AGENCY RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY
FUELING
WASHINGTON WITH BIO-PRODUCTS
Printable Adobe PDF format version
AGENCY RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY:
This package presents a comprehensive
joint bio-energy and bio-products research program to reduce Washington State’s
foreign energy dependence and boost economic development through production of
high-value consumer goods using in-state crops and biomass.
Washington State has made a substantial
investment to jump start the bio-fuels/bioenergy industry. To significantly
reduce foreign dependence, it is essential that Washington State invest in
processes that promote the use of state-grown feedstock that can be converted
into bio-fuel and other high-value bio-products.
In an unprecedented partnership, this
comprehensive bio-products technologies strategy has been developed jointly by
Washington State University, the Washington State Department of Agriculture and
the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is managed by Battelle for the
U.S. Department of Energy. This Bioproducts Technologies request is submitted by
Washington State University with the full support of the Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory. A request for an integral portion of this bio-products
technologies strategy is being submitted separately by the Washington State
Department of Agriculture, but is also identified and discussed herein.
Bio-products, as used in this request, includes bio-fuels, bio-power, and other
products produced from biological materials.
Washington State University requests $4.7
million and Washington State Department of Agriculture and WSU jointly request
$2 million to:
-
[WSU request] Fund a system-wide
Center for Bio-products and Bio-energy (CBB) at Washington State University
led by a director with exceptional experience and qualifications, desirably
with standing in the National Academy of Engineering or the National Academy
of Sciences. The CBB is the overarching program that links together the
efforts system-wide of WSU faculty, PNNL scientists, and the WSDA. The CBB
will facilitate coordination of research and extension efforts for bioenergy
and bio-products at all WSU locations, including the Bioproducts Science and
Engineering Laboratory at WSU-Tri-Cities and coordinate with state
government efforts led by WSDA. In addition to the funds to attract the
Director, this $1.6 million request includes an Assistant to the Director
who will manage many daily activities of the Center, an Industry Relations
coordinator for outreach, an administrative assistant, a laboratory manager
for the Pullman bio-products laboratory and $210,000 per year for Center
operations and collaboration grant funds.
-
[WSU request] Provide $2 million in
matching state funds to complete a team of ten scientists that would have
joint Washington State University/Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory appointments. These scientists would work on longer-term projects
(five years or more) but also have goals for short-term deliverables. The
ten scientists will occupy the new, jointly-funded (WSU and PNNL)
Bioproducts Science and Engineering Laboratory under construction on the
campus of WSU Tri-Cities. The request funds and supports five state
Bioproducts faculty scientist positions, which would be matched by the
equivalent of five positions funded by federal research programs through
PNNL. Scientist positions created are likely to include areas like a chemist
to develop new chemicals from biomass, a bio-polymer researcher, a
biochemical/chemical engineer with expertise in catalysts, a microbiologist
to screen organisms for biomass conversion, a chemical engineer with
expertise in product separation, a process engineer working on system
integration and pilot testing, etc. These scientists will also educate
undergraduate and graduate students participating in research and taking
classes at WSU Tri-Cities.
-
[WSU request] Fill three critical
gaps in state Bioproducts research capacity with new Pullman-based
scientists in metabolic engineering, microbiology and molecular biology, and
a crop scientist/Extension specialist. The cost is $1.1 million. Like the
Tri-Cities-based scientists, the three new Pullman scientists would either
fill critical technical gaps or enhance the critical mass of the existing
expertise identified collaboratively by WSU and PNNL. The metabolic engineer
is needed to understand how micro-organisms can break down feedstock more
efficiently. The crop scientist is required to understand how to grow the
proper crop to be converted to fuel and other bio-products more efficiently.
-
[WSDA-WSU request] Conduct $2 million
in pressing applied agronomic, economic and engineering research on
technology and cropping systems for more efficiently growing oilseed and
other energy crops and more economically converting these and other biomass
to fuel. These research projects, with short-term implications, would be
directed by the “Bioenergy Roadmap for Washington” which is currently being
developed by WSU and WSDA. The funding for this joint applied program would
be passed to WSU from WSDA. WSU will partner with PNNL to execute portions
of this applied research.
