BlueFire Ethanol: A Solution to the Food vs. Fuel Problem

The topic of skyrocketing food prices has become front-page news all around the world. Although several items have contributed to the meteoric rise in the prices of various grains, rice, and corn, the current U.S. policy on corn-based ethanol is considered to be one of the main culprits. The imbalance of supply and demand for corn as a result of its use in making ethanol has contributed to a surge in inflation in many farm and agricultural areas; meat, dairy products and bread prices have all moved up considerably. Additionally, given the acute nature of the problem, the U.S. energy policy and its support of corn ethanol is now coming under criticism, since 20 pounds of corn (enough to feed a lot of hungry people) is required to produce just one gallon of ethanol.

So what is the solution?

Several solutions exist, but the most immediate, and certainly the most promising, comes in the form of cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is fuel produced from the structural material in plants called lignocellulose. While typical forms of cellulose-to-ethanol processes focus on switchgrass and woodchips, a small, early-stage company called BlueFire Ethanol (BFRE.OB) claims to be able to convert municipal solid waste (otherwise known as garbage) into ethanol.

The company has a patented process to break down the cellulose and convert it into sugars, which are then fermented into fuel. The company had a facility up and running for four years in Japan and is currently in the early construction stages for their first plant in the U.S., which will be located in Lancaster, CA and should produce 3.4 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol by mid 2009.

The U.S. Department of Energy has taken notice of BlueFire, as well. Last year, the DOE awarded them both a grant and a loan guarantee – plans to build a second facility are also in the works. GM (GM) has also made several investments in cellulosic companies, however, only BlueFire can produce ethanol using a process called concentrated acid hydrolosis. This process is thought to be the most efficient and cost-effective.

Although it would be irresponsible to suggest that BlueFire is either an investment or take-out target of a major energy player, one could certainly see the company gaining some strong PR momentum in the months ahead as the food shortage continues to dominate headlines and lawmakers and industry experts seek potential solutions.

Disclosure: Author has a long position in BFRE.OB

Comments

[straykozel:]

The issue is not that corn is being used to make ethanol; instead, the fact that arable acreage is being used to grow something like Switch grass instead of edible products. Same for wood chips; are we ready to pay $5 per roll of a toilet paper?

Producing Ethanol could be from garbage could be OK, but not very economical. More practical would be using the gases in situ as is being done already in some locations.

In 24 hours of production 500 tons of garbage needs to be processed with 20 tons of sulfuric acid; then you need 4 tons of lime, 4000KW electricity and 2,880,000 gallons of steam!

The output will be 42,000 gallons of ethanol, 133 tons of Carbon Dioxide, 402 ton of ligning (solids), 33 ons of Gypsum, ons of yeast and assorted addiional waste.

Garbage contains many heavy metals; we outlawed leaded gasoline and now we will start burning in our car engines something with even more dangerous "additives"? Also , the "economically produced" form of Sulfuric Acid is produced in vessels mads from lead; in addition, this acid is very corrosive (oxidising) when heated - the steam is used to heat the mixture.... I rest my case.

Overall, I am strongly against use of ethanol in engines. Too costly and environmentally unfriendly to produce. Why nobody published data showing ethanol's impact on gasoline engines - is here difference in life expectancy?

Why we do not get serious about making fuels from coal and about using nuclear energy?

From gm.com: <<E85 ethanol holds less energy per gallon than gasoline. Therefore, drivers will experience MPG reductions depending on their particular vehicle and driving habits. This means that vehicle running on E85 ethanol may have a cruising range that is about 25% shorter than the same vehicle operating on regular gasoline.>>

2008 May 04 12:05 PM

[JJTERRITO:]

The facts listed in the article express my sentiments.Unleaded gasoline increases sulur emissions,which is as noxious as lead.Unfortunately the environmentalist have litle scientific knowhow and are the most vocal.Using a mixture of gasoline and ethanol does not reduce the consumption of gasoline because your ultimate mileage traveled per gallon is ten plus percent less;therefore you ultimately by more of the mixture and ending up using the same number of gallons of gasoline.The use of natural gas in motor vehicles is the fastest and cheapest way to go.Six Thousand cubic feet of natural gas has the equivilent amount of BTU's as a barrel of crude.Withe natural gas at $10.50 crude should be selling at $63.00 per barrel.More importantly we have the gas and that will lower or dollar deficit.

2008 May 04 01:16 PM

[NOWHEREMAN:]

Don't forget about Ethanol fires which can NOT be put out by convention chemicals.

2008 May 04 01:19 PM

[spencerN:]

Response to the first 2 comments:

"In 24 hours of production 500 tons of garbage needs to be processed with 20 tons of sulfuric acid; then you need 4 tons of lime, 4000KW electricity and 2,880,000 gallons of steam! "

Sulfuric acid is one of the most abundant elements on the planet, the lignin (solids) is reused in the burners or traded for electricity with a biomass plant found typically beside landfills, the steam is recaptured and used.


