College of AgricultureCollege of Engineering

Biofuels Research at Purdue

Nathan Mosier and Otto Doering

Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Agricultural Economics

Integrated, Multidisciplinary Approach to Bioenergy Production at Purdue

Cellulose Hydrolysis

Ethanol Fermentation

Nate MosierABE

Nancy HoMira Sedlak

LORREEthanol RecoveryMike LadischABE

PretreatmentMike LadischNate MosierABE

biomass cropgenetics

BiohydrogenFermentationJohn PattersonAnimal Science

Harvest & TransportKlein IlelejiABE

Proteomics/Ionomics CenterBindley Bioscience Center

Laboratory of Renewable ResourcesEngineering

Purdue Energy Center

Clint ChappleBiochem

Rick MeilanForestry

EconomicsOtto DoeringWally TynerAg Econ

Purdue Agriculture

Cropping Systems and Biofuels:Challenges and Opportunities

›Add value, maintain sustainability

›Cropping systems to meet the challenges and opportunities in biofuels

Purdue Agriculture

2004 US Ethanol Industry: 2004 US Ethanol Industry: Grain BasedGrain Based

Renewable Fuels Association, 2005; http://www.ethanolrfa.org/outlook2005.pdf

0.43 gluten meal

2.36 gluten feed

0.85Wet Mills

7.30 distillers grains2.55 Dry Grind

2004

Fiber

(million metric tons)

2004

Ethanol

(Billion gallons)

Purdue Agriculture

Bridge to Cellulosic Ethanol:Distillers Grain and Corn Fiber

› Cellulosic fiber packaged with grain

› Byproduct of current industry – value as ruminant animal feed

› Introduces technology to existing infrastructure – proving ground for future

Purdue Agriculture

Inlet Fiber

College of AgricultureCollege of Engineering

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0 24 48 72 96 120 144 168 192Enzyme Digestion Time (hrs)

Glu

can

Dig

estib

ility

(%)

15 FPU/g glucan cellulase (Spezyme CP) +40 IU/g glucan b-glucosidase (Novozyme 188)

Distillers' Grains as Received from Big River Resources, LLC

DDGS:Cellulose Digestibility

Combined results of

Purdue, U. of Illinois, USDA-NCAUR, Michigan State

Digestibility of corn stover (for comparison)

College of AgricultureCollege of Engineering

Cellulose Digestibility

Standard Assay

1 g glucan/L loading (low solids)

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0 24 48 72

Enzyme Digestion Time (hrs)

Glu

can

Dig

estib

ility

(%) DG

CpHLHW

15 FPU/g glucan cellulase (Spezyme CP) +40 IU/g glucan b-glucosidase (Novozyme 188)

Purdue Agriculture

After 4 days of enzyme treatment (20 FPU/gram dry fiber)

After 1 day of enzyme treatment (20 FPU/gram dry fiber)

Pretreated Corn Fiber160oC, 20 min.

Corn Fiber

Fermentation:30% DG + Stillage

0

10

20

30

40

50

0 12 24 36 48Fermentation Time (hrs)

Con

cent

ratio

n (g

/L)

Ethanol

Glucose

Purdue Agriculture

Industrial Partners

Purdue Agriculture

Designing biomass crops

Properties of the ideal biomass source:

High yield, and good quality– large plants

– good disease and pest resistance

› Suitable chemical composition– efficient processing

– good agronomic performance

› Tissue distribution– relatively high proportion of desirable tissue

Some of these characteristics are mutually exclusive!

Purdue Agriculture10 µm

Genetic Basis for Processing PerformanceMosier, Ladisch, Vermerris

Engineering cell wall composition› Lignin

– good understanding of pathway

– likely to have impact on biomass conversion

• physical shielding of cellulose

• inhibitor of cellulases

› Cellulose– moderate understanding of biosynthesis

– important because it is the source of glucose

› Hemicellulose– poor understanding of biosynthesis

– important because of cross-linking function

– source of hexose and pentose sugars

Purdue Agriculture

‘Cell wall genomics’› Forward and reverse genetics approaches to identify genes

involved in cell wall biogenesis

› Insertional mutagenesis with transposons (Mutator)

› Screening of mutant populations with NIR and FTIR

› Funded by NSF Plant Genome – Nick Carpita PI

› http://cellwall.genomics.purdue.edu

Purdue Agriculture

Purdue Agriculture

NIR screening

1000 200 300 400 500Observation Number

0.0

3.8

7.5

11.3

15.0rsw1mur8 mur1

2000 400 600 800Observation Number

0

4

8

12

16

Arabidopsis

Maize

0102

--

0302

--

4315

--43

13--

0301

18

4106

--

4120

--

0132

--

0141

--

FF --ra

tio v

alue

r atio

va l

ueFF --

ratio

val

uer a

tio v

alue

1000 200 300 400 5001000 200 300 400 500Observation Number

0.0

3.8

7.5

11.3

15.0rsw1mur8 mur1

2000 400 600 800Observation Number

0

4

8

12

16

Arabidopsis

Maize

0102

--

0302

--

4315

--43

13--

0301

18

4106

--

4120

--

0132

--

0141

--

FF --ra

tio v

alue

r atio

va l

ueFF --

ratio

val

uer a

tio v

alue

Purdue Agriculture

‘elf ears’

‘Arabidopsis’

‘lettuce’

Amaizing…..

Purdue Agriculture

Bioenergy Production› Complex issues

– Biomass production

– Pretreatment and Hydrolysis

– Fermentation

– Recovery

› Interdisciplinary Teams Required

› Molecular Biology – more than genes and cloning!