A global industry that would use fast pyrolysis to convert biomass into bioslurry and ultimately to syngas and, through a Fischer-Tropsch process, to liquid fuels and chemicals, might economically and sustainably supplement and ultimately replace global dependence on fossil fuels, according to a new report published in the German scientific journal Naturwissenschaften.
In a report titled “Sustainable global energy supply based on lignocellulosic biomass from afforestation of degraded areas,” scientists Jürgen O. Metzger of Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Germany, and Aloys Hüttermann of the University of Göttingen in Göttingen, Germany, encourage the cultivation of new, fast-growing biomass on degraded land and the establishment of a new global biomass-to-liquid industry that would supply the world with all of its power and fuel requirements.
“We found that the global energy demand projected by the International Energy Agency… for the year 2030 could be provided sustainably and economically primarily from lignocellulosic biomass grown on areas which have been degraded by human activities in historical times,” the report said. “Most importantly, (the) investment… would be actually sustainable” compared to the global dependence on oil, natural gas, and coal, which the report said the IEA predicts will be depleted in 42, 60, and 133 years, respectively, based on the current rate of consumption.
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The German scientists estimate that 2.54 gigahectares (approx. 6.28 billion acres) of degraded land could be afforested at a cost of $2.9 trillion, which would be necessary to satisfy the global energy demand in 2030. Approximately $5.5 trillion would need to be invested in fast pyrolysis units to transform the biomass to bioslurry. Approximately 2,884 biomass-to-liquid refineries, each producing one million metric tons of oil equivalent fuel, would need to be built at a cost of $1.4 trillion to satisfy the world’s transportation needs. In total, the investment would be approximately $10 trillion for the new industry. This would be in addition to the already projected $11.3 trillion that the report said will need to be invested in electric power generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure to satisfy global power demands in 2030.