United Slates Environmental Research
Environmento". Protection Center
Agency Cincinnati OH 45268
v>EPA Environmental
Information
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE W. Ernst Minor/Mev Wilson
July 1, 1979 (513) 684-7931
EPA GRANT WORK CINCINNATI, OHIO The growing- concern over the cost and
DEVELOPS METHOD TO availability of fossil fuels emphasizes the urgent need for
CONVERT NEWSPAPERS
TO ALCOHOL FOR USE low-cost, abundant fuel alternatives. According to environmental
A3 FUEL scientists, one possible fuel of the future is solid waste.
That is, what we dispose of today may become an energy source
of tomorrow.
Research efforts are reflecting this problem, as well as
this possible solution, at the Environmental Research Center in
Cincinnati, Ohio. In the final phase of an $880,000, three-year
grant, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and New York
University (NYU), New York City, are completing research into
the conversion of cellulosic waste products, including paper,
forestry and agricultural wastes, into glucose. The glucose
can then be used to produce chemicals for the fuel process.
The project is under the management of Walter Brenner,
NYU Professor of Applied Science, and EPA project officer,
Charles Rogers, Senior Research Chemist.
Since paper, and other waste products, are complex bonds
of simple sugars, or glucose, and alcohol can be produced by
fermenting the glucose, the object of the research is to find
a cost-efficient method of converting these wastes into glucose.
Acid hydrolysis, the method developed in this project,
provides the basis for gasohol, a possible extender of gasoline,
for use in automobiles; for methane, a substitute for natural
gas in heating, and for industrial chemicals.
"There is a large, growing demand in industry for a
low-cost method of producing chemicals as well as alternative
fuels, because most chemicals are petroleum-based and are
extremely expensive due to the rising cost of petroleum,"
Rogers said.
In another EPA-sponsored grant, NYU developed a rapid,
high temperature hydrolysis process which has given glucose
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yields of 50 percent, with 20 second reaction time. Under
the current project, the university scientists developed,
obtained and installed the equipment and materials specifications
to carry out continuous processing on a large scale.
The second year brought the operation and optimization
of the system in a plant processing one ton of old newspapers
a day, producing about a half-ton of glucose.
Now, Rogers said, the goal is to further develop and
perfect the process in order to provide a data base for
subsequent scale up to 50-100 tons a day. The project will
also include the evaluation of other possible waste feedstocks
and the effectiveness of waste pretreatments.
The scenario of the future, as Rogers described it, would
locate acid hydrolysis plants in areas of high waste concentration,
utilizing not only municipal paper waste, but also crop wastes,
such as corn stalks and peanut hulls, and forest wastes, such
as leaves and twigs. The liquid glucose would then be transported
from the hydrolysis plants to fermenting centers for conversion
into alcohol or other chemicals.
Two major benefits may be accrued from developing and
utilizing an efficient method of conversion. First, by
recycling the billions of tons of cellulosic wastes Americans
produce each year, the use of existing landfills and
incinerators will be minimized, causing a reduction in land
and air pollution.
Secondly, the cost of fuel alternatives and industrial
chemicals will decrease since the feedstock will be practically
cost-free waste rather than expensive petroleum or cereal
grains.
"No longer can we depend on oil and natural gases to meet
our energy needs. We must look for new fuel sources. The
development of acid hydrolysis methods is one viable
alternative for the near future," Rogers concluded.
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For further information, contact Charles Rogers, (513) 684-7881.
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