Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol Process Design and Economics Utilizing Co-Current Dilute Acid Prehydrolysis and Enzymatic Hydrolysis For Corn Stover
5/30/2002
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is promoting the development of ethanol from lignocellulosic feedstocks as an alternative to conventional petroleum-based transportation fuels. DOE funds both fundamental and applied research in this area and needs a method for predicting cost benefits of many research proposals. To that end, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has modeled many potential process designs and estimated the economics of each process during the last 20 years. This report is an update of the ongoing process design and economic analyses at NREL. We envision updating this process design report at regular intervals; the purpose being to ensure that the process design incorporates all new data from NREL research, DOE funded research and other sources, and that the equipment costs are reasonable and consistent with good engineering practice for plants of this type. For the non-research areas this means using equipment and process approaches as they are currently used in industrial applications.
Authors: Andy Aden, Mark Ruth, Kelly Ibsen, John Jechura, Keith Neeves, John Sheehan, Bob Wallace
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report - May 10, 2002
5/10/2002
This is the sixth issue of the Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, a quarterly newsletter keeping you up to date on the price of alternative fuels in the U.S. and their relation to gasoline and diesel prices. This issue discusses prices that were gathered from Clean Cities coordinators and stakeholders during the weeks of April 15 and April 22, 2002, with comparisons to the prices in the previous Price Report which were collected in February, 2002.
Authors: Lott, M.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report - March 28, 2002
3/28/2002
This is the fifth issue of the Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, a quarterly newsletter keeping you up to date on the price of alternative fuels in the U.S. and their relation to gasoline and diesel prices. This issue discusses prices that were gathered from Clean Cities coordinators and stakeholders during the months of January and February, 2002, with comparisons to the prices in the previous Price Report which were collected in October, 2001.
Authors: Lott, M.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report - December 17, 2001
12/17/2001
This is the fifth issue of the Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, a quarterly newsletter keeping you up to data on the price of alternative fuels in the U.S. and their relation to gasoline and diesel prices. This issue discusses prices that were gathered from Clean Cities coordinators and stakeholders during the weeks of October 15 and October 22, 2001, with comparisons to the prices in the previous Price Report for the week of June 4, 2001.
Authors: Lott, M.
Technical Barriers to the Use of Ethanol in Diesel Fuel
11/1/2001
The objectives of this study are to examine the status of ethanol-diesel blends and to identify barriers and technical gaps that hinder rapid introduction of these fuels into the market. The results of this assessment and planning process will allow the Department of Energy (DOE) to understand the issues facing the industry and to determine if and how DOE involvement might assist in overcoming the identified barriers. This document includes a brief description of ethanol production, distribution, and storage as background information. This is followed by a description of ethanol-diesel blends (e-diesel) and the properties of these fuels. Engine performance and regulatory requirements are also described. Potential technical barriers are noted in each of these areas and summarized at the end.
Authors: McCormick, R. L.; Parish, R.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report - July 3, 2001
7/3/2001
This is the fourth issue of the Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report,a quarterly newsletter keeping you up to date on the price of alternative fuels in the U.S. and their relation to gasoline and diesel prices. This issue discusses prices that were gathered from Clean Cities coordinators and stakeholders during the weeks of May 28 and June 4, 2001, with comparisons to the prices in the previous price report for the week of October 9, 2000.
Authors: Laughlin, M.
National Energy Policy: Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group
5/16/2001
This overview sets forth the National Energy Policy Development (NEPD) Group's findings and key recommendations for a National Energy Policy.
Notes: Hard copies of this document are for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Web site: http://bookstore.gpo.gov. Contact the U.S. Government Printing Office by phone: (202) 512-1800 or fax: (202) 512-2250
Future U.S. Highway Energy Use: A Fifty Year Perspective
5/3/2001
The U.S. Transportation system as a whole and the highway mode in particular will be much different in the year 2050 compared to today. The type and number of vehicles in use and the fuels employed to power them are unknown. Yet planning for the future requires acting on the information at hand: assessing the implications of the current path and the potential benefit of alternative futures. This paper puts transportation energy issues into a long-run perspective so that informed planning can begin early enough to make a decisive difference. This paper examines the global oil supply and demand over the next 50 years to show that a transition away from conventional oil will begin. The analysis reviews the energy, economic, and environmental implications of the alternatives that are available to meet some of the anticipated gap between world conventional oil production and the liquid fuels required to support a growing world economy. This paper then describes several U.S. Transportation technology strategies with a range of efficiency improvements and fuel substitutions, and calculates their first order effects on energy use, petroleum consumption, and carbon emissions over a 50-year time horizon.
Authors: Birky, A.; Greene, D.; Gross, T.; Hamilton, D.; Heitner, K.; Johnson, L.; Maples, J.; Moore, J.; Patterson, P.; Plotkin, S.; Stodolsky, F.
