Big Players Join Race to Put Farm Waste Into Your Gas Tank
With Federal Push, Companies
Propose Plants That Turn
Husks, Grass Into Ethanol
Delving Into Elephant Dung
WILMINGTON, Del. -- One way to wean America from its addiction to foreign oil might well lie in the muddy solution swirling about a glass container on top of a DuPont Co. laboratory bench.
Inside the liter-size vessel, a desert-loving bacterium is making motor fuel. The organism, which normally lives on the agave plant of tequila fame, is munching on the chopped-up leaves and stalk of a plant, and excreting a dilute form of ethanol, the gasoline substitute normally made from corn kernels in the U.S.
The tiny organism -- and others being engineered in competing labs around the country -- could hold the keys to a new U.S. fuel source: cellulosic ethanol, which can be made from crop residues, wood chips, switchgrass and even municipal garbage.
The effort to make cellulosic ethanol into a full-blown power source to run America's cars is embryonic, and its outcome uncertain. But the fuel has two big things going for it: High oil prices and backing from the Bush administration, which sees it as a potentially important part of future energy supplies and is putting up money to help launch the first "biorefineries" to make it. Adherents think it could reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil, cut emissions that cause global warming and shore up the nation's rural economy. Already, the race is attracting big names, with the likes of Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Royal Dutch Shell Group and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., investing time and seed money.
In the U.S., ethanol for fuel is typically made from corn. But growing corn gobbles up a lot of power in the form of everything from fertilizer to pesticides. The economics of cellulosic ethanol, made essentially from waste, could be different. With the booming economies of China and India helping increase the world's appetite for petroleum faster than new sources of fossil fuel can be found, economists figure there will be a need for tens of billions of gallons of alternative fuels within just a few decades.
"Suddenly, there is a race out there to develop a new source of energy," says Thomas Connelly, DuPont's chief innovation officer.
THE NUMBERS GUY
? Digging Into the Ethanol Debate
06/09/06
Until recently, the idea of squeezing ethanol from farm waste and other sources was barely clinging to life in the recesses of university campuses and federal labs. Few in the private sector seriously pursued the idea for the simple reason that it's far easier to make ethanol from corn. The microorganisms good at making ethanol prefer eating the sugar in corn kernels.
Getting the bugs to dine as heartily on corn stalks and wheat straw is tough. It requires huge investments in research to find enzymes that can break down the cellulose into sugars and microorganisms that eat the sugars. The search is leading scientists to explore the dung of elephants and the guts of cows. Genetic engineers are also modifying the bugs they find to do the job more efficiently.
To help prove that these problems can be overcome on a commercial scale, the Energy Department is staging a competition for its backing to build the nation's first three plants. The department, which has $160 million to spend on the contest, is requiring each candidate to have a pilot plant showing a process that can be successful once it is scaled up.
At least 30 companies are in the running for the aid, industry officials say. One player with big backers is Iogen Corp., a privately held Ottawa-based biotech company that has patented enzymes that can extract the sugars from wheat and barley straw. It has proposed building a commercial plant in southeastern Idaho, where it already has contracts with farmers to deliver the raw materials.
Iogen is teaming up with Royal Dutch Shell and Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment banking firm. Jeff Passmore, executive vice president of Iogen, says that operations at its Ottawa-based pilot plant indicate that a larger, commercial plant will be capable of producing cellulosic ethanol at a starting price of $1.35 a gallon. That would be far cheaper than current gasoline prices, although it is still more expensive than the ethanol from a modern corn-ethanol plant, which the Energy Department figures at about $1 a gallon.
ADM, already the nation's biggest maker of ethanol, is using some federal funds to figure out how to convert more of the corn kernel into ethanol. While much of the kernel is readily convertible to sugar, the hull contains fiber that the Decatur, Ill., grain-processing giant's ethanol-making microorganisms can't use. Figuring out how to convert the fiber into more sugar could increase the output of an existing corn-ethanol plant by 15%.
