industry
NEWS Affordable catalyst converts cellulose to ethylene glycol Researchers in the United States and China are working to develop a new catalyst that converts cellulose directly into ethylene glycol. The research team is led by Tao Zhang at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in China and Jingguang Chen at the University of Delaware in Newark. The technology that the team is developing uses heat, pressure, and a catalyst made of tungsten carbide and nickel deposited on a carbon support to produce a mixture of polyalcohols from cellulosic biomass. The small amount of nickel in the catalyst improves the efficiency and selectivity of the catalyst system. According to Chen, the catalyst, which likely works through hydrolysis and hydrogenation reactions, converts 100 percent of the cellulose in biomass materials. Ethylene glycol accounts for approximately 61 percent of the polyalcohols created by the process. The chemical compound is an important intermediate in the chemical
Researchers in the United States and China are working to develop a new catalyst that will convert cellulosic biomass, such as switchgrass, directly into ethylene glycol.
C6 sugars, which can be further processed into hydrogen and chemicals. One benefit of the catalyst that Chen’s team is developing is that it’s affordable. To date, similar research has generally centered on precious-metal catalysts that would be too expensive to use in large-scale applications. In addition, the ability to convert cellulose directly into organic compounds is potentially faster and cheaper than splitting cellulose into individual sugar components, which can then be fermented. The research team is performing additional studies to better understand how the catalyst works. Chen said the next steps include improving the conditions of temperature and pressure, as well as identifying other promising catalysts. Several patents have been filed for the technology.
industry. It’s used as an antifreeze or coolant, and is needed to produce polyester fibers and resins in the plastics industry. The remaining 39 percent of the polyalcohols are primarily
-Erin Voegele
Wood fiber: Cheaper, more available, but for how long? As cellulosic ethanol producers continue to ramp up for commercial production, careful attention is being paid to wood fiber markets, both by ethanol producers and the forest products industry. TheNorthAmericanWoodFiberReview reported third-quarter prices in the western United States had dropped 13 percent from the decade-high prices paid in the second quarter. An increase in supply after shortages earlier in the year can be attributed to the price drop, according to the report’s publisher Wood Resources International. Supply remains tight in other areas of the country and is expected to be an issue in the near future. Pulp mills in Maine, for example, are reportedly importing logs from Canada and states bordering the Great Lakes due to a lack of local supply. Mills in the South are suffering from an interruption in supply due to an intensive hurricane season. It remains to be seen if lack of supply will equalize a predicted waning demand.
TheInternationalWoodFiberReport,published by forest products information provider RISI Inc., foresees demand for virgin wood fiber falling by up to 20 million green tons (a measure of undried biomass) in 2009. “With the housing market virtually dead in the water, and pulp and paper markets teetering under the weight of the general financial crisis, pulpwood demand could see unprecedented declines in most U.S. and Canadian markets,” the report’s Executive Editor Chris Lyddan said. The developing biomass industry might be a game-changer for wood fiber markets. RISI published a report earlier this year that explored the biomass industry’s potential impact on wood fiber prices and determined that the increase in demand would most certainly lead to a rise in prices. This has caused concern among members of the forest products industry, even though many of them have begun utilizing biomass technologies themselves in order to cut operating costs.
Range Fuels Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mitch Mandich has no qualms about supply or feedstock prices for the company’s future commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Georgia. “There is a huge abundance of woody biomass in the Southeast to support the existing industries that are already there,” he said. Twenty paper/ pulp mills left the United States in the past decade not because of a lack of feedstock, but because labor and operating costs are cheaper elsewhere in the world, he added. Members of the forest products industry might be concerned about long-term price changes due to biomass industry demands, but Mandich thinks it’s unwarranted. “I look at it over many years, and I don’t see the potential impact on price,” he said. “I don’t understand the concern that might be out there with some of those in the industry.” -Kris Bevill
12|2008 BIOMASS MAGAZINE 19