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specialgreen
Site Admin
Joined: 10 Jul 2004
Posts: 259
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
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 Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:45 pm Post subject: Vinod Khosla may help Georgia get a biomass refinery |
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Range Fuels, funded by Vinod's "Khosla Ventures", says it will build a $225M plant to produce ethanol from wood chips in Soperton, Georgia, as reported in the Miami Herald on Wednesday (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16643507.htm).
Unless I'm mistaken, there aren't any commercial refireries making ethanol from cellulose. The article mentions this:
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Critics say Range Fuels' refining process, which eliminates the costly use of enzymes to turn wood to fuel, is unproven and possibly several years away from being workable.
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Mitch Mandich, the CEO of Range Fuel, claims that
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the company has spent seven years researching the use of different materials - from olive pits to hog manure - for ethanol and is ready for commercial production.
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Did something change? Is cellulose ethanol ready for commercialition? Or is Mitch just spouting the company line? |
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hotrod
Joined: 19 Apr 2005
Posts: 872
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:59 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Did something change? Is cellulose ethanol ready for commercialition? Or is Mitch just spouting the company line? |
Probably a little of both, there are several startup cellulose operations currently in the planning or early production phase. There are some pilot operations that have been running for over a year, so several companies/research groups are working on the problem.
They all have workable systems the only issue is getting costs down to commercially viable levels. With the current interest in ethanol I doubt that will take long.
Their home office is just a couple miles from my house.
Maybe I'll drop in and see what info I can get.
http://www.rangefuels.com/
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070207/sfw041.html?.v=86
They are actually using very old and well proven technology for this process, as synthesis gas has been in use for a long time. Best guess is that they have improved the effeciency of the conversion of the synthisis gas to ethanol through improved catalysts or some similar change in process.
Larry |
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stylin99
Joined: 08 Sep 2006
Posts: 85
Location: Charlotte, NC
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| Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, there are several bioenergy companies working on mass producing cellulosic. But there was one called Iogen I was reading about that had migrated from a pilot plant, to a larger demonstration plant, a halfway house between small and huge mass production. With the knowledge they learned, they were working on a full scale production plant.
Here's the excerpt from Iogen's website:
Iogen operates the world's first and only pre-commercial demonstration facility where clean-burning cellulose ethanol fuel is made from agricultural residues. The demonstration plant, located at 300 Hunt Club Rd. East in Ottawa, is designed to prove the feasibility of Iogen's cellulose ethanol process by validating equipment performance and identifying and overcoming production problems prior to the construction of larger plants. The plant can handle all functions involved in the production of cellulose ethanol, including: receipt and pretreatment of up to 40 tonnes per day of feedstock; conversion of cellulose fibre into glucose; fermentation; and distillation. Wheat, oat and barley straw are used as raw materials. The plant is designed to produce up to 3 million litres of cellulose ethanol per year.
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Fredster
Joined: 20 Nov 2006
Posts: 111
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| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:17 pm Post subject: |
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| stylin99 wrote: | Yes, there are several bioenergy companies working on mass producing cellulosic. But there was one called Iogen I was reading about that had migrated from a pilot plant, to a larger demonstration plant, a halfway house between small and huge mass production. With the knowledge they learned, they were working on a full scale production plant.
Here's the excerpt from Iogen's website:
Iogen operates the world's first and only pre-commercial demonstration facility where clean-burning cellulose ethanol fuel is made from agricultural residues. The demonstration plant, located at 300 Hunt Club Rd. East in Ottawa, is designed to prove the feasibility of Iogen's cellulose ethanol process by validating equipment performance and identifying and overcoming production problems prior to the construction of larger plants. The plant can handle all functions involved in the production of cellulose ethanol, including: receipt and pretreatment of up to 40 tonnes per day of feedstock; conversion of cellulose fibre into glucose; fermentation; and distillation. Wheat, oat and barley straw are used as raw materials. The plant is designed to produce up to 3 million litres of cellulose ethanol per year. |
this is good news !