Simultaneously, PNNL, with input from
WSU, is conducting a business case analysis for developing cost competitive
bio-products for the Pacific Northwest region. WSU and WSDA will work with PNNL
to integrate the results of the regional business case analysis into the
Bioenergy Roadmap for Washington. The roadmap was previously funded by state and
federal appropriations. Short-term issues addressed by the roadmap include the
development of markets for “co-products” that could be produced along with fuels
to make Washington plants profitable. This initiative should produce two
valuable outcomes: 1) identify profitable ways for Washington feed stocks to be
used in the production of bio-fuels and other bio-products, and 2) accelerate
the deployment of technologies that enable Pacific Northwest crops to be used
for bio-fuel and other bio-product production more quickly and efficiently.
WSU Request
|
2007-08 |
|
2008-09 |
|
2007-09 |
|
By Fund |
FTE |
Dollars |
|
FTE |
Dollars |
|
Biennium |
|
General Fund
State |
18.5 |
2,350,000 |
|
18.5 |
2,350,000 |
|
4,700,000 |
|
Total |
18.5 |
$2,350,000 |
|
18.5 |
$2,350,000 |
|
$4,700,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WSDA Request
|
2007-08 |
|
2008-09 |
|
2007-09 |
|
By Fund |
FTE |
Dollars |
|
FTE |
Dollars |
|
Biennium |
|
General Fund
State |
|
1,000,000 |
|
|
1,000,000 |
|
2,000,000 |
|
Total |
|
$1,000,000 |
|
|
$1,000,000 |
|
$2,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PACKAGE DESCRIPTION:
With the rising cost of petroleum and
natural gas, national security concerns about our dependence on imported oil,
and environmental concerns about air quality and global warming, a window of
opportunity has opened for the development of a bio-fuels, bio-power, and
bio-products industry in Washington State.
During the 2006 legislative session the
Governor sponsored and the legislature passed two bills designed to ensure the
success of this industry. ESSB 6508 established a renewable fuels standard for
the state for both bio-diesel and ethanol. The standard begins with a minimum
requirement of 2% bio-diesel and ethanol in all diesel and gasoline sold in the
state beginning in 2008. The content increases based on the ability to produce
bio-diesel and ethanol from feedstock grown or produced in the state
The Energy Freedom Program (E3SHB 2939)
provided $17 million dollars for loans to public entities to develop bioenergy
projects. $6.75 million of this money is competitive and can be used for a
variety of biomass related projects, including anaerobic digesters.
Together these two pieces of legislation
provide a market for locally produced bio-fuels and seed money to help
jump-start a bio-fuels and bio-power industry in Washington
However, some new plants being built in
this state to relieve reliance on foreign petroleum products still rely on palm
oil and other bio-products made in other countries like Indonesia and Malaysia.
Problem Addressed By This Request and
WSDA’s Request: To foster a
profitable alternative fuels market in Washington using state feed stocks,
research must apply known bio-products technologies to the Pacific Northwest,
co-products must be developed, and alternate crops must be developed.
1. The technologies currently used for
production of bio-diesel and the use of anaerobic digesters for bio-power are
not new, but their application in the Pacific Northwest is new. There is a need
for improved technology and practical information to make these industries more
efficient and therefore more likely to succeed without the need for governmental
financial assistance. Similarly, the production of ethanol from starchy
materials and sugars is not new, but its production from crop and forest
residues and urban biomass is still being studied with great need to examine
Washington’s biomass and crops for applicability to this technology that will be
the dominant source of bio-fuels in the future.
2. There is a need for research on the
co-products produced by oilseed crushing, bio-diesel refining, anaerobic
digesters, and ethanol production. The ability to produce and market co-products
is essential to the economic viability of these operations and may be primary
economic driver for the establishment of the bioeconomy. These and similar areas
of research are needed to ensure the success of the initiative to establish a
bio-fuels/bio-power industry in the state.
3. Washington farmers are in need of
alternative crops and value-added product opportunities. Flat or falling
commodity prices, labor availability challenges, international trade issues, and
the increasing cost of fuel and fertilizer have pushed many of the state’s
farmers to the brink. Alternative crops and the use of our state’s agricultural
and biomass resources as “feedstock” can be key components of a bioenergy
industry that brings money and jobs to our rural communities. New plant
varieties that produce more oil or which increase the energy content of the oil
produced and that are adapted for the northwest must be bred. Microbes which
efficiently transform the energy contained in plants must be developed and
deployed, and processes that efficiently separate valuable products and achieve
highly efficient conversion of the plant’s energy to fuels must be developed.
