Houghton, MI – Scientists and engineers—including several at Michigan Technological University—have been talking for years about biofuel, particularly cellulosic ethanol, which is fuel made from trees and other woody plants. The stumbling blocks have been huge and progress, slow. But the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Renewable Fuels Standard mandates that cellulosic ethanol be blended into gasoline for use in vehicles, so the need is immediate.
Now, the first commercial quantities of cellulosic ethanol generated from woody biomass that meets EPA standards have gone to market. American Process Inc. (API), an Atlanta-based company that develops renewable materials, fuels and chemicals from biomass, is producing the cellulosic ethanol at a demonstration plant in Alpena, Mich.
The news gets even better. The biorefinery that is producing commercial quantities of cellulosic ethanol is doing it by converting a wastewater stream from the nearby Decorative Panels International plant into biofuel, saving massive amounts of energy that used to have to be used to treat the wastewater. The plant is also producing a woody biomass-based potassium acetate runway de-icer in a process that generates up to 45 percent less greenhouse gases than the production of conventional potassium acetate.
With funding from the US Department of Energy and the State of Michigan, Michigan Tech scientists and engineers helped make all of these landmark achievements possible.
Click To Submit Press Releases, News, Calendar Items, and Community Events to mediaBrew radio stations WFXD, WKQS, WRUP, GTO, Fox Sport Marquette, and 106.1 The Sound
Marquette, Michigan Calendar; Ishpeming Calendar; Negaunee Calendar; Gwinn Calendar; Negaunee Calendar and Events; Upper Peninsula Calendar of Events; Escanaba Events and Calendar