Pacific Ethanol will produce cellulosic ethanol in Madera using Edeniq technologies

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It is possible to add value to existing first generation (1G) bioethanol production facilities through the hybridization of first and second generation (2G) technologies. In this post, I will refer specifically to the ability to convert corn kernel fiber into cellulosic ethanol (some call it 1.5G technology). That is what Pacific Ethanol, producer and marketer of low-carbon renewable fuels, is intended to implement in its Madera plant (California). This company and Edeniq, a biorefining technology developer, announced last week that they had entered into a licensing and purchase agreement to enable the production of cellulosic ethanol at the Madera facility using Pathway™ and Cellunator™ technologies (see press release).

Pacific Ethanol began producing cellulosic ethanol using Edeniq’s technologies at its Stockton plant (California) in December 2015. Therefore, they will now be installed at two Pacific Ethanol plants. The Madera plant has a total annual production capacity of 40 million gallons and is envisaged to produce up to one million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol with the Pathway process of Edeniq. Installation is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017.

Once commercial scale production is reached in Madera, Pacific Ethanol expects that the technology will increase earnings by over $2 million annually. The company will be working with the EPA to obtain D3 cellulosic RINs (Renewable Identification Numbers, serial numbers assigned to a batch of biofuel for tracking purposes granted by the EPA) for the ethanol to be produced. It is also negotiating with the California Air Resources Board to qualify the cellulosic production at both Stockton and Madera facilities for additional carbon credit under the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

Edeniq Technologies: Pathway™ and Cellunator™

The technologies of Edeniq offers ethanol producers an option for enhancing ethanol and corn oil yields and producing cellulosic ethanol using existing fermentation and distillation equipment.

Figure 1. Diagram of the Pathway™ platform (extracted from the web page of Edeniq)

The Pathway process is an integrated platform to produce cellulosic ethanol in existing corn ethanol plants. The platform combines the Cellunator with an enzyme cocktail to break down corn kernel fiber, releasing cellulosic sugars into the fermentation process. Corn kernels contain about 10% cellulosic fiber that currently remains unconverted in a typical ethanol plant. Converting the corn fiber is the first step to migrate toward cellulosic ethanol production.

The Cellunator is a proprietary colloid mill jointly developed with IKA. It reduces corn slurry particles to below 1 mm without creating additional fine particles (< 200 microns). In this way, it increases enzyme access to starch and pretreats corn kernel fiber for the cellulase enzymes. The right-sizing of the particle distribution allows more surface area for enzymes to interact with, resulting in a greater quantity of sugars that can be converted to ethanol.

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