Incentives and barriers to siting biomass ethanol plants
- C.T. Donovan Associates, Inc., Burlington, VT (United States)
Currently, there are 38 facilities in the United States with the capacity to produce approximately 1.5 billion gallons of ethanol annually. Most are located in the Midwest and use corn as feedstock. Others use other starch-rich residues or waste materials, such as cheese whey, potato processing waste, and waste beer as feedstock. Ethanol can also be produced from cellulose-rich materials, such as wood waste, paper sludge, municipal solid waste, and short rotation woody crops. However, the processes to convert cellulosic biomass to ethanol are less technologically mature, which is the primary reason why no commercial facilities produce ethanol from cellulosic materials. A number of technical, economic, and environmental factors indicate there are substantial opportunities for producing ethanol from cellulosic materials. In the 11-state Northeast region alone (from Maine to Maryland), the amount of biomass materials discarded in 1993 and potentially available from energy crops in the future could produce more than 2.7 billion gallons per year of ethanol. If priority were placed in encouraging the use of high ethanol fuels (such as E85) in public vehicle fleets alone, as much as 175 million gallons per year of fuel could be used. Theoretical analyses of air, ash, and wastewater emissions from hypothetical biomass ethanol plants indicate such plants should be able to meet existing environmental standards. Sensitivity analyses of various siting issues indicate that the availability of production incentives, the cost of capital, and feedstock cost have the greatest impact on the economic viability of a biomass ethanol plant.
- OSTI ID:
- 478623
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960958-; TRN: 97:002640-0014
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Partnerships to develop and apply biomass technologies, Nashville, TN (United States), 15-19 Sep 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Bioenergy `96: Partnerships to develop and apply biomass technologies. Volume I and II; PB: 1171 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Technical and economic feasibility of enzyme hydrolysis for ethanol production from wood. Final report
Fiscalini Farms Biomass Energy Project