Orange County NC Website
37 <br />CleanTech Biofuels has a cellulosic ethanol pilot plant operating on MSW in Golden, <br />Colorado. <br />Table 3 -2. Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plants in the U.S. <br />(Operational or Under Construction )4 <br />Company <br />Location <br />Feedstock <br />Capacity <br />(million <br />gallons <br />per year) <br />Aben oa Bioenergy <br />Hu oton, KS <br />Wheat straw <br />12 <br />Alico <br />La Belle FL <br />Multiple sources <br />N/A <br />BlueFire Ethanol <br />Irvine, CA <br />Multiple sources <br />17 <br />Gulf Coast Energy <br />Mossy Head, FL <br />Wood waste <br />70 <br />Mascoma <br />Lansing, MI <br />Wood <br />40 <br />POET Biorefinery <br />Emmetsbur , IA <br />Corn cobs <br />25 <br />Range Fuels <br />Treutlen County, GA <br />Wood waste <br />20 <br />SunO to <br />Little Falls, MN <br />Wood chips <br />10 <br />Xethanol <br />Auburndale, FL <br />Citrus peels <br />8 <br />None of these plants uses MSW as feedstock. As of January 2008, U.S. DOE had <br />made seven grants to help develop small -scale cellulosic plants. These plants will <br />produce between 1.3 and 5.5 million gallons of ethanol per year. The feedstocks <br />projected for these plants include wood chips, switch grass, corn cobs, and <br />agricultural and forest residues. None of the plants are projected to use MSW. The <br />total projected capital cost of these plants is $634 million, with DOE contributing <br />$199 million in the form of the grants. <br />3.8.2 Biogas - Anaerobic Digestion <br />Biogas or synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, can be <br />converted into liquid hydrocarbons of various forms. A number of these technologies <br />produce gas, primarily methane, which can be converted to liquid fuels utilizing <br />Fischer - Tropsch Synthesis, a process developed in Germany in the early 20th <br />Century. This process is a catalyzed chemical reaction which takes place at low <br />temperatures (300 to 600 degrees F) and at high pressure. The most common <br />catalysts are based on iron and cobalt, although nickel and ruthenium have also <br />been used. The process produces a synthetic petroleum substitute for use as <br />synthetic fuel, biodiesel. The Fischer - Tropsch process has been used to convert <br />gases from a variety of feedstocks to liquid fuel, including coal and biomass. <br />When biomass is used, the cellulosic materials must first be converted to biogas and <br />then to liquid fuel using the Fischer - Tropsch process. <br />Currently, a number of companies have commercial versions of the Fischer - Tropsch <br />technology, including: <br />1. Conoco - Phillips— natural gas as feedstock <br />2. BP— natural gas as feedstock <br />3. Shell Oil — natural gas as feedstock <br />4. Sasol (South Africa) — coal and natural gas as feedstocks <br />4 Source: Grainnet.com Building Cellulose <br />GBB/C08027 -01 8 August 15, 2008 <br />