CleanBeta

Cellulosic Ethanol Takes Next Step

Cellulosic ethanol took another step — three steps actually — toward commercial viability yesterday when the Department of Energy announced it would spend $86 million in funding on three cellulosic ethanol biorefineries.

Over the next four years, the DOE will invest $86 million in three new biorefineries in separate joint ventures with biofuels start-ups Ecofin, Mascoma and RSE Pulp & Chemical. The biorefineries will convert biomass – like corn stover, wood chips, and switchgrass – into cellulosic ethanol.

Ecofin will build a biorefinery in Washington County, Kentucky that uses an innovative fermentation to produce roughly one million gallons of ethanol annually. Mascoma will build a biorefinery in Vonore, Tennessee, which will convert switchgrass and wood chips into 2 million gallons of ethanol annually using a biochemical process that employs ethanol-producing bacteria. Finally, RSE Pulp & Chemical, a subsidiary of Red Shield Environmental, has said it will build a biorefinery in Old Town, Maine, which will produce roughly two million gallons of ethanol annually from wood pulp.