While on an officiala visit to Russia, Energy Secretary Steven Chu signed two important energy agreements, one on U.S.-Russia joint nuclear cooperation, and one on a joint action plan to enhance U.S.-Russia cooperation in the energy sphere.

While on an officiala visit to Russia, Energy Secretary Steven Chu signed two important energy agreements, one on U.S.-Russia joint nuclear cooperation, and one on a joint action plan to enhance U.S.-Russia cooperation in the energy sphere.

As part of a joint action plan to enhance cooperation between the United States and Russia in the energy sphere, which was signed on June 9, 2011 by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu during an official visit to Russia, DOE’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) will partner with Moscow’s Kurchatov Institute to evaluate the potential of unique ceramic membrane separators as an economic means of recovering advanced biofuels. Under the plan, JBEI will provide samples of fuels made from biomass using microbes, and the Kurchatov Institute will provide and test the membranes.

“In this project with the Kurchatov Institute, we are basically trying to eliminate the need for distillation and extensive chemical separations to recover biofuel from culture media,” says Blake Simmons, JBEI’s vice president for deconstruction, and the co-principal investigator, along with Jay Keasling, for JBEI on this project. “The ceramic membranes will be evaluated in terms of their biofuel recovery efficiencies. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a cost-effective and energy-efficient means of producing biofuels on a commercial scale by advancing biofuel membrane separation technology.”

Studies have consistently shown that biofuels, especially those derived from lignocellulosic biomass, the most abundant organic material on earth, can provide a clean, green and renewable alternative to petroleum-based fuels if a cost-effective means of commercial production is developed. To this end, researchers at JBEI, one of three Bioenergy Research Centers funded by DOE, are deploying cutting-edge science to the microbial fermentation and synthesis of advanced and sustainable biofuels. The Kurchatov Institute, one of Russia’s premier scientific research centers, has extensive experience in the synthesis, characterization and testing of membranes based on ductile ceramics.

“We will start by evaluating the Kurchatov ceramic membranes with ethanol-water separations and then move on to more advanced biofuels, such as fatty acid ethyl esters,” Simmons says. “The performances of the membranes will be evaluated as a function of recovery, yield, and operating conditions. We hope to begin shipping biofuel samples from JBEI to Kurchatov later this month.”

Simmons says that JBEI researchers will use the results of the Kurchatov evaluations to help them better understand the various technologies that can be used to recover biofuels from the fermenters in which they are produced, and to get a better perspective on the costs associated with each of these technologies.

“This information will help us build a more robust techno-economic model of a biorefinery based on the most advanced fuels and technologies available,” Simmons says.

Headquartered in Emeryville, CA, the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) was established by the DOE’s Office of Science in 2007 to advance the development of the next generation of biofuels. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt)

Headquartered in Emeryville, CA, the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) was established by the DOE’s Office of Science in 2007 to advance the development of the next generation of biofuels. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab Public Affairs)

JBEI and Kurchatov researchers will also submit a proposal to produce large samples of biofuels using the industrial-scale fermenters at the Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit (PDU), which is expected to open later this summer. The Advanced Biofuels PDU is also a DOE-funded facility that is intended to help expedite the commercialization of next generation biofuels by providing industry-scale test beds for innovative technologies. It is operated by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), which is also the lead in the multi-institutional partnership that operates JBEI. Berkeley Lab will oversee the Advanced Biofuels PDU though its Physical Biosciences Division.

The JBEI-Kurchatov Institute collaboration is one of 12 projects approved under the joint action plan that was signed during the Second Plenary Session of the United States-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission’s Clean Energy Technologies Working Group. The action plan is designed “to promote energy efficiency, develop clean energy technology, and ensure energy stability and security.” Co-signing the plan with Secretary Chu was Sergei Shmatko, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 12 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.

Additional Information

For more information about Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s trip to Russia visit DOE’s Energy Blog at http://blog.energy.gov/

For more information about the Joint BioEnergy Institute  visit the Website at http://www.jbei.org/

For more information DOE’s Biomass Program, visit www.biomass.energy.gov

For more information about Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division, visit the Website at pbd.lbl.gov/