Fueling the Bioeconomy
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VOL. 3.1 Ford’s Legacy: FUELING THE BIOECONOMY “The fuel of the future…is going to come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust – almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented.” –HENRY FORD, 1925 p11/ Cellulosic Biofuels Here at Last p27/ Aviation Biofuels on the Runway p33/ Wanted: Flex Fuel Vehicles PLUS Manipulating Extremophiles FROM BIO... TO FUEL JATROPHA: a newly engineered variety shows promise WHAT IS IT? however, has identified potentially WHAT’S NEXT? Jatropha is a hardy tropical plant whose high-yielding hybrid jatropha strains, Besides producing local jatropha name is derived from the Greek words combining years of intensive selective biodiesel, regions in some countries for “physician” and “nutrition.” Its breeding, high-throughput genotyping, are planting jatropha seeds for aviation leaves and seed pods are poisonous, but and agronomy. biofuel. One biofuel company has the plant has been used in medicines, deals in place to plant jatropha on mulch, and basket-weaving, made into WHERE DOES IT GROW? 250,000 acres in Brazil, India and organic fertilizer and rodent repellent, Originally from Central America, other countries that would produce an and as a cover crop to shelter other jatropha is most commonly found in estimated 70 million gallons of biofuel crops and prevent erosion. And inside Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, a year. Jatropha can’t supply all the the pods are beans that can be crushed India, Mexico, and South America. fuel needed for aviation, since, as one and made into oil for soap, cosmetics, commentator has noted, the 1.6 billion lamps, and biofuels. gallons of jet fuel needed each year WHY DOES IT MATTER? would require 285 million acres of Often used as a hedge to control cattle, WHY IS IT OF INTEREST? jatropha to satisfy our annual demand jatropha has been used successfully – a land area about the size of four large Almost a decade ago, the drought-toler- to make diesel in places like the U.S. states combined – but it could ant, inedible bush that grows on mar- Galapagos Islands, where the island make a dent in our fossil fuel use. ginal land in the tropics was hailed as Floreana has replaced fossil fuels with the next big thing in biofuels. Investors cold-pressed jatropha oil. Tourist WHO IS WORKING ON IT? poured hundreds of millions of dollars busses in some parts of India are into jatropha plantations only to discov- already running on jatropha oil. And Besides Brazil, India, and the U.S., er that the plants yielded far too few oil- a bioengineered variety of jatropha companies are investing in jatropha in rich seeds to be commercially viable, es- has boosted yields by 900 percent, countries ranging from the Bahamas pecially as petroleum prices fell sharply according to some reports. and Costa Rica to Ethiopia, Ghana, in the wake of the Great Recession. Re- Guatemala, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, cently a San Diego startup called SGB, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. BIOENERGY CONNECTION V 3.1 FACING THE CHALLENGE letter from the executive editor Follow me on Twitter @phytophile 2014 // VOL. 3.1 Follow Bioenergy Connection Magazine @BioenergyMag STAFF It’s safe to say that Henry Ford would be mobile complacents push us toward cost-ef- EXECUTIVE EDITOR amazed by modern automobiles, but what fective, innovative solutions. The dark cloud Heather Youngs would he think about the fuel in the tanks? skeptics point to the heavy footprint of the EDITOR As an early proponent of the bioeconomy, he pre-fossil fuel bioeconomy – cautioning us to Diana Hembree would likely be disappointed that our econ- use our shared resources with care and plan- PUBLISHER omy is largely fueled by fossil materials, not ning. It is in the midst of this strife that we Chris Somerville plants harvested from the fields. collectively move forward, and 2014 has been ART DIRECTOR Mirhee Lee a year of important advances. While we inch our way toward Ford’s dream, ASSOCIATE EDITORS Susan Jenkins / Ron Kolb it’s worth appreciating the incredible advanc- In this issue of Bioenergy Connection, our fo- es that fossil resources have enabled in the last cus is the bioeconomy. Greg Breining explores PHOTOGRAPHERS Kathryn Coulter / Peg Skorpinski 200 years. the exciting debut of cellulosic ethanol, Judith PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Horstman delves into scientific advances in Nick Vasi The availability of energy-dense material in freeing sugars from biomass, and Peter Jaret concentrated areas of the globe has slowed de- BUSINESS MANAGER goes bioprospecting. Todd Woody and Ashie Mark Shaw struction of forests for light and heat, enabled Bhandiwad explore developments in ad- flight and space exploration and helped create vanced biofuels and Jim Lane shines a light on EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD an instantaneous global economy. timelines for new