COVER STORY
SEARCHING An NREL chemist conducts compositional analysis of agricultural residues-—in this case, corn stover—to determine carbohydrate and lignin content.
POWER SURGE FOR LAB Energy crisis and presidential initiative bring new visibility to decades of research at 30-year-old National Renewable Energy Laboratory JEFF JOHNSON, C&EN WASHINGTON
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F EVER THERE WAS A TIME FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY, TODAY IS
it. Record-high oil, gasoline, and natural gas prices, coupled with a steady stream of blistering news accounts of real or possible global-warming emergencies, have driven even the most fossil-fuel-prone consumers and policymakers to take a hard look at new clean-energy technologies. Toss in energy supply uncertainty driven by the chaos of the Middle East, the world's chief producer of oil and natural gps, and by the U.S. government's reluctance to address global warming through policy or action, and renewable energy looks even better. WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
Former oil man and President George W. Bush made a step to support renewables lastJanuary in his State of the Union address when he rolled out his Advanced Energy Initiative, a 22% increase in federal research spending for "clean-energy" research, which for him includes coal and nuclear power along with solar energy. In his speech, Bush also made his now-famous "America is addicted to oil" statement, announcing a national drive for renewable ethanol as fuel. Ethanol, he continued, "not just made from corn, but from wood chips and stalks or switch grass." He put the program on a fast track, aiming to have ethanol become cost-competitive with gasoline by 2012 and committing the nation to a target of replacing 75% of its oil imports from C&EN
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Renewable Hydrogen
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esearch on hydrogen production, storage, and use in fuel cells is an area of longtime importance to chemists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory INREL). The Administration proposes spending $ U million in fiscal 2007 for hydrogen research at the lab, a boost of $5 million from last year.
that huge market, he says. However, hydrogen storage and fuel cells in transportation applications—with
NREL research, however, is but a small fraction of the "hydrogen fuel initiative" for which the President proposes spending $289 million in 2007 and will spread funds throughout DOE. The Administration's R&D focus is on producing hydrogen for vehicle fuels to ease reliance on imported oil, and the President has earmarked some $1.2 billion for a multiyear hydrogen research program.
drogen directly from water with sunlight. Turner wants to use natural systems to produce power, and his system uses the sun and photovoltaic technology to generate the voltage necessary to split water directly without an electrolyzer. Overall, the renewable lab's research is directed at developing sustainable, renewable energy sources to release hydrogen—for example, by using wind and other renewable energy to power an electrolyzer, using photosynthetic microbes to split hydrogen from oxygen in water, or gasifying biomassto generate hydrogen.
The lab also operates one of the three DOE research centers exploring techDIRECT FROM WATER Turner nologies to store hyuses photovoltaic-generated drogen. NREL's electricity to separate hydrogen center is examining from water. His research goal carbon-based hydrois to produce hydrogen directly gen storage with enwith photovoltaic cells without gineered nanostructelectrolyzers. ures such as carbon single-wall and multiwall hydrogen stations spread nanotubes that have the "Vehicles are the home throughout the country fillability to store significant run," says John A. Turner, ing vehicles—carry sigamounts of hydrogen at a principal scientist at the nificant technological and room temperature. safety challenges. lab. Costs of hydrogen proThe lab also has production and storage as well Turner's interest is in grams analyzing fuel-cell as costs of fuel cells could direct splitting of water systems and components. plummet with success in molecules, producing hy-
the Middle East by 2025 through research breakthroughs in ethanol and hydrogen. Middle Eastern suppliers export about 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day to the U.S., which is about 23% of what the U.S imports currently. The speech surprised energy policymak-
ers and scientists everywhere, including those at the nation's major renewable energy research facility, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., on the high plains of the Rocky Mountain's Front Range. "We had no idea this was coming," a lab
