Alternative Fuel Sources - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 93

neered enzymes that degrade the cornstalk, husks and other plant mate-
rial into sugars. Codon Devices' Biologic engineering technology is being
used to develop the optimized enzymes in a shorter time than usually
needed using traditional approaches in enzyme development. Other com-
panies are working on thermochemical processes that do not use enzymes.
Range Fuels of Broomfield, CO is working on such a plant in Soperton,
GA. Range Fuels has a grant of up to $76 million from DOE and will use
a two-step process to convert biomass wood chips and forest residue first
to synthesis gas and then to ethanol. At first the plant will produce about
20 million gallons of ethanol a year and in a few years, the output will be
increased to 100 million gallons per year. Eventually, the company plans
to reach 1 billion gallons a year with all its plants. Alico will also use a
thermochemical process to provide up to 14 million gallons of ethanol a
year at a plant in LaBelle, Florida. Alico received a $33 million DOE grant
for capital expenses and will gasify wood waste and agricultural residues
into ethanol, ammonia and hydrogen.
NewGen Technologies in Charlotte, NC, and its subsidiary, NewGen
BioFuels, is buying up biofuel producers to secure supplies of ethanol
and biodiesel for its terminals owned by ReFuel America, NewGen's U.S.
fuel distribution subsidiary. In Houston, GreenHunter BioFuels will open
a biodiesel refinery by converting an existing waste oil/chemical refin-
ery for the production of biodiesel and distillation of methanol. The plant
will be able to use a variety of feedstocks, including soy, palm and jatro-
pha oils and/or animal and poultry fats. BlueFire Ethanol Fuels will build
California's first cellulose-to-ethanol plant near Lancaster, in northern Los
Angeles County. The 3.1 million gallon a year plant will use agricultural
and wood waste streams as feedstock. It is designed to use recycled water
and will supply almost 70% of its energy with lignin, an ethanol coprod-
uct. BlueFire plans to use this plant as the model for factory-made system
modules that can be quickly erected at other sites.
Eventually different technologies will be used for different feed-
stocks. The three approaches are concentrated acid hydrolysis, thermo-
chemical and biological. A hybrid may also emerge.
ALGAE
Algae requires only sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to grow and
can quadruple in a day. It helps to remove pollutants from the air and wa-