Biofuels Defined
What Is a Biofuel?
A transportation fuel derived from renewable resources such as plant biomass or municipal wastes through enzymatic hydrolysis.
Biofuels can be made from cellulosic biomass – plant matter composed primarily of inedible cellulose fibers that form the stems and branches of most plants. Crop residues (such as corn stalks, wheat straw and rice straw), wood waste, and even municipal solid waste are potential sources of cellulosic biomass. Dedicated energy crops, such as switchgrass or fast-growing trees, are also promising cellulose sources because they can be sustainably produced in many regions of the United States
Who Is Producing Cellulosic Ethanol Today?
| Company | Plant Location | Feedstock | Technology | Capacity (gallons/year) |
| Abengoa | Hugoton, Kan. | corn stover, wheat straw, milo (sorghum) stubble, switchgrass, and others | thermochemical and biochemical processing | 11.4 million |
| Abengoa | York, Neb. | corn stover, residual starch | enzymatic hydrolysis (Chrysosporium lucknowense), integrated with dry mill corn production | 0.47 million (0.02 million from corn stover) |
| Abengoa | Salamanca, Spain | wheat straw, cereal | steam pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis | 1.3 million |
| ALICO, Inc. | LaBelle, Fla. | yard and citrus wastes | gasification, fermentation of syngas | 13.9 million |
| BioEthanol Japan | Osaka, Japan | wood construction waste | enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation (Klebsiella oxytoca and E. coli) | 0.37 million |
| BlueFire Ethanol | Lancaster, Calif. | green waste | acid hydrolysis, fermentation | 3.1 million |
| Colusa Biomass | Colusa, Calif. | rice straw and hulls | acid hydrolysis, fermentation | 20 million |
| China Resources Alcohol Corporation | ZhaoDong City, Heilongjiang Province | corn stover | steam pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis | 1.7 million |
| DuPont-BP Biofuels | Wissington, England | sugar beets | enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation to biobutanol | 9 million |
| Iogen | Shelley, Idaho | wheat straw, barley straw, corn stover, switchgrass and rice straw | enzymatic hydrolysis (Trichoderma reesei, Saccharomyces) | 18 million |
| Iogen | Ottawa, Canada | wheat, oat and barley straw | enzymatic hydrolysis (Trichoderma reesei, Saccharomyces) | 0.79 million |
| Lignol | Vancouver, Canada | softwood and hardwood | pulping liquor pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis | 1.3 million |
| Mascoma | Rochester, N.Y. | paper sludge, wood chips, switch grass and corn stover. | enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation (Thermoanaero-bacterium saccharolyticum) | 0.5 million |
| Mascoma | Monroe County, Tenn. | switchgrass | enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation (Thermoanaero-bacterium saccharolyticum) | 5 million |
| Mascoma | Lansing, Mich. | wood, forestry residues | enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation (Thermoanaero-bacterium saccharolyticum) | |
| Poet | Emmetsburg, Iowa | corn fiber, corn stover | enzymatic hydrolysis, integrated with dry mill | 30 million |
| Range Fuels | Soperton, Ga. | timber and forest residue | pyrolysis and catalytic conversion | 40 million |
| Verenium | Jennings, La. | sugarcane bagasse and specially bred energy cane | enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation (Klebsiella oxytoca and E. coli) | 1.4 million |
| Western Biomass | Upton, Wyo. | Ponderosa pine wood chips, waste | CO2 pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis | 1 million |
