Materials For Energy

EQ Interview: Brazil’s energy policies: An interview with Sérgio Rezende, former S&T minister

(See interview in Energy Quarterly (EQ) in the March 2011 issue of MRS Bulletin)

Brazil’s efforts in science and technology only emerged in the last 40 years and investment in it increased by a factor of 10 in just the last 10 years. Until recently, their Minister of Science and Technology was Sérgio Rezende (2005–2010), a materials researcher himself. He recently addressed questions from MRS Bulletin representative Guillermo Solórzano for Energy Quarterly about Brazil’s plans for the energy challenges ahead.

It is well known that Brazil has invested in renewable energy sources such as hydro and biofuels “long before the issues of a low-carbon economy entered the global agenda,” Rezende said. By the mid-1980s ethanol had replaced over 30% of gasoline there. Yet, Brazil does not rely only on biofuels. All possible energy sources are needed, Rezende said, and their aim is to achieve the lowest possible cost to allow economic growth at reasonably high rates for the majority of the population. Brazil has been developing offshore petroleum along with environmental remediation, stimulating the private sector to deploy wind farms, and pursuing a nuclear energy program. Rezende said that with only 30% of its territory prospected, Brazil has the sixth largest world reserve of uranium mineral. Brazil has self-sufficiency in the exploration, mining, processing, and production of uranium oxide (yellowcake); the production of powder and tablets; and the fabrication of fuel elements; and expects to become self-sufficient in uranium enrichment by 2015, he said.

In the area of biofuels, after the expansion of ethanol from sugarcane into the 1980s, the amount of ethanol used in the 1990s declined when subsidies were lifted, Rezende said. Then in 2003 flexible-fuel vehicles were introduced, making biofuels competitive again. Now over 90% of cars manufactured in Brazil are flex-fuel and more ethanol is used for fuel than gasoline. Rezende also said that while Brazil has plenty of sugarcane to produce ethanol using conventional methods, they also have a major effort in producing cellulosic ethanol, estimating that conversion efficiency can be increased by about 30% by using the stalks and leaves of the plants and also improving fermentation technology.

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Elizabeth L. Fleischer, Principal Development Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Maintaining Brazil’s ethanol fuel momentum

Around 1930, Brazil began experimenting with sugarcane-derived ethanol as a fuel supplement for the then newly introduced automobile. But a series of oil crises provided the crucial impetus for the 1975 creation of the National Alcohol Program (Pró Álcool), with multiple strategies to develop a homegrown ethanol industry and to phase out fossil fuels for transportation in Brazil. Today, Brazil is the world's most efficient and second largest (after the United States) producer. In his Regional Initiative article in the second issue of Energy Quarterly published in the December 2010 MRS Bulletin, Arthur L. Robinson describes the current state of ethanol production and usage in Brazil, and discusses it from a global energy view-point.

Brazil's ethanol production is still a drop in the world's energy bucket, and the country is looking to make a bigger impact in the global energy landscape. A new science ministry action plan is attempting to do just that, by promoting R&D efforts. The country does appear to be capable of ramping up ethanol production to displace up to 10% of world gasoline consumption. The article highlights some of the research steps being undertaken at various universities and centers, such as a lower energy intensive distillation process and greater synergy between fuel, food and raw materials. Second generation technologies are also being pursued, including cellulosic ethanol and genetically engineered and synthetic organisms. Brazil's ethanol represents one path toward weaning the world away from fossil fuels, and Brazilian scientists realize that it would take the combined contribution of various renewable technologies to meet future energy needs. For now, Brazil continues to be a giant in ethanol usage for energy.

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Gopal R. Rao, Ph.D.
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Around 1930, Brazil began experimenting
with sugarcane-derived ethanol
as a fuel supplement for the then newly
introduced automobile. But the first in a
series of oil crises provided the crucial
push, resulting in the 1975 creation of
the National Alcohol Program (Pró Álcool),
with multiple strategies to develop a
homegrown ethanol industry and to phase
out fossil fuels for transportation in Brazil.

Learning from Energy Initiatives Conducted in Different Regions of the World

The second issue of Energy Quarterly has been published in the December 2010 MRS Bulletin. This month the editorial by Steve M. Yalisove emphasizes the importance of Regional Initiatives, those “far-reaching experiments in sustainable energy” performed in some region of the world, with lessons to be learned by other regions of the world as they set forth to find their own solutions. Energy Quarterly now has presented two such experiments:

• September 2010: How Sunlight Became a Commodity in Germany and
• December 2010: Maintaining Brazil’s ethanol fuel momentum.

