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MBI International: Biobased TechnologiesNDSU

Darold McCallaOctober 12, 2007

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Outline

• MBI: who we are and what we do

• Ethanol

• Cellulosic EthanolTechnical Overview

Showstoppers

• AFEX PretreatmentDescription and advantages

Work in progress and objectives

• MBI Cellulosic ConceptsFractionating DDGs

• Summary & Questions

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Background

MBI’s vision is to be a premier partner in the development and scale-up of bio-based processes and products

Our work is with fuels, chemicals and materials from renewable resources

MBI is a Michigan not-for-profit company and a wholly owned subsidiary of the MSU Foundation

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Partnerships

Partnerships with innovators to scale upand commercialize bio-based products

– Close, collaborative, and entrepreneurial working relationships with innovators

– De-risk to establish technical feasibility and commercial viability

– Disciplined stage-gate approach– Flexible, secure, and market-friendly

approach to IP capture and bundling with partners

Partnerships with commercial entities fordevelopment of biobased products

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Adding Value through MBI Partnerships

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MBI Technical Core Capabilities

Microbiology/FermentationBiochemistry/PhysiologyMolecular Biology/Metabolic EngineeringBiochemical Engineering/Process DevelopmentProcess Design & Scale-upEconomics and ModelingChemistry Analytical ChemistryRecovery/Downstream Processing

*MBI works with MSU and others to compliment core capabilities.

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Current MBI Project Collaborators

• USDA, USDA/ARS• US Dept of Energy• Michigan State University• University of Wisconsin• South Dakota State University• North Dakota State University• University of Florida• Louisiana State University• Commercial Biofuel & Biochemical Producers

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Current Project Focus

• Bio Fuels –Cellulosic Refineries–Ammonia Fiber Expansion Pretreatment (AFEX)

• Fermentation Products–Succinic Acid, Butanol, Ethanol–Other organic acids for green chemicals

• Cellulose Nanofibers for composites• Distillers Grain – Value added products

• Fermentation scale up for others

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Ethanol

Renewable Fuel Standards (2005 Energy Bill)2006 4.0 billion gals 2.78% of fuel use2012 7.5 billion gals 5.21% of fuel use250 million gallons of cellulosic derived ethanol by 2013

A more likely scenario: 2007 6.5 billion gals(8/07) 4.78% of fuel use 2007 6.4 billion gals(8-15-07 new capacity under construction)

12.5 billion gals 8.69% of fuel use

2013 cellulosic derived ethanol – unknown at this time

Source: Renewable Fuels Association.

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Why Cellulosic Ethanol?

Availability– Wood, crop residues, energy crops, trash

Fossil Energy Efficiency– Corn ethanol: 65% of gasoline usage (/gal transportation fuel)– Cellulosic ethanol: 10% of gasoline usage

Greenhouse Gas Emissions– Corn ethanol has the potential to reduce these emissions by

52% over petroleum based fuels– Cellulosic ethanol has the potential to reduce by 86%

US Dept of Energy 8-07-07

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Lignocellulosic Biomass

Lignocellulosic biomass is principally composed of :– Cellulose: 30-60%– Hemicellulose:20-40%– Lignin: 10-25%

Cellulose structure is complex:

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Cellulosics biofuels face multifaceted challenges

Enzymes/Sugar Release

• Growing/collection• Transportation/storage • Size reduction

Fermentation & Recovery

Pretreatment

Biomass logistics

• Capital & operating costs• Compatibility with fermentation steps• Scalability

• Enzyme efficacy• Enzyme cost

• Robust mixed sugar using organisms• Dilute product streams relative to corn grain• Byproduct utilization

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Lignocellulosic Biorefinery

Source: Renewable Fuels Association.

