Aside from metals such as iron, steel and aluminum, perhaps the most common material in cars is plastic. Most of the plastic made today is derived from petroleum. Besides the raw materials used, a lot pf greenhouse gases are produced in the processing of plastics. Bio-materials have been a major research area in recent years including Ford's new soy-foam seats. Researchers from the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute have a developed a class of bioplastics called Polyhydroxyalkanoates that can be produced as a byproduct of cellulosic ethanol production. According to the research, PHA can be produced with only 0.49 kg CO₂/kg of resin. Typical plastics production emits 2-3 kg of CO₂/kg of resin. The energy required in the process is also reduced from 78-88 MJ to only 44 MJ per kg of resin. With the coming of cellulosic ethanol production in the next few years, this could be a potentially huge boon to making the businesses more viable.

[Source: Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, via Green Car Congress]

As our readers know, the biofuels field of investigation is huge and there are quite a number of upcoming technologies that can make the renewable fuel without competing with feedstocks. The most notable of these technologies use waste streams and often also require less water to make biofuel. Popular Mechanics lists seven of these new biofuel technologies and provides some numbers about how and when they will be available: cellulosic ethanol (both biological and gasified), algal biodiesel, "green gasoline" (obtained from extracting oxygen from sugars to form hydrocarbons), biobutanol, designer hydrocarbons and so-called 4th generation biofuels, the latter two produced directly from genetically modified organisms. As one reader suggests, there's no mention in the piece of alternative feedstocks for biofuels, such as jathropa curcas, which can grow in unused land. Still, regardless of technology, the question is impact: will any of these become the silver biofuel bullet? Thanks to Carl for the tip.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

A recent paper by Wally Tyner published by Purdue University shows that, at least for Corn Belt states (like Indiana), corn stover could be a better cellulosic ethanol source than switchgrass. The paper considers the cost and prospective profits of whether a farmer could decide to plant and sell corn and corn stover, or plant switchgrass. The answer is clear to the author: corn is more productive, the soil quality is low, in which case switchgrass becomes the winner. There is also a consideration about the location of ethanol plants: they need to be near the feedstock, because corn is easily transported but corn stover and switchgrass are not.

Although you can check the complete report for the all the figures, take this statement by Tyner as an example of his summary: "With $6 and higher per bushel corn it [cellulosic ethanol] is already very close economically. And since the federal Renewable Fuels Standard calls for the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, of which 16 billion gallons have to be cellulose, cellulosic ethanol will advance."

[Source: Purdue]

Nearly two months after the announcement by General Motors of its equity investment in Mascoma, the Massachusetts company has announced the location of its first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant. Mascoma CEO Bruce Jamerson and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm announced a plant would be built near Sault Ste. Marie in northern Michigan. Mascoma will be collaborating with Michigan State University and Michigan Technical University to further enhance its processing technology for turning biomass into liquid fuel.

MSU will offer help with the pre-treatment technology for the cellulosic biomass and identifying renewable crops for feedstocks while MTU will help with sustainable forest management practices. The Sault Ste. Marie plant will primarily use wood waste from the forestry industry in northern Michigan as a feedstock. Michigan has passed legislation creating grants for Centers of Energy Excellence. The new law will make Mascoma eligible for a grant of $15 million dollars for the new plant. The plant should be operational by 2012 producing 40 million gallons a year of cellulosic ethanol.

[Source: Mascoma]

Making fuel from waste is just brilliant. Up in Edmonton, Canada, a company called Enerkem is ready to set up the world's first industrial scale municipal waste-to-ethanol facility. Hopefullly, the implementation will be as brilliant as the idea.

Enerkem and its partner GreenField Ethanol and the city of Edmonton have agreed to a 25-year partnership whereby the government will spend $70m on a facility that will be capable of making 36m liters of biofuels each year. The governments of the city and Alberta will chip in $20m and the city will spend the other $50m on a related processing facility and research facility.

You can get the press release of this announcement here. Canada is also considering wheat-to-ethanol plants.

[Source: Enerkem Inc.]

Photo by Eric Charlton. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Everyone who follows the biofuel industry knows that the future of ethanol lies in cellulose. While corn is today's big feedstock, the potential to make ethanol cheaper and with less of an impact on food prices and the environment by using cellulosic materials is calling venture capitalists, the auto industry and many others. In the U.S. today there are more than a dozen companies that have gotten at least a few steps down the path of building cellulosic ethanol plants. There's a list of each company with an explanation and an interactive map of the plants over at earth2tech.

