Liquid Biofuels: Substituting for Petroleum

The world’s energy system is facing diverse and broad challenges. As petroleum demand continues to increase, new crude oil discoveries are declining. Climate change related to carbon emissions is affecting governmental and company policies and strategies, and these factors are putting focus on sustainable fuels made from organic matter. Many look to biogasoline and biodiesel to dampen further increases in petroleum prices by filling shortfalls in global petroleum supplies. Biodiesel and ethanol production have grown rapidly in North America, Europe, and Latin America, and growth is starting in Asia. As the use of biofuels rapidly expands both in existing and new markets, industry players will need to make decisions in a rapidly changing environment. Major companies along the value chains, including ADM, Cargill, Bunge, Ceres, Syngenta, DuPont, Dow, Monsanto, Shell, BP, and Chevron have initiated biofuels programs.

Conflicts between fuel and food demands and fitting biofuels into the enormous current fuel distribution and vehicle infrastructure will particularly challenge these stakeholders. It is desirable to make biofuels that blend well with conventional liquid fuels or are "drop in" substitutes for them. Such technical challenges and commercial limitations on existing biofuels have resulted in significant resources being invested in new feedstocks and production technology. Biomass resources are potentially the world's largest and most sustainable energy source (i.e., requiring low net inputs of fertilizers, crop protection chemicals, irrigation, or valuable farmland). Only some of the new options will succeed in finding an economic role to play within the overall energy balance.

Nexant’s ChemSystems new study provides a timely assessment of the biofuels products and technologies available. Options are evaluated from technical, economic and commercial perspectives, including examining competitive routes and status, costs of production compared to petroleum, gasoline and diesel pricing, sensitivities to cost factors, and commercial prospects with respect to conventional gasoline and diesel. The technology and market views include North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

This study should be of interest to companies considering market entry or expansion, acquisitions, partnering, or offering goods or services to the emerging biofuels sector, as well as to other stakeholder organizations.

REPORT OVERVIEW

The following liquid biofuels and routes are included in the study:

Fermentation of starch and sugar substrates to make ethanol to blend in gasoline
Emerging technology for hydrolysis of cellulose, followed by fermentation of five- and six-carbon sugars to ethanol
Emerging catalytic technology to convert ethanol to mixed hydrocarbon streams as gasoline blendstocks
Biobutanol via fermentation and catalytic routes
Biobutanol via fermentation and catalytic routes
Trans-esterification of natural oils to biodiesel for diesel blendstock, diesel substitute, as lubricants, or as a lubricity additive for ultra low sulfur diesel
Biodiesel byproduct glycerine as fuel in fuel cells, gas turbines, boilers, etc.
Pyrolysis or thermal-depolymerization of biological feeds to make char as a more convenient gasification feedstock, and /or "bio-oil" as a diesel blendstock or substitute
Gasification of various biological materials to make syngas to catalytically produce:
- Fischer-Tropsch liquids (GTL) as a diesel blendstock or substitute
- Ethanol by syngas fermentation
- Hydrogen for biomass liquids or petroleum upgrading in refineries
- Mixed higher alcohols, as gasoline blendstock or substitute
- Other types of biogasoline
Anaerobic digestion of cellulose or wastes to make methane for gasification or fuel

Biofuels