Ethanol from Seaweed -Exploiting what the alginate industry doesn’t use for fun and profit.
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Transcript of Ethanol from Seaweed -Exploiting what the alginate industry doesn’t use for fun and profit.
Ethanol from Seaweed
-Exploiting what the alginate industry doesn’t use for fun and profit
Objective
• Can you profitably make ethanol from Seaweed in Norway?
Seaweed
• Seaweed has three main carbohydrate– Laminarin– Mannitol– Alginate
• Contents vary throughout the year
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Sugars as % of dry weight
Month
%
Sourcing
• Seaweed is an abundant resource along the Norwegian Coastline.
• Laminarian Hyperborea– 150.000 tons/year– FMC Biopolymer Haugesund
• Some experiments in seaweed cultivation– Seaweed Energy Solutions
>Making money fermenting laminarin
Previous group
Why merely fermenting algae is silly
• Ethanol is a low value product compared to alginate• Laminarin and mannitol make up at most 45% of dryweight in
the best of conditions• 1 NOK in earnings roughly 1,3 NOK in costs
– Cost of wild seaweed 176 NOK/wet ton 900 + NOK/dry ton
• An integrated ethanol/biogas plant needs a raw material cost of <400 NOK/dry ton
90 % yield90 NOK
1 ton wet algae- 90 kg sugars
57,5 liters ofethanol
176 NOK 212 NOK
Processing
• The alginate industry requires only alginate. The ethanol plant only uses the other two carbohydrates.
• Alginate can be separated out before or after fermentation
• Fermentation can be done with a mixture of yeast and bacteria
• Laminaran easy to ferment, mannitol somewhat harder– Partially oxidizing conditions
Pretreatment Fermentation Separation/distillation
Dried seaweedEthanol
Alginate
Potential for sale
• Ethanol primarily for two purposes– Transport fuel• Mixing with gasoline E5, E85• Norway mandates 3,5 % with a potential for a 5 %
mandate eventually.• Needs distillation to around 100 % ethanol
– Heating fuel• Fireplaces fueled by ethanol
– Ethanol around 96 % needed
• Clean burn, no chimney needed
Economics
• Investment around 10 million NOK• Costs around 8,6 million• Production 3,7 million liters of ethanol per year on an
eight month production schedule• Profit highly dependent on sales price
– Fuel ethanol sold for just 3,7 Nok/liter (Brazilian ethanol bulk price)
– 13,7 million income 5,1 million profit Roughly 50 %– Fireplace ethanol sold for around 25 Nok/liter (retail).– Up to 23 million income 14,6 million profit Roughly 140
%
Conclusions
• Standalone ethanol production from Seaweed is not very viable at current prices and technology level
• The price of fuel ethanol is a bit low• Potential for good profitability through other
uses of bioethanol such as for heating if the ethanol plant is integrated with a cheap source of raw material such as an alginate plant
Whatever