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Challenges for Lignocellulosic Biorefineries

• Biomass availability and variability• Gathering, transport, storage and

preparation• Biomass conversion through pretreatment

(biomass to sugars)• Cost of hydrolysis – acid or enzymes• Robust organisms to ferment ethanol from

both hexose and pentose sugars • Process integration and cogeneration• Options for co-products

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Estimated cost ranges based on current technology and projected improvements

Enzymes/Sugar Release

85 - 50Range – cents per gallon of ethanol

Fermentation & Recovery

Pretreatment

Biomass logistics

100 - 30

60 -15

80 - 60

$3.25 - $1.55

Significant economic impactDegree of uncertaintyImpacts other steps

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AFEX Pretreatment

Ammonia Fiber Expansion (AFEX)

“An ammonia based treatment process that alters the structure of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin so that the polymeric five and six carbon sugars can be hydrolyzed to fermentable sugars.”

• Invented By Dr. Bruce Dale at MSU• Licensed to MBI for Development and Marketing

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How does AFEX work?

AFEX PROCESS

Reactor Explosion

AmmoniaRecovery

BiomassTreatedBiomass

LiquidAmmonia

GaseousAmmonia

Reactor Expansion

AmmoniaRecovery

BiomassTreatedBiomass

LiquidAmmonia

GaseousAmmonia

Reactor Conditions: 60-100 C, Moisture 30-60%, ammonia biomass ratio 0.5-2.0:1.0 (dry basis), residence time 5 to 30 minutes

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AFEX AdvantagesSuitable for many types of biomassNo degradation of sugars, starch or proteinLow enzyme loadingNo neutralization requirementsNo inhibitory compounds – fermentation Recycle of ammonia = low chemical costsLow waste handling cost – No wash streamsTreated material is stable AFEX solubilizes the biomass Potential uses for applications other than production of fermentable sugars

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AFEX RESULTSBiomass – Becomes solublized in Fermentation

AFEX treated corn stover in fed batchSSF at 24% solids

loading

Untreated corn stover in SSF

24% solids loading

Fed batch corn stover SSF after 168hrs

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AFEX RESULTS

• Monomeric Sugars after 72hr Hydrolysis (% of theoretical)– Corn Stover – 80% glucose, 51% xylose– Corn Fiber – 90% glucose, 4% xylose– Bagasse – 69% glucose, 58% xylose(Enzyme loading:15FPU cellulase/g cellulose, 42CBU Novo 188/g

glucan and 0.4% w/w glucoamylase)

• AFEX Treated Biomass becomes solublized in hydrolysis or fermentation– Allows for higher solids loading and flow-

ability

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Cellulosic Ethanol- Status of the Work

• AFEX Pretreatment (MBI)– Have pilot plant engineered and designed,

est. cost $10.2 million. Modular and operates at 3,000 lbs/hr

– Currently assembling a 2nd generation reactor for continuous operation at 300 lbs/hr

– A license has issued for corn grain components and corn cobs

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Cellulosic Ethanol - Status of the Work

• Enzyme Development for 5 carbon sugars– Corn hemicellulose sugars are recalcitrant to

current enzymes– Continued work is on going at several major enzyme

companies. All are working with AFEX treated products

• Robust Organisms for simultaneous utilization of both 5 and 6 carbon sugars– Current show stopper for all in cellulosic ethanol

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MBI Biorefinery Concepts

1. The initial breakthrough in cellulosic conversion to ethanol will likely be from corn kernel cellulosics in a traditional corn mill

Wet Mill corn fiber, Dry Mill corn fiber, DDGs

2. Stripping weak sugar streams from biomass on it’s way to combustion or gasification

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Fractionating Distillers Grain“Why is it important?”

• 18 lbs of DGS from each bu of corn• Fastest growing animal feed for each of the past 10yrs• A 22.3% increase in 2006• $20 million annual byproduct in a 55 million gal plant• 15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2013 which could be

33.8 million metric tons of DGS • The threshold for animal feeding in US is predicted to

be 15 million metric tons• Since 2004 DGS is selling at a discount to corn

• International sales or alternative uses must be found for the excess DGS production

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Fractionating Distillers Grains

Potential at 100% Efficiency

• Current ethanol per Bu. Corn 2.70gals• Ethanol from DGS, C6 Sugars .35 gals• Ethanol from DGS, C5 Sugars .21 gals• Potential Ethanol per Bu. Corn 3.26 gals

• Total Oil 1.9 lbs.• Corn Protein Feed (70%) 6.1 lbs.