spokesman said. The speech seemed out of character for a President who had shown little interest in the facility or its research agenda up to then. It appeared even more bizarre a week later when budget cuts forced the lab to lay off 32 staff members. But then Bush announced a visit to the Colorado facility, the first by a U.S. president since Jimmy Carter came during the last energy crisis. Two days before Bush's February visit, the Department of Energy, which oversees the lab, found the funds to restore the jobs. N R E L Director Dan E. Arvizu notes that the President in his speech singled out three of the lab's most promising core research areas as well as disciplines most dependent on chemists and the chemical sciences: biofuels, hydrogen, and solar energy. And despite the surprise, lab chemists are thrilled with the prospect of an infusion of new life into renewable energy research. The lab has been operating since 1977, when it was called the Solar Energy Research Institute. It was designated a DOE national laboratory in 1991, changing its name to National Renewable Energy Laboratory, one of some dozen DOE national labs. It is managed by Midwest Research Institute and Battelle. Along with renewable energy, the lab's programs address energy efficiency. Over the years, the lab has developed some of the world's most advanced renewable energy technologies. However, cheap U.S. energy and national policies that favor fossil fuels have slowed the introduction of renewable energy technologies to U.S. consumers, even as they flourished elsewhere. SOLAR POWER is the example most often pointed to by renewable energy advocates: They bemoan the fact that solar systems based on U.S. technologies are being manufactured by non-US. companies and sold mostly in Japan and Europe. Japan, for instance, with its high electricity prices and, until recently, strong government support for solar power, is now the largest manufacturer and consumer of solar power. The result is that U.S. consumers who want solar power must buy from non-US. companies (C&EN, June 21,2004, page 25). NREL's budget in this decade has varied from $186 million in 2 0 0 0 to a high of $230 million in 2003, and it has been in decline ever since. The lab employs just
Cheap U.S. energy and national policies that favor fossil fuels have slowed the introduction of renewable energy technologies to U.S. consumers. 14
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under 1,200 staff members, more than half ofwhom are scientists. Despite the President's energy push, the Administration is proposing $162 million for the lab in 2007, the lowest level in this decade. For comparison, its funding would be less than half that of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory or a tenth of what Los Alamos National Laboratory gets each year. Arvizu became lab director in January 2005. He began his 30-year scientific career at AT&T Bell Telephone Labs, moved to Sandia National Laboratories to work on solar energy in the mid-1970s, and went to NREL from CH2M HILL, a government contractor. "We are in one of these unusual times when there is a national focus on energy," he reflects. "It warms my heart to know that, finally, we are at a point in the national consciousness where renewable energy appears to be more than a science-fair project. "This has been a tough row to hoe. The technology has progressed, but much of the investment by government and industry has taken time to come to fruition. The technology we pioneered 25 years agp is now rinding its way to the marketplace, and industries that are selling it are now making tens of billions of dollars internationally. "For the first time in my career, people are saying, 'Oh yeah, these things can actually work/ " Arvizu continues. "They are now working, and we have product in the field." T h e lab has three national research centers that are focused on photovoltaics, bioenergy, and wind. The wind center is 20 miles north of the 371-acre main site in Golden, just west of Denver. Other research includes vehicle technologies and fuels, electric energy distribution, geothermal energy, hydrogen and fuel cells, basic energy research, and "zero-energy" buildings, which generate as much energy as they use. THE LAB OPERATES field test fa cilities for solar cells and wind turbines as well as facilities for nonlab researchers in biofuels, distributed energy, and a mix of other energy-related areas, such as building constructioa Its researchers try to go into the community. For instance, along with Habitat for Humanity, NREL built a zero-energy house for a family living in a Denver suburb to test the durability of its technologies. Arvizu says he intends to reach out more to Colorado businesses and universities through lab research WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
