DoE Announces $560 Million Investment in Second-Generation Biofuels

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has announced the 19 recipients of more than $560 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to continue the advancement of second-generation biofuels production in the United States.

Click on image at right for a listing of the 19 plants receiving the DoE funding.

By 2022, federal legislation mandates the annual production of 16 billion gallons of ethanol from cellulose, in addition to the 15 billion gallons of ethanol produced from the current primary source in the U.S., corn. To reach this goal, a tremendous amount of the feedstocks used will come from non-food feedstocks such as switchgrass and municipal solid waste.

Second-generation biofuel is manufactured from the residual non-food parts of crops such as the stems, leaves and husks that remain after the food portion of the crop has been extracted, as well as other crops that are not used for food purposes (non-food crops), such as switchgrass, jatropha and cereals that bear little grain. Industry wastes such as wood chips, skins and pulp from fruit pressing can also be used.

The largest award of more than $81 million was received by BlueFire Ethanol Incorporated (Irvine, California) for a proposed 18 million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant that will use biomass feedstocks. The plant will be located in Fulton, Mississippi, and is expected to begin construction by October 2010.

BioEnergy International LLC (Crowley, Louisiana) received the second-largest award, consisting of $50 million for the demonstration-scale category. The company is developing a milo-based ethanol plant in Lake Providence, Louisiana, that is expected to produce 43 million gallons of ethanol per year. Construction of the plant is expected to begin by mid-2010.

ZeaChem Incorporated (Lakewood, Colorado) received $25 million for a pilot-scale plant that will be located in Boardman, Oregon. The project will utilize hard and soft wood, switchgrass and corn stover feedstocks.

ZeaChem expects to break ground on the pilot plant in October of next year and construct a commercial-scale 50 million-gallon-per-year plant by early 2012. For additional information, see November 23, 2009, article - ZeaChem Begins Construction of Cellulosic Ethanol Facility in Colorado.

Industrial Info's Ethanol Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging alternative fuels market. This database covers 177 ethanol plants in operation and 530 plants under development. It also covers 145 operational biodiesel plants and 245 biodiesel plants under development.

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