ICM receives $30 million from Department of Energy; to lead multi-partner cellulosic ethanol project including Novozymes, VeraSun Energy, Sun Ethanol and NREL

In Kansas, ICM, one of the recent recipients of a $30 million DOE award for cellulosic ethanol research, said that its proposed St. Joseph, Missouri plant will utilize corn residues, including corn fiber and stover, in addition to switchgrass and sorghum.

ICM’s project partners include The National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Novozymes, South Dakota State University, Sun Ethanol, and VeraSun Energy.

Overall, the US Energy Department this month awarded $114 million to cellulosic ethanol projects in Missouri, Oregon, Colorado and Wisconsin.

The other demonstration projects were proposed by Lignol Innovations, for a plant in Commerce City, Colorado; Pacific Ethanol, for a plant in Boardman, Oregon; and Stora Enso North America for a plant in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Pacific Ethanol received $24.32 million, while the others received $30 million.

Last February, the Department of Energy awarded $385 million to six cellulosic ethanol projects. They were Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, for a facility in Colwich, Kansas; ALICO Inc., for a facility in LaBelle, Florida; BlueFire Ethanol, for a facility located in Corona, California; POET, for their “project liberty” facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa; Iogen Biorefinery Partners, for a facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho; and
Range Fuels, for a facility in Soperton, Georgia.

The other notable award activity by the DOE has been in funding national research laboratory efforts.

In California late last year, DOE and BP co-funded the Joint BioEnergy Institute, or JBEI, located at a new $135 million, 65,000 square foot biofuels lab at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Emeryville. The Emeryville lab fuses the research efforts of UC-Berkeley, UC- Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia.
The lab is focusing on cellulosic ethanol research including feedstocks such as rice straw, switchgrass and Arabidopsis, a plant in the mustard family. The lab will also research microbes found in the termite gut of the common termite, which assist in breaking down wood into edible sugars.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Novozymes launches $25 million R&D effort to reduce cellulosic ethanol costs; largest project in company history receives $12.3 million from US DOE

In Denmark, enzyme producer Novozymes announced that it has received a $12.3 million contract from the US Department of Energy for R&D on reducing the cost of producing cellulosic ethanol from cor...

Special Report on Cellulosic Ethanol: Novozymes aims for lower-cost enzymes with DOE funding support

In Denmark, the US DOE has given Novozymes a $12.3 million contract for R&D on reducing the cost of producing cellulosic ethanol from corn stover. The focus is on superior enzymes. The company sai...

Novozymes to partner with China’s Sinopec, COFCO to develop cellulosic ethanol market

In China, Novozymes announced a partnership with  Chinese oil and energy company Sinopec to produce commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol from corn stover. Novozymes confirmed that their cellulosic eth...

Special Report on Cellulosic Ethanol: Syngenta, Proteus launch enzyme partnership; will it challenge Novozymes for leadership?

In France, an emphasis in cellulosic ethanol research collaboration has been in enzyme development.  Recently, Proteus announced  such an agreement with Syngenta. The undisputed European leader i...

Novozymes slashes investment by $95 million; says US ethanol market recovering; cellulosic at “industrial scale” by 2012

In Denmark, Novozymes said that it has slashed investment by $38 million this year and $57 million in 2010 due to falling demand for enzymes, especially in the US market where Aventine Renewable Holdi...

Novozymes says Brazil can produce up to 2 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol

In Brazil, Novozymes has released a report projecting that, by 2012, Brazil could commence commercial-scale production of cellulosic biofuel made from sugarcane residues, and could produce up to 2.1 b...