"The output will be 42,000 gallons of ethanol, 133 tons of Carbon Dioxide, 402 ton of ligning (solids), 33 ons of Gypsum, ons of yeast and assorted addiional waste. "

42,000 gallons of ethanol which has more than 90% less GHGs (green house gases) compared tofossil fuels or corn ethanol when complete life cycle is considered, Lignon reused in boilers, gypsum resold, yeast sold to animal feed industry... All reused!! Fancy that.

"Using a mixture of gasoline and ethanol does not reduce the consumption of gasoline because your ultimate mileage traveled per gallon is ten plus percent less;therefore you ultimately by more of the mixture and ending up using the same number of gallons of gasoline."

Not true - Recent studies proved a Camry using E30 actually increaed mileage by 10%, same for several other cars in the study. Some received better mileage based on the mixture - E10- E20-E30. What is now becoming common knowledge is the auto manufacturer can tweak the firing in the chambers based on the fuel input and get better fuel economy. We will eventually see on the sticker of vehicles : Ex: Optimal with E20 24City 38HWY - Just wait and see there will be more on this as ethanol is more readily available and car manufacturers see a cost effective way to meet the new CAFE standards.

2008 May 04 02:19 PM

[straykozel:]

SpencerN: The text below is from General Moptors Web Page (gm = General motors)

From gm.com: <<E85 ethanol holds less energy per gallon than gasoline. Therefore, drivers will experience MPG reductions depending on their particular vehicle and driving habits. This means that vehicle running on E85 ethanol may have a cruising range that is about 25% shorter than the same vehicle operating on regular gasoline.>>


The steam has to be made and to reuse it it hast to be re-heated again.

Yeast - we breed show dogs; yeast used in the commercial dog food is terrible stuff causing serious skin problems. We simply do not use it and feed raw meat.

For production of ethanol, sulfuric acid is made, not collected in the environment.

To burn solids from processed garbage you need expensive scrubbers.

Waste of time to discuss this to depth; Just buy something like Sasol and you will do much better than with this garbage crap.

2008 May 04 06:34 PM

[spencerN:]

Straykozel: OK, this is lesson #2:

GM is in the business of making money. Trust me they know that ethanol blends can give better fuel mileage in existing cars today... that they manufacture!! Please read this report from the EERC (Energy and Environment Research Center and MnCAR (Minnesota Center for Automotive research) www.ethanol.org/pdf/co...
In both the chevrolet flex fuel and standard Impalas tested they both experienced their highest fuel ecomony with certain blends of ethanol. This is without any engineers actually gearing these cars to optimize the particular fuel input, which for lack of a better fuel has been fossil fuel for ever... In this study they found that not only is the mileage better, but if the ethanol is from cellulose matter it is much-much cleaner.

Now, GM has been cranking out the flex fuel vehicles for one simple reason: their bottom line. You see, after a certain maximum quota of vehicles, let's say the Tahoe or Suburban, they have a penalty for producing such gas guzzling behemoths. The penalty $400 a vehicle. Hmmmm, but if they make it a flex-fuel vehicle, they circumvent the penalty... and it costs $150 to make the necessary adjustments to make them flex fuel vehicles... Now, there is a movement starting with cellulose and consumers want to be more 'green'. So GM will spin the story and sell the consumers what they want. Funny but in the long run this will pay out HUGE for them. NOt to mention they have now made 2 large equity investments with cellulose hopefuls Coskata and Mascoma.

PS. The sulfuric acid is reused and is a very cheap and readily available element anyways.

PPS. Bluefire is dealing with 7-8% of waste, which is the green waste, wood chips etc... The lignin is a by-product that is reused. Alos the yeast can be used for many different things other than animal feed. Also the CO2 can also be resold to soft drink manufacturers or even the oil guys to pump into the ground (sequester) to get the left over oil in older oil fields.

I hope you check back each year on the development of Bluefire and their biorefineries and how they are making a difference. PLease indulge me on Sasol and what they mean to cellulose ethanol?

2008 May 04 09:29 PM

[NOWHEREMAN:]

Insiders at BFRE continue to dump shares....

2008 May 04 10:59 PM

[NOWHEREMAN:]

Overall, construction of new/planned/partially constructed corn ethanol plants has stopped.

There is no future here.

2008 May 04 11:03 PM

[spencerN:]

Paultaut:
Insider trades represent a total of 0.01%. So exactly who is dumping? Insiders know that BFRE is going from small cap to large Cap over the next 5-7 years. Do your research first before you come up with nonsensical comments.

And Yes overall construction of corn ethanol plants have slowed because with corn at $6 a bushel, there is not much profit. Only big guys like ADM can continue to build during tough times. but that of course is corn, this article is about CELLULOSE which is not commoditized between corn prices and ethanol spot prices now are they? I believe you should be in the ADM blog.

So FYI- there are 41 plants worldwide and counting in the planning stages for cellulose ethanol, 28 of them in the US. BFRE holds the best technology which has already been proven, it's simply deployment and project financing time. Here is a great link to Ethanol Statistics which the first issue is free and after that it is about $1500/yr, so enjoy at least this first freebie. It is probably the best and most current info on cellulosic ethanol you can find - a definite must read.
www.ethanolstatistics.... I found this at ethanolfuelresource.co... as a side banner.

