A research project to improve efficiency in the biorefining process for butanol production from forest and agricultural biomass has been launched by Maobing Tu, an assistant professor in the Auburn University School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. Tu said his study, titled “Carbonyl Inhibition of Butanol Production from Biomass Hydrolysates by Clostridium acetobutylicum,” will be [...]
Can the U.S. Still Meet Its 2022 Biofuels Targets?
In Washington, the U.S. Energy Information Administration released a map and commentary on its website this week — indicating the spread of commercial-scale cellulosic biofuels, while cautioning that “EIA’s forecasts and projections to date have proven to be too optimistic, as volumes have been below expectations.” EIA went on to state: “Looking forward, important challenges [...]
Ace, Sweetwater Plan To Produce Cellulosic Ethanol From Woody Biomass
Ace Ethanol will team up with Sweetwater Energy Inc. to produce next-generation ethanol at its plant in Stanley. The Stanley plant opened in 2002 as Wisconsin’s first large-scale corn ethanol production facility. It has 48 employees and can produce about 50 million gallons of ethanol per year. Ace and Rochester, N.Y.-based Sweetwater will team up [...]
Auburn Research Boosts Ethanol
Auburn University researchers have patented a new process for producing ethanol from paper mill waste materials through biological conversion. With research funded by the Masada Resource Group, the new conversion process can produce an estimated 2.5 million gallons of ethanol a year from one paper mill. The process takes waste sludge and converts it to [...]
Ethanol Production Hits Record Pace In January
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. ethanol production began 2010 on a record pace that’s 23% higher than in 2009. According to information from the EIA, January 2010 ethanol production averaged more than 818,000 barrels per day (b/d). That’s an increase of 188,000 b/d over January 2009. Ethanol demand, as calculated by the [...]
EPA Releasing E15 Decision Late Summer
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will decide by late summer whether to allow higher levels of ethanol to be blended into standard transportation gasoline, the head of the agency recently reported. The EPA is considering an industry request for a waiver from federal rules to allow gasoline to contain up to 15% ethanol. EPA administrator [...]
BlueFire to Build Plant in Mississippi
BlueFire Ethanol Fuel, Inc. (Irvine, Calif.) has received permission from the U.S. Department of Energy to use a $40 million grant to build a plant in Fulton, Miss. The new plant will be on the Tennessee-Tombigbe Waterway and make ethanol from wood chips. The plant might break ground as early as June or July, and [...]
Ag. Sec. Vilsack Supports 15% Ethanol
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the amount of ethanol allowed in gasoline as the deadline for a decision nears. Science indicates that a higher “blend wall” is safe for automobile engines, Vilsack said recently in an interview at a conference on global hunger in Des [...]