Cellulosic Sugar and Lignin Production Capabilities RFI Responses

Responses to DE-FOA-0001615: Request for Information: Cellulosic Sugar and Lignin Production Capabilities

The mission of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is to develop and demonstrate transformative and revolutionary, sustainable bioenergy technologies for a prosperous nation. To facilitate this goal, BETO supports research, development, and demonstration efforts that advance technologies to produce both (a) drop-in biofuels that can replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and (b) biomass-based products and chemicals that can compete with their petroleum-derived counterparts and enable biofuels deployment. Many conversion technologies that produce these biofuels or bioproducts utilize cellulosic sugars or lignin in their process. As a result, both lignocellulosic sugars and lignin have become necessary intermediates for advancing research towards economically producing biofuels and bioproducts.

The purpose of this request for information (RFI) was to develop a list of suppliers who are willing and able to produce and sell cellulosic sugar and/or lignin for use by the research community. BETO believes that its funding recipients, as well as the general research community, will use this information to determine what resources are available.

DISCLAIMERS OF LIABILITY AND ENDORSEMENT: The tables below do not constitute an all-inclusive list of cellulosic sugar and lignin suppliers, but rather reflect only submissions in response to the Request for Information (RFI) dated July 20, 2016, issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, and information subsequently received from suppliers in accordance with the requirements of Additional Submissions below. Neither the United States nor the U.S. Department of Energy, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Moreover, references in the tables to any organization, entity, commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favor by the United States Government or the U.S. Department of Energy.

ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS: BETO invites additional submissions to the RFI from cellulosic sugar and lignin suppliers and will periodically update the tables. Please submit additional submissions to this RFI to [email protected]. However, please read the full RFI, to see the full list of questions/information requested.

Summary of Cellulosic Sugar Responses

Click on the name of the organization for the full response. Responses are ordered alphabetically.

