US Department of Energy awards up to $86 million to three cellulosic ethanol projects

In Washington, the US Department of Energy awarded $86 million to three cellulosic ethanol projects in Maine, Tennessee and Kentucky. The four-year grants will produce an average of 2.5 Mgy of cellulosic ethanol.

Grant recipients included:

$30 million to RSE Pulp & Chemical of Old Town, Maine for a demonstration-scale plant pre-extracting hemicelluloses during the pulping process to produce cellulosic ethanol from lignocellulosic (wood) extract.

$26 million to Mascoma of Boston, Massachusetts for a demonstration-scale plant utilizing Tennessee switchgrass for cellulosic ethanol in a plant to be constructed in Vonore, TN. Mascoma is partnered with The University of Tennessee, the UT Research Foundation and Genera Energy.

$30 million to Ecofin of Nicholasville, Kentucky for a demonstration-scale plant utilizing solid-state enzymatic complexes to convert a potentially wide range of lingocellulosic feedstocks, including corncobs, to ethanol and other nutritious feed sources, minimizing waste. The proposed plant will be constructed in Washington County, Kentucky.

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