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dollars. Plus, in order to discharge to the wastewater plant, the GEP would also have to conduct wastewater pretreatment. This added another several million dollars. Additional air emission control equipment would be needed for the project that was not previously anticipated. This, combined with the technical uncertainties connected with the BCI two stage dilute sulfuric acid conversion technology, led the GEP to reach a critical milestone in November 2001: the BCI acid hydrolysis technology was not judged to be financially viable for use by the GEP. Thus, a decision was made to investigate the use of a gasification technology to create syngas that could be converted to ethanol or other fuels. This evaluation, done in June 2002, indicated that switching from the dilute sulfuric acid process to a gasification process could have the following advantages: Increased yields of ethanol, with associated reductions in feedstock and other operating costs per gallon of ethanol produced Lower capital investment cost Fewer air emissions and wastewater effluents Reduced feedstock requirements, which better fit the initial needs of Butte County for disposing of a critical mass of rice straw Another decision was made at this time regarding the GEP site location. The proposed GEP facility would be sited in the City of Gridley as a result of a new Gridley industrial site becoming available, shorter transportation hauling distances from the rice fields, significantly reduced wastewater disposal costs and available infrastructure to better support the proposed facility. The gasification technology tentatively selected at the time was the Pearson Technology. Continued funding support from NREL was used, and augmented, to fund pilot testing at the Pearson facility in Aberdeen, MS. The testing was reported by TSS Consultants in a report prepared for NREL (TSS, 2005). Although the projections made in June 2002 appear to be overstated somewhat, continuing analysis by the GEP project team favored the use of a gasification system. The GEP was able to get funding augmentation directly from the U.S. Department of Energy to continue to pursue the gasification pathway to ethanol production. The GEP project team investigated several gasification technology companies and developers and, in December 2006, issued a Request for Proposals to construct and operate a thermochemical conversion system using rice straw to produce electricity in Gridley. Selection of a submitted technology is to occur in summer 2007. This RFP is to initially apply a gasification system using rice straw to produce electricity (and waste heat). The GEP team intends to implement the syngas-to-ethanol production as a subsequent step. In light of the need to have a proven system to convert syngas to ethanol, the GEP team submitted a proposal to the CEC Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program in Early 2007. This project, which was awarded a CEC grant in April 2007, 16
will use matching funds from the U.S. Department of Energy to demonstrate an integrated biofuels and energy production system for potential application to the GEP. This project will support the construction, demonstration and validation of a costeffective and energy efficient biomass conversion system as follows: Demonstrate that a 200 ton/day commercial scale thermochemical conversion system will be able to produce clean syngas suitable for catalytic conversion to ethanol. Validate commercial viability of a three-way catalyst (patents pending) for conversion of syngas to ethanol. Build and validate a demonstration scale syngas to ethanol production system. Integrate the demonstration scale syngas to ethanol production system with the commercial thermochemical conversion system to create an Integrated Biofuels and Energy Production System. Carry out validation studies on the integrated system. Develop a commercialization plan based upon the validated system. Some key aspects of the GEP to date that offer valuable experience and applicable lessons going forward are: Technology developer claims need verification Third-party review of technology claims are critical, as technology claims and testing indevelopers’ own labs are subject to scrutiny. Technology developers may not have adequate equipment and expertise to scientifically verify their technology. Such verification is crucial in attracting project financing, as well as permitting and other project approvals. Public agency funding mechanisms do not always synchronize well with technology development Although public funding resources have been available, technology development projects involving emerging technologies being examined for potential deployment may still suffer from lack of adequate funding. Timing of available funding resources may also not be consistent with the evolving nature of emerging technologies. Public funding agencies need to be flexible in the use of their project funding to be able to address necessary changes in technologies as they develop. Emerging technology projects utilizing biomass resources are extremely complex 17
Page 1 and 2: Northern California Rice field Asse
Page 3 and 4: APPENDIX 1. TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPER PR
Page 5 and 6: LIST OF TABLES Table 1-Categories o
Page 7 and 8: INTRODUCTION The State of Californi
Page 9 and 10: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report provi
Page 11 and 12: distributed production of bioalcoho
Page 13 and 14: from corn, sugarcane and other suga
Page 15 and 16: Table 1-Categories of Biomass Conve
Page 17 and 18: SECTION 2 - PAST CALIFORNIA BIOMASS
Page 19 and 20: the technological approach was too
Page 21: conversion technology at NREL, prep
Page 25 and 26: Report: Feasibility Study for Rice
Page 27 and 28: Environmental issues Market issues
Page 29 and 30: Presentation: Collins Pine Cogenera
Page 31 and 32: Syngas Production The thermochemica
Page 33 and 34: Alcohol Synthesis The direct synthe
Page 35 and 36: SECTION 4 - BIOCHEMICAL TECHNOLOGIE
Page 37 and 38: Feedstock Pretreatment There are a
Page 39 and 40: Achieving such cost reductions woul
Page 41 and 42: Another novel approach to bioalcoho
Page 43 and 44: have been run for a sufficient time
Page 45 and 46: concerns. This evaluation determine
Page 47 and 48: The data in Table 5 are based upon
Page 49 and 50: Thermochemical System (Electricity)
Page 51 and 52: SECTION 8 - OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALL
Page 53 and 54: For all of the biomass resource cat
Page 55 and 56: The above CEC and CBC inventories o
Page 57 and 58: Economic and Institutional Challeng
Page 59 and 60: SECTION 9 - GOVERNMENT ROLES AND IN
Page 61 and 62: SECTION 10 - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMM
Page 63 and 64: initial attractive application may
Page 65 and 66: SECTION 11 - REFERENCES Barrett, J.
Page 67 and 68: Collaborative, California Energy Co
Page 69 and 70: CATEGORY 1-THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
Page 71 and 72: and CO at the compression stage. Th
Page 73 and 74:
Range Fuels, Inc., Denver, Colorado
Page 75 and 76:
CATEGORY II-THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSE
Page 77 and 78:
Figure A4. Enerkem Process Diagram
Page 79 and 80:
The slag leaves the gasifier and is
Page 81 and 82:
Figure A6. Thermogenics, Inc., Tech
Page 83 and 84:
CATEGORY VIII-BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
Page 85 and 86:
Figure A8. BlueFire Arkenol Technol
Page 87 and 88:
Figure A9. BEI Process Celunol Corp
Page 89 and 90:
support systems and using the conve
Page 91 and 92:
several years ago, HFTA has been wi
Page 93 and 94:
Figure A11. Losonoco Wood-to-Ethano
Page 95 and 96:
OxyNol process. TVA is decommission
Page 97 and 98:
Technology Characteristics-The biom
Page 99 and 100:
Figure A14. PEC Biomass-to-Ethanol
Page 101 and 102:
CATEGORY IX - BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
Page 103 and 104:
Richland Washington, with U.S. DOE
Page 105 and 106:
construction of which could begin i
Page 107 and 108:
Figure A16. Iogen Biomass-to-Ethano
Page 109 and 110:
commercialize a biomass-to-ethanol
Page 111 and 112:
developed by CBE, is used to separa
Page 113 and 114:
Figure A19. DuPont Process BioGasol
Page 115 and 116:
Technology Characteristics-The Swan
Page 117 and 118:
CATEGORY X-OTHER BIOLOGICAL PROCESS
Page 119 and 120:
CATEGORY XI-INTEGRATED BIOREFINERY
Page 121 and 122:
CATEGORY XII-FERMENTATION OF SYNGAS
Page 123 and 124:
APPENDIX 2. CALIFORNIA ETHANOL PROD
Page 125:
Proposed Advanced Technology (Cellu
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