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AE Biofuels Begins Construction of Integrated Ethanol Demo Facility

Posted on: Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 12:00 CST

Alternative fuel developer AE Biofuels has begun the construction of an integrated cellulose and starch ethanol commercial demonstration facility in Butte, Montana.

The company said that the plant will use ambient temperature cellulose starch hydrolysis enzyme technology to optimize process conditions for multiple feedstocks.

Non-food ethanol feedstocks used by the facility are expected to include switch grass, grass seed straw, small grain straw and corn stalks alone and in combination with a variety of traditional starch and sugar sources.

The 9,000sqft pilot plant facility is expected to be fully operational in the second calendar quarter of 2008. The company said that its enzyme technology is designed to reduce operating and capital costs for both cellulosic ethanol and starch ethanol plants and provides a platform to integrate the two processes.

Eric McAfee, chairman and CEO of AE Biofuels, said: "This is an important step as we optimize our integrated cellulose process technology for large-scale commercial implementation. Our technology has been shown to significantly reduce the consumption of energy and water in the production of ethanol, and allows us to utilize a combination of non-food and traditional feedstock inputs."

Source: Datamonitor

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