Recently in Pilot plants Category

Alabama's Gulf Coast Energy is ready to begin producing ethanol from waste wood as soon as next month. The demonstration plant will use gasification technology on wood waste and turn it into ethanol. The demonstration plant plans to eventually scale up to a commercial capacity of 45 million gallons per year. More information can be found here.

Verenium announced last week its 1.4 million gallon cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant is ready for operation in Jennings, Louisiana. The company has begun its commissioning phase "allowing the Company to evaluate its process for making ethanol at scale and validate cost and performance assumptions to prepare for the development of its first series of commercial plants." This development continues Verenium's progress towards its goal of a 30 million gallon per year commercial plant next year. The company will use specialty enzymes to convert non-food biomass, specifically agricultural waste from sugarcane, into fuel. The full press release can be found here.

The Department of Energy will invest up to $86 million over four years to support small-scale cellulosic biorefineries in Old Town, Maine; Vonore, Tennessee; and Washington County Kentucky. The biorefineries are expected to be operational within four years and produce approximately 10 percent (2.5 MMGY) of a commercial-scale biorefinery. The facilities will produce not only liquid fuels, but also bio-based chemicals and bio-based products. Last year DOE funded six commercial scale biorefineries focused on near-term commercial processes, while these small-scale pilot plants will "verify integrated operations at a reduced size with diverse feedstocks using novel processing technologies." The three plants will be operated by RES Pulp and Chemical LLC, Mascoma Corporation, and Ecofin LLC. The full announcement can be found here.

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced the first round of funding for small-scale biorefinery projects that will produce cellulosic ethanol. DOE will invest up to $114 million over four years towards four projects across the U.S. The projects will be located in Commerce City, Colorado; St. Joseph, Missouri; Boardman, Oregon; and Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. The four projects will produce 10 percent of a fully functioning commercial plant and be used to test new conversion technologies and various feedstocks. The data from these test will be used to bring full-size biorefineries online. DOE also anticipates selecting a second round of projects to fund later this spring. The full press release can be found here.

The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees and the Mascoma Corporation have partnered to build a 5 million gallon per year cellulosic ethanol biorefinery. The September 2007 press release highlights the role the plant will play in the UT Biofuels Initiative and the Bioenergy Science Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

UT Executive Vice President David Millhorn said:

The partnership is a critical element in the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative, which has the potential to establish Tennessee as a national leader in ethanol production from cellulosic biomass. This, in turn, should lead to new business and economic development opportunities for our farmers throughout the state.

The plans is expected to be operational in 2009.