Sometimes, such as in the case of Germany scaling up solar energy, it is a question of political will. Germany might not be thought of as the sun center of the world, yet they are producing more than a third of the world’s photovoltaic power. Incentives for individuals to install solar cells on their homes and sell energy back to the utilities moved this program forward. Scaling up solar in Germany also opened a market for thin-film solar cells produced in the United States.

In other cases, local resources play a significant role, such as Brazil’s use of ethanol from their plentiful sugarcane crops. Now Brazil not only produces a large fraction of their automobile fuel domestically, they export ethanol to other countries. With an established ethanol industry, will catalysts and other materials developments make possible further experiments with cellulosic ethanol or other second-generation fuels?

These and other regional initiatives, such as nuclear power in France, wind in Denmark, and Desertec to transport renewable energy from deserts to population hubs, make up a useful set of experiments to examine economic, public policy, and engineering challenges in the energy arena. Energy Quarterly’s approach is to present the underlying science behind the engineering challenges and identify the materials issues that may offer useful solutions. What other lessons can be learned?

 

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Elizabeth L. Fleischer
Editor, MRS Bulletin
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Energy and Expansion: The Tata story

By V.S. Arunachalam and Gopal R. Rao

 

Tata is a household name in India. Starting well over a century ago, the Tatas began their foray into industry, and the brand represents more than a diversified conglomerate. The Tatas are well-respected, having endeared themselves in every walk of Indian life. Their businesses are all-pervasive, from building automobiles and generating electric power to making steel and building supercomputers. Their charitable trusts and endowments are as extensive as their businesses. They have founded and funded outstanding educational institutions and human welfare organizations, and they have supported research on alleviating human suffering. The incumbent of the Tata Group is Ratan Naval Tata, a Cornell University graduate in architecture. In the 20 years since he took over the mantle, he has set the Tata industries on a steep growth trajectory, increasing the revenue of the Tata industries 12-fold, making automobiles—the famed Nano—available at very affordable prices in India, and introducing efficient steelmaking. The business empire he heads, the Tata Group, has over 90 companies with footholds in 80 countries.

In the midst of his busy globe-trotting schedule, we managed to steal an hour of his time at the Tatas’ “Bombay House” headquarters in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), India, for him to tell us how he sees the global energy challenges and the opportunities they create. A condensed version of the interview now appears in the first Energy Quarterly section of the September 2010 issue of MRS Bulletin. The interview reveals the breadth of Ratan Tata's knowledge on energy and materials, in line with the vast business interests of the Tatas. 

V.S. Arunachalam
Chair, Energy Quarterly Organizing Committee

Gopal R. Rao
Web Science Editor, Materials Research Society

Scaling Up Alternative Energy

By Gopal R. Rao

(From Science)

The August 13, 2010, Issue of Science (Vol 329, Issue 5993, Pages 713-876) is a special issue on energy with the title "Scaling Up Alternative Energy".

As stated in the introductory article "Getting Better To Get Bigger" by David Malakoff, Jake Yeston, and Jesse Smith:

"The end of the age of fossil fuels may be in sight, but what comes after is still a bit of a blur. There are numerous alternatives to coal, oil, and natural gas from electricity generated by solar farms to biofuels brewed from plants. Scaling up these alternative sources of energy, however, has proved a challenge. This special issue explores the progress that researchers are making in developing better alternatives, and the technical, political, and economic pitfalls associated with scaling them up."

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Gopal R. Rao, Ph.D.
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Welcome

Welcome to the Materials Research Society’s (MRS) “MATERIALS FOR ENERGY” blog. I am your host Russell R. Chianelli, MRS president in 1990 and career researcher in energy materials: batteries, catalysts, hydrogen storage and solar cells.

We all recognize the importance of energy in the coming years for global economic growth and security. We also recognize that energy production in any form has environmental consequences that must be considered. Materials research is key to the development and maintenance of reliable and safe energy sources which are affordable and environmentally acceptable.

It is the purpose of the “MATERIALS FOR ENERGY” blog to discuss the scientific issues surrounding all areas of materials for energy: basic research, scale-up and commercialization, deployment, environmental impact including raw materials acquisition and finally disposal technologies. In order to effectively discuss these issues we have invited a series of experts as co-hosts to assist in guiding the discussions and to present current articles and resources for discussion. We encourage all interested parties in engaging in the discussions and suggest the April 2008 issue of the MRS Bulletin – Harnessing Materials for Energy.

