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
• Renewable fuels standards; and
• Renewable portfolio standards (electricity)

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.
• Existing bioenergy industry - Kansas has the eighth largest ethanol production capacity in the U.S., with 384 mgy on line, and two 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 presence – Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, and Chevron are fuel - providing companies which have a large presence in the state. In addition, 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 a plant under construction 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.
• Kansas Bioscience Center of Innovation - The Kansas Alliance for Bioenergy and Biorefining (KABB) is uniting key industry players such as Archer Daniels Midland with the world-class research and development efforts at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University. This center of innovation will use commercial biorefining to develop alternative fuels and chemicals; commercialize efficient biomass resources for cost-effective quality power; and improve carbon capture. As with other KBA centers of innovation, the focus of this center is commercial viability, which requires the confluence of economic viability with technical feasibility and marketplace acceptance.
• 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.
    
    – Department of Grain Science and Industry
    
    - Center for Sustainable Energy
    
    – Kansas Center for Agriculture Research and the Environment
    
    – Biological and Agricultural Engineering
    
    – Wheat Research Center
    
    – Advanced Manufacturing Institute
    
    – National Gas Machinery Laboratory
    
    – Bioprocessing and Industrial Value Added Program
    
    
  • University of Kansas provides outstanding complementary expertise, particularly in the areas of catalysis, reaction engineering, separations, process design and biofuels utilization.
    
    – 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
  • Heartland BioVentures (HBV), is the Kansas Bioscience Authority’s business assistance program to facilitate risk capital investment in Kansas bioscience companies. The services, resources and networks of HBV and its partners are directed to bioscience, healthcare, and bioenergy startups as they develop products, raise capital and go 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.

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 which is commercially producing both food and fuel.
• Archer Daniels Midland Company, together with the University of Kansas, is conducting research converting multiple feedstocks, including biomass into a wide platform of fuels and chemicals to replace or improve upon petroleum-based products.
• AGCO is developing strategies to provide feedstock economically and reliably to cellulosic biorefineries, an essential, next-generation component of the biofuels supply chain in which technology and equipment is sorely lacking.