Biofuels in Perspective

Bio-Ethanol Development in the USA 45
Figure 3.3 Current sustainable availability of cellulosic biomass from agricultural lands.
Source: Ref. 12 .
In a major step forward, the US Department of Energy announced in early 2007 six grants
totaling $385 million to construct the first commercial cellulosic ethanol biorefineries in the
United States. The federal government will provide up to 40 % of the cost of biorefinery
construction for each project. With a combined capacity of over 130 million gallons
annually, these facilities will demonstrate a variety of processing technologies using a
variety of feedstocks in six distinct geographic areas (see Table 3.2).
In May 2007, the Department also announced an additional $200 million in grants for
construction of smaller pilot-scale biorefineries to develop new processes for converting
other cellulosic feedstocks. The DOE is also expected to begin issuing loan guarantees
authorized under EPACT to encourage private lenders to invest in cellulosic biorefinery
construction.
President Bush has set a national goal of 30 % displacement of petroleum in the transportation
sector by 2030, which would require approximately 60 billion gallons of bioethanol
or other gasoline alternatives annually. With a projected upper limit of 15–18 billion
gallons of ethanol from corn starch, much depends on the successful commercialization of
cellulosic ethanol production.
One of the challenges for the ethanol industry is the current ethanol infrastructure in
the United States. Presently, fewer than 3 % of the 230 million vehicles on US roads are
capable of operating on ethanol blends higher than 10 %. 15 Thus, the current domestic
market for ethanol is limited to approximately 15 billion gallons annually – 10 % of the
gasoline market. Corn is capable of supplying nearly all of the ethanol up to this ‘blend