 

 

Welcome and Blog On!!    

 

Scientists find 'biofuel-making' fungus

(SciDev.net)

A fungus found in a Patagonian rainforest could provide an alternative source of biofuel. The fungus, Gliocladium roseum, grows in the ulmo tree (Eucryphia cordifolia), a species native to the Patagonia — the southern territories of Argentina and Chile.

Researchers, whose work is published in Microbiology this month, found that G. roseum possesses the metabolic machinery to produce a wide variety of hydrocarbons virtually identical to the compounds in diesel obtained from crude oil. Because of this property, the volatile gases produced by the fungus have been dubbed 'myco-diesel'.

"Many fungi make ethanol, but none to date produce this kind of mixture of diesel hydrocarbons," lead author Gary Strobel, professor of plant sciences and plant pathology at the US-based Montana State University (MSU).

A promising aspect of this discovery is that G. roseum produces myco-diesel directly from cellulose-rich products, skipping the fermentation step needed to produce ethanol.

More ....

"The production of myco-diesel hydrocarbons and their derivatives by the endophytic fungus Gliocladium roseum (NRRL 50072)", Strobel et al., Microbiology 154 (2008).

 

Dr. Gopal Rao
Web Science Editor
Editor, Materials360(r)
Editor, Meeting Scene
Materials Research Society (MRS)

Building a Community Dialogue on the Global Energy Landscape and Materials Innovation

It has been more than a month since the preliminary release of the MRS Bulletin issue, Harnessing Materials for Energy. From anecdotal evidence, the issue has been well received, with positive comments, requests for bulk quantities, and healthy single copy sales. It has been and will continue to be distributed far and wide to scientists, policymakers, energy leaders, educators, and students in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere.

But our goal is not to have it “liked.” Our goal is to have it used.

It is time to look beyond the cover, and to build a dialogue in the community. By placing together the full spectrum of energy technologies from source through transformation to use and efficiency (shown in the Preface, illustration of the energy landscape, and Introduction), it is possible to see challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. We can beyond worrying about the future to joining the many researchers, entrepreneurs, and corporations looking for and building robust solutions. What important challenges have emerged? What scientific approaches might speed progress? What can we learn from experiments around the world, such as sugarcane ethanol in Brazil, hydrogen in Iceland, nuclear power in France, coal liquefaction in South Africa, wind energy in Germany, electric cars in Israel, and solar in California? Will immediate implementation trump stronger developments of tomorrow? What is needed for widespread use of cellulosic ethanol, white LEDs for general lighting, nuclear breeder reactors, carbon sequestration, methane hydrates, organic solar cells, or plug-in hybrids? I ask the readers of this blog to give thoughtful input to the unanswered questions and unquestioned answers related to materials and energy. Start with a look at the introductory content in the MRS Bulletin issue, Harnessing Materials for Energy. Where should materials research go next?

Please add your comments here. In future posts, we will examine other articles in the issue. We also welcome suggestions for future blog coverage, which can be e-mailed to materialsforenergy@mrs.org.

Dr. Elizabeth L. Fleischer
Editor, MRS Bulletin
Materials Research Society

Energy Forum at the 2008 MRS Spring Meeting

(Note: The audio and the PowerPoint presentations of these talks are posted on the MRS website)

A special Energy Forum was held on Monday, March 24, at the 2008 MRS Spring Meeting in San Francisco. Four speakers, George Whitesides (Harvard University), Chris Somerville (University of California—Berkeley), Daniel G. Nocera (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Martin Green (University of New South Wales, Australia) presented talks on various aspects of Energy to a packed and overflowing room. Below is the report on the forum published in the MRS Meeting Scene E-Newsletter.

ENERGY FORUM

MegaMonday got off to a strong opening with four lectures focusing on the critical problem of energy. The MRS Bulletin has just released a special expanded issue of the MRS Bulletin on the topic of "Harnessing Materials for Energy." The Energy Forum was organized to complement this special issue and featured four talks by scientists and researchers exploring different areas in energy. Using the metaphor of energy as a large puzzle, with various technologies forming pieces of this puzzle, the forum explored how these pieces could fit together to solve what is arguably humankind's greatest near-term challenge, namely energy generation with minimal impact on the environment.                    

 

Delivering the opening remarks to a full house, George Crabtree from Argonne National Laboratory emphasized the role of materials in possible solutions to the global energy crisis. He stressed that global energy needs are expected to double by 2050 and triple by 2100, driven especially by the growing energy needs of developing countries.

