Newsletter Archive

United States Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recently stated, "The President's Plan directs us to explore the possibility of a hydrogen economy," referring to President Bush's plan to make hydrogen a premier energy carrier within the U.S. economy, especially in the transportation sector.¹ Currently, about 95% of the hydrogen produced in the United States comes from steam reforming of methane (and other fossil fuels to a much lesser extent) and this hydrogen is used almost exclusively in petroleum refining and the manufacture of chemicals (especially ammonia.)² In the initial years of the "hydrogen economy," the reforming process will probably be its major source. This will realize some of the expected benefits of hydrogen fuel use, such as increasing independence from foreign petroleum and improved local air quality, but steam reforming of fossil fuels still creates large amounts of carbon dioxide, from the feedstock itself and the combustion of hydrocarbons to provide heat for the process. If more hydrogen is produced from non-fossil feedstocks, emissions could be reduced to almost nothing.

Eventually, resources such as biomass could provide a clean and sustainable resource for hydrogen production. Similar to fossil fuels, the processes that produce hydrogen gas from biomass all create carbon dioxide, but because the biomass acts as a carbon sink during the growing phase, the net carbon emissions of the whole cycle are greatly reduced. The recent Roadmap for Bioenergy and Biobased Products in the United States clearly identifies the opportunity for converting biomass to hydrogen and outlines specific R&D needs. This R&D will be achieved by industry, through the DOE Office of the Biomass Program, Hydrogen Program, and other federal programs.

For example, on July 31^st, the Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Infrastructure Technologies Program of the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) released its new solicitations for hydrogen R&D. Hydrogen from biomass is one of the topics of this solicitation and could receive up to $15 million (including 20% cost share) with up to four awards.³ The solicitation specifies three research areas, one for each of the major processes that are used to make hydrogen from biomass: gasification, pyrolysis, and fermentation.

Pyrolysis and gasification are the processes primarily used for dry biomass (such as bagasse, peanut shells, etc).⁴ Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of biomass in which it is heated in the absence of oxygen to produce a mixture of coke (solid), methanol (liquid), and some gases (especially methane). At this point, the liquid product can be drawn off and used as a fuel additive or all the pyrolysis products can be (steam) reformed in a second step. In reformation, the mixture of products from the previous step is reacted with air (or pure oxygen) and/or steam in the presence of a catalyst to produce a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane (and nitrogen if air is used); the carbon monoxide undergoes another reaction with steam to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide. In gasification, the biomass is heated with air or pure oxygen under high pressure.⁵ The products are then reformed to produce a hydrogen-rich gas; this step is the same as the reformation of the pyrolysis products, described above. An additional purification step must be performed after pyrolysis/reformation and gasification/reformation to obtain hydrogen pure enough to be used in PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cells.

Fermentation can be used for biomass with a high moisture content and produces a gas that is mostly methane, with some carbon monoxide.⁶ This gas mixture can be used in advanced high temperature fuel cells where methane reformation takes place directly at the electrode of the fuel cell.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Iowa have already performed research with the Hydrogen Program in the areas of pyrolysis and gasification.⁷ NREL has tested a variety of catalysts for the steam reforming of biomass pyrolysis liquids to optimize that process and the team at Iowa has tested a pilot-scale gasifier and steam reformer that has led to improved analytical methods for gas characterization and better hydrogen purification.

Currently, the plant gate cost of producing purified hydrogen from biomass is $3.60/kg for gasification/steam reforming⁸ and $3.80/kg for pyrolysis/steam reforming. Since one kg of hydrogen has the energy content of roughly one gallon of gasoline, these production costs will have to be significantly reduced in order for biomass-derived hydrogen to be a competitive fuel. The Hydrogen Program has set the following goals for the plant gate cost in the solicitation: $2.50/kg for gasification and $2.90/kg for pyrolysis by 2010, and a price that is competitive with gasoline by 2015.⁹ To achieve that cost reduction, the Program would like to see projects that improve integration of systems components, feedstock handling, heat integration, vapor conditioning (pyrolysis), gasification pressure, and gas clean-up.

