GM buys into cellulosic ethanol

By STAFF REPORT

The news that the world’s largest car maker, General Motors, has invested in biology-based renewable energy company Coskata came as no great surprise to those who’ve been following GM’s courtship with the biofuels industry.

After working alongside ethanol producers to develop fuel formulations aimed at providing optimum performance in vehicle engines, GM began promoting ethanol more than 20 years ago. It was the first manufacturer to enable its entire U.S. fleet to operate on E10.

Globally, GM has about 3.5 million flex-fuel vehicles on the road in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Brazil. About 2.5 million of them are capable of running on any percentage of petrol and ethanol – up to 85 percent of the biofuel.

GM has long held the belief that ethanol used as a fuel – not just as a petrol additive – is the best near-term alternative to the surging global demand for oil. The company has a stated aim to reinvent the car through a range of clean transport technologies that reduce CO2 emissions and petroleum use.

The decision to buy a stake in Coskata comes as GM sets out to ensure a steady supply for the flex-fuel, ethanol-capable vehicles it is producing.

Coskata, founded in 2006 by leading renewable energy investors and entrepreneurs, has developed a commercially viable process to bring cellulosic ethanol to the market in 2011.

It has the means to produce the “next generation” ethanol from virtually any carbon-containing feedstock – including woodchips, municipal garbage and plant waste – for less than $US1 a gallon – about half the cost of producing petrol.

Coskata’s three-step process starts with carbon-based materials being converted into synthesis gas (syngas) by using well-established gasification technologies. After the chemical bonds are broken using gasification, micro-organisms convert the resulting syngas into ethanol by consuming carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the gas stream. Once the gas-to-liquid conversion process has occurred, the resulting ethanol is recovered from the solution using vapour permeation technology.

The company’s Vice President of Business Development, Wes Bolsen said the process addressed many of the constraints lodged against current renewable energy options including environmental, transportation and land-use concerns.

“The Coskata process has the potential to yield more than 100 gallons (378.5 litres) of ethanol per dry ton of carbonaceous feedstock – reducing costs to less than $1 per gallon,” he said.

The process is based on research and technology developed by Oklahoma State University’s Biofuels Team and licensed exclusively to Coskata.

GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced the company’s investment in Coskata at January’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

“General Motors is very excited about what this breakthrough will mean to the viability of biofuels and, more importantly, to the company’s ability to reduce dependence on petroleum,” he told a news conference.

“This could lead to joint efforts in markets such as China, where growing energy demand and a new energy research centre could jumpstart a significant effort into ethanol made from biomass. There is no question in my mind that making ethanol more widely available is absolutely the most effective and environmentally sound solution – and it’s one that can be acted on immediately.”

Two hours after GM announced the partnership to produce ethanol from non-food sources, arch rival Toyota declared it was also involved in research to derive ethanol from wood.