Coskata, the startup with plans to produce $1 a gallon cellulosic ethanol, has announced the location of its 40,000 gallon a year pilot plant: Madison, Penn., just northeast of Pittsburgh. The $25 million project will be built with newly revealed technology partner Westinghouse Plasma. Coskata says the plant will start delivering ethanol by early 2009 for GM, one of its backers, to use in flex-fuel vehicle tests at the automaker’s site in Milford, Mich.
Coskata’s newest partner, Westinghouse Plasma, a subsidiary of gasification specialist Alter NRG, will provide gasification technology for the pilot plant. Gasification is key to Coskata’s ability to use a variety of feedstocks. Under high heat and pressure the gasifier breaks the chemical bonds of the feedstock, reducing it to syngas – carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide molecules. The pilot plant will use woody biomass as well as agricultural and industrial wastes as feedstocks, Coskata says.
In parallel development is Coskta’s first full-scale facility, a 50-100 million gallon a year plant that Coskata plans to break ground for this year with production starting in 2011. The Warrenville, Ill.-based startup has moved quickly in its first 20 months. The cellulosic ethanol race will likely provide a large prize for the first to make it to market, while forcing consolidation on those startups whose technology doesn’t pay off. Coskata has been talking a big game and now it looks like their production is falling into place to back it up.
If all proceeds well, the naysayers and know-nothings who have translated their whines on behalf of Big Oil to a pretense of economic concern over food shortages – will have to come up with a new excuse to oppose the process of growing renewable fuels.
If they can do it cheaply (without subsidies) this would be a great thing.
Sounds great to me.
I also want solar panels on my garage that will charge my electric car enough for about 50 miles a day in the city.
Any of science guys know if that is realistic?
#23, Greg. Here is an answer from one of my previous posts: The cost is a limiting factor, but not like it was just a year ago. The lithium batteries are going to be available within a year. So within a couple of years, this will be entirely doable, and given the price increase in oil, affordable.
“I personally am looking forward to the day where solar roof tiles become a bit more affordable.
They do exist, and apparently work fairly well.
http://tinyurl.com/hrhnv
http://tinyurl.com/69hth2
In my ideal world, I would have a decent electric for around town. Since I don’t have a long commute, I could get by with 60 miles on a charge with miles to spare.
While I am gone, the solar panels charge a set of high-power lithium-ion batteries which runs the house at night and recharges the car.
It won’t fill all my energy needs, but should fill the majority.”
This is the type technology we need. They are using BIOMASS to create fuel instead of food stock(corn, sugar cane, etc.). Biomass is basically any plant based material you can get to the plant. The only problem I can see is getting enough mass to make it work.
TV Addict,
I’m with you — but isn’t DIRECTLY CONVERTING the sun to electricity better even yet?
In don’t think solar panels are the only solution to our oil dependence but I seriously doubt there will be only one replacement to oil.
Tidal, wind and thermal come to mind.
You guys seem to be missing the fact that this plant will make ethanol from CELLULOSE. Now, raise your hand if you can digest cellulose. Anyone? Humans can’t digest cellulose. This plant would use “woody biomass as well as agricultural and industrial wastes as feedstocks”. Those are things like sawdust, cornstalks, and probably plants like switchgrass. Yes, high cellulose crops could compete with food crops over land, but this plant won’t use anything that people would ever eat.
Now the question is, will it actually work, or will it be so inefficient that the ethanol is $10/gallon?
Coskata is using the same plasma torch technology to heat biomass materials to over 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit. That temperature is sufficient to convert almost any organic matter into a gas that is an intermediate ingredient in Coskata’s process for producing cellulosic ethanol.
Greg, I LOVE the idea of converting sunlight directly to electricity. The efficiencies of the process have to improve to make it useful. I think we will see some big improvements come from the use of graphene sheets to improve solar cells. It will take more research.
I think all these alternative fuels will fail when the Oil Cartel – OPEC and Mobil/Exxon – just ratchest the prices back down just enough to kill the alternatives off !!! THAT’S REAL MONOPOLY POWER !!!
Removing the .54 cent a gallon tarrif on Brazillian ethanol would help jumpstart the Ethanol supply in the US.
Another source of biomass is Bamboo, it’s 4-8 times more renewable than trees. Save a tree, plant some boo.