Higher yields and lower cost are expected for this biomass-to-ethanol process

摘要

A process that produces 75 gal to 85 gal of ethanol per dry ton of mixed cellulosic waste feed will be commercialized by BlueFire Ethanol. The plant, to be built in Lancaster, CA, will convert 130 dry ton/d of feed (post-sorted municipal solid waste, including green waste) into 4-million gal/yr (about 12,000 gal/d) of ethanol when it goes into production in the fall of 2010. The process uses concentrated sulfuric acid as a catalyst to transform cellulose and hemicellulose feedstocks into glucose and xylose (C6 and C5) sugars.