An old pulp and paper mill in the US north-east is being turned to the production of much-vaunted second-generation biofuel, its owners hoping to become a pioneer in the production of green jet fuel.
A venture capitalist along with researchers from the University of Maine are hoping to be the first to produce commercial viable quantities of bio-butanol from the state’s forestry industry wood waste.
The big hopes for biofuels lie in so called second generation techniques, where engine fuels could be produced from virtually any plant matter by extracting sugars from a plant’s cells. But such technology is only at the early stages of research and development..
Maine’s Old Town Fuel & Fiber aims to make butanol, a more efficient fuel without the corrosive effects of the most popular biofuel, ethanol, from wood chips. Butanol could be an answer for the aviation industry, which is currently searching for non-fossil-fuel substitutes to reduce exposure to the volatile oil price and lower fast-growing carbon emissions of aircraft.
But whether bio-butanol can be produced at a competitive cost is the challenge. The US Department of Energy and New York venture capitalists Patriarch Partners have got behind the venture, which aims to be producing the biofuel within two years.
The US’s mandate to add 21 billion gallons of second-generation bioduel to the nation’s fuel mix by 2022, along with President Obama’s renewable energy tax breaks and green loan guarantees, will be important to reaching commercial viability, says Patriarch’s Lynn Tilton.
Airlines’ trials of jet biofuels have exceeded early expectations over the past year, with industry analysts saying they could be widely used by 2015 if reliable and environmentally- sustainable supplies can be found.
Reuters 24/6/09
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