ADM executives want government help to build a plant that could cost between $50 million and $100 million. Thomas P. Binder, president of the ADM research division, says the company has one leg up on others trying to crack the cellulosic ethanol code: ADM wouldn't have to figure out how to collect a new source of biomass but merely use the existing infrastructure for gathering corn.
A third contender to watch is Abengoa Bioenergy, a U.S. subsidiary of Abengoa S.A., a Spanish conglomerate that is the leading ethanol producer in Europe. Late this year Abengoa will open a large demonstration facility that makes ethanol out of wheat straw in Spain. It will also seek U.S. federal financing to build its first commercial-size plant somewhere in the Midwest.
According to Gerson Santos-Leon, director of research for the subsidiary, it will be a "hybrid" plant capable of producing 15 million gallons a year of ethanol out of wheat straw and corn stalks, and another 85 million gallons from corn. Cargill Inc., one of the largest corn-derived ethanol producers in the U.S., has licensed to Abengoa a microorganism it discovered.
Meanwhile DuPont, the chemical giant, is figuring out how to construct a biorefinery fueled by corn stover -- the stalk and leaves that are left in the field after farmers harvest their crop. The company's goal is to make ethanol from cellulose as cheaply as from corn kernels by 2009. If it works, the technology could double the amount of ethanol produced by a field of corn.
Four-Year Research Effort
The technology grew out of a four-year-long research project in which the Energy Department and DuPont have each invested $19 million. The group working with DuPont includes Moline, Ill., farm-equipment maker Deere & Co. and Diversa Corp., a San Diego enzyme provider. The pilot plant envisioned by DuPont executives would cost roughly $50 million to construct and go into operation by 2010.
The energy bill passed last year mandates the first use of cellulosic ethanol, 250 million gallons by 2013, and allows federal loan guarantees for new cellulosic biorefineries. Congressional committees are considering additional incentives, and President Bush has made the effort the centerpiece of his energy strategy.
Until now, corn growers have jealously guarded subsidies for the corn-to-ethanol industry, which last year consumed 14.4% of their crop. Advocates for going beyond corn were overshadowed by the political punch of the corn lobby.
But the arrival of $3-a-gallon gasoline has helped persuade Washington, and many of the farmers who own shares in ethanol plants, that the industry is outgrowing the corn crop. Already demand for ethanol -- now used both to stretch gasoline supplies and as an oxygen-rich additive to make fuel burn more cleanly -- is so strong that many of the nation's 101 corn-ethanol plants are generating 35% returns. That is helping fuel a building boom that could double the size of the industry by 2008.
One downside: The boom is pushing up the price of corn. Agriculture Department economists expect the value of this year's corn crop to climb roughly 20% over last year, lifting the soft-drink industry's tab for corn sweetener, as well as the cost of fattening cattle, hogs and chickens. Largely due to ethanol, futures traders at the Chicago Board of Trade are bidding the price of the 2007 corn crop above the $3 a bushel level. Farmers in central Illinois are being paid a little more than $2 a bushel now. "We're seeing a demand shock in corn markets," says Michael J. Swanson, an economist at Wells Fargo & Co.
As a result, the Renewable Fuels Association, the group that lobbies for the ethanol industry, is now helping to build a political coalition for cellulosic ethanol. Beyond farm groups and agribusiness -- the traditional allies for corn-based ethanol -- some strange bedfellows are coming together: environmental groups, biotechnology firms, some major oil companies, chemical giants, auto makers, defense hawks and venture capitalists.
They're pushing the White House and both parties on Capitol Hill to create new subsidies and mandates to promote cellulosic ethanol. "This is on everybody's radar screen," says Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.
The cellulosic lobby scored its biggest victory when President Bush, decrying America's oil addiction in the January State of the Union address, set a goal of making the fuel competitive within six years. President Bush's 2007 budget earmarked $150 million for the research effort -- more than double the 2006 budget. "The tenor in this town has shifted from whether or not this makes sense to how fast you can produce it," says Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association.
Shouldering the Cost
Taxpayers and consumers are already shouldering part of the cost. Each gallon of ethanol sold is subsidized by a 51-cent federal tax credit that, along with state incentive programs, costs the nation over $2 billion a year.