Organization	Location	Feedstocks	Process	Capacity/Quantity (see individual responses for more detailed information including individual capacity/quantity, purity, and composition)
Organization	Location	Feedstocks	Process	~grams	~kilograms	~metric tons
American Process Inc.	Alpena, Michigan	Mixed hardwood	Steam explosion, evaporation, hydrolysis, neutralization, and clarification	Yes	Yes	No
American Science and Technology Corporation	Wausau, Wisconsin	Hardwood, softwood, and agricultural wastes	Organosolv, hydrolysis, centrifugation, and granulated activated carbon	Yes	Yes	Yes
AVAPCO LLC	Thomaston, Georgia	Softwood (Southern Pine), mixed hardwood chips, agricultural residues	Fractionation (sulfur dioxide and ethanol), hydrolysis, conditioning, and clarification	Yes	Yes	Yes
Borregaard	Sarpsborg, Norway	Softwood, hardwood, and annual crops	Proprietary sulfite-based pretreatment, and enzymatic hydrolysis	Yes	Yes	Yes
Clariant Corporation	Des Moines, Iowa	Agricultural resides such as corn stover, wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse and straw, barley straw, and rice straw	Chemical-free steam explosion pre-treatment, and enzymatic hydrolysis using proprietary enzymes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ek Laboratories, LLC	Longwood, Florida	29 itemized grassy and woody crops	Hydrolysis with solid catalyst	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ethanol Technologies Limited	Dungog, New South Wales, Australia	Sugar cane bagasse, softwood (radiata pine)	Concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis	Yes	Yes	No
FPInnovations	Point-Claire, Quebec, Canada	Hardwoods	Proprietary TMP-Bio, including pretreatment stage combining mechanical action and mild chemical treatment	Yes	Yes	No
Glydia Biotech LLC	Athens, Georgia	Corn stover, wheat straw, switchgrass, sugarcane bagasse, rice straw, forage sorghum	Ammonia fiber expansion pretreatment, and commercial enzymes	Yes	Yes	No
GranBio	Sao Paulo, Brazil	Sugarcane residue	Hydrothermal pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis	No	Yes	No
ICM	St. Joseph, Missouri	Cellulosic corn kernel fiber, switchgrass, energy sorghum, corn stover, bagasse, wood chips	Patent pending dilute acid pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and filter press	Yes	Yes	Yes
Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa	Woody biomass (e.g., red oak and pine) and herbaceous feedstock (e.g., corn stover and switchgrass)	Autothermal bubbling fluidized bed pyrolysis; sugars concentrated using evaporation or reduced to glucose and xylose using acid hydrolysis	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Berkeley, California	Switchgrass, corn stover, eucalyptus, bagasse, loblolly pine, energy cane, wheat straw, municipal solid waste blends, cyanobacteria consortia, microalgae	Technology agnostic and limited only by reactor configuration; can utilize a range of catalysts suspended in an aqueous phase for pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis	Yes	Yes	No
Leaf Resources Ltd.	Darra, Queensland, Australia	U.S. mixed southern hardwood, eucalyptus, bagasse, empty fruit bunch	Not specified	Yes	Yes	No
National Renewable Energy Laboratory	Golden, Colorado	Any lignocellulosic biomass and presorted municipal solid waste lignocellulosic material	Pretreatment at elevated temperatures using acid or caustic catalyst or autohydrolysis; enzymatic hydrolysis on whole pretreated slurry or on washed pretreated solids after removing residual liquor; if acid pretreatment, then hemicellulosic sugars may be recovered prior to hydrolysis; enzymatic hydrolysis using readily available enzyme cocktails; deacetylation and mechanical refining are optional pretreatments	Yes	Yes	Yes
Renmatix, Inc.	Kennesaw, Georgia	Woody biomass (hardwood and softwood), agricultural residues (corn stover, palm residues, bagasse), and grasses (switchgrass, miscanthus)	Proprietary two-step process: first, hot water extraction and auto hydrolysis of hemicelluloses to C5/C6 sugars, leaving cellulose and lignin intact; second, a supercritical water process to solubilize the cellulose and hydrolyze to glucose	Yes	Yes	Yes
SAPPI North America	Westbrook, Maine	Hardwoods including eucalyptus, aspen, and maple	Pre-hydrolysis kraft process	Yes	Yes	No
Sweetwater Energy, Inc.	Rochester, New York	44 itemized hardwoods, softwoods, and grasses	Proprietary thermomechanical enzymatic hydrolysis	Yes	Yes	Yes
University of Florida	Perry, Florida	Not specified	Pretreatment and liquefaction	Yes	Yes	No
University of Maine	Orono, Maine	Softwood and hardwood, including unbleached kraft pulp, woodchips, and sawdust	Kraft pulping process and enzymatic hydrolysis	No	Yes	Yes
ZeaChem Inc.	Lakewood, Colorado	Hardwoods, softwoods, corn stover, wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse, energy cane, bana grass, and sugar beets	Andritz digester capable of steam explosion, auto hydrolysis, dilute acid hydrolysis, sulfite processes, and enzymatic saccharifications	No	Yes	No

Summary of Lignin Responses

Click on the name of the organization for the full response. Responses are ordered alphabetically.

