Technologies for biofuel production (a brief survey) S. Miertus Pure & Applied Chemistry Area

1. INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND HIGH TECHNOLOGY United Nations Industrial Development Organisation Technologies for biofuel production(a brief survey) S. Miertus Pure & Applied Chemistry Area ICS-UNIDO First-High Level Biofuel Conference in AfricaAddis Ababa, Ethiopia 30th July - 1st August 2007

2. Biofuel value chain and UNIDO radius of attention Biomass resources Supply systems Conversion End products Oil bearing plants Agricultural crops and residues Woody biomass Industrial andmunicipal waste Harvesting, collection, handling, and storage Transportation fuels (biodiesel, bioethanol) Chemical(transesterification) Physical chemical(extraction) Solid fuels(wood pellets, charcoal) Biochemical(fermentation) HeatElectricity High added-value chemicals(pharmaceuticals, polymers) Thermochemical(gasification) byproducts UNIDO (ICS-UNIDO expertise) FAO UNIDO and FAO UNIDO and UNCTAD

3. Overview of Biofuel Production TechnologiesFirst Generation of Biofuels

4. Overview of Biofuel Production TechnologiesSecond/Third* Generation Biofuels *Use GMO as a feedstock to facilitate hydrolysis / technologies for hydrogen production

5. Comparison of technologiesTechnology aspects c d Current stage of Techn . Expected plant Overall efficiency Distri - Use a b d development Effort capacity [%] bution [ MW ] bf Many different concepts for biofuel options of the 2nd generation; associated with appropriate benefits and bottlenecks along the pathway. a regarding system complexity (+ less promising… .++++ very promising ) b related to biomass feedstock c according state of development ( many different concepts ) only theoretical values d suitability for current distribution and use (+ less promising… .++++ very promising ) Source: IEE Leipzig, 2007

6. Overall biorefinery concept - a new chemical industry sector - equivalent to the petrochemistry concept

7. Biomass to high added value chemicals, an emerging chemistry Biomass Extraction of chemicals Biodiesel production Sugar fermentation Thermochemicalconversion • Ethanol • Lactic acid • Proteins • Vitamins • Fragrances • Pharmaceuticals Glycerol Bio-SNG Chemicals Chemicals Chemicals

8. DST conceptBiofuel/biofuel production technology selection criteria • Technological criteria (energy content, non renewable energy consumed, availability, carbon residue, sulfur content, viscosity, density, efficiency, scale up, …) • Financial criteria (static, dynamic, risk) • Environmental criteria (CO2 , CO, NOx, SO2, etc.) • Socio-economic criteria

9. Comparison of technologies Economic versus environmental aspects Source: IEE Leipzig, 2007

10. Selected ICS-UNIDO activities 2006/2007: Renewables to biofuels and biobased products A)Awareness and capacity building • EGM on “Technologies for Exploitation of Renewable Feedstock and Waste Valorisation”, 20-30 May 2006 Trieste, Italy • Workshop on “Sustainable Plastics and chemical products from renewable resources”, Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro, June 2006 • Workshop on “Bio-fuels from palm oil: emerging technologies and their assessment” 4 July 2007, Malaysia • Workshop on “Technologies for renewable feedstock exploitation and bio-fuels production” Accra, Ghana, December 2007 – in cooperation with UNIDO ECB branch • Joint event in Senegal, February 2008 • Promotion of joint pilot projects in Africa (UNIDO + ICS) B) In house development of expertise tools • Survey of technologies for exploitation of renewable feedstock for biofuels (technological, economic, environmental parameters) • Decision support tool for assessment of technologies for renewable feedstock exploitation • Molecular modelling of chemical processes (catalysis, separation, etc.) • Strategies for developing countries

11. Example 1: Malaysia – ICS-UNIDO-MPOB cooperation proposal Catalytic processes for exploitation of palma biomass Project 1: Transesterification • Solid basic catalysts (supported alkali and alkaline earth metal oxides/salts, modified or pretreated Group II-III metal oxides, hydrotalcite-like materials, alkali exchanged zeolites and molecular sieve materials, strong organic bases grafted on inert support, super bases) Project 2: Glycerol based syntheses and products • Substitute for polyols (microbiological and catalytic conversion of glycerol to 1,3 propanediol) • Polymeric materials. • Glycerol as fuel (bio-transformation of into CO and methane, synthesis of glycerol tertbutyl ether as gasoline additive, catalytic transformation of glycerol into CO/CO2 and H2) • Carbonatation of glycerol (glycerol carbonate is a good protic polar solvent) Project 3: Catalysts for palm oil biomass gasification

12. Example 2: 2008 – GREENOLYMP (Green Olympics, Beijing) – a project for green plastics Agro food waste (by product of cheese production) Alcaligenes latus Cells for the production of environmentally degradable plastics 1st to 45th day The biosynthetic pathway of PHB and P(HB-HV) in Alcaligenes eutrophus: The general structure of polyhydroxyalkanoates:

13. Recent ICS-UNIDO publication BIO-FUELS Technologies Status and Future Trends Feedstock and Product Valorisation Assessment of Technologies and DSTs 2007 Authors: A. Sivasamy1, P. Foransiero1, S. Zinoviev1, S. Miertus1 F. Mueller-Langer2, D. Thraen2 & A. Vogel2 1 ICS-UNIDO, Trieste, Italy 2 IEE, Leipzig, Germany Available at ICS-UNIDO website:www.ics.trieste.it

14. THANK YOU Stanislav.Miertus@ics.trieste.it www.ics.trieste.it