BP Biofuels confirms 2012 groundbreaking for US cellulosic ethanol project

June 24, 2011 |

In Louisiana, BP Biofuels Americas president Sue Ellerbusch said that the company’s 36 million gallon Highlands County (Florida) cellulosic ethanol project will break ground “early next year” and will open in 2013.

“Total investment in the facility and agricultural feedstock operation will be in excess of $400 million,” she noted, adding that the project will be based on a 20,000 acre feedstock farm, and that  “experience has shown us that future cellulosic biofuels facilities will take four to five years from land acquisition to production of first ethanol.”

Ellerbusch outlined BP’s four criteria for advantaged biofuels:

“First, biofuels must be low-cost. Our benchmark for success is $1 a gallon, so that the biofuels we make can compete with oil without any subsidy by 2022. Second, biofuels must be low-carbon. We anticipate producing biofuels in the U.S. that meet the national goals of reducing the GHG levels in transport fuels by over 60% from current levels. Third, biofuels must be scalable. There is no point in making boutique biofuels. Only mass production and mass distribution can turn the dial. Lastly, biofuels must be sustainable. Sustainable from an environmental, social and economic perspective.”

Category: Fuels

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