# Presentation: 255776

## Ethanol opportunities in a transition from gasoline to diesel fuel

**Ethanol opportunities in a transition from gasoline to diesel fuel**

- Renewable Fuels Summit, 12 June 2006 Bismarck State College
- Ted Aulich
- Energy & Environmental Research Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota

## Why transition from gasoline to diesel fuel?

- National security: Increase fuel economy by 20%—with hybrid and other improvements by 50%—vs today’s gasoline engine
- Achieve well-to-wheel fuel life cycle efficiency near that of fuel cell vehicle, with technology available today—while working on fuel cell economics
- Reduce CO2 and evaporative emissions
- Transition from petroleum to renewable diesel as production comes on line

## Well-to-wheels total energy use—data from May 2005 GM–Argonne National Lab Report

## Well-to-wheels petroleum energy use—data from May 2005 GM–Argonne National Lab Report

## Ethanol opportunities beyond low-level gasoline blendstock

- Direct addition to diesel fuel (E-diesel)
- Biodiesel feedstock (replace methanol)
- E85 and aviation-grade ethanol
- Hydrogen feedstock
- Chemical feedstock
- Conversion to high-cetane diesel fuel

## E-diesel

- Attributes
- Increase renewable content of diesel fuel
- Reduce particulate and NOx emissions
- Considerations
- Increased vapor pressure puts E-diesel in same volatility class as gasoline
- Near-zero cetane of ethanol means cetane enhancement required
- Ethanol–diesel separation at 35°F—mitigate with emulsifiers and/or cosolvents, including biodiesel

## E-diesel blends at low temperature

**Ethanol–biodiesel (5%/5%) and 2001 commercial Additive A and B formulations (left to right) after 1 week undisturbed exposure to temperatures of –2° to 4°F. Temperature at time of photos was 0°F.**

## Ethanol as biodiesel feedstock

- Attributes
- Increase renewable content of biodiesel
- Achieve economic benefits by co-locating ethanol and biodiesel production
- Considerations
- Ethanol contribution to biodiesel only about 17% on volume basis
- Biodiesel process more efficient with methanol

## E85 and aviation-grade ethanol

- Take advantage of ethanol octane to improve fuel economy
- Computer-controlled variable valve profiling
- Effect increased compression ratio when burning high ethanol-content fuel
- Develop AGE-certified aircraft operable at lower gallons/hour cost than avgas
- Avgas market about 300-700 million gallons/year
- Ethanol for jets?

## Ethanol as hydrogen feedstock

- Attributes
- Use hydrogen for internal combustion engine (ICE) or proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell (FC) vehicles
- Each gallon of ethanol converted to hydrogen and utilized in ICE or FC will displace more oil than each gallon burned as E85 or E10
- Improve economics by integration of ethanol and hydrogen production
- Considerations
- At $500K/vehicle, FCs may not soon be commercial, but hydrogen ICEs ($60K/vehicle) could help in transition
- Non-transportation solid oxide fuel cells will likely be commercialized well before PEMs, and could be good market for ethanol

## Ethanol as chemical feedstock

**Catalytic**

**Condensation**

**Ethanol**

**Distillation and**

**Dehydration**

**Butanol**

**and**

**Ethanol**

**Butanol**

**Catalytic**

**Condensation**

** ****2-Ethylhexanol**

*Ethanol-based Guerbet catalytic condensation*

## Guerbet catalytic condensation with ethanol

- Compatible with ethanol plant integration
- Low-temperature/pressure reaction
- Continuous-process in flow-through column containing bed of solid catalyst
- EERC, oil industry, Japanese chemical companies developing catalyst systems
- Butanol and 2-ethylhexanol worth 2-3 times ethanol value

## High-cetane diesel fuel (butyl formal or butyl ether mixtures) from ethanol

- Attributes
- Produce from ethanol-derived butanol in low-temperature flow-through processes compatible with ethanol plant integration
- Blending cetane numbers of 70–90
- Blending cold filter plug points of –40°C
- Considerations
- Cost of production?
- Impact on emissions and other fuel properties?

## Challenges to transition from gasoline to diesel

- Per-vehicle cost increase of $2,000—$5000 with hybrid; may come down as car companies retool
- Oil companies have big investments in clean gasoline production infrastructure
- Public perception of diesel vehicles

## Strategy for energy/national security 

- With existing technology, start gasoline-to-diesel transition
- Expand ethanol production capacity
- Improve cellulosic ethanol economics
- Convert ethanol to high-cetane diesel fuel as demand warrants
- Improve biodiesel economics and expand production capacity
- Develop alternative fatty acid oils with production economics sufficient to enable large-volume petroleum displacement
- Improve hydrogen and fuel cell economics
- Cellulosic ethanol likely most economic hydrogen feedstock
- Transition to hydrogen as economics warrant

## Progress 

-    “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.”
- 			Vice President Dick Cheney, April 2001
-    “The first step toward making America less dependent on foreign oil is to improve conservation and efficiency....It makes sense to promote ethanol as an alternative to foreign sources of oil.”
- 			President George Bush, June 2005