LanzaTech is developing a process that uses proprietary microorganisms to convert carbon monoxide-containing gases from steel mills, oil refineries and chemical plants into ethanol and biochemicals. It is also working with the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) on making jet fuel.

Located in Soperton, Ga., the Range plant was sold January 3 for $5.1 million, a fraction of the financial support it received. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture required a foreclosure sale following Range’s default in 2011 on an $80 million loan guarantee the agency offered. The plant was also supported by more than $160 million in venture funding and part of a separate $76 million grant the DOE awarded.

Range Fuels, who broke ground on the Georgia plant in November 2007, had received a $76 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as an $80 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in early 2009. The company received only portions of the funds, Bloomberg reported. Both federal commitments were made through an initiative under the administration of former President George W. Bush to find alternatives to corn as a raw material to make ethanol fuels.

Range Fuels had hoped to produce 100 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol from wood chips each year at the biorefinery, but the plant closed in January of this year due to technical problems. About 30 workers were laid off in the shutdown, the Macon Telegraph reports.

Rentech, a Colorado-based renewable energy company, had also sought financing in the private sector, but the current economic environment presented too many hurdles for the project, a 55-megawatt energy plant to be built in Port St. Joe. According to numbers provided by Rentech, the project would have produced up to 200 construction jobs during the 18-month build and 30 to 35 permanent jobs at the plant, and another 75 to 100 jobs in the fuel chain.

The plant, as proposed, would produce steam to drive generators to produce electricity using woody biomass, or forest residue, as the fuel source. Progress Energy had an agreement in place to purchase electricity from the plant.

Rentech officials hope to revive the project in the future, should the economic outlook change. The company will continue to explore the possibility of bringing in a partner or a buyer for the project.

The study provides industry policymakers and the agricultural community with county-level data and includes analyses of current U.S. feedstock capacity and the potential for growth in crops and agricultural products for clean energy applications. The biomass resources identified in the report could be used to produce clean, renewable biofuels, biopower or bioproducts. For example, with continued developments in biorefinery capacity and technology, the feedstock resources identified could produce about 85 billion gallons of biofuels, enough to replace approximately 30% of the nation’s current petroleum consumption.

The report’s findings demonstrate that increases in biomass-derived energy sources can be produced in a sustainable manner through the use of widely accepted conservation practices. For example, removing tree portions that are unfit for market in the forest industry can reduce forest fire risk, and planting energy crops on marginal lands can reduce soil erosion. The baseline scenario in the newly released report shows that biomass resources could be increased from a current 473 million dry tons annually to nearly 1.1 billion dry tons by 2030, under a conservative set of assumptions about future increases in crop yield.

“Developing the next generation of American biofuels and bioenergy will help diversify our energy portfolio, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and produce new clean energy jobs,” commented U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “This study identifies resources here at home that can help grow America’s bioenergy industry and support new economic opportunities for rural America.”

For more information visit: www.bioenergykdf.net

This cooperative agreement is an extension of the grant previously awarded to the company in July of 2008 under a DOE program supporting the development of demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol biorefinery plants.

The company plans to use the additional funds to support on-going cellulosic technology and process optimization at its Jennings, La. demonstration facility.

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, Gas Technology Institut,; Haldor Topsoe, Renewable Energy Institute International, UOP LLC, Enerkem, Bluefire, and others.

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.

The awards granted include: GE Global Research (Irvine, CA), for up to $1,597,544 and Gevo, Inc. (Englewood, CO), for up to $1,780,862.

• Agco Corp., Duluth, Ga. (up to $5 million), will seek to demonstrate the viability of the densified, large square bale (LSB) as a least-cost, near-term means for supplying high tonnage biomass feedstocks to cellulosic biofuel processors.
• Auburn University, Auburn, Ala. (up to $4.9 million), will work with leading producers of forest biomass for energy in Alabama to design and demonstrate a high productivity system to harvest, process, and transport woody biomass from southern pine plantations.  Specific project objectives are to develop design improvements in tree-length harvesting machines for energy plantations, configure and assemble a high-productivity, lowest-cost harvesting and transportation system for biomass, and demonstrate at full industrial scale and document performance of the harvesting, storage, pre-processing, and transportation system.
• FDC Enterprises Inc., Columbus, Oh. (up to $4.9 million), plans to complete design, fabrication, and demonstration of three types of innovative new harvest and biomass handling machines, including a single-pass mowing and baling operation, a Bale Picking Truck, and a Self Loading Trailer, for Abengoa Bioenergy’s cellulosic biorefinery, which is currently under development in Hugoton, Kan.
• Genera Energy, LLC, Knoxville, Tenn. (up to $4.9 million), will supply low-moisture switchgrass with an efficient bulk-format system that maximizes automated conveyance and handling.
• The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY (up to $1.3 million), plans to build on existing collaborative efforts among the project partners to develop, test, and deploy a single-pass cut-and-chip harvester combined with a handling, transportation, and storage system that is effective and efficient in a range of different short-rotation wood crops (SRWC) production systems throughout North America.

To learn more about feedstocks efforts at the DOE and related funding opportunities, visit the Biomass Program’s web site.