Mascoma Corporation is a U.S. biofuel company that produces cellulosic made from wood and switchgrass. It announced last week that it has the needed manpower and finance to start an oil refinery to convert wood to ethanol. Oil refiner Valero Energy will invest up to $50 million in equity needed for the project, which will start later this year.
The plant expects to use locally harvested pulpwood, which is used extensively for making paper, and turn it into ethanol at a rate of 40 million gallons/yr. Ethanol is about to be used in its refining. Up to 10 percent of the fuel from gas pumps includes ethanol, now made from corn.
This plant is a promising comeback to the cellulosic ethanol industry. All the other cellulosic ethanol companies had promised to be operating their commercial plants by now, but they are still working on their technical and financial issues. Mascoma has been running a pilot plant in Rome, and has been waiting to secure funds for the bio refinery. They have a technology that uses genetically modified micro-organisms to convert the cellulose present in plants by breaking them down. This method is very much streamlined to reduce the cost of production significantly.
The fact that ethanol is made from agriculture and forestry residue, and doesn’t compete with corn in the food Vs fuel debate makes it considerably more environmentally sound, though corn is easier and less expensive to process into ethanol in comparison to cellulosic ethanol. However, cellulosic ethanol contributes little to the greenhouse effect and has a five times better net energy balance than corn-based ethanol. When used as a fuel, cellulosic ethanol releases less sulfur, carbon monoxide, particulates, and greenhouse gases. Cellulosic ethanol should earn producers carbon reduction credits, higher than those given to producers who grow corn for ethanol, which is about 3 to 20 cents per gallon
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20028413-54.html
