanol-rich fuels such as E-85, according to Jones.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESeparating Ethanol from Water\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor bioethanol, once the sugars are fermented into alcohol, a significant amount of water must be separated out. This separation primarily occurs in a distillation column, which involves heating the mixture and separating the components by the differences in their boiling points.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDistillation is very energy intensive and expensive, and it might defeat the purpose when you\u2019re trying to produce biofuel economically,\u201d says\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/nair.php\u0022\u003ESankar Nair\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, who is collaborating with Koros on two separation projects aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the biofuel process.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA membrane-based approach would avoid the need to supply heat energy, and instead rely on differences in the transport rates of the components through a membrane to achieve separation. The challenge is in producing selective membrane systems that can produce pure ethanol. Polymer materials have been widely investigated and have the advantage of high throughput, but such membranes can\u2019t yet produce pure ethanol from a dilute ethanol-water mixture, notes Nair.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstead, Koros and Nair are exploring membranes that contain nanoparticles of porous inorganic materials called zeolites that are so small they can be dispersed efficiently into a polymer matrix. The very specific porosity of the zeolite should allow separation of ethanol from water. By using two membranes in series \u2013 the first hydrophobic to remove ethanol from a large mass of water and the second hydrophilic to remove any trace water in the ethanol product from the first membrane \u2013 it may be possible to design an economical membrane process for biofuel separation from water.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETaking a Systems Approach\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProducing ethanol from biomass involves more than these process steps. Researchers must also decide how to ship the biomass to the processing plant, how large the processing plant should be, where it should be located, and how to ship the ethanol to fueling stations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBill Bulpitt, an SEI senior research engineer who returned to Georgia Tech in 2004 after working 17 years for Southern Company, is working with students who are running computer simulation models that represent what a full-scale production plant might look like. The models analyze the costs for the various components of the system, which helps to determine the optimal biorefinery size.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen building a biorefinery, there is a certain size that\u2019s economically viable. That\u2019s what we are trying to determine,\u201d Bulpitt explains.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo evaluate a biofuel system, the project team must consider the energy balance \u2013 that is, how much energy goes in versus how much comes out. A biofuel system must take into account positive or negative energy balances, positive or negative net greenhouse gas emissions, and positive or negative environmental and ecosystem impacts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEthanol biorefineries could get a significant economic boost from the sale of high-value chemicals that could be generated from the same feedstock.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/eckert.php\u0022\u003ECharles Eckert\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and collaborators\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/liotta.php\u0022\u003ECharles Liotta\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and Art Ragauskas are exploring the use of environmentally friendly solvent and separation systems to produce specialty chemicals, pharmaceutical precursors and flavorings from a small portion of the ethanol feedstock.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/realff.php\u0022\u003EMatthew Realff\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;, an associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is developing optimization models to determine the best structure for a biofuel processing system. Realff \u2019s model integrates information from crop production through processing to fuel distribution. It includes information on the location and number of crop acres available, the current economic value of the crop, distances and ability to ship the crop, the economic scaling of the cost of the processing equipment with size and the location of the distribution terminals.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese optimization models are valuable to companies like C2 Biofuels that plan to build biorefineries. And they complete the comprehensive research approach Georgia Tech has taken toward optimizing bioethanol production process.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cResearchers at Georgia Tech have different strengths and take different approaches toward solving the problem of developing biofuels,\u201d says Christopher Jones. \u201cIf you assemble all of the pieces together, you will come up with the best solution.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Fuel prices are at record highs and so is the demand for alternative fuels. But major scientific and technological advances are still required before economically viable alternative fuels become a significant part of the U.S. energy supply."}],"uid":"28152","created_gmt":"2014-11-11 16:41:36","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:30","author":"Claire Labanz","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2007-08-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2007-08-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"42941","name":"Art Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News\u2028\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u2028177 North Avenue\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u2028Atlanta, Georgia\u0026nbsp; 30332-0181 \u0026nbsp;USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u2028404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u2028\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u2028\u2028\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBrett Israel\u2028\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-1933\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u2028\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ebrett.israel@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}