The Challenges for Biofuels

Maybe by using
1- Food vs.Fuel dilemma algae, waste or
marginal land ?
2- Can we produce Maybe; likely a
the amounts needed? high %, for a while

3- Environmental impact Lower than just fossil

fuel;more sustainable
4- EROI Try to be honest

Jonathan Gressel
Avi Levy &
Biofuel consortium
Dept. of Plant Sciences
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
Outline
•Zero Generation Biofuels

•First Generation Biofuels

The problems – food vs. fuel
•Second Generation Biofuels
- Lignocellulosics for ethanol
- Oils for biodiesel
•Future

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

The source of all biomass

Plant photosynthesis
is < (<<) 1% efficient

Photosynthetic
MICRO-organisms
can do better, ~ 4%

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 Traditional biofuels

India

Africa

Inefficient
Polluting
Environmentally
negative
Can we do better?

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 OATS was traditional biofuel in
temperate climate areas

Cultivated on ca. 20% of land

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Oats fueled all of farming:
mules, horses and laborers

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Outline
•Zero Generation Biofuels

•First Generation Biofuels

and the problem – food vs. fuel
•Second Generation Biofuels
- Lignocellulosics for ethanol
- Oils for biodiesel
•Future

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Ethanol: an increasing portion of the US maize crop

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Monthly production and net imports of fuel ethanol in the U.S. 1993-2012. Data from EIA

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

What are world implications?

Biofuels: Good News/Bad News to developing world

Bad news: no more cheap/free grain for food

security in time of famine

Good news: No more “dumping” subsidized grain,

sold
below production costs

Developing world farmers can now compete

and easily triple yields

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Biofuels: Good News/Bad News to developed
world farmers

Good news to grain farmers - prices stable

Bad news to dairy/beef/chicken/hog farmers

- grain prices high…

Bad news to consumers –

do not lower fuel prices, higher food costs

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Ethical question Europe (Japan) must ask:
Is it right to support eliminating rainforests
and jungles elsewhere, for Europe (Japan) to
import soy/palm oil for biodiesel so that
Europe (Japan) can preserve “Landscapes”?

Ethical question all must ask:

Is it ethical to drive a big car on biofuel,
considering effect on agriculture ?

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Is there energy gain for maize (corn)  grain ethanol?

(LUC)

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

All depends on how we do the calculations
Most calculations do not include:
- accounting of byproducts
- recent advances
- appropriate “systems boundaries”

Dale does calculations, based on ability to

replace petroleum or on greenhouse gases
produced per km driven;
Pimentel & Patzek strongly disagree
(you can do the math yourself, using the student ppt* on it)

* See Total Energy Analysis of ethanol production from corn

on http://wws.weizmann.ac.il/AERI/presentations
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
 Domestication of corn Hybrid
corn

Corn ca. 1492

Teosinte-
the
progenitor

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 Comparing Potential Biofuel Crops

Power Density [W / m2 ] (cf. to Si solar panel in Kalahari desert ~ 25 Wc / m2 )

David McKay SEWTHA Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
 Comparing Potential Biofuel Crops

The Economist 2009 Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 Area needed to replace 15% of USA transport fuels*
Crop Oil area % of
yield needed existing
(l/ha) (M ha) arable area
Maize 170 460 180
Soybean 445 180 65
Oilseed rape 1,190 65 40
Jatropha 1,890 40 15
Oil palm 5,950 15 7.2
a
Algae/cyanobacteria 59,000 1.3 1.3
b
Algae/cyanobacteria 137,000 0.6 0.6
a b
containing 30% oil containing 70% oil
* EtOH provides ~ 1 % (2012)
Calculated from Chisti, Biotech. Adv. 25:294-306, 2007
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
 J. Goldemberg, SP

Land Use to Ethanol

Brazil: 50% of sugar cane crop
160.00

1 billion hectares

140.00
 > 40% of non-diesel fuel
123 million hectares
120.00

100.00

80.00

60.00

40.00
31 million hectares

13.6 million (2011)