ENERGY OVERVIEW
George Whitesides from Harvard University delivered the first lecture of the Energy Forum and succinctly outlined the opportunities for materials science in energy, sustainability, and global stewardship. He emphasized that issues such as energy, climate, water, and sustainability are fundamentally interconnected and that these are enormous problems with the potential to bring great conflict. Whitesides proposed the formula, well-being = available energy/number of people, and stressed that there is a great need to both produce more energy as well as conserve energy that is currently being produced. In particular, the scarcity of water threatening several parts of the world has the potential to further exacerbate the energy crisis since significant energy may have to be invested in water production in the future.                  

           

Whitesides went on to outline the major sources of energy that are currently used along with the outlook for these energy sources over the next few decades. Fossil fuels such as hydrocarbons, coal, and gas are the mainstay of our current energy needs, but it may well be that their role in inducing deleterious climate change makes them unviable options in the very near future. Furthermore, nuclear energy is plagued by concerns about proliferation and waste disposal, whereas hydroelectric power generation is currently almost at peak capacity. Solar energy represents a promising alternative but very significant improvements in the design and cost of solar cells are required to harness the dilute energy of the sun. Whitesides emphasized that notwithstanding the claims of a hydrogen economy, it is important to realize that hydrogen is a method of transporting energy and not a source of energy. In that sense, hydrogen is really like electricity—it is not a solution by itself to the global energy problem.

In the short term, he proposed that more research attention be focused on the conservation of energy, such as the development of materials that reduce the tremendous power losses during transmission and the design of better illumination sources such as bright light-emitting diodes. There is also a great need to globally develop carbon management strategies to deal with the CO₂ being released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. Whitesides outlined several topics that he believed are fertile grounds for the next generation of material scientists, including catalysis, separations, development of materials with extreme properties, being able to move electrons more efficiently in matter, scaling to nanoscale dimensions, and matching the complexity of biological processes such as photosynthesis. Given the current corporate atmosphere that emphasizes short-term returns, Whitesides stressed that this effort will have to be lead by research universities, perhaps in collaboration with venture philanthropic organizations and local and federal government. “The good news is that this is an issue that the public deeply cares about in one form or the other”, said Whitesides, “the problem is that even if we apply all that we know, we still come up short,” adding that since the basic knowledge does not exist, we have no alternative but to go out and create new knowledge to solve these problems.

BIOFUELS and BIOMASS
Chris Somerville of the University of California—Berkeley discussed the area of biofuels. With the recent world-wide increases in the cost of petroleum and related fuels, ethanol has very much been in the news. However, grain-based ethanol directly affects the food chain. Somerville then focused on cellulosic fuels as an alternative to grain-based sources. In particular, he discussed Miscanthus, which is a perennial grass and which can yield over 26 tons/acre of land without irrigation, which two and a half times as much as switchgrass. He ran though the process of producing syngas using cellulosic sources. He also discussed the problems and issues associated with breaking down cellulose to yield fuel. Somerville touched upon an alternate to ethanol in the form of alkanes.

 

He concluded by describing his visions for the field. This includes replacing grain-based fuels by cellulosic fuels thereby disassociating biofuels from the food chain. It also includes greater use of sugarcane which reduces the area of land used and which yields both sugar and cellulose. He hopes that biodiesel can be obtained from cellulosic sources rather than vegetable oils. He also believes that ethanol as a fuel can be replaced by other options such as alkanes. Finally, synthetic catalysts can make a big difference in the business of producing fuels from biological sources.

 

 

CATALYSIS
The broad field of catalysis was discussed by Daniel G. Nocera of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In terms of the environmental issues relating to fossil fuels, it is the CO₂ content that is of concern. The only solution is to cut the tie between energy use and carbon. Solar energy is the only sustainable, renewable, and carbon-neutral source of energym, whether it is biomass or photovoltaics. The highest energy density is achieved in chemical bonds. Nocera described photosynthesis and attempts to create artificial photosynthesis. At its very essence, solar energy conversion boils down to water splitting. The basic science for this requires multi-electron proton-coupled electron transfer. He described in some detail work done by his group as well as other groups on O-O bond manipulation which is important in biological photosynthesis.

 

In conclusion, Nocera offered several take-home thoughts. The current need for energy is so enormous that conventional, long-discussed sources will not be sufficient. New science is required for this purpose. Solar (direct) + water (indirect) has the capacity to meet future energy needs. However, large expanses of fundamental science need to be discovered. According to him, renewable energy research not an engineering problem, rather, it needs to be tackled as a basic science problem and new materials, catalysts and many new modes of reactivity await discovery. Finally, as per Nocera, Chemistry is the central science of energy because it involves light capture and conversion with new materials, and energy storage in bonds or new materials.