Moreover, according to the Energy Department, ethanol contains 30% less energy than gasoline. That means filling up the family car with an ethanol blend hurts gasoline mileage. Among the 30-odd bills with further subsidies for ethanol pending in Congress, several require auto makers to build more cars that can burn the 85% blend, rather than the 10% blend that is mainly sold today.
Ultimately, though, science is more important than politics in this quest. In general, ethanol is the same thing as grain alcohol, a beverage that has been fermented and distilled from the sugars in kernels of corn, wheat, rye and barley for centuries. To make cellulosic ethanol, scientists are going after the sugar that is locked away in the stalk and leaves of the plants in the form of cellulose, the basic building block of plants.
Government laboratories and companies have long been involved in the struggle to do this, beginning in the 1950s when Elwyn T. Reese, an Army microbiologist, was investigating "jungle rot," a strange fungus that ate the uniforms, boots and tents of U.S. troops fighting in Guadalcanal in World War II.
Fascinated by a Fungus
The Army wanted Dr. Reese to find ways to kill the fungus, but he became fascinated with a family of enzymes that allowed the fungus to break down substances with tough cellular structures and feed on the sugar from them.
Michael A. Pacheco, director of ethanol research at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, estimates the U.S. has spent more than $1 billion on cellulosic research since the 1980s, some of it focused on ways to make the enzymes that Dr. Reese discovered more effective.
"The costs of enzymes were outrageous," he explains. But over the past five years researchers have dropped the cost of enzymes for making a gallon of cellulosic ethanol to less than 50 cents from $6, making it possible now to think of building large commercial plants. There is a lot of room for companies to experiment here, says Dr. Pacheco. "You can wind up using two dozen different enzymes in the cocktail that works for you," he explains.
He said DOE and company researchers are also exploring ways to make ethanol easier to use for the oil companies. Currently ethanol-blended fuels can't be shipped by pipelines because they mix with water and become diluted as they move through the pipes. So for now, all ethanol must be moved by trucks or trains and blended close to where it's sold.
But there is also more basic work that needs to be done, he warns. The sugars released by the new enzymes are different from those squeezed from corn and much tougher to ferment.
Advocates for cellulosic ethanol say the task is so daunting that massive government help is needed. Michigan State Prof. Bruce Dale, a leading authority on cellulosic ethanol, argues that the government needs to spend $2 billion in the next few years. Corporate executives want a federal effort akin to the space program. "We need something galvanizing," says Mr. Connelly, the DuPont chief scientist.
Even though DuPont has deep pockets for experimental work, spending $1.3 billion annually on research and development, company executives say the difficulty of turning biomass into fuel makes it such a risky venture that they probably wouldn't attempt it without government backing. "It's so challenging that cellulosic ethanol wouldn't have made the cut," says John Ranieri, a DuPont vice president.
DuPont's big breakthrough so far is genetically modifying an ethanol-producing bacterium -- Zymomonas mobilis -- so that it is good at eating both the glucose sugar found in the corn kernel and the xylose sugar locked away in cellulose, a crystalline structure that is hard to break apart. Scientists say the trick is akin to getting someone to eat their salad when given the choice of cheesecake.
Ultimately, high oil prices may be the best thing cellulosic ethanol has going for it. "If the price of oil stays at $50 a barrel and above, all of these things will happen," predicts Mr. Santos-Leon, director of research for Abengoa's subsidiary. Below that, he warns, it's still possible to have the "legs pulled off" the nascent industry.
