With the aid of a microbe found in termites and $25 million in DOE grants awarded today, ZeaChem is proposing to build a trial sized biofuels refinery in Boardman, Ore. A hundred and 50 miles east of Portland, on the Columbia river, the Boardman facility would convert poplar hybrid trees into cellulosic ethanol.
The poplar requires only a fifth the water per acre that corn does and yields 5 times as many gallons of ethanol. In addition, the poplar leaves an intact root structure when harvested, which minimizes erosion.
Talking to Jim Imbler, CEO and Tim Eggeman, CTO I had the chance to ask a few questions. A traditional complaint in the field of biofuels is the reduction in green mass soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. While this still applies to ZeaChem's poplar hybrids to some degree, poplar has serious advantages over most crops.
Poplar grows in almost any climate and shoots up like a weed, reaching its full 16-20 feet in 3 years or so. It consumes massive amounts of CO2 in its first stages of life. By mowing it (like grass) at this early stage and leaving the root system intact, the plant still takes a lot of CO2 out of the atmosphere even while it is used as a fuel source. Most ethanols release CO2 during the fermentation process. ZeaChem's process, though, uses Acetogens (a type of bacteria) and does not release any CO2. Poplar based cellulosic ethanol, according to Eggeman, yields 92-94 percent CO2 savings when compared to gasoline. From field to fuel, poplar stays greener.
Another problem with anything irrigated in the West is salinity. Throughout the inter-mountain desert areas (anywhere between the Sierra-Cascade Ridge and the Rocky Mountains) the mineral soil contains a lot of salt from the area's history as an inland sea. A common problem is that water gets saltier as it gets further from its source and the salt is left behind on the field as the irrigation drains off. GreenWood Resources, a global leader in sustainable arboriculture, has experience in such matters. Imbler called GreenWood's 17,000 acre tree farm near Boardman "probably the most advanced irrigation system that you'll ever see" and quoted a 3 percent water waste rate. What this means is that instead of spoiling the land and the downstream water, the Boardman farm should be productive for decades to come. Says Eggeman, "you aren't making any headway if you're ruining the land."
Imbler and Eggeman are clearly pleased with the DOE grant. "It validates us as a company and it validates the ethanol process," Imbler said.