Biofuels Journal - January/February 2009 - (Page 93)

Sugar Waste Ethanol Plant Coskata, U.S. Sugar Plan 100 MMGY Plant in Florida U.S. Sugar in November announced plans to explore its first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant—a 100-milliongallon-per-year (MMGY) plant in southern Florida utilizing Coskata’s technology and U.S. Sugar’s sugarcane leaves and bagasse as feedstock. “The current procedure is to burn off the cane leaves and cane trash prior to harvesting the sugarcane,” said Wes Bolsen, Coskata chief marketing officer and vice president, business development, Warrenville, IL (630-657-5800). He said U.S. Sugar will be able to accumulate 1 million metric tons of feedstock each year, which will yield more than 100 MMGY of cellulosic ethanol at the proposed plant to be built adjacent to U.S. Sugar’s existing sugar refinery in Clewiston, FL. “We will be converting all the cellulose and lignin directly into ethanol,” Bolsen said. Coskata’s proprietary process, said Bolsen, combines the flexibility of gasification with the efficiency of biological catalytic conversion of syngas to produce fuelgrade ethanol. “We can utilize any biomass feedstock with our process,” Bolsen said. Negotiations in Progress As of early January, Coskata and U.S. Sugar were finalizing negotiations on the new plant. At the same time, U.S. Sugar is waiting on the State of Florida to fi- nalize the $1.3 billion purchase of 181,000 acres of U.S. Sugar land that will be incorporated into the state’s new Florida Everglades Project. “The state is buying up the land to restore the everglades,” Bolsen said. “This is a win for agriculture and the environment.” “We (Coskata and U.S. Sugar) are going to explore the engineering design together,” Bolsen said. “We can cut out a lot of costs by having it colocated with the sugar plant, with a rail line and power lines already coming in.” Coskata also announced in early December that its Series C equity financing was completed with the Blackstone Group of New York as the lead investor. Myke Feinman, editor Commercial Project Mascoma Plans 40-MMGY Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Mascoma announced plans in late October for a 40-million-gallon-per-year (MMGY) cellulosic ethanol plant in Kinross, MI. The feedstock for the plant will be harvested hardwood and wood waste from the region, according to Mascoma Chief Executive Officer Bruce Jamerson, Boston, MA (617-234-0099). According to Jamerson, Michigan’s Economic Development Council came to Mascoma in 2007, reporting that the company’s cellulosic process fits Michigan’s profile for economic development. In 2008, the project received a grant of $23.5 million from the State of Michigan plus another $26 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. Mascoma also raised $61 million toward the project. Mascoma’s Process “We plan to utilize our proprietary process, known as Consolidated Bioprocessing, to produce fuel in a singlestep, cellulose-to-ethanol method,” Jamerson explained. “Essentially, what we’re doing is we take the wood fiber, run it though a pretreatment process, and turn it into something similar to peat moss. Then in the hydrolysis step, we introduce enzymes, and in the fermentation step we break down the cellulose into ethanol. The lignin is dried to use as fuel for power generation.” The technology can accept other feedstocks such as switchgrass or sugarcane bagasse. The plant in Michigan will be sited and engineered in 2009, and construction will start in 2010. Jamerson estimates the plant startup will be in late 2011 or early 2012. JAN/FEB 09 | BFJ 93

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Biofuels Journal - January/February 2009

Biofuels Journal - January/February 2009 Contents Safety Training Expanding Safety Pays Top 2008 OSHA Citations Ethanol Terminal Safety Preventing Falls Fighting Ethanol Fires Biodiesel Safety Bridgeport Ethanol John Kruse, Global Insight Barley Ethanol New DDGS Market—Fish Mary Beth Stanek, General Motors RINs As Commodity POET BioRefining Ethanol Pipeline—Florida DDGS Causing E. coli Community College Biofuels Ethanol Plants in the Pipeline State Report: Ohio Ethanol World Profile: Adam Dunlap, BlueFire Ethanol When to Harvest Switchgrass, Miscanthus Indirect Land Use Change Profile: Greg Olson, POET-Corning Growth Energy Monthly Ethanol Production Case Study: Fuelzyme Ethanol Industry News Greg Poe, Ethanol Pilot Sponsored by Fagen Inc. Blackhawk Biodiesel Biodiesel Roundup Biodiesel World Peanut Biodiesel Pennycress Biodiesel Radish Biodiesel Profile: Joe Korpi, Renewable Energy Group Biodiesel Convention NBB Eye on Biodiesel Awards Calendar of Events Cellulosic Ethanol Plants Under Construction Cellulosic Ethanol Plants Construction Map Breaking Cellulosic Ground Show Me’s Collecting Biomass Inland Empire Oilseeds POET’s Project Liberty Update Vermeer’s Cob Harvester Iowa State Cob Harvest Research Europe’s Energy Parks Imported Deere Cob Harvest Kit/Case IH Coskata Sugar/Mascoma Update Range Fuels Update Tom Warne, Schutte-Buffalo Hammermill University of Illinois Biofuels Master’s Roger Ladig, Laidig Systems, Inc. Miscanthus vs. Switchgrass Biofuels Automation Scott Martin, LeMar Industries Biodiesel Financing EISENMANN Corp. GATX / Beta Tec ProSonics / S.K. Patil DOE Grant Action Unloaders Ad Index

Biofuels Journal - January/February 2009

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