变废为宝照亮汽车燃料未来
使美国摆脱对海外石油依赖的方法很可能就存在于杜邦公司(DuPont Co.)实验室内一个笼罩著神秘面纱的玻璃容器中。
在这个容积为1公升的器皿内，一种喜在沙漠中生存的细菌正在制造汽车燃料。这种通常寄生于龙舌兰属植物上的有机物一面大嚼著粉碎后的植物茎、叶，一面排放出一种稀状乙醇。在美国，乙醇这种汽油替代品通常是用玉米粒加工生产的。
这种微小的有机物有可能掌握著美国一个新燃料来源的关键环节──纤维素乙醇。美国许多其他实验室也在竞相培育这类有机物。农作物残渣、木屑、柳枝稷甚至城市垃圾都可用来生产纤维素乙醇。
使纤维素乙醇成为美国汽车的常用燃料这项工作只是刚刚开了个头，最终结果会怎样目前为也无法确定。但这项工作有两大因素推动：高企的油价以及布什政府(Bush administration)的支持。布什政府认为这种燃料有可能成为未来能源供应的一个重要组成部分，它正投入资金帮助兴建生产这一燃料的首座“生物炼厂”。支持者认为，这种燃料能够降低美国对进口石油的依赖，减少引发全球变暖的废气排放，并能推动美国农村经济的发展。这场开发新能源的竞赛已经吸引了ADM公司(Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.)、荷兰皇家壳牌有限公司(Royal Dutch Shell Group)和高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.)等重量级企业前来参与，它们纷纷投入了资金和精力。
在美国，用作燃料的乙醇通常是用玉米生产的。但种植玉米却需要消耗很多能源，因为在这一过程中使用的肥料和杀虫剂等诸多产品都需消耗电能去生产。生产纤维素乙醇的经济性就不同了，因为它需要的原料主要是废品。由于中国和印度经济的蓬勃发展，一定程度上导致世界石油需求量的增长速度超过了化石燃料的勘探速度，经济学家们指出，未来几十年中世界将需要成百上千亿加仑替代燃料。
杜邦公司的首席创新官托马斯?康纳利(Thomas Connelly)说：“突然之间，开辟一种能源新来源的竞赛开始了。”
从农业废料和其他原料中获取乙醇的想法直到不久前才从大学校园和联邦实验室的某些角落中冒出来。私人领域几乎没人认真看待这一想法，原因很简单，用玉米来生产乙醇要容易得多。擅长分泌乙醇的微生物更加锺爱玉米粒中的糖分。
让这些微生物喜欢上玉米秆和麦秸不是件容易的事。要找到能将纤维素分解成糖分的酵素以及喜欢以糖为食的微生物，都需要投入巨额的研究经费。科学家们为此还探究了大象的粪便和奶牛的内脏。遗传工程学家们也正对他们找来从事这一乙醇生产工作的微生物进行改造，以提高其工作效率。
为了证实上述问题能够找到具有商业可行性的解决办法，美国能源部(Energy Department)计划为美国首建的三座纤维素乙醇生产厂提供资助，并号召社会企业前来竞争这一资助。能源部提供的援助资金为1.6亿美元，它宣布各竞标单位都需建立一座试验工厂，以显示其生产程序能适应大规模生产的需要。
行业官员们表示，至少有30家公司正在申请这笔资助。非上市企业Iogen Corp.就是其中一家，这家总部位于艾奥瓦州的生物科技公司拥有实力雄厚的支持者，它开发出了几种已取得专利的酵素，这些酵素能从小麦和大麦的秸秆中萃取糖分。这家公司已计划在爱达荷州东南部建造一座可从事商业化生产的纤维素乙醇工厂，已经与当地农民签订了原料收购合同。
Iogen的合作伙伴是荷兰皇家壳牌有限公司和华尔街的投资银行高盛集团。该公司执行副总裁杰夫?帕斯默(Jeff Passmore)说，公司设在渥太华的试验工厂的运行情况看，Iogen有能力在规模更大的商业化生产中制造出价格不超过每加仑1.35美元的纤维素乙醇。这一价格要远低于目前的汽油价格，不过比现代化玉米乙醇生产厂的产品价格要高。美国能源部估算后者的价格约为每加仑1美元。