Cellulose ethanol is the future, $1.01 tax break per gallon coming up on the Farm Bill, DOE heavily investing into multiple projects (40mil grant for BFRE) so unless you don't care about the global environment, then keep your XOM stock, your nay-saying and your old ways.

2008 May 05 12:37 AM

[Norman Lepo...:]

Interesting article and comments. Very informative. Thanks to all of you.

2008 May 05 05:51 AM

[jjason:]

I have followed discussions on ethanol for about a year. There is so much "opinion" that it becomes hard to determine if anyone knows what they are talking about. On a recent trip I took from PA. to Los Angeles I used a 10% ethanol blend and did not find that it was any cheaper to fill up my tank. I look at data for firms like adm, Pacific Ethanol, etc. and some companies do not even have product to sell...but they went public...and someone, somewhere, is pushing the stock.

I guess I will just wait another year before I buy stock in an ethanol firm.

2008 May 05 06:28 AM

[straykozel:]

<<...the Farm Bill, DOE heavily investing into multiple projects (40mil grant for BFRE) so unless you don't care about the global environment, then keep your XOM stock, your nay-saying and your old ways...>>

You sound like an extreme dogmatist. Also the "tax break" means we have to pay for it. This Ethanol stuff reminds me of Potemkin's willages.

2008 May 05 08:08 AM

[Tom Caracciolo:]

I think it would be very helpful for everyone who has not already done it to visit two very key web sites that are very informative and tell it like it is: ethanol.org and e85fuel.com. Both of these will bring everyone up to date on what has already been accomlished, what is currently being done, and what is in store for the future as far as the U.S. is concerned.

In addition, anyone that would like to learn what all the other countries in the world have already done and are currently doing to stop using fossil fuels made from oil and to switch to environmentally friendly renewable fuels can visit ipdgroup.com and subscribe to their news service for energy industry professionals called ENERGY INDUSTRY TODAY. It costs very little and you will receive daily current world wide news that will give you the facts relating to the current global transition to renewable fuels. Some countries have made more progress than our United States (thanks to Exxon Mobile and other Big U.S. Oil Barrons that have been all too much controlling of our representatives in Washington D.C. for many years).

2008 May 05 02:55 PM

[straykozel:]

In response to Tom:

1) Researchers at Cornell University and the University of California-Berkeley say it takes 29 percent more fossil energy to turn corn into ethanol than the amount of fuel the process produces. For switch grass, a warm weather perennial grass found in the Great Plains and eastern North America United States, it takes 45 percent more energy and for wood, 57 percent.

It takes 27 percent more energy to turn soybeans into biodiesel fuel and more than double the energy produced is needed to do the same to sunflower plants, the study found.

2) Intelligent people act:

www.freerepublic.com/t...

2008 May 05 05:33 PM

[CC Sherrill...:]

If a satisfactory substitute for gasoline can be economically developed through the use of cellulose as the source product,then Congress should repeal Act prohibiting the growth of the HEMP plant in the U.S. Hemp has all the preferred qualities of a cellulose, easily planted, requires no cultivation and is disease free. Would
flurish accross the U.S, is highly productive and does not require replanting. Sugar Cain could provide another excellent product source. My source of information is Google and Yahoo.

2008 May 06 11:13 PM

[bobju:]

Bluefire is the only cellulosic ethanol company that has an actual process with patent protection and production experience that is cost-effective , even for smaller-sized plants, if one can believe their website information( as a chemical engineer I tend to accept their story). other coming cellulosic "producers" are not convincing, and most still rely on coming breakthroughs from technology partnerships with Universities or other research organizations.

2008 May 10 05:29 PM

[Diegojames:]

As a Organic medicinal chemist/pharmacist with 7 YEARS of UNIVERSITY LEVEL CHEMISTRY ETC good luck on ETOH (VODKA) as commerical fuel.

remember the german army in WWII used some ethanol because diesel was not available and they LOST. F-T process has alot more hope.
Pour some sulfuric acid into your trash can and try to fuel your CAR. Then consider the MINI COOPER with a turbo diesel and some small electric motors or a propane tank which is all possible NIGHT NOW INSTEAD OF THIS BS that is being proposed.

I am leaving a financially rewarding career to apply for free RESEARCH MONEY for SILLY compounds ....try feeding garbage to the POLAR BEARS and corn HUSK to the ELK in ALASKA..Happy Mothers Day WHILE I pour some ethanol over ice(MARTINI)

Maybe a methanol fuel cell will work before grass etc,wood chips. I know FARMERS AND TRUCKERS NEED JOBS. But Congress has give enough MONEY TO THEM.
Money to the CHEMIST OF THE USA AND THE PHYSICISTS. FREE HOUSING WHILE WE RESEARCH FOR OUR SALVATION.

BUILDING SOLAR PANELS AND WIND TURBINES IN NORTHRIDGE ,CALIFORNIA
ps WAITING FOR MY GOVERMENT CHECK

2008 May 11 03:21 PM