Mission NewEnergy claims breakthrough at bioethanol pilot plant

Australia's Mission NewEnergy Limited (ASX:MBT) said its pilot plant in India has produced bio-ethanol from agriculture waste using an innovative conversion method for lingo-cellulosic feedstocks.

Mission scientists worked with Indian researchers to produce the fuel using mechanical and chemical processes at the plant, which has a capacity of 10,000 gallons a year. 

See the pilot plant here »

Mission says the joint venture developed a method to separate lignin from cellulose and hemi-cellulose without using enzymes or high-concentration acids. The process enables complete hydrolysis of the separated components into C5 and C6 sugars, which results in higher yields.

The process uses less heat and pressure than competitors' methods, lowering the production cost because of lower electricity needs, Mission said.

Mission's methodology produces no waste because byproducts are either sold or consumed within the plant. Additionally, the process can use a wide variety of plant biomass, which lowers the cost, the company said.

The researchers were also able to convert the separated lignin into a feedstock for energy production, generating more electricity than the plant uses.

Mission expects to use the findings to expand use of its extensive jatropha crops. The company has planted more than 360,000 acres of jatropha in India for biodiesel feedstock or organic fertilizers.

The process can also produce ethanol from rice straw, wheat straw, barley straw, millet straw, corn stalks, bagasse, fallen leaves, palm biomass, and other grasses.

Bioethanol producers have struggled with the low energy balance for sugar- or starch-based ethanol. Plant biomass has the potential for higher energy content, and a number of producers have used enzymes or acid to separate the ligin, which interferes with the hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose needed for bioethanol.

Such methodology requires expensive proprietary enzymes or special equipment to deal with the acid, said Mission Managing Director Nathan Mahalingam.

“While other technologies have been able to produce bio-ethanol from biomass, they have suffered from a low conversion rate of raw material to bio-ethanol or high conversion cost," Mahalingam said in a release. "None of these challenges exist within Mission’s technology, and, we believe, this positions Mission to become one of the few successful next-generation ethanol producers.”

The joint venture is currently filing for patents for the technology but plans to continue optimizing yields in preparation for commercialization.

Mission, which owns 76 percent of the venture, has operations in Malaysia and India. Its Malaysian biodiesel plant has a capacity of 30 million gallons a year, and the company is building a second plant with 75 million gallons of annual production capacity. Both are expected to initially use crude palm oil but switch to jatropha seed oil from its crops in India (see New startups, familiar faces at Mumbai forum).

The company also owns and operates two, 1.65-megawatt wind turbines in India that sell electricity to the grid under a 13-year power-purchase agreement.

Mission was formerly known as Mission Biofuels.

See the company's presentation at the Cleantech Forum XIX Mumbai here »

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