Mascoma Announces Major Research Advance for Cellulosic Ethanol
Mascoma says they’ve achieved a 60% reduction in cost for their consolidated bioprocessing technology (CBP).
Mascoma Corp., a well-known firm pursuing the advanced production of cellulosic ethanol, announced today what they’re calling “major scientific advances” that will enable them to produce lower cost, lower carbon fuel from sustainable sources.
This is a true breakthrough that takes us much, much closer to billions of gallons of low cost cellulosic biofuels. Many had thought that CBP was years or even decades away, but the future just arrived. Mascoma has permanently changed the biofuels landscape from here on.
-Dr. Bruce Dale, Scientific Advistory Board of Mascoma
Mascoma’s value-proposition is to elminate as many steps as possible in the processing of non-food cellulosic feedstocks to produce ethanol. The consolidation of the process—which involves enzymatically breaking apart cellulose into sugars, and then fermenting the sugars into alcohol—dramatically reduces overall cost. CBP eliminates the need for added and costly enzymes to process pretreated lignocellulose into ethanol.
- » See also: BP Could Start Selling Biofuels By 2010
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While significant, the breakthrough doesn’t actually speed up the commercialization of Mascoma’s technology. These are lab results that must first be taken to the the testing facility in Rome, NY. But as a company representative told me on the phone, there are really no major technical breakthroughs that need to happen now.
These advances enable the reduction in operating and capital costs required for cost-effective commercial production of ethanol, bringing Mascoma substantially closer to commercialization. Our results go a long way toward establishing the feasibility of the processing concept that we have built our company around - so this is a big day for us.
-Jim Flatt, Executive Vice President of Research, Development and Operations at Mascoma
Mascoma is ramping up on a 40 million-gallon-per-year facility in Kinross, MI. The project is being funded by both the DOE ($26 mil) and the state of Michigan ($23.5 mil).
[UPDATE]: Jim Flatt at Mascoma and he gave me the following additional details:
- Further strain optimization through 2010 will yield additional cost reduction important to improving financial attractiveness of Kinross, MI plant
- Mascoma will be doing full testing of improved CBP strains and integrated process in Rome with associated process engineering specific to CBP.
More: GM Announces New Cellulosic Ethanol Partnership with Mascoma Corp.
Does it generate more energy than simply burning the biomass yet?
Tom Dashale sits on their board - I wonder.
Does it generate more energy than simply burning the biomass yet?
Does it generate more energy than simply burning the biomass yet?
So much power does the oil companies have over us all, that I bet if you digg deep enough you will find that the whole system is index linked, oil to air to water, together with the companies that control the alternative energies,
there are those who are saying that its not the governments of any country that control it, but the INC’s and the CORP’s who are, and are leading us down the garden path towards the new green taxes we are all trying so hard to avoid or not to avoid, so they can tax us to the hilt, whilst protecting their intrests in the name of profit.
As I have mentioned before, the oil we have today is on tap and ready to use almost, growing plant matter takes time and time to be processed, these are the figure we need to know about, calorific values etc etc, how much is put in to how much one gets out, figures please,
I would say we are going to need to to combine quite a few different kinds of technologies to make things work, putting all of our eggs into one basket like we have with oil will only get us back to where we are now.
If the oil companies are buying up whatever invention because it is a small but potential threat to their dominence, this kind of mentality eventually becomes slavery of mankind, and the good ideas could soon be out of reach to even the richest 5 percent and those ideas are then lost along the wayside.
we all know what needs to be done, start thinking for ourselves because they sure ain’t caring about anything other than their huge but rare pockets, while our many are forever empty, they must think we owe them a living or something.
I’m certainly not confused nor trusting of them.