Officials of LanzaTech NZ Ltd., a closely held biofuels company based in Auckland, New Zealand and backed by billionaire Vinod Khosla, say it will convert a U.S. cellulosic ethanol plant it bought from Range Fuels Inc. to produce chemicals from biomass. LanzaTech is developing a process that uses proprietary microorganisms to convert carbon monoxide-containing gases [...]
Feds Plan To Liquidate Range Fuels Ethanol Plant
Federal officials who backed Range Fuels Inc., a Broomfield-based biofuel company, plan to liquidate its $100 million plant in Georgia, according to news reports. The Bloomberg news service reports that the Soperton, Ga. factory is to be liquidated after Range defaulted on a federal loan and failed to produce cellulosic ethanol, a fuel made from [...]
NFREC Developer Forced To Back Out Of Project
Rentech, Inc., the developer of the Northwest Florida Renewable Energy Center, has been forced to back out of the project, citing an inability to secure financing. The developer had hoped to secure a federal loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy, but this summer the DOE put the term sheet for the loan guarantee [...]
U.S. Department Of Energy Releases ‘Billion-Ton’ Study
The U.S. Department of Energy recently released a report, the 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry, detailing U.S. biomass feedstock potential nationwide. The report examines the nation’s capacity to produce a billion dry tons of biomass resources annually for energy uses without impacting other vital U.S. farm and forest [...]
Verenium Awarded DOE Funding
Verenium Corp., a pioneer in the development of next-generation cellulosic ethanol and high-performance specialty enzymes, has been awarded an additional $4.9 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to fund ongoing activities at its demonstration-scale facility in Jennings, Louisiana. This cooperative agreement is an extension of the grant previously awarded to the company in [...]
DOE Awards Largest Biofuel Grants
The US Department of Energy has selected 19 projects to receive up to $564m funding from its Biorefinery Assistance Program, which promotes development of biomass technologies. The DOE said all the projects will be matched with more than $700m in private and non-government cost-share funds. Grant recipients handling woody biomass include: American Process, Clearfuels Technology, [...]
DOE, USDA To Invest $24M In Biomass Projects
The USDA and DOE have announced plans to invest more than $24 million in award grants for research and development of bioenergy, the production of biofuels, and biobased products. The projects chosen are required to match the awards by at least 20% for research and development products and by at least 50% for demonstration projects. [...]
DOE Releases $21M for Biofuel Projects
U.S. Dept. of Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced that up to $21 million will be made available for five projects that will develop supply systems to handle and deliver high tonnage biomass feedstocks for cellulosic biofuels production. The chosen awards were selected as the best projects to stimulate the design and demonstration of a [...]