(147d) Distributed On-Farm Bioenergy, Biofuels and Biochemicals Development and Production Via Integrated Catalytic Thermolysis: The FarmBio3 Consortium

Much has been said of farmer-participated distributed processing as the key to economically producing advanced biofuels from cellulosic feedstocks. However, there is much yet to be done to realize the overarching goal of distributed on-farm production of biofuels and chemicals to contribute to the 2022 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) goals on advanced biofuels production. Counting on the potential for pyrolysis to provide small footprints that are adaptable to the farm setting, the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) pyrolysis program at the Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC) in Philadelphia has developed a compendium of catalytic and non-catalytic pyrolysis conversion technologies. These endeavors show potential for on-farm pyrolysis to be a truly carbon negative pathway to producing market entry fuels, such as heating oil, gasoline, diesel/jet fuel, and chemical intermediates, but critical barriers still exist.  Although village or farm scale pyrolysis production has been modeled, distributed pyrolysis production has not been successfully demonstrated to determine the true economics of an actual integrated system; collective farmer participation is equally unproven and socio-economic and technological barriers still remain. FarmBio³ is a government-university-industry partnership led by ARS and funded by USDA-NIFA under the Biomass Resource and Development Initiative (BRDI) program. The overarching objective of FarmBio³ is to leverage existing synergies among partners to address some of these barriers and optimize pyrolysis pathways to commodity fuels and chemicals at various scales following a specific logic model. This presentation will introduce the Consortium members and provide an overview of the work to date. Accomplishments include near complete construction of a two metric ton per day patent-pending dual fluidized bed, combustion-reduction integrated pyrolysis unit (CRIPS), and the development of novel robust catalysts with appropriate chemical selectivity designed for on-the-farm operation.