4 Votes

Boost it!

Can Coskata produce ethanol for less than $1 a gallon?

Porschinator submitted on 3/7/2008 Official Bell & Ross Timestamp: 6:58:56 PM

2 user comments | Category: Misc News | Source: | SOURCE: gmnext.com

Tag Links: Ethanol, MPG, Green

"I had the chance to chat with as many as 95 people on the GMnext site on February 21.

I think the sentiment of most participants was best summed up with a question like “Is Coskata REALLY going to be able to produce ethanol for under $1/gallon at commercial scale?” The underlying message being, “Don’t go and get my hopes up for this technology, and then not be able to make it happen.” I want to try and address this and a few more issues in this follow-up to last week’s chat.
To be honest - I had the same questions when I came to work at Coskata over a year ago. I also wanted to know: “How does this compare with other technologies, and can Coskata really do this?”
The answer is Yes, we really can do what we are promising. Next-generation ethanol is here and commercially viable. However, you don’t have to take my word for it."

Would be nice...


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Porschinator

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User Comments

EnnNorak

What I would like to know is how Coskata discovered the microorganisms that do all the work. Did they genetically engineer certain known microorganisms or did they accidentally discover them in nature? If genetically engineered, is it safe to accidentally release these microorganisms without eventually turning all dead plant material and old rubber tires on the planet into ethanol?

I wonder what a competitor like Iogen has to say about all this.

— EnnNorak (View Profile)

Posted on 3/8/2008 12:51:24 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

GreenPlease

Can they produce ethanol for $1/gallon? Sure, but there are tons of variables and this process could never be scaled to replace 18.5 million barrels per day of consumption in the U.S. (there's simply not enough of the raw feedstock).

Variables to take into consideration is the duration over which the plant is financed, increased cost of infrastructure due to the weakened dollar, and cost per incremental gallon/day capacity.

I really wish that the ethanol was stored separately and used as an on-demand octane booster ala the MIT concept. This would allow for extremely aggressive downsizing and turbocharging while maintaining a high CR and therefore TE. A large movement to such a setup could easily reduce our national fuel consumption by 25%.

— GreenPlease (View Profile)

Posted on 3/8/2008 6:44:09 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

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