There is a need for applied research on the agronomics of growing oilseed and
other bioenergy and bio-products important crops in Washington State across the
range of growing zones to determine which varieties are best suited and what are
the best management practices for their production. Likewise, it is important
to identify additional co-products that can be produced from Washington feed
stocks. Co-products can provide additional revenue streams for fuel producers
or potentially serve a primary revenue stream. Identifying profitable
co-products and helping develop those markets can dramatically increase the
profitability and viability of bioenergy crops in the Pacific Northwest.
The Partners
In the summer of 2005 the Governor
designated the Washington State Department of Agriculture as the lead
state agency for developing a bioenergy industry in the state. This industry
could produce bio-diesel, ethanol, and valuable bio-products like lubricating
oils, plastics, and other industrial chemicals, and consumer products. It also
could produce electrical and industrial energy through anaerobic digesters and
other biomass related technologies.
Washington State University
is the state’s Land Grant University and
has the scientific expertise and Extension infrastructure to carry out the
research and disseminate the results to the people who will benefit from it. In
2006, WSU formally approved the creation of the Center for Bioproducts and
Bioenergy as a structure through which its significant efforts directed at the
emerging bio-products and bioenergy industry could be coordinated. WSU has
scientists who are nationally prominent in this field and, in partnership with
WSDA, the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service
(USDA-ARS), and the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL), desires to increase its capacity to conduct the research and
development that is necessary to transform Washington’s enormously varied and
abundant biomass resources into petroleum-replacing products.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
has 30 years of history
working on biomass conversion and production of fuels and chemicals and has
about 25 staff engaged in this research area. The laboratory currently has a
substantial federal and private research portfolio of about $7 million per year.
In addition, using capital funding from both US Department of Energy and
Battelle, PNNL has available about $9 million in state of the art research
equipment that will become part of the new Bioproducts, Science & Engineering
Laboratory. The research staff, the federal research funding and the equipment
represent substantial leverage in developing a state bio-fuels and bio-products
industry. In 2005, WSU received approval from the Washington Legislature for
construction of the Bioproducts Science and Engineering Laboratory (BSEL), a
physical facility being constructed at the WSU Tri-Cities campus that will be
jointly occupied by WSU and PNNL researchers, WSU graduate students, and
associated staff. Funding was made possible by capital construction
appropriations in the 2005 legislative session and monies provided by PNNL. This
facility, which is the only one of its kind in the nation in which Department of
Energy scientists and Land-Grant university professors and staff work
side-by-side on bio-products and bioenergy solutions, provides a pilot scale
laboratory in which new technologies can be moved from the laboratory to
commercial practice.
Opportunities for Federal Matching
Dollars
The US Department of Energy recently
announced that it will invest $250 million over the next five years in two
Bioenergy Research Centers to conduct systems biology research on microbes and
plants enabling nature’s own powerful mechanisms for producing energy from
sunlight to be efficiently harvested. The initiatives articulated here will
build on existing strengths at the two institutions and the visionary
development of the BSEL facility to facilitate a WSU-PNNL collaborative proposal
to successfully compete to be one of the two national centers of excellence for
bio-products and bioenergy.
In another federal research grant
program, the US Department of Energy and US Department of Agriculture announced
recently the awarding of nine research grants totaling nearly $7 million for
fundamental research to facilitate the use of woody plant tissue, specifically
lignocellulosic materials, for bioenergy or bio-fuels. Our state was not among
the recipients. The personnel identified in this initiative will increase
substantially the WSU-PNNL research partnership’s ability to compete
successfully for critical federal research grants like these and will ensure
that the benefits of the emerging bioeconomy are available to Washington’s
citizens.
Outcomes:
The outcome of the request will be
enhanced bio-products and bioenergy research and education capability at WSU,
advancement in sciences and technology transfer that translates to new business
and job opportunities. The following potential outcomes have been identified as
likely results of this request coupled with additional funding from other
sources.
Short-term outcomes (3-5 years)
·
Document oilseed crop
performance in different climate zones and recommend cropping systems for
sustaining oilseed crops.
