Gulf Coast Energy to build 45 Mgy wood waste-to-ethanol project in Alabama, using gasification

In Alabama, Gulf Coast Energy announced a 45 Mgy wood waste ethanol project in Livingston. The company will use gasification as its technology strategy. The project is estimated to cost $90 million.

Wood waste gasification background

In Germany, Choren Industries opened what it called the world’s first biomass-to-liquid (BTL) plant, a 5 Mgy plant utilizing the Carbo-V process, in Freiburg, Saxony. The company said it would take up to 18 months to reach full productivity at the plant. The Carbo V process is a gasification process in which biomass is gasified at high heat, and carbon monoxide and hydrogen are converted into synthetic diesel fuel. The fuel is chemically equivalent to conventional diesel fuel; however it is produced from renewable biomass. Choren is studying the construction of a 71 Mgy commercial scale plant in Brandenburg.

Last December, Choren announced that it will build a 57 Mgy biodiesel plant in Schwedt. The plant will use sawdust and wood chips as feedstock among other waste materials.

The company’s target is five production units and a total planned capacity of 285 Mgy by 2015, and 10-15 plants constructed by 2020 to reduce C02e emissions by 3 million metric tons.

Volkswagen and Daimler acquired a minority stake in Choren last year.

In California, BlueFire Ethanol has reached the final permitting stages for its ethanol plant in Lancaster that will use garden, wood waste and unrecyclable paper as feedstocks. The 3 Mgy plant will be joined in the Bluefire lineup by a 19 Mgy plant in Corona that received a $40 million grant from the Department of Energy and will be operational in 2010. The Lancaster plant will consume 175 tons of waste biomass per day.

BlueFire Ethanol Fuels had hoped to break ground in April but has faced delays in obtaining air permits before commencing construction. BlueFire closed its $15 million financing round last month to provide working capital and project funds for its 17 Mgy cellulosic ethanol project in Southern California.

In the financing agreement, the Quercus environmental trust acquired $15 million in common stock and warrants, while Aurarian Capital Partners and Aurarian Capital converted their senior convertible notes into common stock.

Bluefire holds the exclusive North American license to employ the Arkenol Process Technology, a patented system that transforms cellulosic waste into usable ethanol.

Also in California, ZeaChem said that its cellulosic process can produce up to 160 gallons of ethanol per ton of biomass, and that a farm with a radius of eight miles could produce 300 Mgy of ethanol per year from wood waste, switch grass, or other waste, with a net return on energy of nearly 10 to 1 and a price at the pump of around $1.50 per gallon.

In Colorado, Range Fuels closed a $130 round of equity funding for its cellulosic ethanol production using a thermochemical process acting on wood waste. The funds will be used for construction of its proposed commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Georgia.

In Illinois, the CEO of Coskata detailed how the company can create fuel for less than $1 per gallon using its combined thermochemical and microbe-based approach to cellulosic ethanol production. William Roe said that the company’s process can use multiple “true waste” feedstocks such as wood chips, weeds, human waste, used tires, or carbon monoxide. Roe said that the company could co-locate with steel mills to convert CO into as much as 50 billion gallons of gasoline per year. He added that the company does not expect to make fuel, except for a 40,000 gallon demonstration facility, but expects to license its process to large-scale producers.

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