Coskata, the startup with plans to produce $1 a gallon cellulosic ethanol, has announced the location of its 40,000 gallon a year pilot plant: Madison, Penn., just northeast of Pittsburgh. The $25 million project will be built with newly revealed technology partner Westinghouse Plasma. Coskata says the plant will start delivering ethanol by early 2009 for GM, one of its backers, to use in flex-fuel vehicle tests at the automaker’s site in Milford, Mich.
Coskata’s newest partner, Westinghouse Plasma, a subsidiary of gasification specialist Alter NRG, will provide gasification technology for the pilot plant. Gasification is key to Coskata’s ability to use a variety of feedstocks. Under high heat and pressure the gasifier breaks the chemical bonds of the feedstock, reducing it to syngas – carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide molecules. The pilot plant will use woody biomass as well as agricultural and industrial wastes as feedstocks, Coskata says.
In parallel development is Coskta’s first full-scale facility, a 50-100 million gallon a year plant that Coskata plans to break ground for this year with production starting in 2011. The Warrenville, Ill.-based startup has moved quickly in its first 20 months. The cellulosic ethanol race will likely provide a large prize for the first to make it to market, while forcing consolidation on those startups whose technology doesn’t pay off. Coskata has been talking a big game and now it looks like their production is falling into place to back it up.
If all proceeds well, the naysayers and know-nothings who have translated their whines on behalf of Big Oil to a pretense of economic concern over food shortages – will have to come up with a new excuse to oppose the process of growing renewable fuels.
When Coskata and company can produce even a fraction of the ethanol needed without driving up the cost of everything else beyond reason, then I will take notice.
Renewable fuels are a good idea. From everything I’ve seen, ethanol as a fuel additive sucks total dick.
“If all proceeds well”? Har. If all had proceeded well, Vista as an OS would have been the best thing since sliced bread. More likely, this will be just another way to divert crops from food to eco-unfriendly way to jam our highways even more than they’re already jammed. The Vista of the fuel industry.
Raising crops to create fuels to burn in cars and/or burning garbage for electricity are as good an idea as the burning the Amazon. When you take good topsoil and raise crops, eat the seeds and turn what remains back into the soil that is productive land management. Replacing mulch, organic matter and organic garbage in the soil is good land management; it create a soil that the creatures below the surface can consume which produce good soil for plants. Green crops and trees that are burned go up in smoke and offer little to the earth as mulch and organic matter.
I do not believe that the farmers will turn organic matter back into the ground when they can sell it.
Burning our food in cars is not too smart.
#3 – couldn’t figger out how to click the links and read, either.
Yes, after clicking the links and reading the article + the info from Coskata – there is a particularly dumb opinion I’m waiting for…
With the numbers given… 40000 gallon per year. 1$ per gallon, 25 M$ project… If I am not mistaken, it will take 625 years to pay for the investment??? Not sure if I would invest in that.
So 25 millions dollars to fill up 8 cars per day?
Please correct me if I am wrong.
“If all proceeds well, the naysayers and know-nothings who have translated their whines on behalf of Big Oil to a pretense of economic concern over food shortages – will have to come up with a new excuse to oppose the process of growing renewable fuels.”
I will believe it when I see it. I have been hearing Sh!t likes this for over 30 years. We is that solar panels for ever home to have free energy. Anyone who says we naysayers are in bed with with BIG Oil are full of crap. We are realist. I see this stuff when I’ll see Duke Nukem Forever, the next Elvis concert or Guns & Roses new album.
Just who are the naysayers and know-nothings. I don’t know anyone who is against advances in technology, but ditto #7
#6, you’re confusing a pilot plant operation with the goals for the bulk production plant. Pilot plants are to demonstrate feasability – and give an idea of costs that may be projected into economies of scale.
#7, I admire your dedication to ennui. Well, no – I understand it. You finally own a horseless carriage don’t you?
#8, You’re almost up to Ken Olson when he said, “There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home.”
So, why try to build one. Right?
Hey, this is good news. It comes just in time to re-fuel my flying car. I hear those things are right around the corner!
>>It comes just in time to re-fuel my flying
>>car. I hear those things are right
>>around the corner!
Aw, c’mon. Those were commonplace in 1962, right after George Jetson got one.
Biofuels, on the other hand, are nothing more than a pipe dream. Except for the factory farmers who are laughing all the way to the bank on their corn profits.