ADM公司已经是美国最大的乙醇生产商，它正在使用一些联邦资金来研究从如何从玉米粒中萃取更多乙醇。虽然玉米粒的大部分成分目前已能被转化成糖分，但该公司尚未找到令微生物以玉米粒纤维为食的方法。如果能找到使这些纤维转化为糖分的办法，该公司现有玉米乙醇工厂的产量将增加15%。
ADM的管理人士希望政府帮助该公司建造一座耗资5,000万至1亿美元的工厂。公司研究部门的总裁托马斯?宾德(Thomas P. Binder)说，ADM较那些希望破解纤维素乙醇生产之谜的其他公司领先一步：ADM无需找到一种收集新型生物原料的方法，只需利用现有的玉米收集设施即可。
另外一家值得关注的竞标者是西班牙大企业Abengoa S.A在美国的子公司Abengoa Bioenergy，这家西班牙公司是欧洲主要的乙醇生产商。今年晚些时候Abengoa将在西班牙开设一个大型展示设施，向人们展示从麦秸中提取乙醇的过程。该公司还希望获得美国联邦政府的资助，以便在美国中西部的某个地方兴建其第一座商业化纤维素乙醇生产厂。
据Abengoa Bioenergy的研究负责人桑托斯-利昂(Gerson Santos-Leon)说，这将是一座“混合型”工厂，它每年能用麦秸和玉米秆生产1,500万加仑乙醇，用玉米生产8,500万加仑乙醇。美国最大的玉米乙醇生产商之一嘉吉公司(Cargill Inc)已将自己找到的一种可生产乙醇的微生物授权给Abengoa使用。
与此同时，化工业巨头杜邦公司正在研究如何建造一座以玉米秆和玉米叶为原料的生物炼厂。该公司的目标是，到2009年时，将把用纤维素生产乙醇的成本降到用玉米粒生产乙醇的水平。如果成功，这种技术将使一块地所产玉米的乙醇萃取量增加一倍。
这项技术源自一个为期四年的研究项目，美国能源部和杜邦公司在这一项目上各投资了1,900万美元。杜邦公司在这方面的合作伙伴包括农用设备生产商迪尔公司(Deere & Co.)以及酵素供应商Diversa Corp.。杜邦公司的管理人士预计，他们为此建造的试验工厂将耗资5,000万美元，该厂将在2010年前投入运营。
去年通过的能源法案要求，到2013年，纤维素乙醇的使用量要达到2.5亿加仑，并允许对纤维素“生物炼厂”的贷款提供政府担保。国会委员会还在考虑更多鼓励措施，布什总统也将乙醇发展计划列为其能源战略的核心项目。
直到目前，玉米种植业一直享受著政府对玉米乙醇的补贴，这让其他人非常嫉妒。去年，用于生产乙醇的玉米占到总收成的14.4%。虽然过去也有人鼓吹使用玉米之外的其他谷物，但玉米种植业游说团体的政治实力显然更强大。
但是，每加仑3美元的汽油价格让华盛顿和许多持有乙醇生产商股票的农民相信，纤维素乙醇行业的发展将比玉米的生长速度还要快。对乙醇的需求相当强劲，全美的101家玉米乙醇加工厂中有许多投资回报率高达35%。这大大激发了新建加工厂的热潮，预计到2008年，乙醇加工行业的规模将较目前扩大一倍。
不过，这股热潮也推高了玉米价格。美国农业部的经济学家预计，今年的玉米产值将较去年增长20%左右，软饮料所用的玉米甜味剂的价格将上涨，肥牛、生猪和肉鸡的饲养成本也将上升。
由于乙醇的关系，芝加哥商品交易所的交易员已将2007年玉米期货的价格推高到每蒲式耳3美元以上。伊利诺伊州玉米种植户现在每蒲式耳玉米能卖到2美元多。富国银行(Wells Fargo & Co.)经济学家麦克尔?斯万森(Michael J. Swanson)说，玉米市场的需求涨势惊人。
在这种局面下，再生能源协会(Renewable Fuels Association)现在正在协调组建支持生产纤维素乙醇的政治联盟。除了农业团体和农产品综合企业这两大玉米乙醇的一贯支持者之外，他们还找到了一些看似奇怪的同盟军，其中包括环保团体、生物技术公司、一些大型石油公司、化工巨头、汽车制造商、好战人士及风险投资家等等。
