Roughly 300 million gallons of planned commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants are in various stages of planning and development across the country, according to Nathan Schock, a spokesperson with Sioux Falls-based POET.
Several companies, including Coskata Inc., DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, Iogen Corporation, Lignol, POET and PureVision Technology, announced in June at the International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo in Denver that they have already produced cellulosic ethanol from demonstration plants or will do so within the year. Most are processing about 1 ton of material into ethanol daily. From that ton of biomass, they are producing between 70 gallons and 85 gallons of biofuels. Commercial production is expected to follow by 2010 or 2011.
Few research efforts to commercialise large-scale cellulosic production is highlighted below .
A study released earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratory found that large volumes of cellulosic biofuels could be produced from already identified biomass sources and resources without displacing crop production. The study, which was sponsored by General Motors, indicated that even without incentives cellulosic biofuels could potentially compete with gasoline with oil prices of between $70 and $90 per barrel by 2030, given the expected accelerated development of technology and feedstocks.
The report also found that the needed investment in cellulosic biorefineries would be comparable to that needed to expand domestic oil exploration and production to similar levels. It noted that building the needed transportation and distribution infrastructure presented a challenge, but was still possible.
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