_________________
I guess Hubert Reeves thinks this is an important matter
Cost of Can. Gov. studies on global warming ? xx M$
Cost of industrial scientific studies for alternative energy sources ? x M$
Cost of a 100$ batch of distilled ethanol ?
Priceless |
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BURNALCOHOL
Joined: 19 Oct 2005
Posts: 50
Location: Raymond,NE
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stylin99
Joined: 08 Sep 2006
Posts: 85
Location: Charlotte, NC
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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Also found this article from March 1st about Bush's federal grants that are slated for several companies. Front Range is one on the list, so this will help with their funding as well as the other ventures.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17398968/
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www.e85mustangs.com
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hsd0006
Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 9
Location: Western Illinois
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:40 pm Post subject: Good |
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If we expect to eliminate/supplement our gas usage, cellulose is the way to go. I think this process should be commercialized over enzymatic usage, seems cheaper. Oh by the way, Hi everyone im new  |
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mtbottle
Joined: 14 Jan 2006
Posts: 46
Location: West Virgnia
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| Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 4:04 am Post subject: Cellulosic ethanol |
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There is plenty going on right now with Cellulosic ethanol. A pilot plant is already underway in Jennings, LA. It is converting sugarcane bagasse (spent stalks) to ethanol. They have already started construction on a larger plant across the street. That will open later on this year.
Poet ethanol will soon break ground on a plant in Iowa that will convert corn cobs and corn stover to ethanol.
Yes, there will soon be a plant in Georgia that will use wood chips and wastes. Also another company is looking to build a similar plant in Michigan.
Iogen is wanting to build a straw to ethanol plant in Utah.
Bluefire Ethanol is going to build a plant at a local dump site in California and convert wastes to ethanol.
Another company is quitely building a plant in California that will use rice straw.
Yes, there is plenty going on in the world of Cellulosic ethanol. In 3-5 years these plants will be springing up everywhere.
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Fredster
Joined: 20 Nov 2006
Posts: 111
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| Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 1:41 pm Post subject: Re: Cellulosic ethanol |
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| mtbottle wrote: | There is plenty going on right now with Cellulosic ethanol. A pilot plant is already underway in Jennings, LA. It is converting sugarcane bagasse (spent stalks) to ethanol. They have already started construction on a larger plant across the street. That will open later on this year.
Poet ethanol will soon break ground on a plant in Iowa that will convert corn cobs and corn stover to ethanol.
Yes, there will soon be a plant in Georgia that will use wood chips and wastes. Also another company is looking to build a similar plant in Michigan.
Iogen is wanting to build a straw to ethanol plant in Utah.
Bluefire Ethanol is going to build a plant at a local dump site in California and convert wastes to ethanol.
Another company is quitely building a plant in California that will use rice straw.
Yes, there is plenty going on in the world of Cellulosic ethanol. In 3-5 years these plants will be springing up everywhere. |
yes next step is to transform organic waste in alternative fuels ...
it is my understanding that the province of Québec is actually hard at work designing a plant for wood chips and organic waste alternative fuel plant ... which could be directly mixed (i guess) in pump fuel
a similar step would be implemented on aeronautical fuels to reduce harm done to ozone ... the effect of which will yield a significant positive impact to the environment cause
People say that the fuels produced from woodchips would actually contribute to environmental hasard because of over chopping trees in canadian territories. This is true. Too many trees are cut for the regrowth plans ... something you can only observe aboard a fossil fueled aircraft ... still better use as much as the resource as possibles ... just like the natives used every part of an animal for their survival we must increase our efficiency at producing energy.
It's not a matter of looking at the negative effects of every alternative energy plans ... it's a matter of making them all happen
plus you can't force the humans to do something they don't want to do
especially in america
don't expect people to use the public transport system like in europe when the system was for obvious reasons developed for private transport systems
Society must understand that the fossil fueled internal combustion engine powering the cars of today is the result of a century of improvements and trial and errors.
Alternative solutions will not be as ''tuned'' at their beginnings |
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