Ethanol from Seaweed -Exploiting what the alginate industry doesn’t use for fun and profit

Ethanol from Seaweed

-Exploiting what the alginate industry doesn’t use for fun and profit

Objective

• Can you profitably make ethanol from Seaweed in Norway?

Seaweed

• Seaweed has three main carbohydrate– Laminarin– Mannitol– Alginate

• Contents vary throughout the year

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Sugars as % of dry weight

Month

%

Sourcing

• Seaweed is an abundant resource along the Norwegian Coastline.

• Laminarian Hyperborea– 150.000 tons/year– FMC Biopolymer Haugesund

• Some experiments in seaweed cultivation– Seaweed Energy Solutions

>Making money fermenting laminarin

Previous group

Why merely fermenting algae is silly

• Ethanol is a low value product compared to alginate• Laminarin and mannitol make up at most 45% of dryweight in

the best of conditions• 1 NOK in earnings roughly 1,3 NOK in costs

– Cost of wild seaweed 176 NOK/wet ton 900 + NOK/dry ton

• An integrated ethanol/biogas plant needs a raw material cost of <400 NOK/dry ton

90 % yield90 NOK

1 ton wet algae- 90 kg sugars

57,5 liters ofethanol

176 NOK 212 NOK

Processing

• The alginate industry requires only alginate. The ethanol plant only uses the other two carbohydrates.

• Alginate can be separated out before or after fermentation

• Fermentation can be done with a mixture of yeast and bacteria

• Laminaran easy to ferment, mannitol somewhat harder– Partially oxidizing conditions

Pretreatment Fermentation Separation/distillation

Dried seaweedEthanol

Alginate

Potential for sale

• Ethanol primarily for two purposes– Transport fuel• Mixing with gasoline E5, E85• Norway mandates 3,5 % with a potential for a 5 %

mandate eventually.• Needs distillation to around 100 % ethanol

– Heating fuel• Fireplaces fueled by ethanol

– Ethanol around 96 % needed

• Clean burn, no chimney needed

Economics

• Investment around 10 million NOK• Costs around 8,6 million• Production 3,7 million liters of ethanol per year on an

eight month production schedule• Profit highly dependent on sales price

– Fuel ethanol sold for just 3,7 Nok/liter (Brazilian ethanol bulk price)

– 13,7 million income 5,1 million profit Roughly 50 %– Fireplace ethanol sold for around 25 Nok/liter (retail).– Up to 23 million income 14,6 million profit Roughly 140

%

Conclusions

• Standalone ethanol production from Seaweed is not very viable at current prices and technology level

• The price of fuel ethanol is a bit low• Potential for good profitability through other

uses of bioethanol such as for heating if the ethanol plant is integrated with a cheap source of raw material such as an alginate plant

Whatever