Economical Evaluation and Japanese Research and Development Status of Cellulose-Based Biomass Utilization System

For producing the energy material from the cellulose-based biomass resources, several challenges have been proposed and performed in Japan. For producing liquid automobile fuel from several kinds of cellulose-based biomass resouces such as sawmill residues and rice straw, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) of Japan has established Biomass Technology Research Center (BTRC) in AIST CYUGOKU. Some characteristics and advantages of several Japanese challenges have been introduced and the importance of estimating the system efficiency and economical analysis of system has been stressed for promoting the cellulose-based biomass utilization for preventing the global warming and decreasing the fossil fuel usage. As the actual analysis of the economical evaluation and a first step towards analyzing the production of automobile fuels from the cellulose-based biomass, the ability of wooden biomass energy conversion system to produce energy material has been analyzed on the basis of the material and energy balances. A zero- emission type biomass energy conversion system was analyzed to produce ethanol, lactic acid, and propanediol from cellulose and it supplies electric power and steam to satisfy the internal requirements of the system (wood throughput capacity: 420 ton/day). Payback periods were calculated from the raw material costs of wooden biomass and the major equipment cost of the energy plant; it was found that the payback period was within 9 years. Economic analysis indicated that sawmill residue and building waste wood, which cost less than $100/ton, were feasible in the proposed system.