DOE increases BlueFire Ethanol Fuels funding to $81.1m

8 December 2009

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has increased its funding to $81.1m for biofuel company BlueFire Ethanol Fuels. The company will use the capital for the second phase construction of its cellulosic ethanol biorefinery planned for construction in Fulton, Mississippi. This is in addition to the previously announced first phase funding of approximately $7m and brings the total funds for Fulton to approximately $88m.

‘The Department of Energy’s continued support of BlueFire Ethanol’s project development reaffirms the viability of our technology and demonstrates the administration’s support of innovative technologies designed to achieve rapid deployment of cellulosic biofuel projects,’ said Arnold Klann, CEO of BlueFire Ethanol. ‘This award will help ensure that BlueFire remains on track for executing our business growth strategy.’

The project will allow BlueFire to utilise green and wood wastes available in the region as feedstock for the ethanol plant that will be designed to produce approximately 18 million gallons of ethanol per year. BlueFire is currently in the licensing and permitting stage for the facility.

BlueFire Ethanol Fuels was established to deploy a commercially ready, patented and proven concentrated acid hydrolysis technology process for the profitable conversion of cellulosic waste materials to ethanol.

BlueFire is the only cellulose-to-ethanol company worldwide with demonstrated production of ethanol from urban trash, rice and wheat straws, wood waste and other agricultural residues.

BlueFire’s biorefineries will be located near markets with high demand for ethanol and will use locally available biomass. This should dramatically reduce delivery costs and increase biofuel supplies, while providing a unique waste processing technology to help America’s cities better manage the increasing problem of overflowing landfills.

BlueFire is one of four companies awarded funding from the US DOE under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to construct cellulosic biorefinery production facilities.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: biofuel

This story was published on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 6:10 pm and is filed under North America, biomass/biofuel, deals. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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