Dow studies cellulose-based ethanol production

14 November 2008 22:10  [Source: ICIS news]

RIO DE JANEIRO (ICIS news)--Dow Chemical is studying the production of ethanol from sugar cane waste in conjunction with its ‘green’ polyethylene (PE) project in Brazil, an official from the US group said on Friday.

The company plans to build a sugar cane-to-polyethylene (PE) complex in the Sao Paolo/Minas Gerais region in southeast Brazil, and is investigating the long-term options for the sugar cane waste, known as bagasse. The complex is expected to start up in mid-2011.

Jorge Gomes, technology leader for base plastics at Dow Latin America, said the bagasse will be burned to provide energy both to power the complex and for export to the grid.

But in the longer term, once the process has been proven, some of the bagasse could be converted to ethanol, he told ICIS news on the sidelines of the 2008 Petrochemical Seminar, organised by US-based Polyolefins Consulting.

This second-generation biofuels production process involves breaking down the cellulose so that it can be separated from the lignin, and then converting the cellulose into glucose.

Production of ethanol from bagasse is one of several second-generation biofuel production processes under study around the world as part of efforts to reduce competition with food crops and increase land yield.

Dow is studying the conversion of bagasse to bioethanol in partnership with various universities, located in Brazil, Europe, the US and Japan, Gomes said.

Other organisations researching the process for converting Brazilian sugar cane bagasse into ethanol include state-owned energy group Petrobras and a collaboration between the sugar cane industry’s technology centre, CTC, and Denmark’s Novozymes.

It will be several years before the production of ethanol from bagasse becomes commercially feasible. “I foresee this in about eight to ten years,” said Gomes. “We can do it but it is not economically viable today.”

Once the process becomes commercially feasible, the Dow/Crystalsev joint venture will have the option to add another PE line, he added.

Until then, the joint venture plant will sell excess electricity to the grid. Gomes estimates that about 60-70% of the electricity generated from burning the bagasse will be required to power the complex.

The one-day seminar took place ahead of the Latin American Petrochemical Association (APLA) annual meeting, which starts here on Sunday.

For more on ethanol visit ICIS chemicals intelligence
Bookmark Simon Robinson’s Big Biofuels Blog for some independent thinking on biofuels
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By: Anna Jagger
+44 20 8652 3214

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