Bioenergy

The economic and geographic positioning of Kansas, with its expansive grain-producing and grassland areas and research expertise, make it ideal for leadership in the rapidly expanding bioenergy sector.

Bioenergy provides about 3 percent of the country’s energy consumption, surpassing hydroelectric power to be the single largest source of renewable energy. The United States is approaching a biobased revolution that will fundamentally change the way we produce and consume energy and industrial products. From biological resources we can derive products as diverse as fuels and lubricants, heat and electricity, chemicals, food, feed building materials, paper, clothing, and much more. Some of the critical drivers for future increases in bioenergy demand include the following:

• Increased global energy consumption;
• National energy security;
• Environmental impact;
• Economic productivity; and
• Renewable fuels standards

Kansas has responded to the growing demand for bioenergy primarily by adapting agricultural production principles for biofuels and building biorefineries in the state.

Adaption of agricultural production for biofuels has largely involved producing more corn and sorghum in the state to supply first generation ethanol plants. Leading the way in adopting new principles in producing agricultural products for fuels has been the state’s land grant institution, Kansas State University. These bioenergy feedstock production practices have involved the institution’s Department of Grain Science and Industry, the Wheat Genetics Research Center, the Chemical Engineering Department, the Kansas Center for Agriculture Research and the Environment, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and the Bioprocessing and Industrial Value Added Program.

The first generation of biorefineries built in Kansas is converting starch to ethanol. As the nation’s eighth largest producer of ethanol, Kansas has a production capacity of more than 380 million gallons of ethanol. Over 50 percent of current U.S. production capacity for biofuels exists within 300 mile radius of Kansas City.

As the biofuels industry seeks to derive fuels from biomass other than corn kernels, Kansas is leading the way to technology advances related to conversion of cellulose into ethanol or other fuels. The cellulosic biomass resources within the state are significant, with estimates that more than 38 million tons of biomass from crop residue could potentially be converted to fuels.

Kansas’ assets include:

• Outstanding natural resources - Kansas has crop and biomass residue from 10 million acres of wheat, 3.2 million acres of sorghum, 3.7 million acres of corn, and 2.8 million acres of soybeans available for processing into biofuel.
• Viable existing bioenergy industry - Kansas has the eighth largest ethanol production capacity in the U.S., with 384 mgy on line, and two operating biodiesel plants. Other industrial assets include chemical engineering and thermo-chemical processing plants, including one used for pilot studies. This defines Kansas as one of the key states whose assets and interests are aligned with bioenergy.
• Kansas has bioenergy industry leaders - The two biggest industry leaders in bioenergy are Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland, which are involved throughout the biofuels pipeline, particularly as wholesale distributors of the fuel. Chevron and other petroleum companies blend fuel. All of these fuel-providing companies have a large presence in the state. The nation’s premier design-build ethanol plant developer, ICM, has its headquarters in Kansas, and Abengoa, a leader in developing the first commercial-size cellulosic biorefinery, has chosen to locate in Kansas.
• Support from an active agricultural industry/community - Approximately 40 percent of biorefineries are farmer owned, with many others owned by a variety of new ventures and growing businesses.
• Leading university assets - Kansas public universities offer world renowned expertise in complementary areas to conduct R&D and attract federal funding, eminent scholars and outstanding students.
  • Kansas State University has the reputation, agricultural focus, scholars, and infrastructure to conduct basic research and attract federal funding in biofuels.
    
    - Center for Sustainable Energy
    
    – Kansas Center for Agriculture Research and the Environment
    
    – Biological and Agricultural Engineering
    
    – Department of Grain Science and Industry
    
    – Wheat Research Center
    
    – Advanced Manufacturing Institute
    
    – National Gas Machinery Laboratory
    
    – Bioprocessing and Industrial Value Added Program
    
    – Extrusion Center
  • University of Kansas provides outstanding complementary expertise, particularly in the areas of catalysis, reaction engineering, separations, process design and biofuels utilization.
    
    – NSF Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis
    
    – Transportation Research Institute
    
    – KU Energy Council
    
    – Kansas Geological Survey
    
    – Tertiary Oil Recovery Project
• Kansas has organizations experienced in bringing new technologies to market
  • The National Institute for Strategic Technology Acquisition and Commercialization is a not-for-profit innovation commercialization center in Manhattan, Kan., that provides business incubation services, pre-seed capital, and technology transfer support activities.
  • Midwest Research Institute, based in Kansas City, Mo., has a focus of applied research and technical services. Its 135 chemistry, biology and engineering laboratories, as well as 230 acres of agricultural field stations, bring expertise in the management and operation of research laboratories and technical centers to the collaboration. MRI has managed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for 30 years and has developed it into the premier laboratory for all types of renewable energy research including bioenergy.

These assets have led the state to move toward national leadership in bioenergy, with vision and resources provided by the Kansas Bioscience Authority’s bioenergy working group. The working group’s mandate is to accelerate the development of bioenergy technologies and to provide tangible support for cutting-edge bioenergy projects.

Examples of success in Kansas

• Edenspace Systems Corporation is attracting significant funding for its technology breakthroughs that lower processing costs for cellulosic ethanol and increase yields of biofuels from sorghum, corn, and switchgrass. The result: less waste, more fuel, and more profits for farmers.
• ICM is creating the ethanol biorefinery of the future with new, proprietary, and innovative technology that will be capable of commercially producing both food and fuel in 2010.
• Sunflower Electric Power Corporation and the National Institute for Strategic Technology Acquisition and Commercialization have partnered to create renewable energy through an integrated bioenergy center. The center will use green algae as an energy source in an ultra-efficient closed-loop system that will include an ethanol plant, a biodiesel plant, a dairy, an anaerobic digester, an algae reactor, and a coal-based power plant.