The push is on for cellulosic ethanol

Kansas.com - The Wichita Eagle - Business Today
BY RICK PLUMLEE
Posted on Sun, Nov. 23, 2008

FEDERAL MANDATES, FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Long before cellulosic ethanol became a hot biofuel topic, Doug Rivers was deep into researching the product. From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, Rivers worked for Gulf Oil for three years and the University of Arkansas for five years researching ways to make it economically feasible to produce cellulosic ethanol on a commercial scale.

"We were reasonably close when the bottom fell out of the oil market in the early 1980s," Rivers said. "Funding for the research fell off the table."

That's been the story of cellulosic ethanol -- dating back to the first attempt at the product in 1898 by Germany.

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