A research team at the University of Wisconsin has recently developed a process that could prove to be a significant achievement in low-cost production of commercial hydrogen.¹⁰ The single-step process employs high temperature, pressure, and a new nickel-tin-aluminum catalyst to produce a hydrogen-rich gas (50% hydrogen, with carbon dioxide and gaseous alkanes making up the other 50%) from glucose and other biomass-derived compounds. The catalyst is thousands of times less expensive than platinum, which is typically used in the steam reformation reaction.

The research activities that are part of the Hydrogen Program have a significant overlap with the long-term R&D goals of EERE's Biomass Program. One of the objectives stated in the Biomass Roadmap, published last December, is to develop and field-test gasification, fermentation, and pyrolysis technologies to produce hydrogen from biomass.¹¹ The Roadmap also states, "federal programs involved in biomass research should coordinate closely with hydrogen research programs to identify and develop opportunities for using biomass to produce hydrogen." The DOE Office of the Biomass program and the other research agencies of the Biomass R&D Board will continue to identify opportunities to collaborate on biomass-to-hydrogen research.

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1. see page 2 of the National Hydrogen Energy Vision document
2. ibid
3. The solicitation can be viewed online at the EERE website
4. a good overview of hydrogen production processes can be viewed at hydrogen.org
5. ibid
6. ibid
7. see the Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Infrastructure Technologies FY 2002 Progress Report
8. see the Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Infrastructure Technologies Multi-Year RD&D Plan
9. The solicitation can be viewed online at the EERE website
10. see the article "Researchers Engineer Low-Cost Hydrogen Catalyst"
11. Roadmap for Biomass Technologies in the United States

Texas's main agricultural residue is cotton gin waste.⁵ In 2001 and 2002, USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Lubbock, Texas experimented with using the waste as a source of heat. These scientists burned pellets made of gin waste in commercial stoves; the pellets burned as efficiently as pellets made of sawdust and wood chips or wheat straw. ARS is also investigating ways of using gin waste pellets as fuel, fertilizer, and feed.⁶

In the last three months, Texas gained its first two E85-fueled fleets. In June 2003, Texas's City Public Service (CPS) began fueling 130 flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs)-37 percent of its light-duty fleet-with corn- and forestry-derived ethanol, making it the first fleet to use such fuel in Texas. CPS plans to use 50,000 gallons of E85 per year to fuel the FFVs.⁷ In August 2003, just two months after CPS's announcement, BWXT Pantex announced its installment of a 10,000 gallon E85 tank at its plant near Amarillo, Texas. Pantex will begin using E85 in about 80 flexible-fuel vehicles and aims to run over 200 FFVs at the plant in the next two years.⁸

In an effort to educate Texans about biomass and other renewable energy sources and to encourage them to use these resources, the Texas State Energy Conservation Office's Renewable Energy Demonstration Program (REDP) sponsors an educational program called "The Infinite Power of Texas." This effort-supported completely with oil overcharge funds-includes a website that links to fact sheets, lesson plans, tips for using renewable energy, and more.⁹

A few laws encourage Texans to use biomass and other forms of renewable energy. Under Texas Government Code (§ 2166.401 and § 2166.403), state government departments must evaluate the cost of using energy alternatives in new and reconstructed state buildings and when repairing or constructing energy systems and equipment. If the use of solar, biomass, or wind energy is economically feasible, it must be included in construction plans.¹⁰ Also, a Renewable Energy Mandate Rule passed in 1999 set a goal for the retail energy providers of Texas to install an additional 2,000 MW of renewable energy by 2009. According to the schedule outlined in the legislation, the state is slated to add 850 of the 2,000 new MW of renewable energy by January 1, 2004.¹¹

Financial incentives are available to Texans who use biomass. On February 11, 1999, the Austin City Council passed Resolution 990211-36, requesting that Austin Energy derive five percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2005. The electricity company plans to reach this goal through its GreenChoice program. Residential and business customers who choose to participate in the program will replace the fossil fuel charge on their bill with the GreenChoice charge of 2.85 cents per kWh, a rate that will be fixed for ten years. Electricity from the Tessman Landfill Biogas Project is one source of the renewables-derived energy.¹²

In San Antonio, customers can receive credit for excess electricity they put back into the City Public Service grid. Qualifying customers (those who own and operate on-site distributed energy facilities powered by renewable energy sources that produce up to 25 kilowatts or 25 kilovolt amperes) receive 2.02 cents per excess kWh from June through September and 1.65 cents for each extra kWh the rest of each year.¹³

Please note a revised copy of the Hawaii spotlight is available.

