In a significant push toward researching practical adoption of biofuel in previously untapped markets, three University of Idaho professors are partnering with the University of Washington and Washington State University in two parallel, five-year $40 million grants to develop jet fuel based on isobutanol.
Isobutanol is a type of alcohol derived from cellulosic (woody) materials. Chemically it acts the same as conventional liquid fossil fuels and contains nearly 50 percent more energy than ethanol, according to project partner Gevo, a chemical research company.
“The cool thing about isobutanol is that it’s a 100 percent drop-in replacement for aviation fuel,” said Steve Hollenhorst, research faculty in UI’s Department of Conservation Social Sciences. “Also, it’s hydrophobic, meaning that it doesn’t have the same problems as ethanol with water.”
Hollenhorst is working on the WSU grant project, Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance, which is researching the viability of distilling, distributing and using isobutanol jet fuel that is made from waste products such as construction and logging debris. More than seven universities and other organizations are contributing to this project, which is divided into three research teams and two outreach and education teams.
“Think of it as three research teams,” Hollenhorst said. “Those research teams start with the feedstocks, either in the woods or however they’re collected. The next step in this process is conversion … when we turn this stuff into a useful fuel. And then, there’s all these people working on what we call metrics — sustainability impacts. These are the folks looking at what the environmental impacts and social impacts of producing this fuel are.”
Hollenhorst leads the outreach and education teams. These act as a bridge between the scientific community and the public.
“If we’re going to move toward a sustainable fuel economy, we’re going to have to make all sorts of changes to society, away from petroleum and toward a locally, bio-regionally grown fuel,” Hollenhorst said. “That’s huge. That’s a big change. We’re going to need a workforce that can work in this industry.”
Hollenhorst said that at the end of the first year he hopes to have a K-12 curriculum developed that focuses on biofuel and alternative energy. This will be presented at the McCall Outdoor Science School to 2,500 students, as well as globally through web-based curriculum by partner organization Facing the Future. At the three to five-year mark, he said the focus would be on education about the production of isobutanol and the “isobutanol economy,” although this would be dependent on the scientific development.
“Basically, our job is to take these other three groups and the science they create, and turn it into useful curriculum for K-12 kids, teachers and citizens,” Hollenhorst said.
The technology for isobutanol creation already exists and is proven on a small scale. The main challenge, Hollenhorst said, is in scaling it up to provide realistic amounts of jet fuel, without incurring energy penalties in the production process.
“Petroleum fills a specific niche: It fuels vehicles,” Hollenhorst said. “It’s almost irreplaceable. The reason we focused on aircraft is it’s the most difficult part of the (fuel consumption) stream to replace.”
While significant advances could be made on improving efficiency within the current system, Hollenhorst said petroleum independence is important for three reasons — national security, reduction of emissions and the limited amount of oil available.
Working to bring the nation one step closer to this goal are UI faculty researchers Mark Coleman and George Newcombe, who are working with UW on its grant. The UW grant examines the viability of creating isobutanol from plantations of special, hybrid poplar varieties, which are provided by Portland-based Greenwood Development.
Poplar is a plant that has been domesticated for millennia and can be grown from cuttings or planted branches, Coleman, associate professor of forestry resources, said. This allows identical plants (“clones”) to be developed and bred without the need to produce seed. Also, the use of cuttings ensures the genetic purity of sample varieties.
“Greenwood is a company with a long history of poplar breeding in the Northwest,” Newcombe, UI professor of forestry resources, said. “They have a longstanding program of hybridization. Brian Stanton is the main breeder. They’ve produced very good clones that should be very productive for liquid fuels.”
The poplar is being experimented on a coppice growing system, whereby trees are planted very close together, grown for two to four years, then cut to within six inches of the ground. The trees grow back the next year and the cycle is repeated. Coleman, whose research emphasis is in soil sustainability and enhancement, said this can be repeated for 25 years, although Newcombe said ongoing developments on poplar varieties might extend this life cycle even further.
To determine optimal growing conditions for biofuel feedstock, new plantations will be founded in eastern Washington and Idaho, western Washington, northern California and Oregon’s Willamette Valley. These will be founded on what Coleman termed “marginal farmland” and other areas not being used for food production. This lack of fuel versus food competition, both professors said, is a significant advantage for isobutanol.
Newcombe has been working with poplar varieties since 1991 and said main specialties are in plant protection and plant pathology, or study and prevention of plant diseases.
“There is concern with growing hybrid poplar (with) closer spacing for biofuels, that some diseases will become more serious than they have been in the past,” Newcombe said. “Leaf rust is the most serious, and it tends to multiply when foliage is close to other foliage.”
To end that, Newcombe hopes to use recently developed beneficial microbes to fight the fungi and diseases. These microbes and bacteria, which act to boost a plant’s immune system, have shown promise in the lab, although the effect on such a large scale remains to be seen.
“Beneficial microbes directly interact with the rust pathogen,” Newcombe said.
One advantage of the coppice system is that it is naturally used by beavers, Coleman said. Poplar and other cottonwoods grow near riverbanks, and the frequent cutting forces it to grow back fully more quickly. Coleman said the project takes “advantage of a natural mechanism for harvest.”
“(We are) looking for an environmentally sound alternative to foreign oil,” Coleman said. “We’re not going to meet all our energy needs with isobutanol, but this presents a viable alternative. By the end of the five years we expect to have tanker trucks of jet fuel.”
Coleman said several UI graduate students will be employed on the project. He said this five-year grant research could help someone earn a degree.
All three faculty members said they are excited about this project and think it has a high chance of success, especially as the main challenge is that of large-scale application.
“It’s amazing that the state of Washington got both these grants,” Hollenhorst said. “It’s good for the Northwest and Idaho, too.” (NARArenewables.org)