May 9, 2007

US researchers seek other sources for ethanol

Researchers in the United States are currently tapping wood chips and prairie grass as sources for ethanol production aside from corn.

Companies are also exploring a host of other potential fuel sources including sorghum stubble, citrus peel, timber scraps and even landfill trash.

Though it would take years before companies could confirm the viability of these materials, research is already underway for these raw items and refinery production could be as little as two years away.

Canada-based Iogen Corporation has been producing ethanol from wheat, oat and barley straw for several years at its demonstration plant in Ottawa, and is planning to build a commercial-size version in Shelley, Idaho.

Switchgrass or prairie grass will depend on farmers learning how to grow new crops, said Anna Rath, director of business development for Ceres Inc., a biotechnology company in Thousand Oaks, California. She said these warm-season grasses--which grow in a variety of climates--will be the biggest contributor to the cellulosic ethanol industry.

The cellulosic ethanol is basically fuel made from plants or plant waste but its production costs about twice as much as cooking up corn-based fuel, government researchers say.

Earlier this year, the Energy Department has awarded US$385 million (euro284 million) to six companies hoping to build the nation's first big biomass-to-fuel plants. The investment is part of the Bush administration's goal of making cellulosic ethanol competitive by 2012.

Poet LLC, a privately owned ethanol producer based in South Dakota, has been making ethanol from corn for more than 20 years, but an US$80 million (euro59 million) grant will help the company adapt its Emmetsburg, Iowa, plant to make additional fuel out of corn stalks and fibre.

The first versions, developed through conventional breeding methods, should be ready to sell to biorefineries by 2009, Rath said. Varieties created through "marker-assisted breeding," in which scientists examine gene traits in seedlings, could be ready by 2012.