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Cellulosic biofuel output far short of goal
A recent report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) documents that only 20-thousand gallons of cellulosic biofuels were produced in 2012.
That’s far short of the cellulosic volume goals set forth in the 2007 Energy Security Act, which called for 500 million gallons by 2012, one billion gallons for 2013 and 16 billion gallons by 2022.
EIA says a realistic timeline for production capacity of 250 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels may be around 2015.
But while there is still plenty of skepticism about cellulosic, DuPont Pioneer agronomy research manager Andy Heggenstaller—who is part of the DuPont cellulosic ethanol project at Nevada, Iowa—remains optimistic.
“I think what we’re going to see is that DuPont and some other companies are going to make this happen in that 2015 timeframe,” Heggenstaller says, “and then I think we’ll see a game change in the rate of expansion in the industry.”
Heggenstaller has been working with Nevada area farmers on the corn stover removal process.
DuPont broke ground on the Nevada plant last fall. Officials say the 30-million gallon plant will begin operation in mid-2014 with full scale production expected by the spring of 2015.
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