Assessment of Conversion Technologies for Bioalcohol Fuel ...

CATEGORY IX - BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES USING
ENZYME HYDROLYSIS AND FERMENTATION
Abengoa S.A., Sevilla, Spain
Organizational Background–Abengoa S.A. is a Spanish company with a presence
in over 70 countries, including the U.S. Abengoa operates business units related to:
solar, bioenergy, environmental services, information technology, and industrial
engineering and construction. Abengoa’s subsidiary, Abengoa Bioenergy Corporation,
formed in 2003 and headquartered in St. Louis, MO, owns and operates several U.S.
corn-to-ethanol plants. Abengoa also has a major ongoing corporate effort to develop
technology for production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass.
Technology Characteristics–Abengoa is developing a novel biomass-to-ethanol
process, shown in Figure A15, with emphasis on thermochemical fractionation and
enzymatic hydrolysis to release these sugars for ethanol fermentation. In addition,
Abengoa is studying various routes for thermochemical conversion of the biomass,
with the goal of selecting the technology with the most promising technical and
economical attributes. The company is also considering using thermochemical
conversion of waste to generate syngas. This syngas will be used in a reciprocating
engines/generator to produce electricity and heat for the biorefinery.
Development Status–Abengoa is conducting a multi-stage technology effort for the
development of the biomass-to-ethanol process technologies. Following laboratory
and bench-scale testing, the company is building a 1.2 ton/day pilot facility at its
existing York, NE ethanol plant to evaluate an integrated bioprocess under a current
USDOE award. The company is also in the process of building a 77 ton per day
demonstration plant at the site of its existing conventional ethanol plant in Salamanca,
Spain. This demonstration plant, with a capacity of 5 million liters of ethanol per year,
is scheduled to begin operation during the second half of 2007. The company has
further plans to build a larger commercial-scale demonstration plant in Kansas. In
February 2007, Abengoa was awarded a U.S. DOE grant of up to $76 million for the
latter project.
Future Plans–Abengoa is evaluating several sites for its planned project in Kansas,
which will reportedly cost $300 million. This plant is planned to produce up to 15
million gallons of ethanol per year using 700 tons per day of corn stover, wheat straw,
milo stubble, switchgrass, and other feedstocks. The cellulosic ethanol production will
be combined with a conventional ethanol plant planned to produce an additional 85
million gallons per year. Process energy for the entire facility will be obtained via
biomass gasification. The facility is scheduled to be in operation in late 2010.
Based on the operations and scale-up of the aforementioned plant, AB plans to design
a 2000 dry metric ton per day system. This technology wil deployed at AB’s existing
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