and technology development projects that could serve as a springboard to industrial development in Colorado. He envisions a growing relationship between local manufacturers using lab-developed technologies and the lab itself. His goal, he says, is to leave footprints in the community by providing new technologies and jobs and influencing Colorado's university programs. He notes a growing interest among university students and faculty in energy technology and wants to draw more academic interest to the lab. Several research scientists hold joint appointments with Colorado universities. NRELs mission has also been applying the technology it has developed, Arvizu says, and he expects that role to DEDICATION Arvizu (left) hosted Energy Secretary increase significantly with a Samuel W. Bodman last month during a visit for the national mandate to increase opening of the $22.6 million Science & Technology the use and development of Test Facility. renewable technologies. The solar energy and biomass-based fuels and lab's push in the future, he says, will be to chemicals. what he calls "translational sciences," meanIn the solar arena, Arvizu points to the ing efforts to bridge the gap between basic opening last month of a $22.6 million Scisciences and the marketplace. ence & Technology Test Facility to be used "Our role will be to accelerate the adopto try out new manufacturing methods and tion of our technologies," he says. "That is technologies. The focus is mostly on solar what I think sets us apart from other DOE labs. We have to act as a technology facilita- energy manufacturing technologies, he says, tor." As examples, Arvizu singled out NREL and the 77,000-sq-ft facility offers companies a place to reconfigure and experiment research and technology development for _, with manufacturing processes and 1 methods. He acknowledges that s scientists have tended to underesti| mate the importance of the manuo facturing chain. "We will invite industry teams to come in and work with our researchers to perfect manufacturing, lower costs, and accelerate the time it takes for new solar technologies to be manufactured." On biomass, NREL, along with its own lab-based scientific research, runs two user facilities for biomass research: an Alternative Fuels Facility to test bioprocessing technologies for ethanol and other fuels and chemicals made from cellulosic biomass and a ThermoCONTRADICTIONS President Bush (left, being chemical Facility to experiment greeted by Arvizu) is the first president to visit NREL in 30 years, but he proposes to cut the lab's budget to with catalysts, reactors, gasifiers, its lowest level in a decade. and other equipment for converting C & E N / AUGUST 28, 2006
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COVER STORY biomass to simple chemicals and energy. Industrial partnerships are key to the lab, Arvizu adds, singling out partnerships with Genencor International and Novozymes Biotech that resulted in technologies using enzymatic hydrolysis to break down cellulose. The research cut the costs of cellulase enzyme by more than 10-fold. The lab also has ongoing partnerships
B E Y O N D
with DuPont, Cargill, the National Corn Growers Association, and others to improve efficiencies and reduce costs of producing ethanol and other chemicals that could serve as platform chemical feedstocks. The lab's bioenergy-related research is directed almost exclusively to making ethanol from cellulosic plant waste, rather than from seed or corn kernels. The U.S. is close
CORN
Biomass To Bioenergy
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amesD. McMillan has a vision: It is a biomass refinery where cellulose and hemicellulose in engineered crops are broken down by designer enzymes; glucose, xylose, and other sugars are captured and fermented into ethanol and valuable chemical feedstocks; and lignin, the tough stuff that holds a plant together, is burned for energy to run the plant. It may be a dream right now, but it is one that McMillan spends each day trying to make real. McMillan is a biochemical engineer and manager of bioprocess R&D in the National Bioenergy Center, part of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
ethanol from corn kernels, and to do this, it takes about 17% of the nation's corn crop, most of which goes to feed cows. The cows-versus-cars competition would limit U.S. ethanol production from corn kernels to about 10 billion to 15 billion gal, McMillan estimates. Last year's national energy act set a target of 7.5 billion gal of ethanol by 2012, and the Energy Department's stated goal of replacing 30% of current gasoline with nonfossil petroleum by 2030 would require some 60 billion gal of ethanol per year, McMillan says. "We have to move beyond corn kernels and also start using corn stalks and cobs,
CORN STALKS NREL researchers use near-infrared spectroscopy to study cell-wall composition in corn stalks and leaves. "The driver behind this is gasoline displacement," he explains. "Biomass is the only source of renewable fuel with the potential to displace large amounts of gasoline." Today the U.S. produces each year about 5 billion gal of
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straw, forest slash, and ultimately 'energy crops,' genetically modified plants specifically engineered for bioenergy applications," McMillan says. Plant biomass, he says, is approximately 15-20% lignin, 23-32% hemicellulose, and
to matching world-leader Brazil's ethanol production and is likely to produce some 5 billion gal this year. This equals 3-5% of U.S. auto fuel and requires 17% of U.S. corn. But to reach the President's goals, the nation must move beyond corn kernels for ethanol feedstock. Arvizu notes that NREL's research is focused on the entire biofuels chain: en-
38-50% cellulose. Hemicellulose and cellulose carry the sugars needed to ferment to ethanol. But each has a problem, McMillan notes.
