With Abengoa to open its $300 million celllulosic ethanol plant in Kansas on Friday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune says there is worry within the industry that debut of large-scale cellulosic plants in the United States may also be the closing act for big plants domestically. “Wavering U.S. policy on renewable fuels and the North American oil boom cast a shadow over the commercial triumph,” says the newspaper. “The next big cellulosic ethanol plants are planned or underway in Brazil, not the United States.”
Poet-DSM opened a 25 million-gallon a year cellulosic plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, this summer. Abengoa will be the second major plant to open, with DuPont to inaugurate its cellulosic plant in Nevada, Iowa in the near future. It costs about $3 a gallon to make cellulosic ethanol, compared to $2 a gallon for corn ethanol. Industry leaders say the cost of cellulosic is sure to drop as the technology matures. Less certain in the near term is whether Congress will renew a $1 a gallon tax credit for the biofuel and whether the biofuel mandate will encourage more production of cellulosic ethanol.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is to speak at the opening of the Abengoa plant at Hugoton, Kansas on Friday, said the Witchita Eagle. The plant is to produce 25 million gallons a year of cellulosic ethanol from crop debris.