Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Opens In Scotland
By Lisa Hare
lisa.hare@yankton.net
SCOTLAND— Poet, the world’s largest ethanol producer, announced the grand opening of its pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant here Monday.
“We’ve produced 1,000 gallons in our first month of operation,” said Jeff Broin, chief executive officer for the company, during a conference call with reporters Monday. He added that the facility’s performance has thus far exceeded expectations.
Six months and $8 million in the making, the facility utilizes corncobs instead of kernel corn to make ethanol.
“Based on current corn production in the U.S., we have enough cobs to make 5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year,” Broin said. And that doesn’t even take into account other crop residues such as oat hulls, rice straw and waste from trees, he added.
With a production capacity of 20,000 gallons of ethanol per year, the pilot plant is a forerunner to the company’s $200 million commercial-scale cellulosic plant, called Project Liberty.
“Our goal is to have Project Liberty on line by 2011,” Broin said.
Broin said the pilot plant has all the processes in place to produce cellulosic ethanol like a full-scale plant, but with the flexibility of a laboratory, as well.
Broin said 5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol — or, nearly half of today’s U.S. capacity to make grain-based ethanol — could eventually be made from corncobs and other crop waste. However, he admitted making the product commercially available is a few years away.
“We need to move the blend wall up to 15 or 20 percent,” he said, adding that the nation needs more flex-fuel vehicles, blender pumps and continued incentives for expanding the industry.
“No one will invest if there’s no market,” he added.
In addition to 15 billion gallons of grain-based ethanol, U.S. mandates require blenders to mix 16 billion gallons of cellulosic into gasoline by 2022.
Cellulosic ethanol is dubbed as a “second generation” biofuel, and industry leaders hope it will help heal the black eye that corn-based ethanol received from being blamed for increasing food prices.
Broin said producing cellulosic ethanol under current processes costs about $1 more per gallon than ethanol made from corn.
"Two years ago, it was several dollars a gallon,” he said, adding that by the time Project Liberty opens, Poet hopes to have reduced production costs to about 50 cents above grain-based ethanol.
“We think in five to seven years, cellulosic will be cost-competitive with grain-based ethanol,” Broin said.
Broin added that he is not certain if the U.S. will meet the 2010 federal mandate to blend 100 million gallons of cellulosic into the gasoline pool.
“We’re working hard to make the process cleaner and greener,” he said, adding that the pilot plant will also be experimenting with anaerobic digesters as a power source option.
“(The production of) cellulosic ethanol is an efficient process when we use the by-products to power the process,” he said.
According to Broin, if all forms of cellulosic feedstock were being utilized today, the U.S. could produce 85 billion gallons of ethanol per year — cutting gasoline usage for the nation by more than half.
“We have the means to get away from our dependence on foreign oil,” Broin said. “We need to have the whole nation standing behind this,” he added.
“We’ve produced 1,000 gallons in our first month of operation,” said Jeff Broin, chief executive officer for the company, during a conference call with reporters Monday. He added that the facility’s performance has thus far exceeded expectations.
Six months and $8 million in the making, the facility utilizes corncobs instead of kernel corn to make ethanol.
“Based on current corn production in the U.S., we have enough cobs to make 5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year,” Broin said. And that doesn’t even take into account other crop residues such as oat hulls, rice straw and waste from trees, he added.
With a production capacity of 20,000 gallons of ethanol per year, the pilot plant is a forerunner to the company’s $200 million commercial-scale cellulosic plant, called Project Liberty.
“Our goal is to have Project Liberty on line by 2011,” Broin said.
Broin said the pilot plant has all the processes in place to produce cellulosic ethanol like a full-scale plant, but with the flexibility of a laboratory, as well.
Broin said 5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol — or, nearly half of today’s U.S. capacity to make grain-based ethanol — could eventually be made from corncobs and other crop waste. However, he admitted making the product commercially available is a few years away.
“We need to move the blend wall up to 15 or 20 percent,” he said, adding that the nation needs more flex-fuel vehicles, blender pumps and continued incentives for expanding the industry.
“No one will invest if there’s no market,” he added.
In addition to 15 billion gallons of grain-based ethanol, U.S. mandates require blenders to mix 16 billion gallons of cellulosic into gasoline by 2022.
Cellulosic ethanol is dubbed as a “second generation” biofuel, and industry leaders hope it will help heal the black eye that corn-based ethanol received from being blamed for increasing food prices.
Broin said producing cellulosic ethanol under current processes costs about $1 more per gallon than ethanol made from corn.
"Two years ago, it was several dollars a gallon,” he said, adding that by the time Project Liberty opens, Poet hopes to have reduced production costs to about 50 cents above grain-based ethanol.
“We think in five to seven years, cellulosic will be cost-competitive with grain-based ethanol,” Broin said.
Broin added that he is not certain if the U.S. will meet the 2010 federal mandate to blend 100 million gallons of cellulosic into the gasoline pool.
“We’re working hard to make the process cleaner and greener,” he said, adding that the pilot plant will also be experimenting with anaerobic digesters as a power source option.
“(The production of) cellulosic ethanol is an efficient process when we use the by-products to power the process,” he said.
According to Broin, if all forms of cellulosic feedstock were being utilized today, the U.S. could produce 85 billion gallons of ethanol per year — cutting gasoline usage for the nation by more than half.
“We have the means to get away from our dependence on foreign oil,” Broin said. “We need to have the whole nation standing behind this,” he added.
 |
 |
|
| City Commission Considers Changes To Vegetation Ordinance | Daily Record (01/12/09) |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site.
Not registered yet?