农业部长麦克?约翰斯(Mike Johanns)说，他们正在推动白宫和国会两党制定新的补贴政策和相关法规，促进纤维素乙醇产业的发展。
该团体已经取得一项重大成果：它成功促使布什总统在今年1月发表国情咨文时，在批评美国过度依赖石油的同时，将提高乙醇燃料的市场竞争力作为未来6年的努力目标之一。布什总统在2007年的预算里给玉米乙醇研发计划拨款1.5亿美元，较2006年增加了一倍有余。再生能源协会主席鲍伯?达尼恩(Bob Dinneen)说，现在的问题不是要不要发展玉米乙醇，而是应该以怎样的速度发展。
实际上，美国纳税人和消费者早已开始分担这方面的成本了。每卖出1加仑乙醇，联邦财政就要补贴51美分。再加上各州的鼓励政策，每年全美国要为乙醇贴补20亿美元。
还有，根据能源部的数据，单位容量乙醇所含能量较汽油低30%，也就是说，在汽油里掺入乙醇会降低单位容量燃油所能行驶的里程数。在国会收到的30多项要求对乙醇提供补贴的议案中，有好几项要求汽车制造商生产更多能使用含85%乙醇的汽油的车辆。而不是目前销售的10%乙醇含量的车用燃油。
不过，在这个问题上，最终起决定性作用的是科学而不是政治。总的来说，乙醇和粮食酒是一回事儿。几个世纪以来，人们都在用玉米粒、小麦、黑麦和大麦中的糖分发酵萃取酒精。为了生产纤维素乙醇，科学家们尝试利用农作物茎叶中以纤维素形式储存的糖分。
政府实验室和企业早就在研究这些了。五十年代时，美国陆军微生物学家艾尔文?T.里斯(Elwyn T. Reese)就开始研究一种“丛林皮病”，二战中在瓜达尔卡纳尔战斗的美国士兵遇到了一种奇怪的真菌，它们吞噬士兵的制服、战靴和帐篷。
军方希望里斯找到一种办法杀死这些真菌，但他迷上了一类酵素，它们能分解具有结实细胞结构的物质，并以从中获得的糖份为食。
能源部国家再生能源实验室(National Renewable Energy Laboratory)乙醇研究部门主管麦克尔?帕切科(Michael A. Pacheco)估计，八十年代以来，美国在纤维素乙醇研究领域已经斥资逾10亿美元，有一部分资金就是尝试各种方法，让里斯发现的酵素更有效率。
他解释说，酵素的成本大得惊人。不过，最近这5年来，研究人员已经将每加仑纤维素乙醇所用酵素的成本从6美元降低到不足50美分，才让商业化生产变得可行。帕切科说，在这个基础上企业进行试验的空间很大，用二十多种不同的酵素参与生产也没什么不行。
他还说，能源部和相关企业也在研究让乙醇更易被石油公司利用的各种方法。眼下，含有乙醇的燃料不能用管道运输，因为这其中含有水分，在管道中会逐渐被稀释。所以现在的情况是，必须用卡车和火车将乙醇运到售卖地附近，就近混合。
但他也警告说，还有很多需要完成的基础工作。新酵素排放的糖分与玉米中萃取的糖分不同，更难发酵。
支持开发纤维素乙醇的人们认为，如此繁重的工作必须政府部门提供援助。纤维素乙醇领域的专家布鲁斯?达尔(Bruce Dale)教授说，未来几年政府应当为此支出20亿美元。企业高级管理人士则希望政府能像支持航天项目那样支持纤维素乙醇。
杜邦每年的研发支出高达13亿美元，但即使是这样财大气粗的企业也表示这项研究风险太大，没有政府的支持公司是不会动手的。
截至目前，杜邦取得的重大突破就是基因改良了乙醇生产用细菌运动发酵单胞菌（Zymomonas mobilis），让它们在分解玉米粒中的葡萄糖和纤维中的木糖时一样有效。科学家们表示，这办法有点像用乳酪蛋糕诱惑某人吃沙拉一样。
最终，推动纤维素乙醇发展的动因恐怕还是高油价。Abengoa子公司的研究部主管利昂说，如果油价保持在每桶50美元以上，那么这些设想都会变成现实。如果低于50美元，最好还是不要急于动手了。