Organization	Location	Feedstocks	Process	Capacity/Quantity (see individual responses for more detailed information including individual capacity/quantity, purity, and composition)
Organization	Location	Feedstocks	Process	~grams	~kilograms	~metric tons
American Science and Technology Corporation	Wausau, Wisconsin	Hardwood, softwood, and agricultural wastes such as corn straw, wheat straw, and tobacco stalk	Proprietary Organosolv fractionation	Yes	Yes	Yes
AVAPCO LLC	Thomaston, Georgia	Softwood (Southern pine), mixed hardwood chips, agricultural residues	Fractionation (sulfur dioxide and ethanol), hydrolysis, conditioning, clarification; lignin undergoes minimal condensation reaction	Yes	Yes	No
Borregaard	Sarpsborg, Norway	Softwood, hardwood	Sulfite pulping	Confidential
Clariant Corporation	Des Moines, Iowa	Agricultural resides such as corn stover, wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse and straw, barley straw, rice straw, and others	Chemical-free steam explosion pre-treatment, and enzymatic hydrolysis using proprietary enzymes; following solid-liquid separation after hydrolysis, lignin is obtained as side-stream	No	Yes	Yes
DuPont	Nevada, Iowa	Corn stover, other biomass	Dilute ammonia and steam pre-treatment	Confidential
Ek Laboratories, LLC	Longwood, Florida	29 itemized grassy and woody crops	Byproduct of cellulose-to-sugar milling (hydrolysis with solid catalyst), and separated by taking advantage of difference in polarity with catalyst and other biomass	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ethanol Technologies Ltd	Dungog, New South Wales, Australia	Sugarcane bagasse, softwood (radiata pine), or others	Concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis	No	Yes	No
FPInnovations	Point-Claire, Quebec, Canada	Hardwood	Proprietary TMP-Bio, including pretreatment stage combining mechanical action and mild chemical treatment	Yes	Yes	No
FPInnovations	Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada	North American softwood and hardwood, primarily pine/spruce or aspen	LignoForce© process—precipitation from kraft black liquor by CO₂ acidification after oxidation, followed by washing with sulfuric acid.	Yes	Yes	Yes
Glydia Biotech LLC	Athens, Georgia	Corn stover, switchgrass, poplar wood, wheat straw, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse	Ammonium fiber expansion pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis	Yes	Yes	No
GranBio	Sao Paulo, Brazil	Sugarcane residue	Hydrothermal pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis	No	Yes	No
ICM	St. Joseph, Missouri	Cellulosic corn kernel fiber, switchgrass, energy sorghum, corn stover, bagasse, wood chips	Dilute acid pretreatment process, slurry flash, enzymatic hydrolysis, filter press	No	Yes	Yes
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Berkeley, California	Switchgrass, corn stover, eucalyptus, bagasse, loblolly pine, energy cane, wheat straw, municipal solid waste blends with lignocellulosic feedstocks	Technology agnostic and limited only by reactor configuration; can utilize a range of catalysts suspended in an aqueous phase for pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis	Yes	Yes	No
Leaf Resources Ltd.	Darra, Queensland, Australia	U.S. mixed southern hardwood, eucalyptus, bagasse, empty fruit bunch	Acid catalyzed glycerol solvent pretreatment	Yes	Yes	No
National Renewable Energy Laboratory	Golden, Colorado	Any biomass	After pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass, solid lignin is solubilized with a dilute caustic solution at elevated temperature, and recovered by pressing and/or filtrating	No	Yes	Yes
Renmatix, Inc.	Kennesaw, Georgia	Woody biomass, agricultural residues (corn stover, palm residues, bagasse), and grasses (switchgrass, miscanthus)	Proprietary two-step process: first, hot water extraction and auto hydrolysis of hemicelluloses to C5/C6 sugars, leaving cellulose and lignin intact; second, a supercritical water process to solubilize the cellulose and hydrolyze to glucose; the lignin is recovered without exposure to acids, ammonia, or enzymes	Yes	Yes	No
SAPPI North America	Westbrook, Maine	Eucalyptus, aspen, and maple hardwoods	Neutral sulfite semi-chemical pulping, or kraft process	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sweetwater Energy, Inc.	Rochester, New York	Several hardwoods, softwoods, and grasses, including miscanthus and sorghum, and wastes such as palm fronds and banana peels	Thermomechanical enzymatic hydrolysis	No	Yes	Yes
University of Florida	Perry, Florida	Not specified	Not specified	Yes	Yes	No
University of Maine	Orono, Maine	Wood, straw, any lignocellulosic material	Organosolv, kraft, dilute formic acid	Yes	No	No
ZeaChem Inc.	Lakewood, Colorado	Hardwoods, softwoods, corn stover, wheat straw, sugarcane bagasse, energy cane, bana grass, sugar beets	Andritz digester capable of steam explosion, auto hydrolysis, dilute acid hydrolysis, and sulfite processes, combined with enzymatic saccharifications	No	Yes	No

See the Biofuels Digest’s 2016 Guide to lignocellulosic sugars and their producers.

Web page current as of September 9, 2016.