technologies. Jamie Cate, Ph.D.; Jody Endres, M.A., J.D.; Evan H. Delucia, Ph.D.; Jose Unfortunately, the use of fossil fuels has con- Also in this issue, we spend time in Brazil with Goldemberg, Ph.D.; Jay Keasling, Ph.D.; tributed serious injury to our climate, air and Jose Goldemberg, the father of Brazilian sugar- Madhu Khanna, Ph.D.; Steve Long, Ph.D.; water. The total costs and benefits to future Jo Howes, M.Sc.; Chris Somerville, Ph.D.; cane ethanol, and his colleague Horta Noguei- generations are uncertain. While we have Luuk A.M. van der Wielen, Ph.D.; David ra, who track the evolution of the world’s most Zilberman, Ph.D. learned to reduce some of the impacts of us- renewable transport fuel system. Katherine ing fossil carbon, weaning ourselves from the Bioenergy Connection is published by the Griffin profiles Vonnie Estes, managing direc- benefits of this mature industry is a hard and Energy Biosciences Institute, a partnership of tor, US, for GranBio, Brazil’s new cellulosic eth- the University of California at Berkeley; the slow process. anol company. Finally, Steve Pietsch explores University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, why flex fuel vehicles, a centerpiece to success the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, The application of modern biology to energy, and BP. To help the world transition from nutrition, and medicine is critical to our tran- in Brazil, are so rare elsewhere in the world. fossil fuels to responsible, renewable energy sources, more than 300 EBI researchers sition from fossil resources. This shift toward a We also invite you to Bioenergy Connection’s are applying advanced knowledge of sustainable modern bioeconomy entails large biological processes to the energy sector. new interactive website, where you can read fundamental changes in how we do things, To learn more about EBI, visit the EBI exclusive on-line material and comment on website at www.energybiosciencesinstitute. and is subject to a phenomenon I’ll call “the articles and blogs, adding your voice to the org. To subscribe to Bioenergy Connection futurist trilemma.” or change your address, please contact: issues. Please visit us at http://www.bioener- [email protected] Imagine a three-way tug-of-war between gyconnection.org and follow us on Twitter @ Bioenergy Connection is printed on recycled people with fundamentally differing philoso- BioenergyMag. paper with soy ink. Cover image: Henry Ford beside a Model T in Buffalo, New York, phies of progress. The sunshine-and-rainbow 1921. Credit: Benson Ford Research Center, optimists make all things seem possible – Heather Youngs, Ph.D. University of Michigan. Front inside cover photo giving us the will to try despite technological EXECUTIVE EDITOR, BIOENERGY CONNECTION of jatropha curcas and back inside cover photo SENIOR ANALYSIS FELLOW, ENERGY BIOSCIENCES of Clostridium courtesy of Wikipedia Commons. or economic challenges. The stubbornly im- INSTITUTE FROM BIO TO FUEL / LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS 00/53 FROM BIO TO FUEL 01 FROM THE EXECUTIVE EDITOR 03 CONTRIBUTORS 19 COMMENTARY FEATURES 04 COVER STORY: FUELING THE BIOECONOMY 36 OTHER FEATURES 05 THE BIOECONOMY IS EVERYWHERE 36 SWEETENING THE BIOFUEL It’s not just planet-saving, it’s good business SECTOR: THE HISTORY OF By Heather Youngs, Ph.D. SUGARCANE ETHANOL IN BRAZIL Tracing the evolution of science, policy, 11 THE CELLULOSIC BIOFUELS ODYSSEY: CROSSING THE FINISH LINE and technology After years of anticipation and delays, commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol is on the By José Goldemberg, Ph.D., and market. What can we learn from the pioneers? Luiz A. Horta Nogueira, Ph.D. By Greg Breining 42 VONNIE ESTES: A PASSION FOR Northern Exposure / p15 Great Expectations: A Tale of Two Industries SUSTAINABILITY How the demand for high- [Commentary] / p19 A high-ranking executive at Brazil’s quality paper inspired Investors should cut the cellulosic biofuels industry GranBio discusses her love of agriculture, Scandinavians to create world’s some slack. After all, it took 1,631 auto company failures cellulosic fuels, and more oldest wood-to- ethanol plants to give birth to today’s massive vehicle industry. By Katherine Griffin By Heather Youngs, Ph.D. By Jim Lane 46 BREAKING DOWN THE WALL There’s a treasure trove of clean, 22 BIO-BUTANOL: BACK TO THE FUTURE renewable energy for biofuels locked up in This once flourishing industry is making a comeback the parts of plants that we humans can’t By Ashie Bhandwandi, Ph.D. digest. The challenge: How to get at it. By Judith Horstman, M.L.A. 24 BIOMASS DIESEL: RISING STAR OF THE RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD While other renewable fuels struggle to make their quotas, biodiesel may exceed EPA goals Hot Spots for Bioprospecting / p50 By Greg Breining Biofuels researchers seek out microbes that live on the edge 27 AVIATION BIOFUELS ON THE RUNWAY By Peter Jaret, M.A. Biofuels have powered luxury business jets and military planes.