ZeaChem says 2,000 gallon per acre threshold in sight for its cellulosic ethanol process; high-yield path with fewer technical challenges than algae

In Montreal, ZeaChem, ranked #11 in the Hottest Companies in Bioenergy for 2008-09, confirmed that it is on track to complete a demonstration-scale plant in Boardman, Oregon where yields of more than 2,000 gallons per acre per year can be achieved.

A slideshow on the company is located at http://www.slideshare.net/EntrepreneurTrek/dan-verser-cofounder-zeachem

Why the high yields – that approach the yields associate with microcrops such as algae? It’s a combination of a 135 gallons per dry ton yield from ZeaChem’s process, plus the use of fast-growing biomass such as poplar which can be sustainably harvested at 15 bone-dry tons of biomass per acre per year.

By contrast, the highest corn ethanol yields are generally considered to be in the 450 GPA (gallons per acre per year) range, based on a 151 bushel per acre yield for corn feedstock and the 3.0 gallons per bushel yields that POET has been able to achieve with its advanced process. Corn ethanol conversion technology such as POETs have been able to achieve yields in the range of 107 gallons per dry ton of biomass – the major difference is the ability of cellulosic ethanol processes to utilize faster growing feedstocks than corn.

Sugarcane ethanol yields are generally considered to be in the 800 gpa range, but sugarcane biomass remains the most promising macrocrop in terms of potential yield due to the fast growing rates of the crop, as much as 76 tons per acre per year in Hawaii. Brazilian sugarcane yields are generally in the 30 tons per acre range.

With the launch of the Boardman facility, the company expects to confirm that it can produce not only cellulosic ethanol from forest biomass, but a host of C2- and C3-based chemical products that have even higher prices than ethanol and offer a series of hedges against fuel price volatility.

Imbler said that the long-term advantage of the ZeaChem process was that the technology did not lose its CO2, and that conversion of wood-based cellulose “hits a wall at around 110 gallons per dry ton if CO2 is lost in the process”.

ZeaChem CEO Jim Imbler confirmed that, although the company has capabilities on a C4 platform (e.g. biobutanol), and has a current C2 platform (e.,g. ethanol, ethylene, acetic acid ethyl acetate), that its best commercial opportunities were in fact with its C3 platform (e.g propylene, lactic acid) in its early commercial efforts because “nature has generally dictated that odd numbers like C3 provide more opportunities to make money”.

He said that the company’s expansion strategy, as it unfolded over time, would target specific products (e.g. C3-based chemicals) based on partnerships with strategic investors, while producing ethanol, an “infinite pool market” as Imbler called it, on both a licensing and an own-and-operate basis.

Imbler said that the company’s focus on wood-based cellulose was dictated by strategy rather than a limitation imposed by technology, remarking that the partnership with forest products industry generally involved “larger chunks of land,” and that with other feedstocks it was harder to achieve conversion of farmland from traditional crops such as corn and soy and that it was difficult to get the the needed concentration of biomass with grasses and residues.

The company is looking at energy crops such as poplar that require a 5 mile radius of crops to support a 5,000 ton per day facility that can produce up to 100 Mgy.

Imbler also said that forest acreage was typically closer to suitable transportation infrastructure and often closer to end users than first-generation biofuels feedstocks. The company is partnered with the Greenwood resources poplar farming operation in the Boardman area.

Imbler said that the company’s long-term criteria for ideal sites were abundant feedstock, a strong partner and access to waterways that reduced costs for transportation by staying off truck and rail. He said that there were numerous attractive sites in locations such as the US Southeast, Alberta, and said that eucalyptus trees offered opportunities in other markets in North America and overseas

The ZeaChem process, according to company projections based on production rates of 15 bone-dry tons of biomass per year and an auto efficiency of 25 miles per gallon, would provide ten times the miles per acre as corn ethanol provides today. The ZeaChem process, according to the company’s internal documentation, reduces CO2e emissions to 1.45 pounds per gallon from 12.54 pounds per gallon with a corn dry mill.

ZeaChem, founded in 1998 by “two guys in a pickup” according to co-founder Dan Verser, has a research facility in Menlo Park, CA and offices in Denver.

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