EERC develops new biomass technologies The Centers for Renewable Energy and Biomass Utilization at the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) are partnering with ICM, Inc., one of the lead companies involved in designing and building ethanol plants, to improve the production process for ethanol and further advance its use through nontraditional feedstocks that go beyond corn. The EERC is developing a new technology to produce ethanol from biomass materials such as grasses, wood, and straw. “Biomass ethanol is the future of ethanol production because biomass feedstocks, like wheat straw or switchgrass, require less fossil fuels to grow, harvest, and produce,” said EERC Deputy Associate Director for Research, Chris Zygarlicke. “It also allows us to utilize more marginal land, such as grasslands, rather than precious acreage devoted to food crops like corn or soybeans. In this way, ethanol production from biomass does not negatively affect the livestock and food industry.” Most of the ethanol currently produced in the United States is made by converting corn into sugars and then into alcohol. The EERC’s technology utilizes thermochemical conversion, which heats biomass to very high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, creating a gas that can be converted to ethanol and other high-value products such as methanol and butanol. Over the past several years, the EERC has made great strides in developing small-scale biomass gasification systems that produce gas that can be burned to generate electricity. Research is now under way to further refine the system to produce an ultraclean gas with low contaminants which can be converted to ethanol, using additional new technologies that are simple and economically feasible. Producing ethanol from biomass is key to meeting future ethanol demands. The Biomass Research and Development Technology Advisory Committee, established by Congress to advise the U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy, has set a goal to replace at least 30 percent of current petroleum consumption with biomass by 2030. This would equate to about 60 billion gallons of ethanol. Current corn-based ethanol production is 5 billion gallons. “Because of the increased demand of ethanol for transportation fuel, efforts to increase supplies are necessary,” said Tom Erickson, EERC associate director for research. “It will be crucial to increase levels of biomass ethanol production, which requires new technologies.” “Developing domestic sources of renewable energy is essential to ensuring our national energy security,” said EERC Director Gerald Groenewold. “The EERC’s Centers for Renewable Energy and Biomass Utilization draw on more than 12 years’ experience in developing a variety of technologies from biomass, which are of great interest to numerous industry clients worldwide.” For more information contact Derek Walters, EERC communications manager, at 777-5113 or dwalters@undeerc.org