Eco-Aviation Channel

Biofuels face tough production challenges

By Geoffrey Thomas
Eco-Aviation Today, June 10, 2009, p.2

Although science is capable of solving the technical challenges of creating safe, sustainable, second-generation aviation biofuels, getting them into production in large quantities will take a major effort that may not be possible without government support, according to speakers at the recent Eco-Aviation conference in Washington sponsored by ATW and Leeham Co.

UOP Director-Renewable Energies and Chemicals Jennifer Holmgren reminded attendees of the sheer scale of the petroleum refining industry. "There are 750 refineries refining 85 million barrels of crude a day. Of that, 50 million barrels are for transport and of that 6 million for aviation, which represents 250 million gallons a day or 90 billion gallons a year," she said. But she added that there is no doubt that "renewables are going to make up an increasing share of the energy pool and fungible biofuels are here."

While great progress has been made on the technology side, the volume and pricing are major challenges, Targeted Growth Inc. CEO Tom Todaro agreed. Founded in 1998, TGI is a crop biotechnology company focused on developing products with enhanced yield and quality for the agriculture and energy industries. Sustainable Oils, a Targeted Growth subsidiary, supplied the camelina-derived biofuel that was tested successfully on a Japan Airlines 747 demonstration flight in early February.

Todaro is a big fan of camelina, which can be used as a rotation crop with wheat. He said TGI has "improved yields through breeding by 33% in two years of development and expects a 100% plus yield increase with yield genes by 2011."

According to Todaro, camelina is well suited to be a sustainable biofuel crop, as it naturally contains high oil content, its oils are low in saturated fat, it is drought-resistant and requires less fertilizer and herbicides. It also can grow on marginal land. Farmlands in Montana have been used extensively to crop camelina and it has been estimated that the state of Montana alone could support 2-3 million acres of it, generating 200-300 million gal. of oil each year--but this would only represent about 0.3% of industry demand. It is estimated that eventually it could be grown on more than 10 million acres in the US, still well short of what the industry requires.

Todaro was less confident about algae. "Algae holds great promise because no one knows what it can do," he explained. "We can do remarkable things. We can turn algae genes on and off like light switches. . .But the reality is if you want 100 gallons call me up. But if you want one billion don't call! There are far too many steps yet to go to give any realistic forecast," he warned. "Put it this way. I tell my algae group your job is to put the camelina guys out of business. I tell my camelina folks, your job is pretty safe."

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