Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc. (West Palm Beach, Fla., USA) this past week released results from months of testing and data collection on dozens of lignocellulose feedstocks utilizing the patented CTS conversion process.  Corn stover, sugar cane bagasse, various grasses, hard and soft woods, landscape waste, agricultural waste, timber waste, and specialty plants were all put through the CTS system. The C5 and C6 sugars were recovered, solubilized and fermented into alcohols while the pure lignin was separated and collected. Extensive data on energy consumption, recycling, recovery rates, processing times and overall economics have been compiled. 

It's  a somewhat historic occasion for many scientists and researchers in this forest industry segment. For the very first time, a cellulose-to-fuel conversion process has the ability to meet the Renewable Fuel Standard as enacted by the U.S. Congress.

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS and RFS2) is an American federal program that requires a continuing reduction in the use of corn-starch based sugar and an increase in cellulosic based sugar for the production of renewable fuel to be blended into petroleum based transportation fuel in increasing amounts each year, escalating to 36 billion gallons by 2022 with no more than a maximum of 15 billion gallons from corn-starch ethanol and a minimum of 16 billion gallons from cellulosic ethanol.

The problem that RFS2 has generated is a serious problem for the Ethanol producers as they have been unsuccessful in using a Cellulosic Enzymatic Extraction Process at commercial levels. Only three commercial scale plants have been constructed at a total cost of $1 Billion and all 3 have been unsuccessful in producing volumes of Cellulosic Ethanol. Abengoa was the 1st at $500 million opening in 2013 in Hugoton, Kan. and closing in December 2015. In 2014, Poet in partnership with DSM opened a $275 million facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa, with the expectation of producing 20 million gpy only to deliver several tanker cars of cellulosic ethanol by spring of 2016, according to company press release dated April 27, 2016. The 3rd, built by DuPont at a cost of $225 million, opened October 2015, also in Iowa and it remains to be seen if it will reach its stated capacity. The common elements of these plants are the use of an enzymatic conversion process, corn stover as a feedstock and a projected gallon of ethanol production cost well above $3.50, making these ventures economically unfeasible.  

The design for solving this problem is in Alliance’s CTS process which overcomes all of the enzymatic shortcomings. The CTS process has proven to be the only cellulosic sugar extraction system that is not only in-expensive to construct and operate, but, is able to accept-and-process multiple cellulosic feedstocks on a continuous basis without the need for a pre-treatment, enzymes, liquid acids, applied heat, or pressures.

By example: if the CTS process were added to one of the existing cellulosic ethanol plants using their extremely high corn stover economic model and bypassing the pre-treatment and enzymatic process completely the cost to make a pound of sugar from the stover would decrease to less than 8.5 cents and the production cost of a gallon of cellulosic ethanol would drop to less than $1.70. The capital cost for the CTS replacement system for the same capacity would be less than 30% of the cost of the enzymatic system it is replacing. This is based on extensive data that includes: mass balance, utility consumption and labor rates, capital and start-up costs, finance and depreciation, product yields, feedstock, overhead, fixed costs, installed equipment costs, engineering and Lang factor multipliers. In addition, the CTS process is able to introduce less costly feedstocks bringing the per pound sugar cost down to as low as 4 cents in some cases and the per gallon production cost of cellulosic ethanol to as low as $0.90 cents with the right feedstock. By contrast, traditional corn ethanol is produced at a cost of between $1.35 and $1.75 depending on the price of corn.

The CTS process is the only known patented, dry mechanical process that can convert virtually any cellulose material into sugars and other products in a matter of minutes with no liquid acids, no applied heat, pressure, or hazardous materials of any kind. The CTS process when used in the production of Ethanol is clean, less expensive to build and operate than traditional ethanol plants or other cellulose ethanol technologies and is completely environmentally friendly.