Ethanol cellulosic

BP has investments in an ethanol plant with DuPont and Associated British Foods. It is also investing in cellulosic ethanol research and developing jatropha as a biodiesel feedstock. BP and DuPont are planning a biobutanol demonstration plant and BP would like to eventually convert their ethanol plant to biobutanol production. BP has a 400 million investment with Associated British Foods and DuPont to build a bioethanol plant in the U.K. that may be converted to biobutanol. It has spent 500 million over 10 years at the Energy Biosciences Institute in California to research future biofuels and 9.4 million over 10 years to fund the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India to study the production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas. It also has a 160 million joint venture with D1 Oils to develop the planting of Jatropha curcas. 

Royal Dutch Shell has invested in cellulosic ethanol company Iogan and Germany s Choren Industries, which is building a demonstration bio-mass-to-liquids plant using wood feedstock. Royal Dutch Shell has also partnered with Codexis in exploring biomass energy production. 

The commercial production of cellulosic ethanol is moving closer with advances in technology along with federal and private funding for new plants and research centers. These are accelerating the time to volume production which could push the cost of ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks to well under 1.00 a gallon below the cost of corn ethanol. 

The Department of Energy (DOE) is helping six firms build cellulosic biorefineries with grants totaling about 385 million. When fully operational, the six plants will produce more than 130 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year. DOE is also investing 375 million into three new Bioenergy Research Centers to speed up the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels. 

In 2007 Verenium began work on a demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Jennings, LA. The plant is expected to have an output of 1.4 million gallons a year, using sugar cane bagasse and a special breed of energy cane as feedstocks. 

Hydrogen has the potential to play a major role in energy independence but policies are needed that mobilize our present technologies. This means raising fuel economy standards, increasing hybrid vehicle use and developing options such as cellulose ethanol. 

Iogen (2005). Cellulose Ethanol Demonstration Facility, www.iogen.ca/company/ facilities/index.html. 

Cellulose ethanol is blended with gasoline to power vehicles... 

Biorefineries convert the plant fibre into cellulose ethanol, electricity and CO2... 

In the U.S., the Department of Energy has selected six proposed new cellulosic ethanol refineries to receive a total of 385 million in federal funding. When completed, these six refineries are expected to produce 130 million gallons of ethanol yearly. Iogen s technology will be used in one of the refineries, to be located in Shelley, Idaho. Partners in the refinery will include Goldman Sachs and The Royal Dutch/Shell Group. 

Cellulose ethanol has the potential to displace a significant amount of petroleum in the United States, reducing the nation s dependence on foreign imports (1). The biologic processes favored for producing ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass require a pretreatment step before high yields can be realized, and the accessibility of cellulose to cellulase enzymes has... 

In contrast to the 1.3 1 energy balance of com ethanol, sugarcane-based ethanol has an energy balance of 8 1. Cellulosic ethanol made from prairie and switch-grass has an energy balance of 6 1, and even gasoline has an energy balance ratio of 5 1. Therefore, the overall environmental impact of com ethanol can be worse... 

Broins Companies, The Future is Now for Cellulosic Ethanol, USDA-ERS Biofuels Modeling Workshop, Washington DC (2007). http //www.farmfoundation.org/projects/documents/ BroinCoCellulosic.pdf... 

If hybrids and diesels are the toughest competition for transportation fuel cells, then cellulosic ethanol is probably the tough-... 

Hence, ethanol, like hydrogen, is no near-term panacea. In the long term, however, biomass-to-energy production could be exceedingly efficient with bio-refineries that produce multiple products. Lee Lynd, professor of engineering at Dartmouth College, described one such future bio-refinery where cellulosic ethanol undergoes a chemical pretreatment and then fermentation... 

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