Second generation biofuels "five years away"
Distilleries that can make ethanol from the cellulose contained in biomass waste, grasses or trees rather than corn should be in operation within five years, says U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman.
Bodman said his department expects to issue loan guarantees next year for the first such projects involing "second generation" biofuels. Construction will take an additional two to three years, he said Thursday. "I’ll say five years, giving myself a little flexibility on it, but potentially faster than five years," he said, answering questions at a press briefing with Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.
Ethanol is currently made almost exclusively from corn, and Iowa is the leading producer in the U.S. But ethanol cannot displace a significant amount of U.S. gasoline consumption — the country now uses 140 billion gallons a year — unless the alcohol can be made from more plentiful feedstocks, such as corn stover, wheat straw, switchgrass and other sources of plant cellulose:
ethanol :: biobutanol :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: cellulosic ::
Government and private scientists have been working for years on ways to reduce the cost of distilling ethanol and other types of alcohol from cellulose.
Despite the research, the Energy Department estimates that it still costs $2.20 a gallon to produce cellulosic ethanol, double the cost of making ethanol from corn.
Private companies closely guard their production costs, but Bodman has been told privately that some have lowered the cost of making cellulosic ethanol to $1.50 a gallon. He did not identify the companies.
“The goal is to get it down to commensurate with corn, which is $1.10,” he said.
One industry official said Bodman was probably overestimating the time it will take to get commercial-scale plants in operation.
“I think we’ll see some announcements here and they will be built in two to three years,” said Brent Erickson, vice president of the industrial and environmental section at the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
Bodman said his department expects to issue loan guarantees next year for the first such projects involing "second generation" biofuels. Construction will take an additional two to three years, he said Thursday. "I’ll say five years, giving myself a little flexibility on it, but potentially faster than five years," he said, answering questions at a press briefing with Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.
Ethanol is currently made almost exclusively from corn, and Iowa is the leading producer in the U.S. But ethanol cannot displace a significant amount of U.S. gasoline consumption — the country now uses 140 billion gallons a year — unless the alcohol can be made from more plentiful feedstocks, such as corn stover, wheat straw, switchgrass and other sources of plant cellulose:
ethanol :: biobutanol :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: cellulosic ::
Government and private scientists have been working for years on ways to reduce the cost of distilling ethanol and other types of alcohol from cellulose.
Despite the research, the Energy Department estimates that it still costs $2.20 a gallon to produce cellulosic ethanol, double the cost of making ethanol from corn.
Private companies closely guard their production costs, but Bodman has been told privately that some have lowered the cost of making cellulosic ethanol to $1.50 a gallon. He did not identify the companies.
“The goal is to get it down to commensurate with corn, which is $1.10,” he said.
One industry official said Bodman was probably overestimating the time it will take to get commercial-scale plants in operation.
“I think we’ll see some announcements here and they will be built in two to three years,” said Brent Erickson, vice president of the industrial and environmental section at the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
1 Comments:
It will only take five years if the DOE fails to act faster to secure funding for the deployment of viable plans already proven in pilot plants. (See http://bioconversion.blogspot.com/2006/05/bri-energy-converting-blended.html).
It will only cost $1.50+ per gallon if they use pre-processing technologies involving expensive enzyme hydrolysis. Syngas fermentation is much more efficient, less expensive, and more globally deployable given its feedstock flexibility.
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