McMillan Cellulose is a fibrous material, and the sugars are hard to capture as they are held tightly, but it is entirely made of glucose, a six-carbon sugar that is easily fermented. Hemicellulose, however, is mostly xylose as well as a mix of other sugars, which are easier to capture but are harder to ferment. Some, like xylose, are five-carbon molecules and less familiar to processors than glucose and more difficult to convert to alcohol. Hence, McMillan says, NREL is trying to develop improved enzymes to chemically separate glucose from cellulose and new yeasts and microbes to more quickly and efficiently ferment the mix of five-carbon and six-carbon sugars found in cellulosic material, particularly hemicellulose. Currently, no U.S. factory uses cellulose to make ethanol. Instead most process corn kernels, capturing sugar from starch, an easier tech-
nology with a long association with humans through alcohol production. But several companies have said they intend to use cellulose for ethanol; the feedstock is cheap, but the process is expensive and complicated. "These companies feel they can make a buck using cellulose, and that is just great. But with current technologies, they are unlikely to reach anywhere near the 60-plus billion-gal target," McMillan says. NREL's research, he stresses, is for the long term. He wants to accelerate the speed and increase the efficiency of fermentation, greatly increase the yield of sugars from cellulose and hemicellulose, and reduce the amount of enzyme needed in the process by an order of magnitude. The lab is also examining better ways to combine chemical and enzymatic extraction of sugars with the fermentation process. NREL is also involved in biomass research to develop hydrogen and other fuels and chemical products other than ethanol and biodiesel, McMillan notes. But in today's political and economic climate, the policy driver is renewable fuels to replace fossil-based petroleum. "Biofuels are the flywheel," he states. Research may be driven by fuels, but McMillan notes that as levels of ethanol production increase, so will those of other chemicals generated along with ethanol. This outcome can open the possibility for many other chemical products with industrial uses.
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hancing conversion of cellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars, fermenting these sugars into a distillate or ethanol, and developing plant genomics to produce harvestable plants with more accessible sugars. DOE and NREUs goal is to bring the nation'sfirstcommercial-sized cellulosic ethanol production facility onstream by 2012. THE PRESIDENT'S new interest in renewable energy is reflected in his budget, but it merits a closer look. For 2007, the Administration is proposing $148 million for solar energy and $149 million for biomass- and biorefinery-related programs. These are increases of about $60 million each. By comparison, however, the Administration proposes spending in 2007 $330 million for coal research, more than twice the renewable energy lab's entire budgpt, and $347 million for nuclear power R&D. Both are mature technologies, providing 53% and 20% of U.S. electricity, respectively. NREUs solar and biomass programs, however, do not reflect Bush's budget increase. The President proposes cutting NREUs solar energy programs from $52 million this year to $45 million in 2007; the lab's biomass funding is to be increased slightly to $27 million, but NREUs portion remains a small part of the overall bioenergy proposal for 2007. The majority of the increases are going to other research labs and activities, as well as industry and university partnerships, Arvizu believes. The budget proposal does not spell out where the funds will wind up, and Congress has not finalized DOE's budget for the nextfiscalyear. "I did have a conversation about this with the President when he was here," Arvizu says. "This budget is not a good testimonial. I am optimistic, however, that our funding for 2007 will be restored. I get a great amount of encouragement from DOE and others that we are playing an important role." But he notes that the new solar manufacturing lab is the first new building constructed at NREU in 10 years, and half the lab's staff works in leased buildings spread around the Golden area. "We need our own campus. Over the long term, we have not had the kind of support we need. We now have an opportunity to demonstrate what we have to contribute, but this will take resources." In the end, NREUs future may depend more on the cost of energy and the impact and fear ofglobal warming than on support from Bush or the presidents who will follow. If the price of its technologies decreases and the cost of energy continues to rise, consumers and utilities will be more likely WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
