Coskata starts up small wood ethanol plant
October 15, 2009
By Canadian Biomass
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Coskata starts up small wood ethanol plant
Coskata, a developer of next-generation biofuels, has
successfully started its semi-commercial flex ethanol facility located in
Madison, PA.
Oct. 15, 2009, Madison, PA – Coskata, a developer of next-generation biofuels, has
successfully started its semi-commercial flex ethanol facility located in
Madison, Pennsylvania. This facility demonstrates the successful scale-up
of the company’s technology and will serve as a showcase for the world’s first
commercially viable flex ethanol process.
Unlike other technologies and facilities that may rely on one primary source of
feedstock, Coskata’s flex ethanol facility will produce ethanol from numerous
feedstocks, including woody biomass, agricultural waste, sustainable energy
crops, and construction waste. This flexible approach at the Madison
facility is enabled by the plasma gasification technology of Westinghouse
Plasma Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alter NRG. The feedstock flexibility
of the Coskata approach also allows for geographic flexibility; facilities can
be built anywhere a feedstock can be sourced or delivered.
“The integrated biorefinery – utilizing Westinghouse Plasma Gasification on the
front end and Coskata’s syngas-to-biofuels conversion process on the back end –
serves as an excellent example of two leading companies working together to
deliver a viable process to the biofuel market,” said Mark Montemurro, president
and CEO of Alter NRG.
The facility has a capacity of about 50,000 gallons/year (189,000 L/year). It is a demonstration of “minimum scale engineering”, an industry
standard term that means it is the smallest size that will still allow the
company to scale directly to 50-million and 100-million gallon Coskata
facilities. Some of the ethanol that is being produced at the facility has
been delivered to strategic partners for testing.
“This facility is demonstrating that our efficient, affordable and flexible
conversion technology is ready for commercialization. The next step is to
build full-scale facilities and begin licensing our technology to project
developers, project financiers, and strategic partners,” says Bill Roe,
president and CEO of Coskata.
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