Late last week, the U.S. Department of Energy picked three cellulosic ethanol projects as recipients of up to $86m in federal funding for fiscal years 2008-2011. These "small-scale biorefinery projects" are located in Maine, Tennessee and Kentucky and are intended to bring "cost-competitive" second-generation ethanol to market by 2012 (the plants will also make other bio-based chemicals and products). DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman said the projects would help President Bush reach his goal of stopping greenhouse gas emissions growth by 2025. The three winners are:
- RSE Pulp & Chemical of Old Town, Maine. (DOE share: up to $30 million.) This plant will use a wood extract made at an existing pulp mill.
- Mascoma Corporation of Boston, Massachusetts Proposed Plant in Vonore, Tennessee. (DOE share: up to $26 million.) The source here will be switchgrass and will be the largest cellulosic ethanol plant in Tennessee.
- Ecofin, LLC, of Nicholasville, Kentucky. (DOE share: up to $30 million.) Ecofin will use a variety of feedstocks, including corncobs, in this plant.
[Source: DOE]
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1. I live about 20 miles from the plant in Maine. The local economy desperately needs this sort of thing. Current diesel prices are killing the existing (and otherwise very sustainable, thank you) forestry industry here. Getting the paper and lumber mills switched over to producing fuel, or even just giving them a second revenue stream, would be a very good thing for this state.
Now if we could also convince them to start processing their black liquor from the pulping process into biodiesel like the Scandanavians do...
Posted at 9:38PM on Apr 23rd 2008 by rob