Greenbelt Resources Looks at Commercial-Scale Success

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July 30, 2015

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by Joanna Schroeder (Biofuels Journal) Greenbelt Resources Corp. has developed a feedstock testing program so potential cellulosic ethanol producers can see if their enterprise will succeed at commercial scale by processing a certain feedstock.

Darren Eng, chief executive officer of Greenbelt Resources, which is based in Paso Robles, CA (www.greenbeltresources.com), said one possible feedstock with a large potential for commercialization is food waste.

According to a report released last year by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food scraps accounted for more than 12% of the total municipal solid waste generated by U.S. households. Less than 3% of those food scraps were recovered, the report said.

The availability of large amounts of food waste as a potential biofuel feedstock has increased because of actions taken by some local and state governments to ban food waste from their landfills.

And that, Eng told BioFuels Journal is where biofuels enter the picture.

Increasingly, specialty food producing companies have mountains of potential biofuels feedstocks such as beet tailings, rice hulls, sweet potatoes, and coffee cherries. And, Eng stated, those specialty food companies are contacting Greenbelt Resources to find out if there is a way they can turn those food scraps into renewable fuels.

Other feedstocks that are showing promise, according to Eng, include energy crops such as switchgrass, sorghum, waste duckweed, and cassava that require less water for growth. READ MORE

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