·
Complete R&D on improved
anaerobic digestion technology leading to a technology demonstration.
·
Demonstrate technology for
nutrient recovery from anaerobically digested dairy waste.
·
Documented performance data
from using bio-pesticides and recycled nutrients from wastes.
·
Technology transfer and
pilot demonstration of chemical production and commercialization of new products
from starch-based biomass such as cull potatoes.
·
Conduct laboratory proof of
concept for conversion of biomass-derived sugars to chemical bio-products.
·
Demonstration of more
effective conversion of glycerol from bio-diesel production to chemicals such as
succinic acid and glycol.
·
Establish an agronomic and
genetic research program that focuses specifically on developing integrated
bioenergy/bio-product/bio-power/food cropping systems within the state’s many
distinct climatic zones.
·
Identify 3 to 5
crops/plants to serve as a fundamental feedstock base that can be consistently
and profitably produced by Washington farmers and foresters such as nitrogen
fixing oilseed crops and perennial crops for cellulosic ethanol (crops such as
hybrid poplars or perennial grass).
·
Effectively adapt current
plastic and composites processes for use with natural fibers and biopolymers
instead of petrochemicals.
·
Complete a detailed,
comprehensive “roadmap” of bio-fuels/bio-products opportunities based on the use
of biomass residues in Washington and the Pacific Northwest. This includes a
wide range of fuels such as cellulosic ethanol and bio-diesel as well as
co-products and new uses.
·
Develop, with support from
the state Department of Ecology, a technology matrix of options for use of the
17 million dry tons documented in the Washington Biomass Inventory and
Assessment.
·
Develop detailed economic
assessments of opportunities/choices.
·
Complete a detailed study
of the economic impact on Washington of higher petroleum costs.
Long-term outcomes (more than 5 years)
·
Develop the enabling
science and technology that will lead to breakthrough advancements for
biologically converting lignocellulosic biomass to products and fuels using
“next-generation” processing approaches
o
Identify improved organisms
and systems capable of higher ethanol tolerance and higher productivity.
o
Identify and utilize
advanced organisms for improved lignin conversion.
o
Demonstrate integrated
bio-refinery processes.
·
Develop models and
simulation tools for bio-refinery process optimization.
·
Conduct a thermal
processing demonstration with an industrial partner using a variety of
Washington biomass feed stocks.
Washington State
University,
Washington
Department of Agriculture and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory propose
biennial reports to the governor and the Washington Legislature on the progress
this partnership has made on this budget request, including performance measured
against these short-term and long-term outcomes.
|
FISCAL DETAIL TABLES – FUELING
WASHINGTON WITH BIOPRODUCTS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2007-08 |
|
2008-09 |
|
2007-09 |
|
By
Program |
FTE |
Dollars |
|
FTE |
Dollars |
|
Biennium |
|
Instruction |
3.1 |
263,000 |
|
3.1 |
263,000 |
|
526,000 |
|
Research |
12.7 |
1,804,000 |
|
12.7 |
1,804,000 |
|
3,608,000 |
|
Public Service |
2.7 |
283,000 |
|
2.7 |
283,000 |
|
566,000 |
|
Total |
18.5 |
$2,350,000 |
|
18.5 |
$2,350,000 |
|
$4,700,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2007-08 |
|
2008-09 |
|
2007-09 |
|
By Object |
FTE |
Dollars |
|
FTE |
Dollars |
|
Biennium |
|
Salaries |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Faculty |
9.0 |
815,000 |
|
9.0 |
815,000 |
|
1,630,000 |
|
A/P |
3.0 |
175,000 |
|
3.0 |
175,000 |
|
350,000 |
|
TA/GA |
1.5 |
75,000 |
|
1.5 |
75,000 |
|
150,000 |
|
Classified |
5.0 |
187,000 |
|
5.0 |
187,000 |
|
374,000 |
|
Benefits |
|
426,000 |
|
|
426,000 |
|
852,000 |
|
Goods/Services |
|
404,000 |
|
|
404,000 |
|
808,000 |
|
Travel |
|
68,000 |
|
|
68,000 |
|
136,000 |
|
Equipment |
|
200,000 |
|
|
200,000 |
|
400,000 |
|
Total |
18.5 |
$2,350,000 |
|
18.5 |
$2,350,000 |
|
$4,700,000 |
