Shell Announces CE10 Cellulosic Ethanol Available NOW at Ottawa Station
Today at Noon, a Shell service station in Ottawa, Ontario will quietly begin selling cellulosic ethanol blended into regular gasoline. The biofuel is made locally from wheat straw, and as far as we know is the first time cellulosic ethanol has been made publicly available.
The new fuel will only be available for one month, starting on June 10th, but it’s a major step forward for the production of advanced biofuels. All gasoline purchased at the Ottawa station will be a blend of 10% cellulosic ethanol and 90% gasoline (CE10).
- » See also: BP Could Start Selling Biofuels By 2010
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E10 ethanol-gasoline blends are sold widely in the United States, but the ethanol component is made from corn. Advanced non-food biofuels offer dramatic reductions in CO2 emissions when compared to gasoline, up to 90%, and are the only realistic short-term direct substitute for traditional fuel.
Shell’s strategic investment partner Iogen Energy Corp. will produce the fuel at their demonstration plant, which is currently producing 40,000 liters (about 10,500 gallons) of fuel per month. The company has working to produce cellulosic ethanol there since 2004, and also develops and markets enzymes used to process natural fibers.
“I am excited we are leading the pack in cellulosic ethanol production technology and, with this event, showing what is possible in the future. While it will be some time before general customers can buy this product at local service stations, we are working with governments to make large-scale production economic.”
-Dr. Graeme Sweeney, Shell Executive Vice President Future Fuels and CO2.
“We’re proud of this world-first. Building a demo plant is one thing but you then need to go through the process of operating the new technology at scale, learning, modifying and lowering costs. With the volumes we’re producing today, we’re confident about the future.”
-Brian Foody, Chief Executive Officer of Iogen Corporation.
“This one small retail station in Ottawa is one big step forward for advanced biofuels globally. This is a great day for Canadian technology and proof that Canada’s commitment to developing low CO2 fuels is starting to pay dividends for the environment, farmers, and consumers.”
-John Baird, Canada’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister
Photo Credit: Shell / Iogen
Cool deal. Although cellulosic ethanol is already in the market. Those pilot and demonstration plants in operation today aren’t flaring their ethanol. It’s just getting mixed in with the regular supply.
Just a PR stunt. It is still far from being economically competitive.
@Orng: Do you know if anyone else has sold it commercially? I know it’s being produced but I haven’t heard of it being sold.
@Russ: Yeah absolutely, but a great idea for a PR stunt if you ask me. The big stumbling blog to being economically competitive is getting funding to build the first plant as far as I understand.
Some folks are on track for production: http://gas2.org/2009/05/07/mascoma-announces-major-research-advance-in-cellulosic-ethanol/
Cool stuff… Now if they could make it available like plain old gasoline is available, I know a lot of grain farmer in my area that would start collecting up all of the straw at the end of harvest.
Before we all get too overly excited, keep in mind that when we burn ANY hydrocarbon, gasoline and ethanol included, we are putting two greenhouse gases, CO2 NS H2O, INTO THE AIR. AAAS, NAS and IGPCC and other independent scientific organizations concur that this is rapidly changing the climate on planet Earth. Let’s wise up earthlings!
solargroupies - what do you propose then?
What about the IWOG, CARP, and NOAC?
solargroupies - the purpose here is to bring about a reduction in CO2 levels. It would be great to eliminate harmful emissions all together, but that kind of technology can’t be applied just yet.
Right, uh, the point here is that cellulosic ethanol, depending on how it’s produced and processed, could achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions when substituted for gasoline.
CO2 that is emitted by burning cellulosic ethanol is largely recycled by the next season’s crop. Of course, any time you burn a hydrocarbon you get other emissions too, but overall these are less than petroleum-based fuels.
This is a terrific idea, one I have been pushing for a couple of years ever since I first heard about it. To produce fuel ethanol there is no need at all to impact the food chain, which is the usual oil-company-sponsored argument in opposition to alternative fuels.
In that case don’t you think it would be a rather good idea to tell people in your article WHERE THE HELL THIS GAS STATION IS?!!!!! I live in Ottawa and I would drive out of my way to fill up there as long as it isn’t at the opposite end of the city.
Only for a month starting June 10? It will take me that long to find it if nobody will tell me! Then the experiment will be deemed not to be a success and it will be quietly dropped. I have seen this all before - an inobtrusive way of shooting a project in the foot before it has even started.
solargroupies,
But the CO2 put into the air during combustion is the same CO2 that was taken out of the air when the wheat straw was growing.
The reason fossil fuels’ CO2 is more dangerous (if you believe the hype) is because it was taken out of the air hundreds of millions of years ago and is now being added back into the air over a short period of ~200 years.