by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s all very rosy on the cellulosic potential frontier. As Gevo and Renmatix recently observed, “cellulosic sugars are one of the most abundant feedstocks in the world, and in many geographies with dense vegetation, using woody biomass feedstocks to generate useful sugars is the most cost-effective solution.”
And there’s been positive progress, much, on cost. In Florida, study results from the University of Florida bio-refinery pilot plant in Perry, Florida (using crushed sugarcane and sweet sorghum stalks) to produce fuel ethanol.showed that the lowest break-even price for producing cellulosic ethanol is still higher than the price of gasoline. At their most optimistic, UF/IFAS researchers say cellulosic ethanol could be produced for about $1.50 a gallon. http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2018/06/06/university-of-florida-see-cellulosic-ethanol-production-at-1-50-per-gallon/
And, policymakers have been coming aboard. In India, Praj expects the new national policy to promote second-generation ethanol production and consumption to go a long way towards achieving higher ethanol blending goals. The company has invested extensively over the last several years in developing the technology in order to get it ready for commercial roll out. It expects to start seeing returns on those technology investments in 2020. Praj’s CEO said offtake agreements of 15 years are under consideration to help get these projects financed.
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So, where are the gallons? What are the hot projects? Here are the top 10 cellulosic storylines of the past year.
#1 Clariant launches flagship sunliquid plant in Romania as the EU bids to decarbonize transport …
#2 BPCL breaks ground on India’s first commercial 2G ethanol plant …
#3 Breaking the Bottleneck – POET-DSM achieves cellulosic biofuel breakthrough …
#4 Indian Oil looking to invest $132.6 million in 2G ethanol plant in Uttar Pradesh …
#5 Commercial time: Aemetis embarks on $158 million cellulosic ethanol project in California …
#6 Renmatix, Gevo ink deal to develop cellulosic hydrocarbons for jet fuel, gasoline markets …
#7 Estonian forest magic: Sweetwater, Graanul to build first commercial biorefinery for cellulosic sugars, lignin …
#8 VERBIO North America acquires Iowa cellulosic ethanol facility from DuPont …
#9 Unorthodox antioxidant focus drives Stover Ventures towards cellulosic dream …
#10 Eni’s Versalis wins Biochemtex and Beta Renewables at auction … READ MORE