Iowa Power Fund awards $2.9M to Fiberight cellulosic ethanol project

September 16, 2010 |

In Iowa, in a follow up to a May 10 Biofuels Digest story regarding Fiberight, the Iowa Power Fund Board on Thursday awarded a $2.9 million grant to a cellulosic ethanol plant in Blairstown.

Fiberight-Blairstown received the grant to demonstrate how municipal solid waste can be converted into cellulosic ethanol, biochemicals, and other processed fiber products using a proprietary biochemical technology on a highly cost efficient, commercial production scale.

With more than $4.1 million in leveraged funds, the total demonstration project cost will be over $7 million.

Maryland-based Fiberight paid $1.65 million in November 2009 to acquire the idled Blairstown ethanol plant from Xethanol LLC. It plans to invest $20 million to convert the plant to use cellulosic feedstock instead of corn.  Fiberight President Craig Stuart-Paul said the plant will initially produce ethanol using industrial waste from a Cedar Rapids manufacturing plant.  The cellulosic ethanol output is expected to be about 6 million gallons a year, roughly the same as its previous output.

More on the story.

Category: Fuels

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