SOLAR TECHNOLOGY
The fourth presentation of the MRS Energy Forum was on Solar Technology by Prof. Martin Green, Research Director at the Photovoltaic Centre of Excellence at the University of New South Wales, Australia. Green gave a comprehensive overview on the current and future opportunities of photovoltaics, predictions and new trends in solar technology including inorganic, organic and hybrid systems thereof. “Can Photovoltaics power the Future?” was his provocative question to introduce his talk in front of a packed auditorium with over 400 attendees and commenced with a clear “Yes”! The green energy market is booming with growth rates around 40% over the last decade with direct water heating being the largest application due to an Australian process that the Chinese adopted and continue to implement rapidly which represents by far the largest market. The picture on solar cell production gives a similar picture: Japan with 36%, followed by Germany with 20% and China with 15%. Asia overall has a market share of over 63% in 2006 compared to the USA with just 6.8%. The world energy needs could be satisfied by a square with a 700 km baseline (10% efficiency). Comparing concentrator cell technology and just looking at the mirror cost (troughs at $250/m2; flat mirrors at $40/m2) not to mention durability in a dessert climate with significant erosion indicates that direct conversion with low cost thin film solar cells appears the solution to become economical competitive. However, current installation costs are too high and only competitive in remote areas where grid connection would be even more expensive. PV power cannot compete on wholesale but at retail price. In Italy for example, the current power cost per kW is with 22 cts already overlapping with PV power cost. The demarcation line of profitability has started to move up through Europe. The cost of power in Germany has actually dropped over the years and the government has tapped into that funding source by raising taxes and using some of those funds to support green energy development and implementation especially wind and solar power. In the US, Macy's, as the first large corporation, has gone green with 26 stores.

 

Silicon is still the predominant solar cell material now outpacing computer applications by volume, which has put pressure on supplies. This has led to efforts for making solar cells as thin as possible, currently at 200 microns and targeting 100 micron thickness in the near future. In addition, metallurgy grade still works well for solar cells moving away from the much more expensive semiconductor grade material. This has led to the search for cheaper alternatives such as amorphous, microcrystalline, and polycrystalline materials, however, they do come with an efficiency penalty (~10% efficient) Other promising systems are CIS and CIGS [Cu(In,ga)(Se,S)2] with ~18% efficiency and CdTe (however, produced a Te shortage), dye sensitized (Grätzel) and organic solar cells. Green pointed out desirable properties such as low materials cost, abundance, non-toxic, large manufacturing capability, fully integrated modules, ruggedness and durability as well as high efficiency. He then took a look at reduction in cost per kW over the last 20 years to estimate future competitiveness: The early PVs were at 20,000/kW (1981) down to 3,000/kW (2002) with thin film systems having the potential to actually reach competitive prices with current gas turbines at some future point. Silicon is unlikely to get us there since the wafer costs are just too high and will not come down much further. He closed his presentation by touching upon several new concepts that show promise such as circulator approaches, hot carrier systems, thermal PV, thermionics, quantum dot systems, interband converters. Due to the high installation cost, market support is needed to help commercialize PVs with projections of 1% solar cell power generation by 2020 (Bavaria, Germany, not exactly a desert with a lot of sun, is already at 1.4%!), 25% by 2050 and 64% by 2100. We are already ahead of the first prediction. We can do our part to help continue to accelerate that trend.

 

Dr. Gopal Rao
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)

MRS Bulletin Special Issue "Harnessing Materials for Energy"

The Materials Research Society and the MRS Bulletin are pleased to announce the availability of the April special issue of the MRS Bulletin "Harnessing Materials for Energy" on the web.

The MRS Bulletin special expanded issue, “Harnessing Materials for Energy,” focuses on the most important materials research challenges that need to be addressed to move toward secure, affordable, and environmentally sustainable energy to meet the world’s accelerating energy needs. The issue follows the full energy chain including production, storage, distribution, use, and efficiency. The articles are designed to present an objective and global view of the energy challenges within each energy sector and the promising transformational materials research directions for meeting these challenges as far into the future as is scientifically feasible to consider (targeting 10-, 25-, and 50-year outlooks).

A related Energy Forum is slated for Monday, March 24, at the 2008 MRS Spring Meeting.

 

Dr. Gopal Rao
Web Science Editor
Materials Research Society (MRS)