SOLAR
POWER
Hunting for 'Disruptive Technologies'
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increase, prices to decline, which works out to neart the end of an inand the world to begin usly two nuclear power terview, Lawrence ing non-silicon-based L. Kazmerski plants' worth of electricithin-film technologies that stands, smiles, and hands ty. Kazmerski expects that are the second generaa visitor a bright-red gift: amount to go up a lot if the tion of solar photovoltaa "solar" necktie, created U.S. market revives. Right ics. "The films look good and manufactured to his now, the U.S. makes and own design. buys very few PV units, he and blend well with archinotes; most units go to Ja- tecture, providing weathKazmerski, like other erization protection and pan and Europe. National Renewable Enerelectricity." "However, the world's gy Laboratory (NREL) sci"But what we need is entists, is a true believer in PV market is growing by disruptive technologies," renewable energy, and he 30% a year," he says. "It is he says. He points to suffers from no lack of thinner and thinner soenthusiasm for his solar wafers, quantum lar jobs, both as tie dedot solar cells, and orsigner and director of ganic-based technolNREUs National Center ogies that could be apfor Photovoltaics. plied with a paintbrush "We do everything or an ink-jet printer. here from looking at Kazmerski wants to atoms to testing sogreatly improve today's lar arrays," Kazmermanufacturing techski says. He is also exnologies, which he says cited about President are "Neanderthal" by George W. Bush's new current standards. Solar America Initiative, a $65 million jump The U.S., he says, in government funding still owns the refor solar projects. It will search, but all of the take the federal solar manufacturing and energy budget to $H8 commercialization has SHINING SUN Kazmerski million in 2007, if Congone offshore. Still, he holds a mix of thin-film gress goes along with wants NREL and its inlaminates and other the proposal. The goal dustrial partners to photovoltaic products, the is to make photovoltaic fruits of NREL solar research. develop new technol(PV) energy competitive ogies and advanced with other sources of elecmanufacturing metha real business with peotricity by 2015. ods to outpace those of tople making money." day. Kazmerski hopes this As a demonstration Only $45 million of that will lead to a new homeof that growth, Kazmerfunding will go to NREL, grown solar industry, sellhowever, which is less than ski notes that last year PV ing disruptive technologmanufacturers used half of the lab got last year for soical products to the U.S. the world's silicon and are lar R&D. Kazmerski is unmarket. now competing with semidaunted and hopes that inconductor and microelec"We have to continue creased U.S. government tronics companies for raw to have the science owninvolvement will lead to material. About 95% of the ership in the U.S., but we new PV technologies and world's photovoltaics are should turn it around and cheaper products. silicon-based modules, he develop disruptive techLast year, around the says, but he believes that nologies for the future and world, the solar induswill change soon. manufacture the products try sold 1.7 gigawatts of here," he says. photovoltaics, he says, He expects volumes to
to purchase and install renewable energy, and the fruits of NREUs research will be more visible and more in demand.
Programs by a growing number of states to subsidize renewable energy applications will only hasten the shift. • C & E N / AUGUST 2 8 . 2006
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