New North, Inc. has recently released Phase 2 of a study on the feasibility of cellulosic ethanol plant in Niagara, an area in Northeast Wisconsin. Phase 2 demonstrates the availability of feedstocks to the plant, primarily wood resources, should the plant be able to produce ethanol using a diversity of feedstocks. The news is positive as many local community members …
Cellulosic Biorefinery Begins Construction
The front-end fermentation unit scales up production of the naturally occurring bacteria, called an acetogen, which ZeaChem uses in its fermentation process. Acetogens are highly robust and, unlike yeast, produce no carbon dioxide (CO2) during the fermentation process, allowing ZeaChem to realize a significant efficiency and yield advantage. ZeaChem has successfully produced acetogens at the lab scale for over 1,000 …
POET CEO Bullish on Cellulosic Ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol pioneers like Jeff Broin of POET are confident about the future of next generation fuels, even if the country fails to reach the Renewable Fuel Standard mandate of 100 million gallons of production next year. “To be honest with you, that number was picked out of thin air, so the chance that we do or don’t make it …
Cellulosic Biofuels Summit Underway
The 4th Annual Cellulosic Feedstock Summit is being held this week in Washington, DC once again. All the craziness in the nation’s capitol a year ago around election day made them move the summit to Florida last year, but they’re back in the traditional location for the meeting this year. The focus of the meeting this year is a series …
DOE Official: Algae and Biomass Future of Biofuels
Oil from algae and the biomass from the green microbes could be the future for advanced biofuels… that word from a top U.S. Department of Energy official. Biomass Magazine reports that Valerie Reed of the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy said at the Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy held this week in Honolulu, …
Ceres Awarded $5 Million Grant to Develop Energy Grasses
Ceres has been awarded $5 million dollars by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to continue its advanced trait development project designed to increase the biomass yields of several energy grasses, such as switchgrass, sorghum and miscanthus, by as much as 40 percent. At the same time, the use of inputs such as nitrogen fertilizers would be decreased. The grant …
Biomass Baler From AGCO
AGCO is one of the companies working on a prototype biomass harvest/transport system. At POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day they demonstrated a pulled behind baler system to harvest corn cobs and stover. Dean Morrell, Product Marketing Manager for Hay and Forage Harvesting, was on site and talked with me about their system. He says it’s a one pass system which …
Verenium Optimistic Despite Decline in Revenue
Verenium Corporation reports lower revenues so far this year, but lots of accomplishments. According to the cellulosic ethanol company, total revenues for the nine months ended September 30 were $49.3 million compared to $49.9 million last year, with product revenues representing more than 55 percent of total revenues in all periods. Product revenues for the this year are $32.1 million, …
Cellulosic Biofuels Summit Fast Approaching
The 4th Annual Cellulosic Biofuels Summit will be held in Washington D.C. on November 16-19th. Attendees will represent the feedstock, industrial biotech, biofuel technology, plant developer, finance, and oil and transportation sectors. The main goal of the conference is to share information on the perspectives and progress in reaching commercial production of cellulosic biofuels. There will be three forums: *Forum …