By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 6 -- Georgia state officials granted a construction permit to Range Fuels to build the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the US.
Ground-breaking is scheduled this summer in Treutlen County, Ga., for a 100-million gal/year plant that will use wood waste from Georgia's forests as feedstock. Phase 1 construction, enabling production of as much as 20 million gal/year, is scheduled to be complete in 2008. Range Fuels announced its plans to build the plant in February.
Range Fuels uses a technology that eliminates enzymes, an expensive component of cellulosic ethanol production. The Range Fuels K2 thermochemical process converts biomass to synthesis gas and then converts the gas to ethanol. It can process a broad range of biomass feedstock.
Range Fuels said it has tested successfully nearly 30 types of biomass for producing ethanol. They include wood chips, agricultural wastes, grasses, and cornstalks as well as hog manure, municipal garbage, sawdust, and paper pulp.