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Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from enzyme and yeast manufacture for corn and cellulosic ethanol production

Biotechnology Letters volume 34, pages 2259–2263 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Enzymes and yeast are important ingredients in the production of ethanol, yet the energy consumption and emissions associated with their production are often excluded from life-cycle analyses of ethanol. We provide new estimates for the energy consumed and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted during enzyme and yeast manufacture, including contributions from key ingredients such as starch, glucose, and molasses. We incorporated these data into Argonne National Laboratory’s Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation model and observed that enzymes and yeast together contribute 1.4 and 27 % of farm-to-pump GHG emissions for corn and cellulosic ethanol, respectively. Over the course of the entire corn ethanol life cycle, yeast and enzymes contribute a negligible amount of GHG emissions, but increase GHG emissions from the cellulosic ethanol life cycle by 5.6 g CO2e/MJ.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Biomass Program of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the United States Department of Energy, under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. The authors acknowledge Andy Aden of NREL, Martha Schlicher of Monsanto, and Ignasi Palou-Rivera of LanzaTech for helpful discussions.

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Affiliations

  1. Argonne National Laboratory, Center for Transportation Research, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL, 60439, USA

    Jennifer B. Dunn, Michael Wang & Jeongwoo Han

  2. Energy Resources Center, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1309 South Halsted Street, MC 156, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA

    Steffen Mueller

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  1. Jennifer B. Dunn
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  2. Steffen Mueller
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  3. Michael Wang
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  4. Jeongwoo Han
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Correspondence to Jennifer B. Dunn.

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Dunn, J.B., Mueller, S., Wang, M. et al. Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from enzyme and yeast manufacture for corn and cellulosic ethanol production. Biotechnol Lett 34, 2259–2263 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-012-1057-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-012-1057-6

Keywords

  • Enzymes
  • Ethanol
  • Life-cycle analysis
  • Yeast