Coskata tries waste-to-ethanol engineering at new plant

摘要

Biofuels start-up company Coskata has initiated trial production of ethanol from wood chips at its new, semi-commercial plant in Madison, PA, USA. The company is employing one of each type of process for cellulosic ethanol production (thermochemical and biochemical) to make the biofuel. The carbon feedstock is broken down via gasification then converted into ethanol via microbial fermentation. The plant can produce tens of thousands of gallons of ethanol, or around 0.1% that of a commercial plant, and is operating 24 hours/day to demonstrate the microbes' efficiency and the cost of ethanol production. The planned commercial plant is expected to open in late 2012, with a capacity of 50-100 M gallon/y.