March 2, 2009
US stimulus act to boost cellulosic ethanol
Research and development in the nascent cellulosic ethanol industry will receive a significant boost in funding thanks to the portion of the US$787 billion economic stimulus package that will go to the US Department of Energy, a government official said Friday (February 27).
Carmen Difiglio, a DOE deputy assistant secretary, said the department will get about $40 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bulk of those funds will go to funding projects such as pilot plants that will produce cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is produced from plant material such as corn stalks and wood chips.
Difiglio, who spoke at the US Department of Agriculture's annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, said such projects are needed to propel cellulosic ethanol into commercial production.
The projects also create employment, he said.
There is no cellulosic ethanol being produced at a commercial level yet in the US, but the USDA recently issued a loan guarantee to help with the construction of the first such plant that intends to produce the fuel from wood chips.
Most ethanol produced in the US derived from corn.
