Thousand Oaks, California
February 7, 2008
Energy crop company
Ceres, Inc. announced today
that it will sow thousands of acres of switchgrass, high-biomass
sorghum and other energy crops over the next three years near
St. Joseph, Missouri to support a next-generation biorefinery
being engineered by ICM, Inc.,
a leading biofuel process technology provider. The
demonstration-scale project, which includes participation from
academic institutions, government and other technology
providers, will produce fuel, known as cellulosic biofuel, from
biomass rather than corn. Last week, Department of Energy
officials announced up to $30 million in supplemental funding
for the planned facility.
Ceres’ primary role will be to supply seed of specially
developed energy crop cultivars to nearby farmers, who will grow
the plants and harvest the biomass. The company will also
provide agronomic recommendations to the overall venture, which
will compare numerous raw materials, including Ceres’ dedicated
energy crops, for their conversion efficiency and fuel yields,
as well as their economic viability.
“We are pleased that ICM chose Ceres as a seed provider for the
dedicated energy crops they needed,” said Ceres chief executive
Richard Hamilton. “They have been a clear leader in optimizing
the starch-to-ethanol process, and we believe they are well
prepared to make next-generation biofuels competitive with
starch ethanol and petroleum.”
“This project will be an important proving ground for new
technologies, both in the field and at the biorefinery,” said
Hamilton, who noted that higher crop yields and optimized
biomass composition can have a dramatic impact on reducing
cellulosic biofuel production costs. “Ceres will help determine
the best mix of crops, the right traits and cultivars, as well
as the agronomic practices that maximize biomass yields and
conversion efficiency of the biomass to biofuel,” he said.
According to Hamilton, the learnings from this small-scale
project will have far-reaching impact, allowing participating
companies to optimize the biofuel production and delivery chain
from seed to pump. He expects energy crop acreage across the
U.S. to increase rapidly as best practices are duplicated in
other areas.
“Once we get crops in the field and biomass moving through a
refinery, the industry will start bringing down costs, and
ramping up production,” said Hamilton, noting that the Energy
Act recently signed by the President calls for a minimum of 16
billion gallons per year from biomass. “Getting there will
require the application of new technologies, such as
biotechnology, both in the field and at the biorefinery.”
These improvements are also expected to result in higher net
energy benefits, as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Currently, switchgrass-to-ethanol produces about five times more
energy than needed to grow, harvest and process it, and results
in 90% less greenhouse gas emissions than petroleum.
Ceres, Inc. is a leading developer of high-yielding,
dedicated energy crops that can be planted as feedstocks for
cellulosic ethanol production. Its development efforts cover
switchgrass, sorghum, miscanthus, energycane and woody crops.
ICM engineers, builds and supports the industry’s leading
ethanol plants. Founded in 1995 and headquartered in a small
agricultural community just outside of Wichita, KS, ICM also
serves as a leading ethanol industry advocate.
RELATED RELEASE
U.S. Department of Energy
selects first round of small-scale biorefinery projects for up
to $114 million in federal funding
Ten percent
commercial-scale biorefineries will help the nation meet new
Renewable Fuels Standard
Source:
http://www.energy.gov/news/5903.htm
Washington, DC
January 30, 2008
U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced that DOE will
invest up to $114 million, over four years, (Fiscal Years
2007-2010) for four small-scale biorefinery projects to be
located in Commerce City, Colorado; St. Joseph, Missouri;
Boardman, Oregon; and Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Building on
President Bush’s goal of making cellulosic ethanol
cost-competitive by 2012, these ten-percent of commercial-scale
biorefineries will use a wide variety of feedstocks and test
novel conversion technologies to provide data necessary to bring
online full-size, commercial-scale biorefineries. On average,
commercial-scale biorefineries input 700 tons of feedstock per
day, with an output of approximately 20-30 million gallons a
year (MMGY); these small-scale facilities will input
approximately 70 tons of feedstock per day, with an estimated
2.5 MMGY.
Due to an overwhelming response
to this solicitation, the Department anticipates selecting a
second round of small-scale projects later this spring, bringing
DOE total investment up to $200 million should a second round of
selections be made. Secretary Bodman made today’s announcement
while delivering keynote remarks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Biofuels Dialogue Series, “Outlook for an Emerging Global
Biofuels Market.”
“These project proposals were
innovative and represent the geographic diversity that we strive
for when making the widespread use of clean, renewable fuels
commercially viable,” Secretary Bodman said. “Spurred by the
President’s ambitious plan to reduce projected U.S. gas
consumption by twenty percent by 2017, our goal is to
aggressively push these technologies forward to get them out
into the marketplace as quickly as possible, so they can have a
real impact. Advanced biofuels offer tremendous promise for
helping our nation to bring about a new, cleaner, more secure
and affordable energy future.”
Expected to be operational in
four years, the selected small-scale biorefineries projects will
produce liquid transportation fuels such as cellulosic ethanol,
as well as bio-based chemicals and bio-based products used in
industrial applications. Combined with industry cost share,
more than $331 million will be invested in these four projects.
DOE is also working with these companies, and other research
partners, to develop methods for reducing water and fertilizer
needs associated with production of these fuels. With all of
these projects, the amount of fossil fuel used to produce the
biofuels is significantly less than that associated with
gasoline – on average as much as 90 percent less over the
lifecycle.
