This set-up allows for a continuous-flow process as opposed to a batch process. Bolsen wouldn’t reveal the specific capacity of each bioreactor, but he did say that on a 100 MMgy scale, a large number of membranes could produce thousands of gallons of ethanol per day.

The company continues to tweak the organisms and the process in which the organisms come into contact with the syngas, all with the intent of increasing production and lowering costs. For example, Bolsen says the company has patented a process called vapor permeation, which would replace the distillation process. Distillation is necessary in the corn-based ethanol process because the ethanol has to be separated from the remaining solids. However, in a gas-based ethanol/water mixture, there are no solids, making distillation unnecessary.

With this technology, Roe points out that Coskata initially intended to build, own and operate its own ethanol production plants. However, a 100 MMgy commercial-scale plant would mean $3- to $4-per-gallon in capital costs. Roe says Coskata has now decided to license its technology to large companies “with large balance sheets” to increase its own cash flow before owning and operating plants. “So now we have to go out and get partners, such as large feedstock players who want to make ethanol but don’t have the technology,” Roe says.

Commercial Demonstration
Coskata found a biomass feedstock partner for its commercial demonstration plant in Madison, Pa., which is approximately 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. On April 25 at the Pittsburgh Convention Center, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell announced Coskata’s relationship with Westinghouse Plasma Corp., which owns and operates a pilot-scale plasma gasifier. “Corn-based ethanol and biodiesel made from soybeans is a readily available, established technology that can bridge the transition from foreign oil to advanced fuels like cellulosic ethanol,” Rendell told a group of state legislators, government officials and company representatives, including Beth Lowery, vice president of energy and environment for GM. “By reducing our dependence on conventional fossil fuels in favor of more cost-effective biofuels like Coskata’s product, we can help mitigate the effects of higher fuel prices on the food market, while strengthening our economy and our national security.”

This commercial demonstration facility will produce approximately 40,000 gallons of ethanol per year. Construction of the modular design is already underway by Zeton Inc. in Burlington, Ontario. It will be installed in Madison in early 2009 with production slated to begin in March or April. Roe says the modular design makes it easy to decommission and relocate the facility in the future. Adjacent to Westinghouse, it will convert various biomass sources such as wood waste, ag waste (including sugarcane bagasse) and municipal solid waste into syngas using Westinghouse’s gasifier. Roe says the wood chips will come from the Southeast, the bagasse will come from Louisiana or Brazil, corn stover will come from the Midwest, and switchgrass will be provided by leading energy crop companies such as Ceres Corp. The plasma gasifier, which was developed in collaboration with NASA in the 1960s to simulate a space shuttle re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, generates temperatures equal to the surface of the sun (as high as 20,000 degrees Fahrenheit). It will heat the various biomass sources to 1,800 degrees F, creating syngas. The gas is cooled to approximately 100 degrees before it’s fed to the ethanol-producing organisms.

Bolsen points out that Coskata technically isn’t producing “cellulosic ethanol,” a term that would suggest extracting cellulose from plant material instead of gasification. He says if you extract cellulose from plants, you still have a percentage of plant matter left over. With gasification, Coskata converts the entire plant into syngas. The process can also convert used tires, which don’t contain any cellulose.

The fuel produced at the Pennsylvania facility will be tested by GM in its flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) at its proving grounds in Milford, Mich. The auto manufacturer aims to ramp up the number of FFVs it produces in the coming years, but before it does, it wanted to solidify a fuel technology that would sustainably produce renewable fuels for years to come. This is how GM found Coskata.

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