ethanol

When it comes to the U.S. biofuels strategy, it's no longer just about ethanol.

The Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture announced on Friday that $564 million in stimulus act funding would be used toward constructing biorefineries to make liquid fuels from plants. Out of the 19 projects receiving funding, nearly half focus on the development of "drop-in" replacements for gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel. The rest focus on technologies for making ethanol or chemicals from sources other than corn. (Click this PDF for a full list of recipient projects).

In one example, San Diego-based … Read more

Start-up ZeaChem has begun construction of a plant to convert wood chips into ethanol and specialty chemicals, a small step forward for the long-awaited cellulosic ethanol industry.

The Lakewood, Colo.-based company said that the plant will be in Oregon and produce about 250,000 gallons of ethanol a year. That's far less than it originally projected but still at a size that will allow the company to scale up to a commercial-size facility in 2011, said ZeaChem CEO James Imbler on Friday.

A few years ago, lots of venture capital money flowed to companies with processes to make … Read more

Start-up Coskata on Thursday is starting up a facility that can turn wood chips into ethanol, a step toward producing at large scale next year.

The "semi-commercial" plant in Madison, Pa., will use a variety of techniques to convert the cellulosic material in plants or even municipal trash into liquid fuel that's cheaper than gasoline, according to the company. Its method reduces greenhous gas emissions dramatically and uses less than half the water than is needed to process gasoline, according to the company.

It plans to test a number of different feedstocks at the Pennsylvania plant, called … Read more

Two companies said Wednesday that they have developed a method for turning sewage sludge into ethanol.

Israel-based Applied CleanTech and Marlborough, Mass.-based Qteros created a joint development project that combines sewage treatment technology and a microbial process for converting biomass into ethanol.

The method can turn municipal solid waste into a fuel and reduce the amount of sludge processed by traditional treatment facilities, the companies said. Many researchers have been studying ways to extract usable energy from sewage sludge but there are not any commercial operations that make liquid fuel.

Applied CleanTech's core technology, which is already used … Read more

A Shell service station in Ottawa on Wednesday will pump gasoline mixed with ethanol made from wheat straw, what the company is calling the first commercial delivery of cellulosic ethanol.

The ethanol was made by Iogen which has a process that uses enzymes to break down straw so it can be converted into ethanol. Shell is an investor in the Ottawa-based Iogen, which has been working on a demonstration facility since 2004.

Shell Canada is hosting a press event at the service station where Canadian government officials are scheduled to be on hand. Cellulosic ethanol is less polluting than corn … Read more

Concerns over food crops are only one issue to overcome when it comes to biofuels. There's also a serious lack of infrastructure that will prevent the fuel alternative from becoming mainstream, according to a new report by Lux Research.

"The problem is that there aren't nearly enough filling stations and cars--nor will there be for decades--that are capable of using the fuel. Without changes downstream in the current distribution infrastructure and end-use, ethanol's growth will soon cease--even if it's given away for free," said Mark Bünger, a research director at Lux … Read more

Rather than stay in the ground, trash from the Three Rivers Landfill in Ponotoc, Miss., will be turned into ethanol.

Montreal-based Enerkem on Thursday announced plans to produce 20 million gallons a year of ethanol from waste at the Mississippi landfill in a project valued at $250 million.

The "feedstock" for the ethanol will be municipal solid waste, as well as wood residues from forest and agricultural activities, according to Enerkem.

The company's process can sort household trash, diverting material that can be recycled and processing the rest into ethanol, a liquid fuel blended with gasoline.

The … Read more

Auto suppliers may pull the rug from under the industry, Toyota finds a new place for an airbag, ethanol producers want to force more of its product into your tank, goodbye Honda S2000.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

• Ethanol producers want to feed more of its product to your car

• Toyota's back seat airbag

• The new green, diesel Land Rover

• Liv Inizio electric car looks a lot like a Tesla

• Think wants to bring their little electric car to the U.S.

Facing a glut of ethanol and few buyers, Growth Energy, an organization that represents several ethanol producers, petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to increase the amount of ethanol that can be blended into gasoline, according to an article U.S. News and World Report.

The current blending limit is 10 percent, and ethanol advocates are asking the EPA to allow blends up to 15 percent. The EPA has 270 days to respond to the request.

But automakers are pushing back, arguing that further study is needed to understand how engines will perform at a higher blend. High concentrations of ethanol … Read more