20.00

7.4 million hectares

Current ethanol production Replacement of 10% total Replacement of 10% total World's Agriculture Area
(Brazil + USA) gasoline consumption crude oil consumption 15
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
 Sugar Cane Ethanol Production in Brazil

25 million hectares of
degraded pasturelands are
available

In about 3 million hectares (1% of

country’s arable lands), Brazil
produces ethanol enough to replace
50% of national gasoline 87% of cane
consumption. production
J. Goldemberg, SP
Fonte: NIPE-Unicamp, IBGE e CTC. Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
First generation
not sustainable in medium term

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Outline
•Zero Generation Biofuels

•First Generation Biofuels

The problems – food vs. fuel
•Second Generation Biofuels
use agricultural wastes lignocellulosics
- Lignocellulosics for ethanol
- Oils for biodiesel
- Grasses
but… such crops were not domesticated for biofuels!
•Future (3d generation)

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

HOW ARE
How are plants built ?
PLANTS
BUILT?

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 HOW ARE
PLANTS
BUILT?

Fig25_05

© Materials Research Society 2012

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
 The plant cell wall is built of
Cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin—the most abundant
polymers on the planet—sources of sugars for fermentation

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Can grasses++ be turned into fuel?

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 Switchgrass does not defy the law of
conservation of matter; it grows best with …

water nitrogen fertilizer

Data of Lee et al. and Muir et al, collated in Gressel,

“Genetic Glass Ceilings, Hopkins, 2007Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
The non-degraded switchgrass residue is
burnt  energy for process

Contains 5-10% ash, > 60% of ash (=silica)

On burning releases 50% more non-precipitable
silica than coal*

Same with sugarcane bagasse/other grasses

Rice has highest silica content of grasses

How dangerous is burning rice straw?
*Blevins, L.G., and Cauley, T.H. (2005) Fine particulate formation during
switchgrass/coal co-firing. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power-
Transactions of the ASME 127, 457-463
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
Silicon not a required element for plants
small amounts may be useful
but not the high amounts in many grasses,
including sugarcane

Silicon transporters being discovered in plants

use antisense RNA or RNA-interference to
lower their levels?

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Process:
Heat + acid pre-treatment (delignification)
Enzymatically digest cellulose to sugars
Ferment sugars to ethanol
But half of cellulose is unavailable
208 kg ethanol/tonne straw
Claim: with present technology - Canadian
wheat straw could provide ethanol for almost
all Canadian automobiles; maybe, but …

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 Cellulosic
ethanol Acid, Heat

Is this environmentally sound?

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
Can less heat/less acid be used if grass is
modified?

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 Less lignin should 
higher grain yield
Despite common
suggestions / myth:
no direct correlation
Lignin between lignin and
strength

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

The higher the lignin content
the lower the digestibility

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 Solution:
Modify crop
for:
- less lignin
or
- modified lignin
or
- more cellulose

Should reduce the

acid/heat
requirement,
add to yield
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
 Wheat straw as feedstock for biofuel

• Abundant ~ 0.7 GTonne/year

• Cheap
• Does not compete with food
• 1 GT could provide 10s % USA fuel/yr?
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
With switchgrass and miscanthus, land must
be bought, dedicated to cultivation, watered,
fertilized and harvested.
Straw is available “free” - a by-product of
grain production
World grain production (»straw production) [MTonne]
wheat rice maize sorghum millet
million metric tons
568 579 602 55 26
Total grain (total straw) »2,000 million tonne
Source: FAO statistics – 2004

Why not use 2 GTonne of free waste biomass ?

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
Straw has –ve economic/environmental value

- harbors pathogens if not burnt

- requires fungicides on next crop
- releases CO2 when burnt
- binds nutrients while biodegrading
 requires more fertilizer - pollution

-Despite being ~ 70% carbohydrate,

straw has relatively low value
- as animal feed (less than half digested)
or - as bioethanol source.

