UnNintendoed Consequences: Biofuels and the Feedstock Challenge

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s been years of struggle to get cellulosic feedstock supply chains downfield. Now, companies like Woodland Biofuels, Sweetwater Energy, Ceres, Delta BioRenewables and Commonwealth Agro-Energy are moving the chains.
...This week in Canada, the MaRS Cleantech Fund announced the completion of a venture deal with Woodland Biofuels, positioned to become North America’s lowest-cost producer of ethanol.
...Woodland Biofuels produces cellulosic ethanol from wood chips and other types of biomass, converting forestry and agricultural waste into fuel using a proprietary gasification and three-step catalytic conversion process. The company recently opened a demonstration plant in Sarnia, Ontario.
...In New York, Sweetwater Energy announced that it received a US patent for the use of portable pretreatment units designed for the extraction of sugars from any cellulosic feedstock. This proprietary technology allows Sweetwater to locate its cellulosic pretreatment technology in diverse areas where an available feedstock provides the best economics for sugar production.
The flexibility to take advantage of these “economic pockets” is part of what allows Sweetwater to supply low-cost cellulosic sugars to its customers. Sweetwater uses a unique technology to produce low-cost sugars from non-food plant materials, including waste materials such as wood thinnings or purpose-grown crops such as energy sorghum. This sugar solution is sold to refineries, which use it to produce biofuels, biochemicals, and bioplastics.
...In Tennessee, Delta BioRenewables announced that its collaboration partner Commonwealth Agri-Energy successfully produced ethanol from sweet sorghum sugars at its corn ethanol facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The industrial-scale evaluation, which utilized fermentable sugars from improved sweet sorghum hybrids developed by Ceres, marked the first step in demonstrating the commercial viability of integrating the new feedstock into existing domestic corn ethanol facilities. READ MORE