Technical
How much does it cost to fill a tank of fuel?
How do you measure cost?? What would be included? Grams of CO2 or mouths fed or not fed? Climate change or the cost of fuel security? Fair wage for a fuel refiner or the cost of deforestation and species extinction?
How can we ensure a fair price for a sustainable resource and an ethically sound future?
Recombitex won’t fix all the world’s problems, but will make a significant contribution. Recombitex engineers IP solutions for sustainable lingo-cellulosic processing at a reduced cost for the producers and the consumer.
Climate change is the most significant and far-reaching problem that humans have ever had to address. The dynamics of the world are very delicate, intricate and extremely complex. The influence that we have in one area may have dramatic effects in another. Many actions that you or I may take will have a huge effect on someone else’s or another animal’s life somewhere else on our planet. So what can we do?
Many initiatives are started and promoted to encourage sustainable living to enhance everyone’s lives. Recombitex believes that this idea needs not only supporting, but driving forwards in any way possible. To do this, Recombitex is contributing to the global solutions by using its own talents, methods and technology.
Bio fuel backgrounds
Current technology in practice
Broadly speaking, there are three approaches to producing bioethanol. These are termed 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation. In a brief summary of the methods, they can be described as;
1st generation.
The most basic form of production, the cheapest and the simplest, using the most easily available sugars. Predominantly sourced from sugar cane and easily fermentable sources, the ethanol is produced in a way very similar to beer production. Once the fermentation has been completed, it is distilled (much like a spirit based drink) and used as a fuel.
As the process is the easiest to carry out, it has the lowest production cost (lower than mineral fuels in producing countries), but is dependant upon a climate which can grow sugar cane. With the market increasing, sizable areas of natural forests are being cleared to increase sugar cane plantations to cater for the demand.
2nd generation.
With sugar cane being difficult to grow in areas other than the tropics, other crops have to be used. 2nd generation ethanol processing uses cereals and grains which contain sugars that would be used for germination. By steeping the grain, the sugars can be released into liquid form that can then be fermented as in the 1st generation method. To increase the yield further, enzymes can be added to release the starches also contained in the grain.
Due to the cereal crops also being used for food stuffs, the production of bioethanol is in direct competition to the food markets, increasing both the fuel and the food price. The yield that can be obtained from the same area of land compared to sugar cane is greatly reduced, and the waste material from the crops is sizably larger.
3rd generation.
3rd generation is the forefront of process technology at all stages and has many names. Ligno-cellulosic and cellulosic bioethanol are often used to label the technology. The technology is based on the use of the waste products rather than the cereals and grains. As the waste parts of the plants are no longer needed, the waste is at a low value and doesn't alter the food market in any way. Globally, there is thought to be around XXX billion
However, as the sugars are not freely available for fermentation, extensive processing has to be done to extract the maximum yield.
The inadequacies and problems of current methods.
Current processing is a balance between cost, resources and efficiency. Sugar cane is the easiest to produce, but the most land intensive. Grain is efficient, but conflicts with food usage. Ligno-cellulosic feedstocks are plentiful, but currently inefficient to process into ethanol.
The push for ligno-cellulosic ethanol has created many technology opportunities to increase the efficiency and to increase the fuel sources competitiveness. Current methods are intensive and involve intensive pre-treatment methods that require combinations of high temperature, acids or alkalis, ammonia sources, denaturants and enzyme additions. All of these processing steps require energy for manufacturing, use and remediation, all of which adds to the fuel's carbon footprint and retail price.
Recombitex's alternative approach.
Recombitex is developing a method of reducing the processing cost, modelled on the natural way plant material breaks down. In nature, ligno-cellulose is broken down with the carbon recycled into the eco-system by a complex community of micro-organisms. For industry, we need to do the same, except faster, and into carbon products that we can use.
To do this, Recombitex is in the process of developing advance micro-organisms that can digest cellulosic materials directly to ethanol with the minimal amount of pre-treatment, processing and energy expenditure. Through consolidating the pre-treatment steps and the fermentation process into a single stage, the cost of ethanol production can be greatly reduced while allowing for a greater variety of feedstocks to be sourced for production.
- Reduced processing cost
- Reduces/removes the requirement of enzyme additions
- Uses current biorefinery infrastructure
- Can be conducted at 30-40 ?C
- Reduced pre-processing treatments
- Reduced chemical remediation steps
- Microbe is rendered inert of distillation therefore no environmental impact.
Commercial Supporters
