Randy Lewis, Ph.D.
Chemical Engineering Department
Brigham Young University

Biofuels in the 21st Century

As the result of the energy crisis of the 1970’s, as well as the recent energy crisis and concern for the environment, the development of low-cost sustainable energy has become an increased focus in political, academic, and business sectors.  Although research has greatly expanded in sustainable energy development, there is still controversy in the economics and sustainability of developing processes.  Current biofuels processes involving biodiesel and ethanol, particularly from corn, have recently received widespread attention that has included both positive and negative aspects.  The initial focus of this talk will discuss the controversial issues related to the energy balance, environment, national security, and food security. 
 

Following the general discussion, research efforts involving cellulosic conversion to ethanol will be discussed.  The research involves microbial catalysts that can biologically convert syngas constituents (namely H₂, CO, and CO₂) to ethanol and/or acetic acid.   Ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks may be produced via several processes including 1) saccharification coupled with fermentation, 2) gasification followed by metal catalyst conversion, or 3) gasification followed by microbial catalyst conversion. Although the first process has been studied extensively over the last several decades, the gasification processes are receiving increased attention due to recently discovered (or developed) catalysts and the ability of gasification to convert most of the cellulosic feedstock to syngas for catalytic processing.