http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/09/09212001/ap_45009.asp - 9/21/2001 - ENN.com No, it's not corn or barley: Project would make ethanol from coal
Friday, September 21, 2001 By Dale Wetzel, Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. - Rather than corn or barley, North Dakota's newest ethanol project might rely on coal. Dakota Gasification Co., which runs the Great Plains synthetic fuels plant near Beulah, N.D., has applied for state research money to study whether lignite, a type of coal, can be used profitably to make ethanol. The process would use bacteria to convert lignite to ethanol, a widely used fuel additive. Ethanol increases the energy value of gasoline and helps it to burn more cleanly. Ted Aulich, a process chemist at the Energy and Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota, said coal-to-ethanol research has been going on for years. "Just going by what I've seen in some of the technical literature, it sounds like these guys are pretty convinced it is commercially viable," Aulich said. "I don't see any reason why it can't be." Most U.S. ethanol plants process corn or other agricultural products. None of the nation's 57 ethanol plants rely on coal, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that promotes ethanol. The method for converting coal to ethanol relies on technology developed by Bioengineering Resources Inc. of Fayetteville, Ark. The company has licensed the technology to an Ohio firm that hopes to work with Dakota Gas in the project. "The idea is there. The potential is there," said Daryl Hill, a Dakota Gas spokesman. "Now what we have to do is see if it's going to work." Dakota Gas and its partner, Metropolitan Energy Systems Inc. of Cincinnati, have applied for $5 million in state aid. The plan calls for expanding the Great Plains plant to produce ethanol. Developers say the project would create 100 new permanent jobs, use 500,000 tons of coal each year, and manufacture 30 million gallons of ethanol annually. Nationally, the ethanol industry is in the process of expanding. Thirteen plants are under construction nationwide, the Renewable Fuels Association said. Most ethanol plants being planned would continue manufacturing ethanol from corn, but others contemplate using wood chips, sugar cane fiber, and rice straw. The California Energy Commission, in a study published in August, estimated that national ethanol production will double by 2005 to more than 4.4 billion gallons annually. Market demand for ethanol has been rising due to high oil prices, clean-air regulations, and the need for a fuel additive to replace MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether. MTBE helps gasoline to burn more cleanly, but some say the petroleum-based chemical tends to leak from fuel storage tanks into water supplies. California, the nation's largest gasoline market, is phasing out MTBE, and ethanol producers are hoping to fill the void. Copyright 2001, Associated Press ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck Monitoring Service trial http://us.click.yahoo.com/MDsVHB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
