Cellulosic Ethanol Close to Commercial
Doubts about commercial opportunities for cellulosic ethanol are evaporating:
“It is no longer a question of if we are able to produce cellulosic ethanol, but when,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said.
Jeff announced POET’s commitment to develop a commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Elmersville, Iowa at the Ethanol Conference and Trade Show in Omaha, Nebraska earlier this month. Construction on what POET is calling “Project Liberty” will begin in 2009 and the company expects the facility to be online by 2011. But, POET promises to have a smaller pilot-scale facility up and running by the end of this year.
Jeff says now is an optimal time to take advantage of cellulosic energy because, as he sees it, the industry has sustained strong progress with investments from private industry and academia:
“The stars are beginning to align for cellulosic ethanol,” Jeff said.
POET’s commercial cellulosic plants will process feed stock corn cobs and corn fiber. But, corn isn’t the only source for cellulosic ethanol production that’s poised to go commercial. Bill Schafer, senior vice president of business development Range Fuels, says his company is investing in processing woody biomass for cellulosic ethanol production in Georgia.
In this DomesticFuel Cast, we hear from Jeff Broin, CEO of POET, and Bill Schafer, senior vice president of business development Range Fuels. Here is the Domestic Fuel Cast #8:
df-podcast-08.mp3
You can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast using the following url/feed link: http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/domestic-fuel-cast.xml.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.4MB)
1 Comment »
Alex Kovnat
First, having been interested in energy and automotive issues for upwards of 50 years (since I was a sub-adolescent), I am delighted to hear that cellulosic ethanol plants are being built.
Now I would like to share with readers some concerns that I have, which I hope will be amenable to solutions other than giving up.
First, is the matter of getting biomass to cellulosic ethanol production plants. My favorite lament, as I go about my life traveling here and there, is: “Biomass, biomass, biomass everywhere, but how do we harvest it and transport it to where we can process it into ethanol and other useful products?”
And now, I would like to bring up another potential problem which I hope will not turn into a show-stopper: If we were to have cellulosic ethanol production plants in every town, we may end up with one heck of an alcohol abuse problem! I don’t want this to be a showstopper, but we do need to think about it so we can develop solutions.
Comments RSS feed — TrackBack URI
Leave a Comment