National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO 80401-3393

B -- PRETREATMENT SCALE-UP PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES SOL 6-371. POC Ray Prazak, Staff Subcontract Administrator, (303) 384-6876, Scott Montgomery, Group Leader, Subcontracts Section (303) 275-3193. The purpose of this announcement is to seek expressions of interest from companies interested in forming partnerships for the development of commercial equipment for a unique biomass pretreatment technology. This technology is an important step in an overall process for producing ethanol, and potentially other commodity chemicals, from cellulosic biomass. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) manages the Biofuels Program for the U.S. Department of Energy Biofuels Systems Division. A major project within the Biofuels Program is focused on ethanol production form cellulosic biomass. This project is concerned with the conversion of cellulosic biomass such as agricultural and forestry residues, wastepaper, municipal solid waste, underutilized wood, waste from paper and pulp production, herbaceous energy crops, and woody energy crops into ethanol for use as a transportation fuel. The first major unit operation in the production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass is a pretreatment step, where milled biomass is contracted with a liquid stream at temperatures of up to 300 degrees Celsius. This liquid stream may be high-pressure hot water, or may contain a catalyst, such as an acidic species. The pH of this liquid stream may be as low as 1.2. The purpose of the pretreatment step is to hydrolyze a significant fraction of the carbohydrates in biomass to sugars that can ultimately be fermented to ethanol. In addition, the pretreatment step may leave some unhydrolyzed carbohydrates in a form that allows for efficient conversion to sugars by added hydrolytic enzymes. Researchers at NREL have recently made substantial progress in the development of a patented pretreatment process where the biomass solids are contacted with a dilute acid catalyst in a reverse flow or counter current mode. The biomass is exposed to progressively higher temperature and the dilute acid catalyst, moving in a reverse direction, cools to progressively lower temperatures. The solids concentration of the wetted biomass slurry in any portion of the reactor and exiting the reactor should be no less than 15-30% by weight. This mode of operation has been shown to produce high yields of sugars from the carbohydrates in biomass while minimizing the formation of sugar degradation products. Industrial partners who design and/or manufacture commercial-scale process equipment that would be capable of contacting milled biomass particles (less than 5 mm particle size) with a high pressure (up to 1200 psi), potentially corrosive liquid stream in a staged reverse-flow or preferably, a true counter current mode, are sought. Examples of industries that are likely to use similar types of processes and equipment include pulp and paper manufacturing, food processing, and the solid/liquid separation and extraction operations of the chemical processing industries. NREL is currently operating a process development unit (PDU or pilot plant) to gather data essential to the scale up and commercialization of the conversion of biomass to ethanol. Potential partners would be encouraged to utilize the infrastructure within the PDU to test pilot-scale or prototype equipment designs for this particular application. In addition, other locations, such as a vendor's test facility, could be used to test equipment options. The commercialization of this pretreatment technology could be very significant in the near term. With the implementation of the Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990, there is a growing demand for oxygenates to add to gasoline. Ethanol production from corn currently supplies over 1 billion gal/year for fuel blending purposes. If ethanol could be produced from cellulosic biomass at low enough costs, significant opportunities to further penetrate the oxygenate market in the short term, as well as to supply large quantities of near-pure ethanol for use a gasoline substitute in the long term, would exist. Therefore, companies that were well positioned in equipment manufacture technology for ethanol production processes, including commercial-scale pretreatment equipment, could establish a strong supplier position in a potential rapid growth industry. Interested parties are encouraged to send a list of qualifications to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401, attention Rick Elander. The expression of interest and list of qualifications should include the following items, as appropriate: a) a general description/drawing of the equipment proposed and its application of this pretreatment process, b) the availability of prototype of pilot-scale equipment that could be used for test purposes, c) experience with equipment and/or processes that are similar to this pretreatment process, and d) ways in which the interested party would be willing to collaborate with NREL. Several contractual mechanisms are available: Cost-Shared subcontracts, Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), Work-for-Others Agreements, Researcher Exchanges, and Facilities Use Agreements. The potential partner should not include any proprietary information at this time, but the resulting agreement will allow for protection of such information and perhaps, the development of jointly-held intellectual property. This synopsis is not a request for proposals. Telephone submissions will not be honored. (348)

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