The Digest’s Top 10 Celluosic Project flashpoints, 10 Quick Takes

#5 Commercial time: Aemetis embarks on $158 million cellulosic ethanol project in California

In California, Aemetis is embarking now on a $158 million cellulosic ethanol plant — to be built in Riverbank, California, in partnership with LanzaTech. Cellulosic ethanol is selling for such a high price in California right now — the value jumps north of $4.00 per gallon at times — that any producer of conventional ethanol is going to see the market opportunity. The current market price of cellulosic ethanol sold in California is estimated to be $3.00 more per gallon than conventional ethanol.
The key is getting it done and making it happen. And something very special to that end is underway in central California right now. So, it’s big news this week that Aemetis completed its operation of an integrated demonstration unit for more than 120 days of continuous operations with 94% uptime, meeting the requirements for a federal USDA 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program guaranteed loan.
In partnership with its key technology providers InEnTec and LanzaTech, Aemetis successfully optimized the integration of an advanced arc furnace and gas fermentation technologies to convert waste biomass into low carbon, renewable cellulosic ethanol and fish meal. The unit was built at the InEnTec Technology Center in Richland, Washington and demonstrated the fully integrated system, including biomass handling, gasification, gas clean up, waste treatment and distillation systems.
More on the story, here.