EAPSI: The Feasibility of Utilizing Energy Crop Agave for Biofuel Production

Lu May-Ling, Riverside CA

Investigators

Abstract

Biofuel derived from non-food sources, such as fibrous organic wastes and energy crops, play an important role in fostering a sustainable, greener, and more secure energy future. High economic costs, however, have hindered the widespread utilization of such biomass-based fuels. This EAPSI project will seek to address the commercialization obstacle by studying the biofuel potential of agave, a drought-tolerant plant species with low recalcitrance, two features conducive to the lowering of biofuel processing costs. As one of the few countries that are invested in agave as an energy crop, Australia has much expertise to provide in assessing an important aspect of the processing cost: the feedstock value. Consequently, this project is a collaborative endeavor with Dr. Daniel Tan, Associate Professor in Agronomy at the University of Sydney, who is at the vanguard in developing agave plantations in Australia. This project will rely on techno-economic analysis to evaluate the biofuel potential of agave. The analysis will utilize actual feedstock costs associated with the cultivation of agave as an energy crop. In addition, a biochemical process without pretreatment would be used to model the conversion step. An economic evaluation combining actual feedstock costs with a simplified process requiring no pretreatment will furnish important insights into the potential of agave as a biorefinery feedstock. An analysis that leads to a bioethanol minimum selling price that is competitive with fossil fuel will not only boost the prospect of agave as feedstock candidate, but more importantly, it could potentially result in higher production of biofuel, which would lead to a more promising energy future. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Science.