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Is using straw waste sustainable?

Soil scientists used to say “no!”

because need organic matter in soil
(but straw used to be burnt in Europe)

Most now agree – OK, if 20% left in field

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Outline
•Zero Generation Biofuels
•First Generation Biofuels
The problems – food vs. fuel
•Second Generation Biofuels
use agricultural wastes lignocellulosics
- Lignocellulosics for ethanol
- Oils for biodiesel
- Grasses
•Future (3d generation)
Cultivate & use biofuel-dedicated crops
- perennial lignocellulosics
- perennial oilseeds
- ALGAE
but ….. first learn from what we are doing now
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
Oilseed rape is favored for temperate climes

Is it nice to the environment?

Worldwide, oilseed rape emits ca. 9000 Tonnes

Before the ban Europe consumed 18,000 T CH3Br

Is “natural” CH3Br OK, but synthetic bad?

Is it OK to double the area for biofuel?

*Gan, J., et al. (1998) Production of methyl bromide by terrestrial higher plants.
Geophysical Research Letters 25, 3595-3598
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
Palm oil  poor biodiesel (by transesterification*)
congeals at low temperatures
Must catalytically crack it - or mix

Needs shorter chain length

- antisense elongases
Needs more mono un-saturation
- engineer desaturases
Such engineering
 in non-cholesterogenic “palmolive” oil

*
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
Only by bringing genes from
elsewhere can we breach the
glass ceilings

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 fatty acid chains
LIPIDS
Waxes - polymers of long
fatty acids

Cutins - polymers of short fatty

acids; these are unique to plants

Triglycerides - three fatty acid

chains bound to a single molecule
of glycerol

Triglycerides

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Biodiesel from various sources

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
30% oil - seeds get US$140/ton (optimistic)
- fruits hand-harvested
- fruits dried in the shade
- seeds removed by hand

Is Jatropha
real or gimmick
(keep the poor
poor)?

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Some more info on Jatropha curcas
common plant names: Black vomit nut, Purge nut, etc.
common oil names: hell oil, oleum infernale, etc.

Toxins: Curcin (a toxalbumin) - similar to ricin

Phorbol esters - diterpenoids (alkaloids)
skin tumor promoters
No antidote known
See: http://www.inchem.org/documents/pims/plant/jcurc.htm
Jatropha poisoning resembling organophosphate intoxication
Clin. Tox. 44 337,2006
Imagine releasing a transgenic crop with such
components….
So, what to do with toxic byproducts?
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
 Curcin ~ Ricin
potent toxin
(slow death marked by vomiting &diarrhea)
Websites: “curcin is heat-degradable”
Reference:“degradable by prolonged autoclaving”

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Castor has similar problems as Jatropha
Seeds contain 0.2 to 3% ricin

1 mg/kg toxic
fill car with 50 liters (13 gallons diesel)
enough ricin by-product to kill 3 people
at lowest content, 45 at highest

Ricin protein “easy” to eliminate

transgenically!

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

Oklahoma bill against castor production & transportation
proposed. Why?

Castor beans contain 50% or more oil for

producing biofuels.
They also contain high levels of ricin.
Edible crop producers became concerned about
ricin residues in fields, equipment, storage
bins, and transportion.
Jatropha banned in Western Australia
as “toxic to man and livestock”
Approach should be to ban the toxins – and
stimulate DOMESTICATION
Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)
- Short term – biofuels from food crops

- Medium term –
biofuels from cellulosic wastes & algae

-Long term - … algae ??

and, very likely, successful biofuel

feedstocks will be transgenic

Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)

 Nature Beta Technol. (β-carotene)

Seambiotic (ω3),
Transalgae (fishmeal) Cahen, Erice 7-2014 (J. Gressel)