Why no electric cars? Really, why are these companies so up on bio fuels like ethanol? I have a problem with using land that we need to feed ourselves and the world for generating fuel for cars. Why not build solar, wind, an other clean technologies to generate enough electricity to also charge up the batteries on electric cars? Hell, there’s even a car that runs on air being developed in France. Would someone care to answer? Where’s Bobbo to answer this one? I think the internal combustion engine needs to go the way of the modem or the 5.25″ floppy.
James (#14),
PLEASE!
Great to see science continue to explore improved ways to harness renewable energy sources.
It is a shame so many misinformed people equate this effort to produce fuel to be in competition for food. THAT , is exactly what the polluting energy companies want.
While food sources like corn are the easiest and cost effective today, it does not mean science won;t progress to switch grass and other more difficult sources.
Curious that Eideard doesn’t believe in God but believes in biofuel processes that so far have not proven to generate energy-positive returns after processing energies are considered. I’ll sell you a perpetual motion machine if you like.
Retail investors, your next dotcom investment boom has arrived! Buy buy buy Alt-E stocks!
It sounds as though this plant won’t be primarily corn-based, which is a relief.
Corn-based ethanol is one of the larger swindles of the past couple of decades…
I refer people here to Robert Rapier’s R-Squared Energy blog at http://i-r-squared.blogspot.com/ to see why the promises of “pilot plants” don’t mean much and to learn about some of the real barriers that are in the way of this technology.
#7 is right. Believe it when you see it. Press releases are easy.
Hmmm…can’t edit previous posts. Let me add another outlet link for Robert Rapier at The Oil Drum. See http://www.theoildrum.com/user/Robert+Rapier/stories for more.
I don’t want people to be cynical about Alt-E energy technologies but informed skepticism is a good thing.
Big Deal!!!
I live in California there are to date only 4 locations for E85. 2 in San Francisco, 1 in Lompoc and 1 in San Diego. I live in Long Beach, I’d have to burn a half a tank just to get to the station to fill up.
When there is one within 5 minutes of my house, then we’ll talk.
If they can do it cheaply (without subsidies) this would be a great thing.
Sounds great to me.
I also want solar panels on my garage that will charge my electric car enough for about 50 miles a day in the city.
Any of science guys know if that is realistic?
#23, Greg. Here is an answer from one of my previous posts: The cost is a limiting factor, but not like it was just a year ago. The lithium batteries are going to be available within a year. So within a couple of years, this will be entirely doable, and given the price increase in oil, affordable.
“I personally am looking forward to the day where solar roof tiles become a bit more affordable.
They do exist, and apparently work fairly well.
http://tinyurl.com/hrhnv
http://tinyurl.com/69hth2
In my ideal world, I would have a decent electric for around town. Since I don’t have a long commute, I could get by with 60 miles on a charge with miles to spare.
While I am gone, the solar panels charge a set of high-power lithium-ion batteries which runs the house at night and recharges the car.
It won’t fill all my energy needs, but should fill the majority.”
This is the type technology we need. They are using BIOMASS to create fuel instead of food stock(corn, sugar cane, etc.). Biomass is basically any plant based material you can get to the plant. The only problem I can see is getting enough mass to make it work.
TV Addict,
I’m with you — but isn’t DIRECTLY CONVERTING the sun to electricity better even yet?
In don’t think solar panels are the only solution to our oil dependence but I seriously doubt there will be only one replacement to oil.
Tidal, wind and thermal come to mind.
You guys seem to be missing the fact that this plant will make ethanol from CELLULOSE. Now, raise your hand if you can digest cellulose. Anyone? Humans can’t digest cellulose. This plant would use “woody biomass as well as agricultural and industrial wastes as feedstocks”. Those are things like sawdust, cornstalks, and probably plants like switchgrass. Yes, high cellulose crops could compete with food crops over land, but this plant won’t use anything that people would ever eat.
Now the question is, will it actually work, or will it be so inefficient that the ethanol is $10/gallon?
Coskata is using the same plasma torch technology to heat biomass materials to over 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit. That temperature is sufficient to convert almost any organic matter into a gas that is an intermediate ingredient in Coskata’s process for producing cellulosic ethanol.
Greg, I LOVE the idea of converting sunlight directly to electricity. The efficiencies of the process have to improve to make it useful. I think we will see some big improvements come from the use of graphene sheets to improve solar cells. It will take more research.
I think all these alternative fuels will fail when the Oil Cartel – OPEC and Mobil/Exxon – just ratchest the prices back down just enough to kill the alternatives off !!! THAT’S REAL MONOPOLY POWER !!!