The etuber - A Very High Yielding, Sustainable Feedstock for ABF Biofuels, Plastics and High Value Co-Products

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1 The etuber - A Very High Yielding, Sustainable Feedstock for ABF Biofuels, Plastics and High Value Co-Products CAREnergy of SC: Dr. Janice Ryan- Bohac, PhD BIO World Congress 2015

2 EE-Tuber Allows Expansion of US Production Facilities to Sun Belt There are few fuel ethanol biorefineries in Sun Belt, despite long growing season, adequate rainfall, and abundant farm land, due to the lack of an adapted feedstock crop until NOW. The etuber grows well from NJ to Florida, across the southern states to California.

3 Requirements for the Ideal Feedstock for Biofuels and Bio-based Products Produce high yields of low cost sugar; be costcompetitive with fossil fuels Qualify as an ABF to receive subsidies and RIN and as a transitional feedstock for existing corn plants Produce abundant supply near processing plants and users Adapted to the sunbelt Be easily converted by microbes and yeast without inhibitors Integrate easily into today s technology (such as corn fermentation plants) The e-tuber is ideal

4 Corn not adapted -heat and drought stress in S.Carolina -

5 BEST ADAPTED TO THE SOUTH- VINES AND TREES

6 Field of etubers TM

7 etuber By Dr. Janice Ryan-Bohac High-yielding carbon feedstock for drop-in fuels, plastics, rubber Well suited to weather and soils in Sun Belt 17-pound etuber vs. vegetable sweetpotato Efficient with water and fertilizer Shelf life - at least 1 year Fuel production using existing technologies Dried, preprocessed etuber vs. corn kernels

8 Ethanol Crop Yield Comparison Corn vs. Advanced Biofuel Crops Corn Crop Yields Advanced Biofuel Crop Yields 1800 gal One acre of cropland gal 600 gal 900 gal (2 crops/yr) 300 gal Still in Research 350 gal Corn Sugar crops Sweet Sorghum etuber Switchgrass Other Cellulose Crops

9 10 8/11/09

10 Processed with Today s Technology drop-in-feedstock for corn ethanol plants No pretreatment with acid or cellulases required No need to remove or denature inhibitors or toxins that inhibit microbes or yeast Handle with existing and available grinding machinery from the food industry Starch to sugar conversion with existing enzymes for corn

11 etuber Feedstock Production Cost etuber Sugar and Ethanol Output Vs. Corn etuber Cost per Acre Cost of Sugar per Pound Cost per Gallon of Ethanol Comparable Corn /Bushel $2160 $0.08 $0.89 $2.50 $2700 $0.10 $1.07 $3.00 $2970 $0.11 $1.25 $3.50 Cheapest source of sugar available in US 1. Calculations based on 45 wet tons per acre, 33% dry wt., and 85% starch and sugar 2. Current estimates are $ per pound sugar, which can be reduced through further mechanization of the crop planting and harvesting. 3. Total production costs vary slightly by region. Costs include farmer profit.) 2) 33% Dry Wt., and 3) 80% Fermentable Carbohydrates 12

12 Field Shot of etuber South Carolina

13 Pile of Giant etubers from small plot 150 days

14 etubers TM as large as a grocery bag

15 What Makes etuber an ABF (Advanced Biofuel Feedstock) Sustainable Green Energy Crop? Valuable coproducts to turn into bio-based chemicals, electricity Efficient, economical conversion to fuel by microbes or yeast High yields per acre reduces use of diesel fuel Well adapted to the Sun Belt, high yields on poor soils Crop efficiently uses water, nitrogen, & other inputs Reduced pesticides usage with resistance to insects and disease Efficient land use, fix max amount of CO 2 into sugar/a /day

16 Figure 1. Total energy directly and indirectly consumed on U.S. farms in Farm energy 2002 was 1.7 quadrillion Btu. Feedstock efficient/ pest resistant Re Reduce fuel useage by reducing acerage thru high yielding crops Source: J. Miranowski, Energy Consumption in US Agriculture. In J. Outlaw, K. Collins, and J.Duffield, Agriculture as a Producer and Consumer of Energy, CABI Publishing, Cambridge, MA, pp , 2005.

17 Comparison of N fertilizer/100 gallons of Ethanol production for corn, sorghum Energy Tuber Feedstock Nitrogen/A in lbs Yield in gal/a Pounds of N per 100 gallon Percentage of corn Corn Sorghum Energy tuber recommended Energy Tuber, in SC test

18 Current Status of SC Land KEY Thousands of acres Percent of total cropland 19.9 million acres 15.8 million acres 1.2 million acres = Replace S. Carolina gasoline with E-85

19 How To Get 1.2 Million Acres? Trees - convert 350,000 acres of tree farm land (of 11 million) Cotton 150,000 acres (of 347,000) Hay 480,000 acres (of 570,000) Corn - 205,000 acres (of 423,000) CRP -land 15,000 acres (of 30,000)

20 etuber and Sorghum Make Most Efficient Use of Land = Less acreage, less diesel, insecticides, etc. etuber Sorghum Sugar Cane Corn

21 Sustainable production of etuber TM and sorghum on old phosphate mine in Florida not classified as farm land

22 Preliminary GHG of etuber Dr. Richard Plevin, UC Davis 18 to 23 g CO 2 e MJ -1 Compared to for gasoline. Could be even lower if: We used conservative conversion efficiency -85% Did not account for etuber needing much lower water than corn for field production AND fermentation processing Did not take co-product credit for etuber vines for feed, just DDG equivalent from tuber ethanol process

23 etuber By Products - VINES Proteins up to 50% of DMR human or animal supplement Nutraceuticals Vitamin A, Vitamin C, LuteinE Energy add vines and residual material to anaerobic digester to make methane for farm facility and greenhouses Organic Fertilizer after anaerobic digestion

24 Sweetpotato vines, high protein, highly digestible feed for dairy cattle, goats, hogs alfalfa alternative in dry climates

25 etuber By Products - ROOTS Proteins Complete amino acid complement like egg, high in lysine Nutraceuticals Vitamin A, C, purple has antioxidants, antitumor Compounds that control blood sugar Thin stillage anaerobic digestion for methane and minerals for organic fertilizer Starting materials for adipic acid, isoprenes, biobutanol and drop-infuels, etc.

26 27 8/11/09

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28 BIORFINERY: Multifeedstock, using carbohydrate advanced fuel crops? New dedicated energy crops Technology operational on commercial scale Biorefineries can be constructed now Adequate crop land available by shifting non-food crops

29 Sam with a 27 lb etuber

30 Yield of CX-1 Energy Tuber (e-tuber) in 3 Locations Location/ Variety No. of Growing Days Treatment No. of Reps Tuber F Wt Tons/A Tuber D Wt Tons/A EtOH Gal/A Elloree, SC ,1441 e-tuber ,486 Fresno, CA ,166 e-tuber , ,757 Tulare County, CA ,376 e-tuber , ,904 Note: Corn yields about 400 EtOH Gal/Acre

31 Sweetpotatoes in Chinese market

32 27 lb Sweetpotato in Lebanon Scientific American News

33 Compare 35 lb, 10 lb, baking sized spotato

34 Wanted: Companies to test their organisms with our high yielding, patent pending variety that sustainably produces Cheap Sugar with a low GHG footprint