• Coskata, Inc.: The Future of Ethanol?

  Filed under biocatalysis, biofuels
  Mar 3
  We will start with the ethanol companies in our series of profiles, since ethanol is the largest volume biofuel currently in production. Perhaps the best company “on the come” in the ethanol sector is Coskata.

  Based in Warrenville Illinois, Coskata claims to be able to produce ethanol from just about any organic material, and to do so for less than $1 per gallon.  This claim, and generous backing from venture capitalists and the likes of General Motors, gave Coskata the top ranking from Biofuels Digest in its list of the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy. Unlike most of its ethanol-focused competitors, the Coskata approach is not based on improved cellulosic conversion to fermentable sugars. Rather, Coskata uses already available chemical technology for converting mixed agricultural and municipal waste into synthesis gas, which consists mainly of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2). The second step is the biological one, relying on the microbial bioconversion of the synthesis gas to ethanol. Coskata claims “99.7% pure ethanol” through this approach, although of course, every other method can also produce 99.7% pure ethanol once the ethanol is refined and distilled. A distinct advantage of the Coskata technology is the use of non-food raw materials, avoiding the problem of diverting food crops to fuels or the crowding out of food crops with fuel crops. Another advantage is that Coskata’s method for producing ethanol avoids the “negative energy” comparisons that have been so glibly bandied about. Using already available waste means no energy cost for growing and harvesting energy crops, and therefore, Coskata calculates that its ethanol provides 7.7 times the energy required to produce it.

  Revenues? Don’t even think about it for a while. The first pilot plant won’t be running until at best the end of 2009, and it will only produce about 40,000 gallons per year. At $1 per gallon, that is not much return on the approximately $100 million invested. But Coskata claims that the sky is the limit on the future potential, which is why all the money has flowed in from investors in the first place. The first commercial-scale plant producing 100 million gallons per year is scheduled for 2011, and if the company meets that milestone, the future for Coskata will be highly visible. 

  Tagged as: biofuels, Coskata, ethanol
  
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