Companies like Coskata, Mascoma, Range Fuels, Poet and Verenium are familiar names on AutoblogGreen, but earth2tech also mentions ZeaChem and Abengoa Bioenergy, among others, which are less frequent visitors. While all of these companies are using their own production methods to turn wood waste or old tires or waste sludge or whatever into ethanol, no one has a lock on the future of cellulosic ethanol. Good.

[Source: earth2tech]

A demonstration plant in Louisiana is the latest entry in the cellulosic ethanol race. Verenium announced yesterday that the company is starting up a 1.4 million gallon-per-year plant in Jennings, La with the intended non-food feedstocks being stems and leaves. Verenium will use "specialty enzymes and Verenium's proprietary technology," the AP reports. By mid-2009, Verenium hopes to have a production plant up and running that can make 30 mgpy once the test plant proves that Verenium's cellulosic ethanol process is validated. Carlos Riva, Verenium's president and CEO, said in a statement that, "With this plant moving into operations, we are on the brink of commercialization, on the brink of success." We'll see.

[Source: Verenium, AP]

Genencor, a subsidiary of Danisco A/S, and DuPont have announced a joint venture that promises cheaper cellulosic ethanol. Both companies will be investing $140 million in a plant that will use sugarcane bagasses and corn stover, although other sources such as straw will be used in the near future. A pilot plant will be ready by 2009. The joint venture integrates the proprietary DuPont pretreatment and ethanologen technologies with the innovative enzyme technology of Genencor. Cellulosic ethanol is expected to be a $75 billion market in the following years.

[Source: Dupont Danisco via Energías Renovables]

When is cellulosic ethanol not cellulosic ethanol? When it's grown on public land. Let us explain.

Apparently, when cellulosic ethanol is made from biomass grown on public lands (or on private lands but is not intentionally grown and managed as ethanol feedstock), U.S. law does not count that ethanol towards the Renewable Fuels Standard. A U.S. Rep, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), is trying to get Congress to change this little quirk, according to a story in Domestic Fuel. She testified on the issues and explained how a South Dakota plant that's making ethanol from wood waste, run by KL Process Design Group, is affected by the law. The Argus Leader notes that this is a bi-partisan effort, as Sen. John Thune (R-SD) is also supporting the change.

[Source: Domestic Fuel, Argus Leader]

Last week, Mascoma and GM announced that the automaker would invest an undisclosed amount in the cellulosic ethanol process being developed by Mascoma Corporation. Perhaps its a sign of the times that
Marathon Oil Corporation has also ponied up a $10 million equity investment in research and development for the second-gen biofuel process.

As part of the Marathon deal, Marathon senior vice president Cliff Cook joined the Mascoma Board of Directors. Mascoma has also netted $26m from the Department of Energy and Domestic Fuel says that Mascoma has raised a total of $61m in its third round of funding. Considering that GM's investment was part of that $61m, we can calculate that GM's investment is no larger than $25m. Considering there are other investors that make up that $61m, GM's total is something less than $25m. Earlier this year, GM invested (also an undisclosed amount) in Coskata, another company working on bringing cellulosic ethanol to the masses.

[Source: Domestic Fuel]

Following this morning's announcement that GM was taking an equity stake in cellulosic ethanol developer Mascoma, the two companies held a conference call. Like the earlier Coskata investment, GM researchers will be working with scientists at Mascoma to refine the process that they have developed for converting many kinds of biomass that might otherwise be considered waste.

Mascoma's Consolidated Bioprocessing (CBP) system is different than more traditional cellulosic production methods in that when fully developed, no additional enzymes will need to be added. Enzymes are currently the most costly part of the production process. Mascoma has developed microbes that can consume the pre-processed material and produce their own enzymes for breaking down the cellulose into sugars and then fermenting it.

The pre-processing consists of chopping the raw materials and mixing it with water in the presence of some heat. This results in a spongy peat moss-like material that is fed to the microbes. The output of the microbes is ethanol that only needs distillation. Mascoma is still refining the microbes which currently don't produce as much enzyme as needed to complete the process. For the pilot plant that is currently under construction, Mascoma will have to add some enzymes to the process although the amount is much smaller than normally required. By the time a commercial scale plant is ready in about 2010, Jamerson expects that no additional enzymes will be required. The CBP system also doesn't require any of the acids or other chemicals normally required for pre-treating biomass.

