The 10 Top Biofuels Stories of the Year

9. Why Sugarcane Bagasse is the Most Promising Pathway for Cellulosic Ethanol

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Digest content partner site Energy Trends Insider, a free newsletter by Consumer Energy Report, which is geared toward financial and investment issues in the energy industry. It turned out to be a hugeley popular read, from Robert Rapier, whose sword is always kept well-sharpened when it comes to cutting away the cant, pettifoggery, tripe, hype from a value proposition; or, in this case, spotting a trend worth watching.

By Robert Rapier

The history of cellulosic ethanol is a lot longer than most people probably realize. In 1819, French chemist Henri Braconnot discovered how to break cellulose down into component sugars by treating biomass with sulfuric acid. Once sugars are released from cellulose, the solution can be fermented to ethanol in processes that are very similar to those used to produce corn ethanol or sugar cane ethanol. Regardless of the way the sugars are released, processes that produce ethanol from cellulosic sugars are collectively categorized as cellulosic ethanol.

The Germans first commercialized cellulosic ethanol production from wood in 1898. The technology was commercialized in the U.S. in 1910, when Standard Alcohol Company built a cellulosic ethanol plant in South Carolina to convert lumber mill waste into ethanol. Standard Alcohol later built a second plant in Louisiana. Each plant was capable of producing over 5,000 gallons of ethanol per day from wood waste, and both were in production for several years before being idled for economic reasons.

Many subsequent attempts were made to commercialize cellulosic ethanol during the 20th Century, but there were huge challenges in developing
cellulosic ethanol as a cost-competitive energy option. Because of the extra steps involved relative to corn or sugarcane ethanol, capital and operating costs are higher for cellulosic ethanol than for ethanol derived from carbohydrates. But the ongoing attraction of cellulosic ethanol is the potential to utilize waste streams that are cheap or even negatively priced to produce the ethanol. Therefore a number of companies continue to work toward commercialization.