Mission NewEnergy cracks cellulosic ethanol method
Australia-based biofuels producer Mission NewEnergy, formerly Mission Biofuels, has announced that a joint venture with a scientific team in India has successfully produced cellulosic ethanol from agricultural wastes at a pilot-scale facility in northern India.
The project focused on developing a novel conversion process for lingocellulosic feedstocks at the plant, which has a batch capacity of 10,000 gallons a year.
â??While other technologies have been able to produce bioethanol from biomass, they have suffered from a low conversion rate of raw material to bioethanol or high conversion cost,â?? Mission NewEnergy MD Nathan Mahalingam says.
â??Specifically, the high conversion cost is associated with the need to grow special low lignin and low silica grasses, the need to use expensive proprietary enzymes or high capital and operating costs associated with harsh operating conditions of acid concentration/temperature. These high production costs make other projects commercially inviable,â?? he adds.
The technology uses a unique sequence of certain conventional and patent-pending chemical and mechanical processes.
The company achieved 100% separation of both cellulose and hemi-cellulose from lignin which permits easier and complete hydrolysis of cellulose and hemi-cellulose into C6 and C5 sugars.
The process is accomplished at low heat and low pressure â?? without enzymes or high concentration acids. The chemicals used in the process are recovered to remove any hazardous material from waste.
In addition, the extraction of silica from the lignin improves the efficiency of lignin for use as a feedstock in energy production.
Mission NewEnergy has a 30 million gallon a year biodiesel plant in Malaysia, with an adjacent 75 million gallon a year plant under construction.
The project focused on developing a novel conversion process for lingocellulosic feedstocks at the plant, which has a batch capacity of 10,000 gallons a year.
â??While other technologies have been able to produce bioethanol from biomass, they have suffered from a low conversion rate of raw material to bioethanol or high conversion cost,â?? Mission NewEnergy MD Nathan Mahalingam says.
â??Specifically, the high conversion cost is associated with the need to grow special low lignin and low silica grasses, the need to use expensive proprietary enzymes or high capital and operating costs associated with harsh operating conditions of acid concentration/temperature. These high production costs make other projects commercially inviable,â?? he adds.
The technology uses a unique sequence of certain conventional and patent-pending chemical and mechanical processes.
The company achieved 100% separation of both cellulose and hemi-cellulose from lignin which permits easier and complete hydrolysis of cellulose and hemi-cellulose into C6 and C5 sugars.
The process is accomplished at low heat and low pressure â?? without enzymes or high concentration acids. The chemicals used in the process are recovered to remove any hazardous material from waste.
In addition, the extraction of silica from the lignin improves the efficiency of lignin for use as a feedstock in energy production.
Mission NewEnergy has a 30 million gallon a year biodiesel plant in Malaysia, with an adjacent 75 million gallon a year plant under construction.
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