Notes: This report is available on the Office of Transportation Technologies (OTT) Web site at http://www.ott.doe.gov/facts/publications/hwyfuture.pdf
State Alternative Fuel Vehicle Incentives: A Decade and More of Lessons Learned
2/1/2001
This report assesses the effectiveness of state incentives and suggests incentives that might encourage new vehicle technologies. It does not assess whether a state should promote alternative fuel vehicles or whether such vehicles are the most effective means to reduce air pollution. Rather, the analysis analyzes the effectiveness of state incentives of the past decade and describes the characteristics of effective alternative fuel vehicle incentives and the fiscal implications for a state that is committed to support an effective alternative fuel vehicle program.
Authors: Brown, M.;Breckenridge, L.
Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report - November 1, 2000
11/1/2000
This is the second issue of the Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Price Report, a quarterly newsletter keeping you up to date on the price of alternative fuels in the U.S. and their relation to gasoline and diesel prices. This issue discusses prices that were gathered during the week of October 9, 2000 with comparisons to the prices in the previous Price Report for the week of April 10, 2000.
Authors: Laughlin, M.
Determining the Cost of Producing Ethanol From Corn Starch and Lignocellulosic Feedstocks
10/5/2000
The mature corn-to-ethanol industry has many similarities to the emerging lignocellulose-to-ethanol industry. It is certainly possible that some of the early practitioners of this new technology will be the current corn ethanol producers. In order to begin to explore synergies between the two industries, a joint project between two agencies responsible for aiding these technologies in the Federal government was established. This joint project of the USDA-ARS and DOE/NREL looked at the two processes on a similar process design and engineering basis, and will eventually explore ways to combine them. This report describes the comparison of the processes, each producing 25 million annual gallons of fuel ethanol. This paper attempts to compare the two processes as mature technologies, which requires assuming that the technology improvements needed to make the lignocellulosic process commercializable are achieved, and enough plants have been built to make the design well-understood. This places the lignocellulose plant costs on a similar level with the current, established corn ethanol industry, whose costs are well known. The resulting costs of producing 25 million annual gallons of fuel ethanol from each process were determined. The largest cost contributor in the corn starch process is the feedstock; for the lignocellulosic process it is the capital cost, which is represented by depreciation cost on an annual basis.
Authors: Kelly Ibsen, Andy McAloon, Frank Taylor, Robert Wooley, Winnie Yee
Effect of Ethanol Fuel Additive on Diesel Emissions
8/1/2000
Engine-out emissions from a Volkswagen model TDI engine were measured for three different fuels: neat diesel fuel, a blend of diesel fuel and additives containing 10% ethanol, and a blend of diesel fuel and additives containing 15% ethanol. The test matrix covered five speeds from 1,320 to 3,000 rpm, five torques from 15 Nm to maximum plus the 900-rpm idle condition, and most of the points in the FTP-75 and US-06 vehicle tests. Emissions of particulate matter(PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), unburned hydrocarbons (HCs), and carbon monoxide (CO) were measured at each point, as were fuel consumption, exhaust oxygen, and carbon dioxide output.
PM emissions were reduced up to 75% when ethanol-diesel blends were used instead of neat diesel fuel. Significant reductions in PM emissions occurred over one-half to two-thirds of the test matrix. NOx emissions were reduced by up to 84%. Although the regions of reduced NOx emissions were much smaller than the regions of reduced PM emissions, there was considerable overlap between the two regions where PM emissions were reduced by up to 75% and NOx emissions were reduced by up to 84%. Such simultaneous reduction of both PM and NOx emissions would be difficult to achieve by any other means.
HC and CO emissions were also reduced in the regions of reduced PM and NOx emissions that overlapped. Because the ethanol-diesel blends contain less energy on both a per-unit-mass basis and a per-unit-volume basis, there was a reduction in maximum torque of up to 10% and an increase in brake-specific fuel consumption of up to 7% when these blends were used.
Authors: Cole,R.L.; Poola,R.B.; Sekar,R.; Schaus,J.E.; McPartlin, P.
Analysis of Technology Options to Reduce the Fuel Consumption of Idling Trucks
6/1/2000
Long-haul trucks idling overnight consume more than 838 million gallons (20 million barrels) of fuel annually. Idling also emits pollutants. Truck drivers idle their engines primarily to heat or cool the cab and/or sleeper, keep the fuel warm in winter, and keep the engine warm in the winter so that the engine is easier to start. Alternatives to overnight idling could save much of this fuel, reduce emissions, and cut operating costs. Several fuel-efficient alternatives to idling are available to provide heating and cooling: direct-fire heater for cab/sleeper heating, with or without storage cooling; auxiliary power units; and truck stop electrification. Many of these technologies have drawbacks that limit market acceptance. Options that supply electricity are economically viable for trucks that are idled for 1,000-3,000 or more hours a year, while heater units could be used across the board. Payback times for fleets, which would receive quantity discounts on the prices, would be somewhat shorter.
Authors: Stodolsky, F.;Gaines, L.;Vyas, A.