Domestic
Gridley Biofuels Project
The City of Gridley, California has been exploring ways in which to solve a local waste problem by finding a productive use for rice straw and rice hulls. Under a contract administered through the U.S. Department of Energy, pilot work has been performed on converting rice straw to ethanol by means of thermochemical conversion utilizing pyrolysis/steam reforming at pilot plants in Mississippi and Colorado. The Renewable Energy Institute International (REII) is evaluating the capability of these systems using a 5E model to evaluate their potential viability in terms of technology evaluations (E1) (e.g., robustness, reliability and safety), energy (E2) efficiency, potential environmental (E3) impact, economic viability (E4) and socio-political and human resource effectiveness (E5). Preliminary 5E assessments have been completed for all candidate systems including a financial model for co-generation of electricity, heat and ethanol for a proposed commercial plant in Gridley, CA.
Gridley is located in the heart of California’s rice growing area and its economy is uniquely dependent on rice production and markets. In addition, Gridley operates a municipal utility, with responsibility for delivering electrical power to the community. The Gridley community, including local rice growers, initiated the Gridley Biofuels Project to solve a major rice straw disposal problem and help maintain the economic viability in Butte County and the greater Sacramento Valley. The proposed Gridley Ethanol Project will utilize rice straw to produce ethanol for the transportation fuel markets. A viable market alternative to the disposal of rice straw will reduce the alternative disposal costs of the phase-down of rice straw burning for rice growers. One of the more promising technologies for producing a high value product is to convert rice straw into ethanol. The current technology has the theoretical potential to annually produce 20 million gallons of ethanol from 113,000 BDT of rice straw, co-host process heat and/or electricity.
Project Objectives
The primary objectives of the Gridley Biofuels Project are to:
- Help preserve the Community’s agriculture economy in Butte County and adjacent areas.
- Support continued rice farming in the Sacramento Valley by providing a practical straw disposal alternative to burning.
- Create jobs, a new tax base and economic development in the Sacramento Valley.
- Comply with the environmental legislative mandates to phase out most of the open field rice straw burning.
- Annually produce up to 20 million gallons of ethanol, a clean transportation fuel, which can reduce tail-pipe emissions from California’s older in-use vehicles.
Links: Gridley Biofuels Project Summary and Collaborators
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