Cellulosic ethanol: status and innovation
Open accessAbstract
Although the purchase price of cellulosic feedstocks is competitive with petroleum on an energy basis, the cost of lignocellulose conversion to ethanol using today's technology is high. Cost reductions can be pursued via either in-paradigm or new-paradigm innovation. As an example of new-paradigm innovation, consolidated bioprocessing using thermophilic bacteria combined with milling during fermentation (cotreatment) is analyzed. Acknowledging the nascent state of this approach, our analysis indicates potential for radically improved cost competitiveness and feasibility at smaller scale compared to current technology, arising from (a) R&D-driven advances (consolidated bioprocessing with cotreatment in lieu of thermochemical pretreatment and added fungal cellulase), and (b) configurational changes (fuel pellet coproduction instead of electricity, gas boiler(s) in lieu of a solid fuel boiler).
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Advanced biofuel production costs are higher than their fossil counterparts.
“Their production costs [19][20][21] however are higher than their fossil counterparts [22]”
From Advanced biofuels to decarbonise European transport by 2030: markets, challenges, and policies that impact their successful market uptake (2021) · cites this paper as [22]
The current cellulosic BP pathway is broadly consistent with the six pioneer commercial-scale cellulosic biorefineries that had been constructed worldwide as of 2017, with a combined nameplate annual production capacity of 450 million L.
“This pathway is broadly consistent with the six pioneer commercial-scale cellulosic biorefineries that had been constructed worldwide as of 2017, with a combined nameplate annual production capacity of 450 million L ( 58 ).”
From Robust paths to net greenhouse gas mitigation and negative emissions via advanced biofuels (2020) · cites this paper as [58]
Continued research, development, and iterative limited-scale deployment of bioenergy and CCS systems are essential for realizing improvements and cost reductions in biorefining and CCS technology in support of existing renewable fuel mandates and in time for midcentury wide-scale deployment of CDR.
“We note that continued research, development, and iterative limited-scale deployment of such systems are essential for realizing improvements and cost reductions in biorefining and CCS technology ( 58 , 59 ) in support of existing renewable fuel mandates and in time for the midcentury wide-scale deployment of CDR called for in many projections.”
From Robust paths to net greenhouse gas mitigation and negative emissions via advanced biofuels (2020) · cites this paper as [58]
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“This pathway is broadly consistent with the six pioneer commercial-scale cellulosic biorefineries that had been constructed worldwide as of 2017, with a combined nameplate annual production capacity of 450 million L (58).”
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- Authors
- Lynd, L. R., Liang, X., Biddy, M. J., Allee, A., Cai, H., Foust, T., Himmel, M. E., Laser, M. S., Wang, M., & Wyman, C. E.
- Affiliations
- Dartmouth College (US)
- National Laboratory of the Rockies (US)
- Argonne National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Riverside (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lynd, Lee R
- ORCID
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Biotechnology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-06
- Volume
- 45
- Pages
- 202-211
- ISSN
- 0958-1669 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2615538334
- Cited by
- 402
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 62 · 2020: 68 · 2019: 55 · 2018: 43 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 4.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (am, 351 d)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-017 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-037 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-012 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-029 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-004 (stm-asf)
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Biotechnology (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- US Department of Energy Office of Biological and Environmental Research through the Bioenergy Science Center (DE-AC05-00OR22725)
- Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC02-06CH11357)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biofuel production and bioconversion
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Production
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Bioenergy crop production and management
- Keywords
- cellulosic ethanol, lignocellulose conversion, consolidated bioprocessing, thermophilic bacteria, thermochemical pretreatment, fungal cellulases, process cost reduction, scale-up, biofuels
- MeSH terms
- Ethanol, Cellulase, Cellulose, Fermentation, Fungi, Lignin, Biofuels
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