Multiple Coproducts Needed to Establish Cellulosic Ethanol Industry

July 25, 2012

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by Arthur Kollaras, Paul Koutouridis, Mary Biddy and James D. McMillan (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Feed yeast, green coal contribute to bottom line
...History shows that once an industry is established, significant technological improvements quickly evolve. But in the meantime, how does one go cap-in-hand to investors when the returns on ethanol are often so meager? Without government assistance or an attractive price on carbon, one way for biofuels to become a sustainable alternative is through higher-value coproducts.
...The ability of Microbiogen’s unique, nongenetically engineered yeast strains to utilize the wood sugar xylose along with conventional six-carbon sugars, opens up global markets. It can potentially compete in the established feed-yeast market worth more than $120 million in the U.S. alone, which is a subset of a $16 billion world feed additives market, and also as a partial substitute to soymeal and fishmeal worth more than $80 billion combined annually. READ MORE