The Catalyst Review April 2016 - 3

COMMERCIAl NEWS
first Commercial-Scale
gas fermenter in u.S. to
break ground...

Cellulosic Ethanol Comes Into view...

Last year, when two of the first major U.S. cellulosic ethanol facilities were turned
on, the prospect for a new, low-carbon fuels industry brightened considerably. Both
grand openings were held in Iowa, a state with considerable excess corn stalks, leaves,
The first commercial-scale, naturaland cobs to serve as feedstock. In Emmetsburg, a joint venture between corn ethanol
gas-fermentation facility in the U.S.
producer Poet and Dutch chemical firm DSM opened a 95 million-L-per-year facility
will break ground by the end of 2016,
to break down and ferment some of that stover. It was followed two months later by
according to Alan Shaw, CEO of Calysta Inc. DuPont, which opened its 115 million-L plant in the town of Nevada. But something
(Menlo Park, CA). In a collaboration with
else that was supposed to happen didn't. A second wave of facilities was expected to be
agricultural
getting the green light by now. Instead, producers and investors, troubled by reductions
giant
in a federal biofuels mandate called the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), are questioning
Cargill Inc.
domestic demand for fuel made from biomass. "The current phase is indeed just the
(Minneapolis,
start-up. To get the second wave to come on quickly will require a steady regulatory
MN), Calysta
environment and signal from the government that they will implement the RFS," says
plans to
Jan Koninckx, business director for biofuels at DuPont.
build the
facility in the
U.S. to take
advantage of
inexpensive
natural gas.
FeedKind,
designed as a sustainable alternative to
replace fishmeal protein, will be produced
from natural gas using strains of naturally
occurring methanotrophs (methaneconsuming bacteria) that were developed
by Calysta to convert natural gas into highprotein biomass. The conversion process
will employ a closed-loop reactor system
for gas fermentation originally developed
by Statoil ASA (Stavanger, Norway).
The closed-loop reactor is designed to
pressurize the gas within the fermentation DuPont started up its first commercial cellulosic ethanol facility in November 2015.
Credit: DuPont
media, speeding its dissolution into
the liquid. Calysta has previously
Under the 2007 Energy Independence & Security Act, the RFS dictated that fuel
demonstrated its methane-to-lactic-acid
blenders purchase an enormous amount of cellulosic and other advanced fuels,
gas-fermentation process at smaller
including ethanol, through the year 2022. But while the first facilities were being built,
scales. The new Cargill-Calysta facility will
the Environmental Protection Agency slashed those mandated quantities. Late last
eventually have a capacity of 200,000
metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of FeedKind year, EPA lowered the 2016 blending requirement to 870 million L of such fuels from
protein, which includes 72% crude protein, 16 billion L. So far there has been no word of requirements for 2017 and beyond.
Back in Iowa, there is plenty to do in the present. The role of the first facilities hasn't
consisting of 18 amino acids, and 10%
changed: Operators must prove that the biomass supply chain is reliable, the machinery
crude fat, Shaw remarks. Calysta also
recently announced the construction of its functions smoothly, and ethanol can be produced consistently and at high yield. Fully
commissioning a new type of plant can easily take a year. Indeed, five months on, the
market introduction facility for FeedKind,
DuPont facility is still not producing ethanol. And things can go wrong. In 2014, Spanish
a testing and development facility at the
Center for Process Innovation in Teesside, energy firm Abengoa finished building an 85 million-L-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant
in Hugoton, Kan. But it was idled last year as Abengoa struggled under a massive debt
U.K. Source: Chemical Engineering,
load. In contrast, DuPont is closing in on its goals for its first facility. Koninckx says his
4/2016, p. 8.
team is past any doubts about biomass supply. He expects ethanol production will start
this year. Source: Chemical & Engineering News, 4/11/2016, p. 26.

The Catalyst Review

April 2016

The Catalyst Review April 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Catalyst Review April 2016