Comments on: Waiting for Next-Gen Ethanol in 2009? Forget It

By: Chronoptimists: Cleantech Is Full of ‘Em

Chronoptimists: Cleantech Is Full of ‘Em — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:01:24 +0000

[...] cellulosic ethanol from non-crop plants and biowaste, then chances are, your firm has had to extend its commercial production deadline — maybe even a few times. Companies like Coskata, Verenium and Range Fuels have done so, and [...]

By: Khosla Invests Still More In Biofuels: HCL CleanTech

Khosla Invests Still More In Biofuels: HCL CleanTech — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:37:32 +0000

[...] and profit squeeze, now only a few startups are producing the next-gen fuel on a pilot scale, and plans for commercial production have been pushed to next year or [...]

By: ha

ha — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:50:03 +0000

These companies can talk up their technologies all they want, but can they perform?

By: FT.com | FT Energy Source | The Source: fuel economy standards; future oil shock threat; cellulosic ethanol falters; China’s doubts about Earth Day

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:30:35 +0000

[...] means no commercial second-generation ethanol production this year [...]

By: William Dittl

William Dittl — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:37:18 +0000

There are several projects that are moving along rather well that were never mentioned. In fact, they include POET's plan to make cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs and the CMECP project involving SunOpta BioProcess using woodchips in Little Falls Minnesota. The CMECP project is particularly high profile because it has received considerable media coverage, it has state funding and it has real industrial partnerships. The fact that the process uses SEA pretreatment is also pretty telling. Some of the companies you mentioned have only been around 2 years or less. SunOpta's technology is being used in four cellulosic ethanol plants right now (3 of them are DOE-funded); including Verenium's facilities, the CRAC pilot plant in China and they York, Nebraska pilot plant (that facility was entirely designed by SunOpta BioProcess). The CMECP project is one of the most advanced projects in the United States. Likewise, the last portion thw riter mentions is licensing and that's quite accurate in terms of both pretreatment and microbial applications.

By: Ronald Adamowicz

Ronald Adamowicz — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:27:35 +0000

The report on cellulosic ethanol plant construction is missing much information. First, Dr. Steven Chu the new Secretary of Energy loves cellulosic ethanol, he was involved in early research with Diversa (VRNM) in termite enzymes, he has guaranteed the creation of a new era of second generation ethanol (cellulosic). Dr. Steven Chu is the one signing the loan guarantees!

By: Green Ink: Fresh CAFE, Battered Biofuels, and a Prius in Every Pot - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:05:50 +0000

[...] the corn crowd, notes Robert Rapier, which makes any sort of second-generation arrival this year a pipe dream, at [...]

By: Imee

Imee — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:33:02 +0000

I guess right now isn't the perfect year to start next generation ethanol manufacture and usage. I still think it'll work out in the near future though, unless a new, even better breakthrough comes out.

By: Robby Rodriguez

Robby Rodriguez — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:17:52 +0000

Katie,

Good reporting. You are working hard to make some sense of a tangled web out there - that's for sure! But don't be spoofed by what is sometimes claimed to be next-gen ethanol in order to receive a multimillion dollar aggie grant or loan guarantee - something which these companies are obviously strangled without receiving. You do a good job reporting but you are really missing some of the intrinsic basics herein. Like what will really be the renewable fuel outputs of some of the large firms you've quoted within your article?

Case in point: Define ligno-cellulosic ethanol for us. Then go back and see what is supposedly coming down the pike from within this category of hungry and/or temporarily stranded contenders...

Thanks.

By: The Myth of Next-Gen Ethanol? | The ChubbyBlog

The Myth of Next-Gen Ethanol? | The ChubbyBlog — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:58:13 +0000

[...] saw a really interesting post on Earth2Tech today about the short-falls of the Next-Gen Ethanol companies. It was almost a year ago that more than a dozen companies were battling to claim the first [...]