Today’s announcement is part of
over $1 billion DOE has announced within the last year for
multi-year biofuels research and development projects.
These small-scale projects also
complement the Department’s February 2007 announcement, where
projects were selected to receive up to $385 million over four
years for the development of six commercial-scale
biorefineries. The full-scale biorefineries focus on near-term
commercial processes, while the small-scale facilities will
experiment with diverse feedstocks using novel processing
technologies. Both small- and commercial-scale projects seek to
advance the Administration’s long-term strategy of increasing
the nation’s energy, economic and national security by reducing
our nation’s reliance on foreign oil through increased
efficiency and diversification of clean energy sources. They
also further the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007,
which requires that renewable fuels supply at least 36 billion
gallons of U.S. motor fuel by 2022 and meet interim supply
targets for specific advanced fuels.
Negotiations between the
selected companies and DOE will begin immediately to determine
final project plans and funding levels. Funding is subject to
appropriations from Congress. The following four projects were
selected:
ICM Incorporated of
Colwich, Kansas; DOE will provide up to $30 million
The proposed plant will be located in St. Joseph,
Missouri, and will utilize diverse and relevant feedstocks
including agricultural residues, such as corn fiber, corn
stover, switchgrass and sorghum. ICM, Inc. will integrate
biochemical and thermochemical processing and demonstrate energy
recycling within the same facility. This project stands to
broaden the company’s focus from corn-based to energy crop-based
ethanol production. ICM, Inc is a privately held company with
the mission of sustaining agriculture through innovation,
primarily through the engineering and construction of ethanol
biorefinerie.
ICM co-participants/investors
include: AGCO Engineering; NCAUR-ARS-Peoria; CERES, Inc;
Edenspace Systems Corporation; DOE’s National Renewable Energy
Laboratory; Novozymes North America, Inc; South Dakota State
University; Sun Ethanol, Inc.; and VeraSun Energy Corporation.
Lignol Innovations
Inc., of Berwyn, Pennsylvania; DOE will provide up to $30
million
The proposed plant, co-located with a petroleum
refinery, will be located in Commerce City, Colorado, and using
biochem-organisolve, will convert hard and soft wood residues
into ethanol and commercial products, co-located with a
petroleum refinery. Lignol Innovations is a U.S.-based company
with a publicly traded Canadian parent based in Vancouver,
British Columbia. Lignol has acquired and since modified a
solvent-based pre-treatment technology that was originally
developed by a subsidiary of General Electric.
Lignol Innovations
participants/investors include: Suncor Energy; and Parker
Messana & Associates.
Pacific Ethanol Inc.,
of Sacramento, California; DOE will provide up to $24.3 million
The proposed plant will be located in Boardman, Oregon,
and will convert agricultural and forest product residues to
ethanol using BioGasol's proprietary conversion process.
Pacific Ethanol is a leading producer of low-carbon renewable
fuels in the Western United States. The company is
headquartered in Sacramento, California, and planning to add
cellulosic conversion capability to their corn-based ethanol
facility in Oregon.
Pacific Ethanol’s
investors/participants include: Biogasol LLC; and DOE’s Joint
Bioenergy Institute (DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
and Sandia National Laboratories).
Stora Enso, North
America, of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin; DOE will provide up to
$30 million
The proposed plant will be located in Wisconsin Rapids,
Wisconsin, and proposes to take wood wastes and convert it to
Fischer-Tropsch diesel fuel. NewPage Corporation of Miamisburg,
Ohio, recently acquired Stora Enso North America, the original
applicant for this funding opportunity announcement.
NewPage Corporation is the
largest printing paper manufacturer in North America, based on
production capacity with more than $4.3 billion in pro-forma net
sales for the last twelve months ended September 30, 2007. The
company’s product portfolio includes coated freesheet, coated
groundwood, supercalendered and specialty papers.
Stora Enso’s partners include:
TRI; Syntroleum; U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National
Laboratory; and the Alabama Center for Paper and Bioresource
Engineering at Auburn University.
Cellulosic ethanol is an
alternative fuel made from a wide variety of non-food plant
materials (or feedstocks), including agricultural wastes such as
corn stover and cereal straws, industrial plant waste like saw
dust and paper pulp, and energy crops grown specifically for
fuel production like switchgrass. By using a variety of
regional feedstocks for refining cellulosic ethanol, the fuel
can be produced in nearly every region of the country. And
because these fuels rely on non-edible portions of crops, and
agricultural residues and forest wastes, they have the added
advantage of not competing with food crops. Though it requires
a more complex refining process, cellulosic ethanol contains
more net energy than traditional corn-based ethanol, and has the
potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 85
percent relative to gasoline. E-85, an ethanol-fuel blend that
is 85-percent ethanol, is already available at nearly 1,350
fueling stations nationwide and can power millions of flexible
fuel vehicles already on the roads.
ICM
Incorporated Fact Sheet
Lignol Innovations Inc. Fact Sheet
Pacific Ethanol Inc. Fact Sheet
Stora Enso,
North America Fact Sheet
DOE Coverage Map - January 29, 2008 |
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