Mascoma CEO Bruce Jamerson explained that the process requires about 2-3 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol produced which is more than the Coskata's process but it requires less energy input. The cost of fuel from the process is similar to Coskata's at about $1-1.50 a gallon. Mascoma's agreement with GM is not exclusive and in the future they expect to license the process to other fuel producers. When questioned about why they were investing in multiple processes, GM's Candace Wheeler explained that they were potentially complementary. The lignin left over from the Mascoma process could be fed into the syngas process developed by Coskata, increasing the ultimate yield.

[Sources: General Motors, Mascoma]

General Motors today announced their second equity investment in a developer of cellulosic ethanol technology in recent months. The automaker is buying into Mascoma Corp. Mascoma has developed a single-step cellulose to ethanol process that apparently requires fewer enzymes and other additives. Mascoma has proprietary microbes that are used in its Consolidated Bioprocessing (CBP) technology. The CBP process can convert most forms of biomass such as straw, wood, paper pulp, and agricultural waste into liquid fuel. So far, Mascoma has received more than $60 million in federal and state grants for their work. To date Mascoma has been testing their technology in the lab with a demonstration plant due to come on line later this year in Rome, NY. GM President Fritz Henderson is not disclosing how much the automaker is investing. Earlier this year GM invested in Illinois-based Coskata. GM is holding a conference call later this afternoon where we will hopefully get more details. We do know that Mascoma has been trying for a while to have the first cellulosic ethanol plant up and running, with projects announced in Tennessee, New York state and Michigan.

[Source: General Motors]

You probably remember that back in January of this year, General Motors announced that it was partnering up with Coskata to make cheap cellulosic ethanol using a process developed by Coskata which includes the use of microorganisms developed by Oklahoma State University and Oklahoma University. Coskata has apparently broken ground on a new plant that is being built in Pennsylvania. While Coskata appears to be moving along at a fine pace, Auto Observer is reporting that Coskata is not the only cellulosic ethanol provider that the General is interested in being attached to. GM said back in January that Coskata would not be the company's only biofuel partner. So far, everything sounds very "hush-hush" about this new partnership, but GM president Fritz Henderson is expected to make an announcement tomorrow in Washington D.C. We don't have any information on who America's largest automakers is partnering with, but we know that there are plenty of other companies currently working on cheap cellulosic ethanol. You'll know more when we do, so stay tuned.

[Source: Auto Observer]

Late last week, the U.S. Department of Energy picked three cellulosic ethanol projects as recipients of up to $86m in federal funding for fiscal years 2008-2011. These "small-scale biorefinery projects" are located in Maine, Tennessee and Kentucky and are intended to bring "cost-competitive" second-generation ethanol to market by 2012 (the plants will also make other bio-based chemicals and products). DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman said the projects would help President Bush reach his goal of stopping greenhouse gas emissions growth by 2025. The three winners are:

• RSE Pulp & Chemical of Old Town, Maine. (DOE share: up to $30 million.) This plant will use a wood extract made at an existing pulp mill.
  
• Mascoma Corporation of Boston, Massachusetts Proposed Plant in Vonore, Tennessee. (DOE share: up to $26 million.) The source here will be switchgrass and will be the largest cellulosic ethanol plant in Tennessee.
  
• Ecofin, LLC, of Nicholasville, Kentucky. (DOE share: up to $30 million.) Ecofin will use a variety of feedstocks, including corncobs, in this plant.
  

You can read more about the awards at the DOE website.

[Source: DOE]

Biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel are already available, so why would they show up on our list of future technologies? A one-word answer: cellulose.

Currently, mass-produced ethanol is created by the fermentation of sugar and in the U.S. granulated corn is distilled to make alcohol and combined with gasoline to make E85. Unfortunately, corn is a poor choice when it comes to the creation of ethanol. Alternatives are on the horizon, though, which could potentially make biofuels a much better choice. Cellulosic ethanol could be considered ethanol version 2.0, with large-scale plants currently being set-up which might be able to offer the fuel at very low prices. When the fact that American roadways are already littered with E85-capable vehicles is added into the mix, cellulosic ethanol stands to make a large dent in our petroleum usage.

Discover Number 2.