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| America’s first cellulosic ethanol plant on the way |
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By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent SOPERTON, Ga. — Analysts predict it will take a few years of fine-tuning the technology before cellulosic ethanol will become a significant source of energy and commercially viable. But already next year, the country will likely have its first commercial-scale biomass-to-ethanol plant.
The state of Georgia recently granted Colorado-based Range Fuels, Inc., the necessary construction permit to build a cellulosic-ethanol plant in Treutlen County, Ga., an area known for its abundance of pine trees.
“We’re in favor of it,” said Joe McManus, marketing specialist at the Georgia Farm Bureau.
“Our state is rich in pine trees – we probably have more pine trees than anywhere in the country – so we have lots of cellulose. (The plant) will benefit all landowners.”
Range Fuels expects to break ground on the plant this summer and complete the first phase of the project next year. Initially, the plant will have a production capacity of 20 million gallons of ethanol per year, but this will eventually increase to 100 million gallons per year.
“We are thrilled to receive this permit and anticipate the construction of many plants throughout Georgia and the Southeast using wood waste to make ethanol,” said Mitch Mandich, CEO of Range Fuels, and added, “We are excited to begin the march toward independence from our country’s reliance on fossil fuel.”
Rather than using enzymes to break down the biomass, Range Fuels will use a thermo-chemical process to convert the feedstock to synthetic gas, which in turn will be converted to ethanol.
According to the company, the method “produces virtually no waste products, emits very low levels of greenhouse gases, and produces high yields of clean ethanol.”
In addition to wood products, Range Fuel’s technology has been successfully tested on nearly 30 types of biomass, including agricultural wastes, grasses, hog manure, municipal garbage, sawdust and paper pulp. But the company mainly chose to locate its first cellulosic-ethanol plant in Georgia because it estimates the state’s forest industry can support up to 2 billion gallons a year of cellulosic ethanol production.
Tree growers and row-crop farmers who grow pine trees on marginal land in and around Treutlen County will be the first to benefit from the new plant, since the feedstock will have to come from local sources.
“It’s a low-value product, so you can’t haul it very far,” said McManus.
“The technology has to develop further before it can become widespread. But once it does, it’ll help farmers from several aspects, since they’ll be able to use farm waste like cotton stalks and cornstalks. They could put a plant in every 100 miles and bring the materials in locally.”
Range Fuels announced plans to build the cellulosic-ethanol plant in February and is still negotiating for a grant of up to $76 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.
This farm news was published in the July 11, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 7/11/2007 |
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