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Fractionating Distillers Grains

• Current Dry Mill – Sales per bushel of corn– 2.7 gal ethanol @ $2.08 per gal $5.62– 18 lbs DDGs @ $110/ton .99

$6.61

• PFD Mill – Sales per bushel of corn– 3.256 gal ethanol @ $2.08 per gal $6.77– 1.9 lbs oil @ $0.32 per lb .61– 6.2 lbs 70% protein @ $316/ton .68

$8.36“Potential for an 27% increase in revenue”

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Project Objectives

1. Reduce the volume of the animal feed2. Produce a high protein corn product 3. Reduce the fiber content in this

distillers feed4. Isolate a liquid stream containing up to

most of the cellulosic sugars

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Fractionating DDGS-Process Flow Diagram (PFD)

DGS

AFEX Treatment

Fermentation

Centrifugation

EnzymeHydrolysis

Ethanol

Hi ProteinLow Fiber

Animal Feed

Solid Stream

LiquidStream

Drying

Fat

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Hydrolysis and Separation of AFEX treated DDGs

1. Current enzymes will solubilize 99.4% of the glucan (cellulose and starch) and 99% of C5 sugars from Hemicellulose

2. 93% of the available glucan recovered as glucose

3. 9.7% of C5 (xylan) recovered as monomeric (Xylose)(C5 corn sugars are recalcitrant to current enzymes)

3. 72.7% of crude protein recovered in solid stream

5. 84% of the fat is in the solid stream

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Nature of High Protein Feed (HPF)

• Volume is 34% of original DDGs• Crude Protein is 68.9%• NDF is less than 4%• Fat content 10.07%• Amino Acid Profile similar to corn• Any alfatoxins are destroyed by the

ammonia treatment

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HPF compared to DDGs

Analysis for: DDGSHP

Distillers ChangeCrude Protein 28.00% 68.90% +47.10%

NPN 0.30% 0.90% +0.60%ADF 9.30% 1.40% -7.90%NDF 33.90% 3.80% -30.10%FAT 12.94% 10.07% -2.87%

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Fractionating DDGs - Detailed Investigation

PreliminaryInvestigation Commercial

DevelopmentDetailed

Investigation

ExploratoryResearch

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BA

ProductConcept

ValueProposition

• Technology• Economics• Market• Process• Material

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Status of the Work

Distillers Grain Fractionation– Funding is with the USDA/ARS North Central

Region and SDSU. – Working with VeraSun's product: De-oiled DDGs – Currently looking at fermentations of AFEX

treated DDGs– Will look at adding hydrolysate liquid back to

whole corn fermentations– Need better organism to ferment both sugars

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Current Work Plan• Optimization of AFEX process for DDGs and

deoiled DDGs• Hydrolysis experiments with current and

experimental enzymes • Fermentation experiments - both ethanol &

chemicals• Mass and energy balances will be determined

for all streams in the process• Results from the lab scale fermentation

experiments will be incorporated in the current model to look at the value propositions

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Commercialization Roadmap: Cellulosic Biofuels

Cellulosics biofuels faces technical and commercial challenges

Effective biomass pretreatment is necessary but not sufficient for success

AFEX is a promising pretreatment method that is being scaled up

MBI is committed to AFEX commercialization, but faces reality offinancial constraints

Financially unconstrained path would involve building and operating a new biomass-processing demonstration facility

Such facility would enable holistic integration, accelerated scale-up, and broader deployment of promising technologies

The cellulosics biofuels opportunity would benefit from successful operation of such biomass processing facility

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Thank You!

Questions?