The life cycle of biofuelsthe nitrogen problem John Sheehan Vice - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The life cycle of biofuels—the nitrogen problem John Sheehan Vice President Strategy & Sustainable Development LiveFuels TM Inc. April 10 2008 Presented at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board 1 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

The idea of sustainability “Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future generations.” UN Commission (1987) 2 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

The idea of sustainability “Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future generations.” Kumbaya UN Commission (1987) 3 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

The idea of sustainability “The common aim must be to expand resources and improve quality of life for as many people as heedless population growth forces upon Earth, and do it with minimal prosthetic dependence. That, in essence, is the ethic of sustainable development.” E.O. Wilson, Consilience 4 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels Expanding resources The infamous net energy balance 5 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels Expanding Getting away from resources petroleum Example Ethanol and fossil energy use 6 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels Expanding resources Biodiesel and fossil energy use 7 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels Expanding resources Biofuels and petroleum 8 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels The Earth Ethanol and Greenhouse Gases 9 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels The Earth Biodiesel and Greenhouse Gases 10 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels Land resources 11 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels Land resources “EU did not foresee the problems raised by its policy to get 10% of Europe's road fuels from plants.” BBC News January 2008 12 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels The effect of land use change on greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels 13 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels Water resources Can we afford 5 gallons of water per gallon of biofuels? “The Future Is Drying Up” Magazine October 2007 14 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Nitrogen and biofuels 15 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Tackling the sustainability of biofuels Farming, Alternative -Continuous Corn Electricity -No Till (-) -Stover Removal Distribution End-Use Conversion Life cycle Transport One Mile Traveled (+) analysis (-) A directional Acre of Land Farmed system-wide (-) perspective Farming, Current Distribution Crude Oil End-Use Gasoline -Corn/Soybean Extraction Production Crude Oil -Current Till Mix Transport -No Stover Removal 16 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Avoiding the average Is bioethanol from corn stover sustainable? Modeling Iowa Figure 25: Distribution of soil types in Iowa Used in Soil Carbon Modeling 17 Defining Sustainable Biofuels For each county, area-weighted frequency distributions of soil types were determined based on the relative proportion of soil types. Identification of soil types yielded six to ten soil types per county.

Integrating diverse models ✓ TEAM for LCA ✓ Century for soil ✓ RUSL for Erosion ✓ AspenPLUS for process design ✓ ORIBUS for biomass transport 18 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Agroecosystem model The simple version of the SOM submodel in Century 19 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Nutrient management Changes in Nutrient Use Due to Modeled Options 20 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Stover to ethanol model 21 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Stover to ethanol model 22 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Carbon recycle vs sequester 23 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Increased N 2 O, CH 4 View from the car 24 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Sources of N 2 O, CH 4 25 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Net GHGs Even with higher N 2 O and CH 4 , GHGs are lower 26 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Sources of GHGs Accounting for soil effects increases farm GHGs by 50% 27 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Temporal effect total greenhouse gases in our combined farm/travel system. 28 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Recycle vs sequester 29 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

NOx emissions The perspective of the car shows dramatic problems with NOx 30 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Sources of NOx 86% of farm emissions are from the soil 31 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Ethics and the sustainability of biofuels E.O. Wilson, Consilience 32 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Ethics and the sustainability of biofuels Quality of life The tortilla effect “Thousands in Mexico City Protest Rising Food Prices” January 2007 33 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Ethics and the sustainability of biofuels Quality of life The brewery effect? “Biofuel brews up higher German beer prices” Associated Press, May 2007 “Hops shortage coming to a head ”Rocky Mountain News, January 2008 34 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Ethics and the sustainability of biofuels Nigerian appetite for grain Quality of life Developing countries’ developing demand The Food Chain: A Global Need for Grain That Farms Can't Fill March 2008 35 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Ethics and the sustainability of biofuels “We need an LCA process that addresses all sustainability issues and is accepted worldwide” Paraphrased from talk by Dean Simeroth, CARB, commenting on hurdles facing implementation of a low carbon fuel standard in California 36 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Ethics and the sustainability of biofuels LCA as a framework for dialogue 37 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Ethics and the sustainability of biofuels 38 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Algae’s ! ! "#$%&'#(!)*'*+#,(*!-'*./0!1#,&.#$&.0! ! !"#$%&'()*+(,-./+0 10$22304563057078900 :;<;0=9>5?7@9A702B0#A9?CDEF0 1GH57I60<>96I9F0'?2C?5@J0 renaissance 4I2KI9F9L0B?2@01LC590 Two years ago, my phone at 0 NREL began ringing off the hook with inquiries from investors 0 !"#$%&'()*+%,#-)* Our close-out report on algae ! is now the #1 download on ! NREL’s website www.nrel.gov 39 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

Algae—the other biomass Emergents Macroalgae Microalgae 40 Algae Renaissance February 27, 2008

Algae—the other biomass ✓ A High-Risk, High-Benefit Opportunity • Prehistoric plants that grow where few other plants could survive • Hot climes • Salt water 41 Defining Sustainable Biofuels

NREL’s production concept was a new kind of farming ✓ The open ponds ✓ Recycle CO 2 from power plants 42 Defining Sustainable Biofuels