DOE PROGRAM AIMS TO BOLSTER ETHANOL PRODUCTION

The U.S. Department of Energy is teaming up with private industry in a program designed to boost ethanol production.

Partnerships with some of the nation's largest energy, agriculture, and forest products companies also aim to bolster the economic growth of several U.S. regions.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a rule requiring that 30% of the oxygen content of U.S. reformulated gasoline come from renewable fuel-ethanol. The proposal is under fire from the petroleum industry and federal lawmakers (OGJ, May 23, p. 30).

DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colo., will fund four proposals from U.S. industry for cost shared projects to study production of ethanol from crops and forestry product wastes. The case studies could lead to biomass-to-ethanol demonstration projects and new life for economies hit hard by declines in the agriculture industry, NREL said.

THE PROJECTS

Here are the highlights of DOE's ethanol program:

In Hawaii, the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (Pichtr) heads a team that includes several Hawaiian companies, Amoco Corp., and Cargill Inc. The team will investigate use of sugar cane and other crops as feedstocks for production of ethanol and electrical power.
Ethanol and other energy production could help revitalize the Hawaiian sugar cane industry, NREL said. The industry has been marked in recent years by shutdowns of sugar mills and plantations. Completion of work outlined in Pichtr's proposals will assist in meeting the Hawaiian government's goal of developing local energy sources.
A second case study is an effort headed by Weyerhaeuser and including Amoco. It will investigate increasing the use of biomass at a Weyerhaeuser plant in New Bern, N.C. Weyerhaeuser will provide sawmill wastes and other forestry residues to produce ethanol and power. NREL said an effective biomass-to-energy process would help the forestry industry become more energy self-sufficient.
A third proposal is led by the University of Florida, which will team up with industry partners that include Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., Bartow Ethanol Inc., and Kenetech Inc. to study the use of underused native soils for dedicated energy crops that would be refined into ethanol.
Another case study led by Wood Industries Co. (WICO), Visalia, Calif., proposes to operate a 100 acre "demo-farm." It will use plantation crops of sweet sorghum, kenaf, and hybrid poplar, willow, and eucalyptus lumber to produce ethanol for gasoline blending and solid fuel for generating electricity. WICO will investigate ways to cut costs for the biomass-to-energy process.

Government funding for each project will average $200,000. Study findings are expected within a year.