“Ethanol…..and Beyond” Food and Inflation: Truth & Consequences

GIC and University of Memphis Fogelman College of Business

Memphis, Tennessee February 8, 2012

*Source: Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, US DOE 1 Bbl oil = 5,800,000 BTU’s 1 Bbl oil = 23,200 hours human work

The Challenge of Replacing Fossil Feedstocks

3 barrels of oil produces the energy equivalent of one human worklife.*

The Petrochemical Economy Source: DOE/USDA Top Value-Added Chemicals Vol. I, 2004

Petroleum

Natural Gas

Fossil Feedstocks are Finite Resources

Feedstock Renewal time

Oil gas, coal (Fossil) 200 million years

Trees 5-80+ years

Shrubs 1-5 years

Grasses 1 year

Agricultural Crops 3 months – 1 year

Algae 1 Month

Source: Amidon, Tom, et al. Industrial Biotechnology, 2(2):113-120, 2006

What can replace Fossil Feedstocks?

Feedstock Key Chemical Component(s) Crop Examples

Oils Plant oils: triglycerides Soybeans, Canola, Sunflowers, Algae

Starch Sugar polymers (polysaccharides) Corn, Barley, Grain sorghum

Sugar Sucrose, glucose, fructose Sweet sorghum, sugar beets, sugar cane

Lignocellulose Lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose Wood, crop residues, switchgrass

Major Biomass Feedstocks

Source: Regional Strategy for Biobased Products in the Mississippi Delta (Battelle 2009) Memphis Bioworks Foundation, report at www.agbioworks.org

The Bioeconomy Source: DOE/USDA Top Value-Added Chemicals Vol. I, 2004

Sugar is the “New Oil” Novel fermentation technologies moving to commercialization

Leading Chemicals from Sugar

Ethylene Glycol Coca-Cola “Plant Bottle” Butanol, Isobutanol

Gevo (Silsbee, TX), Cobalt BP/DuPont, Tetravitae/Eastman

1,3-Propanediol DuPont/Tate & Lyle (Loudon, TN)

Bioisoprene, Butadiene Genencor/Goodyear, Amyris/Michelin

Succinic Acid Myriant (Lake Providence, LA)

BioAmber/Mitsui, DSM/Roquette, BASF/Purac

BioDimensions is developing Industrial Sugar Crops

• Sweet Sorghum – Single crop per year in TN

– 4 month season w/ hybrids

– Rotation w/ winter wheat

– Low inputs, drought tolerant

• Sugarbeets – Winter crop option in mid-South

– Storage for off-season processing

– Successful introduction & trials

– Sugar yield equal to sorghum

Sugarbeets, Whiteville, TN, 2010 Sweet sorghum harvesting, Whiteville, TN, 2011

Sweet Sorghum as a Biorefinery Feedstock

Component Composition Possible Downstream Products

Juice C6 Sugars Fuels, chemicals, spirits

Bagasse Lignocellulose Feed, cellulosic sugars/fuels, fuel pellets, materials

Seed Starch Specialty feeds, sugar products

Some Parting Thoughts

• Fossil feedstocks have a huge advantage for liquid fuel & chemicals production

• Ultimately fossil feedstocks are finite & cause other problems

• Development of alternative sustainable feedstocks takes time and money (think decades and Trillions)

• First generation technologies are always flawed

• New technologies and products must ultimately be tested and improved in the marketplace, not the laboratory

BioDimensions pilot-scale Biorefinery; Whiteville, TN

Thank You!