While no specific claims have been made, the notion of acquisitions between alternative energy technology companies should inspire confidence in us to some degree. The Biofuel Review reported today that Mendel Biotechnology has acquired the Miscanthus Breeding Program from Tinplant, a German breeding plant and science company.
Miscanthus is a type of grass similar to switchgrass which has been said to have one of the highest ethanol outputs from any source of biomass. According to the Petroleum Club, Miscanthus has the capability of producing 1,500 gallons of ethanol per acre as compared to corn which currently produces 400.
We hope that the continued research into different types of grasses will yield the “super grass” that will enable us to really take advantage of the cellulosic ethanol promise. Yes, everyone is still skeptical of the technology, but as you can see, all of the key components of the supply chain are hard at work to please investors.
May 12, 2007 at 8:14 am |
You made a good point with pretreatment of cellulosic feedstock. The waste pulp from paper and wood mills is actually already broken down through those respective plants production processes making it easier and cheaper to convert the pulp waste to ethanol.
May 16, 2007 at 7:31 pm |
I agree with that idea about researching into different types of grass to produce fuel ethanol with less expensive. Furthermore, it is also very important to develop high technical process such as using specific microorganism for pretreatment or fermentation to make efficiency of ethanol production.
Recently, Cornell researchers investigated the plant enzymes to improve the efficiency of cellulose degradation. I think it is very important investigation for bioenergy field. And why dont we find out some microorganisms which can be useful for pretreatment of linocellulose instead of acid or alkali.