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1. Energy Information Administration. "Table F18: Total Energy Consumption, Price, and Expenditure Estimates by Sector, 2000."
   http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_fuel/html/fuel_te.html
2. Energy Information Administration. "Table 7. Energy Consumption Estimates by Source, Selected Years, 1960-2000, Texas."
   http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_use/total/use_tot_tx.html
3. Energy Information Administration. "Table 8. Residential Energy Consumption Estimates, 1960-2000, Texas."
   http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_use/res/use_res_tx.html; "Table 9. Commercial Energy Consumption Estimates, 1960-2000, Texas." http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_use/com/use_com_tx.html; "Table 10. Industrial Energy Consumption Estimates, 1960-2000, Texas." http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_use/ind/use_ind_al.html
4. Energy Information Administration. "Table 11. Transportation Energy Consumption Estimates, 1960-2000, Texas."
   http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_use/tra/use_tra_tx.html
5. The Infinite Power of Texas. http://www.infinitepower.org/resbiomass.htm
6. Agricultural Research Service. "Something for Cotton Country to Get Fired Up About."
   http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/apr02/cotton0402.htm; Agricultural Research Service. "What Would Eli Whitney Think?" http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2001/010109.htm
7. Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association. Latest News. "CPS First to Fuel Fleet FFVs with Ethanol (E-85) Clean, Biomass-Derived Fuel Flows into Texas."
   http://www.treia.org/news.php
8. Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association. Latest News. "Texas' 2nd E-85 Fueled Fleet Announced."
   http://www.treia.org/news.php
9. Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE). Texas Incentives for Renewable Energy. "The Infinite Power of Texas."; The Infinite Power of Texas.
   http://www.infinitepower.org/
10. Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE). Texas Incentives for Renewable Energy. "Alternative Energy in New State Construction."
    http://www.dsireusa.org/library/includes/map.cfm?State=TX&CurrentPageId=1; Texas Government Code. http://www.dsireusa.org/library/docs/incentives/TX06R.htm
11. Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE). Texas Incentives for Renewable Energy. "Renewable Generation Requirement."
    http://www.dsireusa.org/library/includes/map.cfm?State=TX&CurrentPageId=1; http://www.dsireusa.org/library/docs/incentives/TX03R.pdf
12. Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE). Texas Incentives for Renewable Energy. "Austin Energy - Green Choice," "Austin - Renewables Portfolio Standard."
    http://www.dsireusa.org/library/includes/map.cfm?State=TX&CurrentPageId=1; Austin Energy. "GreenChoice: The Power to Choose." http://www.austinenergy.com/greenchoice/
13. Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE). Texas Incentives for Renewable Energy. "San Antonio City Public Service - Distributed Generation Program."
    http://www.dsireusa.org/library/includes/map.cfm?State=TX&CurrentPageId=1; City Public Service. http://www.citypublicservice.com/for_business/products/distributed_generation.asp; "City Public Service Board of San Antonio. Rider E5: Customer-Owned Distributed Generation Renewable Energy Service Application." http://www.dsireusa.org/library/docs/incentives/TX09R.htm

Edible Food Wrap
U.S. government scientists have created edible food wraps made of vegetables and fruits. The wraps look like flexible, paper-thin film and can protect foods in freezers but their use goes well beyond preservation. Consumers could cover leftover pasta with a tomato wrap, which would melt into the pasta when heated. Or pork chops wrapped in an apple wrap would be left with a glaze. The wraps can be made from many types of fruits and vegetables including broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, mangos, peaches, pears, apples, papayas and strawberries. The wraps are made by pureeing and diluting the fruits or vegetables and then spreading onto Teflon sheets to dry. Vegetable oils are added to make the wraps more water resistant.
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/08/28/Consumers/