What's Stopping Us? The Hurdles To Commercializing Cellulosic Ethanol

Renewable Energy World.com
March 5, 2009
by Todd Alexander & Lee Gordon, Chadbourne & Parke

Although current efforts to produce cellulosic ethanol are frequently referred to as being near fruition, considerable uncertainty remains about the speed with which cellulosic ethanol will become commercially viable. So far, no company has been able to produce cellulosic ethanol in mass quantities at a cost that can compete with starch- or sugar-based ethanol.

The RFS requires that fuels produced from non-corn feedstocks that have 50% lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emission than petroleum fuels - called "advanced biofuels" - beginning in 2009 and fuels produced from cellulose, hemicellulose or lignin that have 60% lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than petroleum fuels - called "cellulosic biofuels" - beginning in 2010, form an increasing percentage of the RFS. As a result of these increases, by 2022, advanced biofuels are scheduled to represent 58.3% of the RFS, and cellulosic biofuels are scheduled to represent 76.2% of the advanced biofuels, the balance of the RFS being met by earlier generation ethanol and biodiesel fuels.

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