Cellulosic Ethanol Facilities Sprout Up in Four States – USDOE

Source: USDOE

A shift in biofuel production to cellulosic ethanol and biofuels is underway. That’s as both demonstration and commercial-scale power plants are opening. I mean or moving closer to completion.

Poet

In the commercial arena, Poet, the largest U.S. producer of ethanol. Poet is planning construction this year of Project Liberty. For that’s a cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, that will use corn cobs from local farms to produce 25 million gallon per year of ethanol. The plant will be co-located with Poet’s current corn grain ethanol plant. That’s at the Emmetsburg site. In addition, it should start commercial operations in 2011.

Build it in Iowa

Moreover, DOE has provided $80 million in funding for the facility. In addition and in late January, the Iowa Department of Economic Development approved a $5.25 million grant. For that’s bringing Iowa’s total contribution to $20 million.

In addition, Poet’s pilot-scale plant in Scotland, South Dakota. For it is already producing cellulosic ethanol at a rate of about 20,000 gallons per year. Most noteworthy, it has successfully driven the cost of ethanol down from $4.13 per gallon to $2.35 per gallon. That’s as the company aims for a commercial cost below $2 per gallon.

Kansas too

Meanwhile, Abengoa Bioenergy is planning to develop the nation’s first commercial-scale hybrid cellulosic ethanol and power plant in Stevens County, Kansas. The $550 million facility is expected to produce 15 million gallons of ethanol annually using corn stover, wheat straw, and switchgrass as feedstock. In January, Abengoa Bioenergy signed an agreement to sell 75 megawatts of power from the facility to Mid-Kansas Electric Company LLC. The new cellulosic ethanol facilities will be essential. Especially to meeting the newly revised Renewable Fuel Standard. One which sets a federal requirement for the sale of 6.5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol over the course of this year. That requirement will also ramp up to 16 billion gallons by 2022.

Two demonstration-scale plants have recently started up. Last October, Coskata Inc., a developer of biofuels, announced the launch of their semi-commercial cellulosic ethanol facility located in Madison, Pennsylvania. Coskata’s facility will be producing ethanol from numerous feedstocks, including wood biomass, agricultural waste, sustainable energy crops, and construction waste. And on January 29, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (DDCE) and University of Tennessee/Genera Energy LLC celebrated the grand opening of their first cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant, which converts both agricultural residue and bioenergy crops into ethanol. The facility, located in Vonore, Tennessee, was producing ethanol in mid-January and has the capacity to produce 250,000 gallons of ethanol per year from corn cobs and switchgrass. The company intends to achieve commercial production by 2012.