USDA could jump-start cellulosic fuel

North Queensland Register (Australia)
SALLY SCHUFF
13/01/2009 9:34:00 AM

United States Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer has predicted that the US Department of Agriculture will make the first loan guarantee for a commercial-size cellulosic ethanol plant before the Bush Administration wraps up business next week.

If that plant, a woodchip-based plant on which Range Fuels has broken ground in Soperton, Georgia, lives up to the promise of becoming a commercial success, Mr Schafer believes it will advance the timetable for commercial production of cellulosic ethanol in the US by two years.
"If that investment gets made, if that facility gets up and running, it will jump by two years, I believe, the goal of producing, on a commercialised basis, ethanol from non-corn or non-food sources," Schafer said.

The breakthrough on woodchips could begin a cascade into the production of ethanol from other cellulosic feedstocks, he predicted, adding "it could explode the opportunities for second-generation biofuels".

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