Cellulosic Ethanol – One Sweet Deal

The average American consumes over 142 pounds of sugar per year. And while that amount may not be good for your health, it just might make a better showing in your fuel tank than on your hips. Indeed, sugar’s got a new leading role—due to the ground breaking of a pilot cellulosic ethanol manufacturing facility. With the grand opening of Celunol’s pilot cellulosic ethanol facility, plus the ground breaking on its demonstration scale cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Jennings, Louisiana, the future of ethanol is looking better than dessert.

Here’s a demonstration facility that will use locally-grown energy cane and sugarcane bagasse in ethanol production. Upon completion, the two facilities’ estimated production is about 1.5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year. Add that to the 113 ethanol biorefineries already producing over 5.5 billion gallons of ethanol, and estimates for the United States ethanol production is upwards of 6.2 billion gallons. Fueling up your FFV is definitely going to be one sweet deal.